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.
Working for an organisation that funds development work (in my case DFID) means that I frequently receive requests from worthy causes for financial support. I recently got a call from a Western volunteer living in Nigeria with a difference; a brand …
Nigeria has a diverse range of challenges to deal with in providing a decent livelihood and prosperity to its population of over 140 million. One issue that gently bubbles in the background and occasionally boils over is environmental degradation; made worse by …
If you look back to one of my earlier postings: Death on the Roads, you will note I have already highlighted the pitfalls and dangers on the open highways of Nigeria. Last week was no different, as I left Kano there …
In time honoured fashion I managed to trick my kids to run out to see an imaginary friend on April Fools' morning - although I suspect when they get older I'll be on the receiving end. Skimming the Nigerian press, …
Recently we received a visit with a difference from Yahya a representative of one of the new emerging donor countries Turkey. Since 2005, Yahya has been working for the Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TICA). He is part of a team …
I was fortunate enough to be attending the annual DFID Education Advisors get together in early March. This year Chennai (formerly Madras), India had been chosen as the venue, to allow us all to get a first hand view of …
VSO Sustainable Classroom Project, Kwalli Primary School, Kano, Nigeria I visited VSO Nigeria volunteer Sue White's Sustainable Classroom Project situated in Kwalli Primary school, just inside Kano citadel's ancient mud walls to see the progress she had made in (i) establishing …
Recently I spent 3 days travelling in the far NW of Nigeria to the State of Sokoto, once the heart of the Islamic Sokoto Caliphate (kingdom), which ruled much of the interior of W. Africa in the 19th Century. Sokoto …
Approaching 2pm on Friday, the next event on the road home was a much more welcome spectacle, Friday prayers. A predominately male crowd surge along the roadside towards the local mosque, most in Hausa robes, with some clasping prayer mats. …
My work as education adviser involves frequent travel around the old northern region, principally to meetings with programme staff and representatives of State Ministries of Education, but whenever possible to schools. Road travel in the north of Nigeria initially seems …
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