We work around Africa to increase access to basic services, help after humanitarian emergencies and empower girls and women, ultimately helping people lift themselves out of poverty. In these blogs country teams discuss their work and progress towards these and other goals.
July 2013: my first week in Zimbabwe, in a taxi in Harare: “Boss, you can tell everything by the street-lights (‘boss’ being a friendly if slightly over-respectful Zimbabwean term when addressing customers)… “The street-lights….? I replied. “Sure Boss, the street-lights. …
I called her today, the phone rang twice and she picked it up the third time. Like always the conversation started with: “How are you?” The 44-year-old calmly answered my call. “I am well, just calling to say hi,” I reply …
If you were to ask me for a country that has undergone real change in the last quarter of a century, I would be hard pushed to think of a greater example than South Africa. I’ve been to South Africa …
When I was travelling in Kenya recently, I had a graphic reminder that gender-based violence and HIV is right there in front of us in many African countries; we just don’t all notice it all the time. I went through …
The Girl Summit 2014 was a big deal in the UK. It was the culmination of months of hard work by DFID, UNICEF and Girl Hub. It was attended by Prime Ministers, Presidents and Cabinet Ministers. Hundreds of young people …
Returning from Tanzania’s geographically central but small capital city Dodoma to the coastal mega-city of Dar es Salaam, I reflected upon this slightly surreal experience. I was on board the only scheduled flight, a small 12 seater plane cruising at …
When you think of Somalia, you probably think of Black Hawk Down, Al Shabaab terrorism and piracy. But if you’re born a girl in Somalia, you face so many other risks, both severe and everyday. Decades of war and humanitarian …
Having arrived in DRC just over a month ago, I was incredibly lucky to be taken with Alastair and Mischa - colleagues from the DFID DRC humanitarian team - to see our programmes in the east. Having seen that special security …
Over the past decade, the mobile phone has changed the way I live my life – from connecting me to friends, to being able to access a world of information while on the move. In August 2014, South Africa’s Minister …
In 1994, a brutal genocide ripped Rwanda apart, robbing people of their families and loved ones. 800,000 people were killed in 100 days, and lives were destroyed. Twenty years later, Rwanda is healing from this tragedy but there’s still a …
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