Economic growth is the most important means of raising people’s incomes and reducing poverty in the developing world – it creates jobs and opportunities for poor people to support their families and build more stable futures. We work around the world with organisations and individuals to stimulate economic growth so people can lift themselves out of poverty.
This dreary February has been brightened up for me by my new-found joy and addiction to 'Borgen', the Danish political thriller with a wonderful, powerful woman Prime Minister. It's even better than my other, and laugh-out-loud, favourite, 'In the Loop'. …
We have spent the last few weeks learning about the needs of Afjalpur dairy co-operative members and getting to grips with their livelihoods situation. Amongst many other things, the outcomes of our baseline survey showed how essential it is for …
Our orientation week in Ouagadougou allowed us to acclimatise to our new surroundings: five days were dedicated to French and Moore (the local dialect) lessons; meeting members of other NGOs based here in Ouagadougou; and learning more about the history …
Bamyan is a beautiful province in Afghanistan and home to the Hazaras, an ethnic Shia minority who make up 9% of the Afghan population. They are believed to be descendants of Genghis Khan's army and have distinctive features. My visit was …
Over the past few weeks, and as I mentioned in a previous blog post, I've been continuing to help the DFID team in Ethiopia design an exciting new programme focused on supporting new small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs, including …
A friend of mine has been raving to me about a new iphone app called Instagram. Instagram is a service that allows you to "pretty" up your photos and share them with millions of people around the world. It was launched …
Towards the end of last year, I was privileged to visit Africa with Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, to see for myself the benefits Fairtrade is bringing to growers and their families in South Africa and Kenya. …
As a development economist, I’m itching to read Poor Economics, the new book by the amazing Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee. Unfortunately, it's not yet widely available in UK bookshops. Thankfully, there’s a wonderful visual web version of the book's key findings, …
An estimated 25% of Zimbabwean children are 'vulnerable' in development speak. That means they are defined as 'likely to experience a range of deprivations that inhibit their chances to survive to adulthood and fulfil their inherent potential'. Vulnerability and HIV/AIDS are …
I've noticed the term "growth" is often misunderstood when it comes to development. I’ve even had people thinking I work on agricultural issues – helping things to grow! What I really do is make sure DFID is effective at supporting …
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