Facilitator. Convenor. Coach. Consultant.
I was immediately a fan of the Doing Development Differently (DDD) manifesto. It was launched in 2014 while I was an ODI Fellow in Zanzibar. I recognised that “too many development initiatives have limited impact” and fail to address the complexity of their context. I saw this all around me: well-meaning and talented outsiders arriving …
Earlier this week, I gave a talk at the University of Warwick, where I studied for my bachelors degree. I spoke to an audience ranging from freshers to post-grads on building a career in international development. Instead of presenting from a particular end point or a particular organisation, I gave four pieces of advice and …
If you pick this book up hoping to be told that anyone can change the world as long as they believe in themselves, you’re about to get a reality check. Duncan Green does not shy away from difficult questions and uncomfortable answers, and this is what makes How Change Happens all the more valuable. How …
It seems like everyone’s thinking about change – if only a certain prominent development blogger had a book coming out on that subject. (I’m currently reading it – review coming soon). I hope you enjoy the articles as much as I did and get inspired. Without further ado, here is your Saturday Morning Reading… 1. …
It has been a while since I’ve compiled a week’s development blog reading into a “Saturday Morning Reading“, so I’d like to share a few alternative links reviews. Blogs I follow these blogs, and around a hundred others, using an RSS Reader called Feedly. I find that it keeps things well-organised, presents articles nicely and …
How do you solve a problem like Brexit? There is no shortage of analysis on the fall-out of the EU Referendum on June 23rd, some of it looking at how it could affect international development. (Particular kudos to the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Center for Global Development (CGD) for being so quick off the …
Deep Work by Cal Newport is the kind of book that tells you things you probably thought about vaguely before, but which puts them in a clear way, backed up by evidence such that they are difficult to ignore. He says things like, “to learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction”. You …
One afternoon last week, I was nervous about speaking to a woman. It’s not the first time this has happened in my life but this time I wasn’t even worried about whether she would like me. The problem is that she was French and I had agreed to speak to her in her own language. …
Update October 2017: A lot of links that were on this page were broken when the Office of the Chief Government Statistician (OCGS) changed their website. It’s not the most user-friendly of sites but I’ve trawled through it and tried to replace the links where possible and add a few new ones. There are also …
In my last big blog post back in October I promised a lot. I’ve done well in some areas but less well in others. This post is an honest reflection of where I’ve gotten to 3.5 months later; on how travelling was amazing, learning is underway and communicating needs a kick-start. Travelling with Freedom From …