There are apparently three stages to adapting to a new country; firstly, elation – everything is new, exciting and different; secondly frustration – everything is new, confusing and different; and lastly, normalisation – everything has its ups and downs, some …
An astonishing transformation is taking place that has until now been absent from mainstream development thinking: global ageing. Its absence is even more surprising as the evidence makes clear that demographic changes are affecting developing countries the most. Currently about …
Recently I spent a week in Kinshasa observing our talented Girl Researchers. They were analysing their first sets of qualitative data collected as part of DFID DRC’s programme for adolescent girls, La Pépinière. Sixteen girls aged between 16 and 24, from …
Working on a taboo subject can be isolating and demoralising and, as evidenced by the experience of some Girls Not Brides members focused on ending child marriage within their communities, even life-threatening. Until a few years ago, child marriage was such …
2015 is a year of decision for global education — specifically, access to quality education by children in the world’s poorest and most conflict-ravaged countries. Fifteen years ago, at the United Nations, the world came together to establish the Millennium Development …
About 4 months ago, I found out that a second cousin of mine who lives in Kenya, a beautiful sweet 5-year-old girl called Blessing, had been having problems walking. Her problems had become so severe she could no longer stand. …
Here in the UK, many news stories we hear about Somalia are negative. Somalia is one of the world's riskiest places, alongside countries like Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Twenty one out of the 28 countries that DFID …
If you've ever watched the seminal British comedy Yes, Minister, you’ll know that "technical" and "bureaucratic" are 2 words often associated with civil servants. They are also 2 words often associated with international organisations, though I won't name any names... …
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. …
When I started at DFID in October 2010, I didn't expect to be getting on a plane a year later to move to Sudan. My first year at DFID was spent working in our Internal Audit Department, ensuring that the money DFID …
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