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.
Last week I wrote about the importance of protecting our forests. But earlier this week I heard one of the world’s leading development economists say that, “sometimes the right thing to do is to cut down a forest,” if it was essential for …
In my first blog I wrote about climate change and development in rather general terms, and about some of the thinkers who have influenced my understanding of the issue. The comments posted by readers have been impressively detailed and wide-ranging …
Last week I was out on 'representational duty', attending a poverty summit held in Kano's neighbouring State, Jigawa, to listen to progress on impacting on poverty. What difference can a year make? Jigawa State with 4.3m people is not only as …
Readers of my earlier blog will be familiar with the Business Call to Action (BCtA), a great initiative that aims to get business involved in the development agenda by thinking how, through their core business activities, they can have a positive impact on …
I’m just back from a trip to the far north west of Bangladesh, near the Indian border. It was a very welcome, cool and quiet change from Dhaka. I first took part in a review of joint donor support to …
Last week I took my first trip outside Kathmandu and flew to Nepalgunj. Nepalgunj is in the Terai. This is a very different part of the country - and is a world away from the popular image people have of Nepal. …
It’s been a hectic couple of months in Basra (you may have noticed I’ve not posted recently). The big story has been the drawdown of the British military from the province. I’ll write about that in a future post. For …
Over the Labour Day break I took a trip to Akagera National Park on the Eastern border of Rwanda, next to Tanzania. It is a large open expanse of savanna and woodland dotted with beautiful lakes. The wildlife is limited and rather hard …
Last weekend I was talking to some friends about my job, DFID's work with business and what my team does with the private sector. We were also talking about how several of us had read several articles about the rise of large …
There has been a flurry of activity here in Maputo, as we prepared for the large annual meeting between the Ministry of Health and its development partners to review the performance of the health sector in 2008. I took my camera …
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