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 …
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. …
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 …
Here’s your Saturday Morning Reading… 1. Refugee influx a major opportunity for Germany, leading economist says | Kate Connolly – The Guardian “The opportunity is for refugees to not only fill the gap, but as we know every person who finds a job and pays taxes makes a contribution to economic productivity and output. We …
Here’s your [day-late-due-to-sand-boarding-fun] Saturday Morning Reading… 1. WorkDev #3: Climbing the career ladder | Maia Gedde – WhyDev Great advice aimed at those who have worked a couple of years in development but need to think about what happens next. Top tips: – Adopt a life-long learning philosophy – Get a mentor. – Don’t …
I left Zanzibar last Friday after two years as an economist in the Zanzibar Planning Commission as part of the ODI Fellowship Scheme. Now everybody is asking me what comes next. The answer, for the next few months at least, is travelling, learning and communicating. Let me explain… I’m in the lucky (privileged) position to …
Here’s your Saturday morning reading featuring development consultants, learning from the bad guys and from mistakes, distortions in humanitarian assistance and doing things right before you try to do them quickly. 1. Development Consultants: Over-paid, Over-rated, and Over-used | AID LEAP “Funders also often allow organisations to count consultants as a programme cost, while full …