Lightening a heavy load
Last week I met Nyasha, an inspirational woman who left me determined never to moan or complain again. About 70 years of age, Nyasha lives in a small community outside of the city of Bulawayo, the second largest city in …
Africa
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.
The time is now to prevent a man-made famine in South Sudan
Posted by:
Lynne Featherstone, Ministerial Champion for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Overseas, Posted on:
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Categories:
Africa, Humanitarian
I can clearly remember my first overseas visit as a DFID minister. It was just under 2 years ago, in October 2012. I was struck by the optimism and hope that filled the air of this new and ambitious country. …
Innovate and Amplify, the West Coast way
Posted by:
Ian Attfield, Education Adviser, Posted on:
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Categories:
Africa, Education, Tanzania, Technology
Having spent most of the past year getting to grips with new results based instruments to support Tanzania's delivery of education, it was a refreshing change to get involved in a different sort of innovation with different actors that bring …
Cash transfers in Masisi
Posted by:
Chris Pycroft, Head of Office, DFID DRC, Posted on:
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Categories:
Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Humanitarian
Cash transfers are an increasingly important component of DFID’s poverty-reduction tool kit. There is strong evidence that they are a highly effective means to support extremely vulnerable and poor people. Cash transfers can help people to recover from shocks caused …
World Humanitarian Day in South Sudan
Posted by:
Henry Donati, Programme Manager, Humanitarian Response Group, Posted on:
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Categories:
Africa, Humanitarian
The helicopter banks down steeply to the left, and we’re approaching Akobo town; the miles of flat scrub land and acacia trees have given way to a scattering of huts and one-story, corrugated iron-roofed brick buildings. We hover over a …
Old shoes and OMO: cracking the problem of urban water in Goma
Posted by:
Chris Pycroft, Head of Office, DFID DRC, Posted on:
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Categories:
Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Infrastructure
Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) must be one of the most difficult environments to deliver clean water. The city is built on the lava flows from nearby active volcanoes (the last major eruption was …
Why DRC’s youth need to take a stand to empower girls' lives
Posted by:
Cleo Blackman, Programme Manager, DFID DRC, Posted on:
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Categories:
Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Girls & Women
The Girl Summit 2014 is an important global campaign for DRC, where an estimated 39% of girls are married between the ages of 15 and 18 – and probably younger in rural areas. And that figure needs caveating with the …
An adult decision
There is a growing recognition of the extent and impacts of child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) in Zimbabwe. CEFM is widespread; 31% of young women in Zimbabwe are married by the age of 18. And research shows the deep …
Two years on, life in Harare
It feels like a lifetime since I was sitting in my kitchen in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, reflecting on my week as an International Citizen Service (ICS) volunteer, and trying to sum it up in under a 1000 words for my …
A safer delivery for Kenyan mothers
Posted by:
Lisa Phillips, Head of Office, DFID Kenya, Posted on:
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Categories:
Africa, Health, Kenya
May for me, as Head of DFID Kenya, was a month of stark opposites. Highs and lows, achievements and failings, celebrations and disappointments. To explain, the government of Kenya released a report called a 'A Price Too High to Bear', …
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