A couple of weeks ago I attended a number of fascinating sessions at the International Growth Centre’s Growth Week. One event that particularly stuck in my mind focused on the role China is playing in Africa. At the UN Millennium …
In the UK we hear about Afghanistan almost every day. But most people have never met anyone who has actually been there, and from what you see in the media you’d be surprised that anyone would actually want to work …
I've noticed the term "growth" is often misunderstood when it comes to development. I’ve even had people thinking I work on agricultural issues – helping things to grow! What I really do is make sure DFID is effective at supporting …
At the moment our team is scoping-out ideas to help boost private sector businesses and new export opportunities for the Caribbean region in low carbon technologies. Working in this strategic development area is exciting and I am discovering so much …
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 …
That was the reaction I got from friends and family from my generation when I told people I was going to work in Kinshasa for two months with DFID DRC. People from older generations asked me, ‘Is that the country …
Do you think announcements by British Government Ministers make any difference at all to people in Rwanda? If I told the woman in the red cap who walks everyday along the road past my front gate here in Kigali what Douglas …
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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