Archive for 'governance'
As I mentioned in my last blog post, I recently travelled to Bamyan and Uruzgan to see whether Strengthening Provincial Administration and Delivery (SPAD) – a UK/Denmark funded programme - can make a difference there. Bamyan is a province in the centre-west of the country and famous for the monumental Buddha statues that the Taliban [...]
What comes to mind when you think of Kenya? Lions and elephants on the plains of the Maasai Mara, the world's best marathon runners, innovation in mobile phone technology? Or tribal hatred, political crisis, and running battles in desperate slums? Kenyans go to the polls on Monday 4th March. It's their first general election since [...]
Local governance in Afghanistan is full of acronyms – PDP, DCC, DDA, PGO to name just a few – and SPAD is the latest addition. Admittedly, UK civil servants when they hear "SPAD" will not think of a programme that helps local government work more effectively, but of special advisers to ministers. However, the name [...]
My name is Mac-Jordan Degadjor, a blogger from Ghana and a Technical Advisor on the Ghana Decides project. Ghana Decides is a non-partisan project, being funded by STAR Ghana, which is using social media tools (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc) to monitor the upcoming elections in Ghana for the first time. We're a group of [...]
I recently travelled to Helmand province in the south of Afghanistan to see for myself the activities DFID and others carry out there. I was most interested in seeing improvements in governance and basic service delivery. It was an exciting trip which involved a plane and a thrilling ride in a Chinook. The helicopter was filled [...]
I've spent a month in Kabul already, which has passed in a flash! In this time, I have got to grips with my job, which is to help strengthen government systems - especially how the government in Kabul works with local structures at the provincial, municipal and district level. DFID Afghanistan supports several projects in this area, including [...]
My first four months in the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Lashkar Gah have been heavily livestock themed – of the poultry family especially – with the construction of Helmand's Bolan Farm chicken house, the birth of the Helmand Poultry Association and a steady supply of slightly squashed, mostly melted Easter eggs through the post. In [...]
Olympic fever is running high in the UK. London 2012 kicks off in late July, and the excitement is palpable, even from an Embassy a whole continent away from home. So it's no wonder that everything we do this year – setting targets for our teams, communicating key messages – is couched in terms that relate [...]
A large sign greets me with 'Welcome to the land of the brave' in the arrival hall in Kabul. I have just stepped off the plane, and am wondering what the year ahead will bring. This is my first time in Afghanistan and I'm excited and nervous, only having seen one week before the news [...]
Every time I drive around Kinshasa at the moment I see a new fabric banner singing the praises of one of thousands of Congolese politicians. There's a palpable sense of excitement in the air as pick-up trucks pass me by with groups of young people on the back cheering and singing and waving flags as [...]
