In August 2012 I joined DFID Tanzania as the Education Advisor, based in Dar es Salaam. My role is to support DFID's education programme co-ordination and management, which includes both budget support and project finance. Tanzania has made impressive gains in enrolling more children in school, but in recent years the quality of learning and the resultant learning outcomes have been disappointing. Since joining DFID full time in 2007 I have worked in Northern Nigeria and Zimbabwe (seconded to the European Union Delegation), both assignments with a focus on education policy and programming.
Tanzanian President Dr. Jakaya Kikwete looked bemused as we greeted him with a classroom-like chorus; “Welcome to the education lab, Mr President!” The education 'laboratory' was one of six that government leaders visited in a conference facility on the outskirts …
I was privileged to participate in a fascinating debate on the future of learning, in the somewhat surreal futuristic setting of downtown Dubai, under the lofty spire of the Burj Khalifa - the tallest (currently) manmade structure on the planet. I spend …
You know that heart stopping feeling when you crest the first peak of a big roller coaster as it goes into free fall? That feeling of dread is perhaps only equalled by the torture of opening up your exam results …
Each day en route to work I pass a perplexing sight - a large single parent family living and learning under a giant fig tree. The hustle and bustle of crowded Dar es Salaam contains a large green space by the …
I attended the local launch of the UNESCO Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2012 on a sultry Friday morning at Tanzania's National Museum. This year the thematic focus was on 'Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work'. …
Whilst I was still a young child, Tanzania's founding father and President Julius Nyerere, highlighted the benefits of mass education on accountability to the people: "An educated Ujamaa Village, for example, will neither allow nor tolerate dishonesty among its accountants or …
The pace of both life and traffic can be surprisingly slow in Dar es Salaam, as I’m learning through a dawn commute into the DFID office. While it’s great to be alongside the Indian Ocean, sitting in jams for hours …
While the UK basked in the glory of Team GB's medal haul at the London 2012 Olympics, I spent a week driving up from Zimbabwe to Dar es Salaam, to start my new assignment as DFID’s Education Adviser in Tanzania. …
My two year secondment to the European Union (EU) Delegation in Zimbabwe has flown by and once more I am packing my bags, this time to drive up to Tanzania - to support the DFID education programme from Dar Es Salaam. …
This month sees the 19th Biennial International AIDS Conference being hosted in Washington DC - it's great to see a return to the USA of this major event, following the lifting of visa restrictions for HIV positive people. Thankfully the stigma against …
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