For once the streets of Accra were deserted when I drove through them early on Friday morning, the rush hour traffic – blaring horns, crowded tro-tros and overloaded lorries - had dissipated; everybody was voting. A long queue snaked round …
#Egypt was the most popular Twitter hashtag in 2011, edging out other less revolutionary contenders like #JustinBeiber. ‘The power of we’ is the theme of today’s Blog Action Day, and although ‘beliebers’ might not necessarily agree, there could hardly be …
Ex-President Jerry Rawlings stands in front of a baying crowd at an election rally, and bellows out to them “Protect your ballot boxes the way you would protect and defend your mother!” It’s a powerful moment from the fly-on-the-wall documentary An …
We review our programmes annually to monitor progress. Security concerns in Afghanistan make these reviews more challenging than in other countries but, with careful planning much can be achieved and learned. I recently joined the team reviewing a new project …
I'm sitting on a covered patio at the Embassy, watching a Congolese storm brew. The weather didn’t let up all weekend, and it's hard not to see it as a metaphor for the turbulence that has followed the release of …
"I thought results were due out today?" my dad asked on Tuesday. "What's going on?" It's true that the announcement of the results of the DRC elections were originally slated for the 6th December. But the huge challenge of getting …
Locked inside a classroom at 9pm, watching the count of presidential votes by the light of camping lanterns, I couldn't have been further from my day job. As I reported in my last blog, I spent Monday 28th November 2011 …
Kabul has just seen the end of the Loya Jirga - a mass meeting in which, traditionally, tribal elders meet to discuss matters of national and political importance. During the three-day event, around 2,000 Afghan nationals from across the country gathered …
Every time I drive around Kinshasa at the moment I see a new fabric banner singing the praises of one of thousands of Congolese politicians. There's a palpable sense of excitement in the air as pick-up trucks pass me by …
The UK Government has been supporting an Afghan Government programme to deliver basic services, including water, health, justice and education, in recently secured areas. The programme operates nationally, but the UK has been supporting efforts in Helmand Province. The programme …
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