I'm Joseph Pakenham and I'm the Digital Advisor at DFID. This means I'm a huge advocate of anything digital (so long as it works), especially connected to international development. I'll be blogging about my work as part of DFID's Digital …
We often associate FGM with the harmful physical effects suffered by more than 125 million women worldwide. There is much less awareness about the psychological effects that can haunt a woman throughout her lifetime. I know from experience that sometimes …
The DFID Digital Advisory Panel is now just over a year old – and as we approach our 6th meeting we thought it was a good time to reflect on what has happened and outline some plans for possible future …
My last day in India was spent back in New Delhi and I could write a whole blog just on my first meeting of the day with 10 young people! They're part of the 'With.in' initiative, funded by DFID, which …
Yesterday was day 2 of my visit to India on the theme of violence against women, and I spent the day meeting people in some of the poorest areas of Madhya Pradesh. It was an incredibly informative and inspiring day, …
July 2013: my first week in Zimbabwe, in a taxi in Harare: “Boss, you can tell everything by the street-lights (‘boss’ being a friendly if slightly over-respectful Zimbabwean term when addressing customers)… “The street-lights….? I replied. “Sure Boss, the street-lights. …
Returning from Tanzania’s geographically central but small capital city Dodoma to the coastal mega-city of Dar es Salaam, I reflected upon this slightly surreal experience. I was on board the only scheduled flight, a small 12 seater plane cruising at …
Having arrived in DRC just over a month ago, I was incredibly lucky to be taken with Alastair and Mischa - colleagues from the DFID DRC humanitarian team - to see our programmes in the east. Having seen that special security …
Cash transfers are an increasingly important component of DFID’s poverty-reduction tool kit. There is strong evidence that they are a highly effective means to support extremely vulnerable and poor people. Cash transfers can help people to recover from shocks caused …
The helicopter banks down steeply to the left, and we’re approaching Akobo town; the miles of flat scrub land and acacia trees have given way to a scattering of huts and one-story, corrugated iron-roofed brick buildings. We hover over a …
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