Archive for March 2009
It was an exciting moment as the green truck with ‘The Big Green Moving Machine' painted on the front pulled up my driveway here in Kigali and delivered the boxes that Terry the packer had so carefully wrapped for me four weeks ago. I haven't brought very much because my family's still in England and needs [...]
During the whole of my first week in Harare, I was busy attending meetings all day everyday with stakeholders in the humanitarian response - humanitarian agencies such as the committee of the International Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Food Programme (WFP), donor government agencies - European Commission Humanitarian Organisation (ECHO) and non-governmental organisations (or [...]
Ivan Lewis gave a resounding endorsement of the International Health Partnership in his speech to health, human development and AIDS advisers in Brighton last week. I am always amazed at the long hours Ministers, and their staff, often have to put in to meet their various commitments. Traffic delayed the arrival of the Parliamentary Under [...]
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is a hugely important partner for DFID in our joint efforts to support improved health. Margaret Chan, World Health Organisation's dynamic director general, wowed the health advisers at the meeting in Brighton with her incisive observations on the major challenges facing the international community as it continues to work towards achieving the [...]
Increasing the efficiency of aid to the health sector is one of the primary objectives of the International Health Partnership (IHP), which was also a subject of much discussion in Brighton. Bob Fryatt of WHO and Nicole Klingen of the World Bank reported back on the inter-ministerial meeting held in Geneva, that I've posted a previous blog [...]
Do you know where swallows go to in the Winter? At least two of them come and sit on the ledge outside my bedroom window here in Kigali. When I saw them this morning I was immediately reminded of the children's book 'Dear Olly' by Michael Morpurgo, in which a swallow flies from the UK to [...]
The final leg of my journey into Zimbabwe was ahead of me. We left behind the shopping bazaars in Johannesburg's airport: duty-free shops piled high with chocolate, sweets, perfume, cigars, South African wine and matured whiskies and barrel aged brandies. The new airport building, constructed partly in preparation for the 2010 football World Cup now also has [...]
I have just spent the last 4 days in Brighton at a meeting which brought together the majority of DFID's health advisers for 4 days of discussion, strategy making and learning. Brighton was great, it was cold but there were blue skies. I even managed to get up early to watch the sun rise and [...]
It’s been 2 months since I was last in Zimbabwe. A lot has changed since then. The financial crisis here in the UK has started to have a real impact in some people’s lives– hardly a day goes by without another announcement of job cuts being made in the news – over 102,000 jobs were [...]
VSO Sustainable Classroom Project, Kwalli Primary School, Kano, Nigeria I visited VSO Nigeria volunteer Sue White's Sustainable Classroom Project situated in Kwalli Primary school, just inside Kano citadel's ancient mud walls to see the progress she had made in (i) establishing a teacher professional development resource and outreach facility and (ii) abolishing use of the cane! [...]
