One of the unconscionable practices in international aid is the “mission” – a team of experts from donor countries who fly out to the developing country to supervise the way that aid is used. For large aid projects, these mission teams – sometimes composed of eager but inexperienced development workers Read more…
Andrew (“Lord”) Turnbull giving evidence to the Public Administration Select Committee (pdf here) (December 15, 2005): I am going to start like the Vicar of St Anthony’s: my text is the Civil Service Code verses 9 and 13: “Civil servants should conduct themselves in such a way as to deserve Read more…
If we want to reduce carbon emissions, should we cap the total and then allow trading, or should we impose a tax on all carbon emissions? Organizations and Markets looks at the economics. Here is the conclusion: So the final score is: Permits get a moderate edge on political economy/public Read more…
US Presidential hopeful John Edwards has set out a plan for fighting global poverty: As president, John Edwards will fundamentally transform America’s approach to the world. As part of his $5 billion initiative, he will bring high-level attention to help people in three priority areas: primary education, preventive health, and Read more…
Two weeks in Club La Santa in Lanzarote. Feeling fitter, more tanned, and (oddly) a little heavier than when we left.
According to the Press Assocation, Gordon Brown is going to suggest that migrants should be obliged to carry out community work: Immigrants should undertake community work before they are granted UK citizenship, Gordon Brown is due to say. The BBC reports that Mr Brown is expected to tell a seminar Read more…
According to Nyasa Times: Nearly a third of the £2m spent on Scotland’s Malawi programme has gone on running costs, rather than helping those in need, BBC Scotland has found. The amount is about five times the running costs for similar work carried out by a Westminster department [DFID]. The Read more…
Take a look at Clive writing about Food Miles: Food miles are useless. There is no doubt that transport intensity in the food supply system has been increasing – driven by forces of globalisation, consolidation in retailing, larger shops with more choice meeting demand for year-round supply, car-based shopping etc. Read more…
A new, open source, distributed identity management service called OpenID is making waves in the online community. We need user-centric, trusted identity management system, and this could be it.
On Friday I visited a school, clinic and vocational training centre in Burkina Faso in a village in Bazega province, about an hour south of Ougadougou. La Fondation pour le Développement Communautaire de Burkina Faso supports government schools and clinics, and it operates an agricultural training college. The programme in Read more…