When you think of Somalia, you probably think of Black Hawk Down, Al Shabaab terrorism and piracy. But if you’re born a girl in Somalia, you face so many other risks, both severe and everyday. Decades of war and humanitarian …
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 …
When I think of fragile and conflict affected states such as Afghanistan, Somalia or the Congo, in the development context, I think of humanitarian projects or perhaps peace building initiatives. These are generally short-term programmes aimed at dealing with emergencies …
So many of us taking part in Blog Action Day this year will have seen the Horn of Africa food crisis unfold on our computers or televisions. Yet it is difficult to get a true sense of the scale and …
People from every corner of the globe will come together online today as part of Blog Action Day. This digital gathering (which also marks World Food Day) will raise the alarm on the ongoing food crisis in Ethiopia, Kenya and …
As you fly over this arid, dry and dusty land the vast expanse of tented shelters sprawling across the horizon immediately captures your attention. There are almost 400,000 people - a number equivalent to the entire population of Bristol - …
I was unprepared for what I saw at the Dadaab camp in Kenya. Totally unprepared for the utter sense of panic in the people I met there. These were the newcomers, people who could not fit into the largest refugee …
Have you ever organised an event that flopped? In 1985 I was working for an international development NGO, and I organised a young people's fund raising event in a park in West London. It failed; few people came and even less …
Crossing the street the other morning to get through the front door of DFID’s London Headquarters, I was suddenly confronted with a new bunch of faces. Normally I do my hour and a half commute just concentrating on getting some work done …
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