This year I've been lucky enough to be one of the Guardian's International Development Journalism Competition judges, which means I have had my first insight into what it is like to "judge". From Britain's Got Talent to The Voice, there …
The word “evidence” conjures many emotions. In fact, I can almost hear the audible sigh as you read the title of this blog. But if you think about it we use some form of evidence every day in our lives. …
The coverage of the Tax, Transparency and Trade "Three T’s" agenda for the G8 over the past few days has been excellent. On my twitter feed I’ve seen many commentators, Non-Governmental Organisations and others welcoming the outcomes. As a civil …
I have to travel a lot for my work, and over time I have refined my packing to be as compact as possible. I'm particularly proud of a small see-through plastic zip-up toiletries bag, which is a triumph of space saving. …
The Head of DFID Sudan, Ben Mellor, has just started tweeting, you can follow him @bjmellor. This has prompted a debate in the office about whether we can explain what DFID Sudan does in a tweet. I think Ben's tweet above …
Over the past 5 years we have almost entirely re-engineered the way DFID manages programmes and made some significant improvements. We have introduced, among other things: more rigorous design templates, tougher spending controls, better contract management policies, systematic quality assurance stronger use of …
I went to the launch of a new website, Turning the World Upside Down last week, and spent a fascinating 2 hours hearing about innovative ideas and approaches from poor and middle income countries that might help inform or shape …
A good friend of mine has started advertising her flat on Airbnb, a website that allows anyone that has a spare bedroom, owns a second property, or just want to rent their place out while they are on holiday to …
Did you know that Wikipedia had several predecessors? According to this article, there were plenty, but one of the main reasons they didn't become as well known was because they didn't explicitly relate themselves to a product that people already knew …
A recent experience brought to life for me some of the issues facing developing countries trying to improve tax collection. I have lots of family in Kenya, and a few days ago, my dad received the news that a cargo …
Recent Comments