Dear Secretary of State, Congratulations on your appointment to this important role. We are looking forward to working with you to make aid and development spending more transparent and ultimately more effective. I am pleased to be able to tell you that DFID is a global leader on transparency. Our latest Aid Transparency Index shows […]
5 March was International Open Data Day. 6 March was Mother’s Day in the UK and Ireland. Today, 8 March, is International Women’s Day, a public holiday in many countries including Russia. We already know that ‘Poverty is Sexist’, as ONE’s new report puts it. But where does data come in? The answer is because […]
Development fashions go through predictable stages. At first, breathless blog posts proclaim the idea: budget support, microfinance, laptops. Soon, governments and funders are jumping over themselves to adopt the idea while wise commentators note that it is not the answer to everything. In stage three, the idea falters and the proponents bleat “but we never […]
This week saw international anti-corruption day. So what? Few of the over 100 official ‘days’ observed by the United Nations are widely celebrated. Like International Jazz Day (30 April) or International Day of Yoga (21 June), Anti-Corruption Day doesn’t make the cut. Part of the problem with corruption is that its victims are anonymous. Over 75 […]
This week, many of us have been gripped by the story of thousands of people, mostly from Syria, trying to travel from Hungary to Germany via Austria. The story reminded me of an earlier refugee crisis. I grew up in Austria, and remember the day in 1989 when Hungary opened its borders and East German […]
The United Nations Financing for Development conference has ended and over 5,000 officials and activists are leaving Addis Ababa. The banners and flags are being packed away and the city’s hotels are returning to their usual role as a hub for aid workers, diplomats and tourists. Meanwhile the UN circus rolls on to its next […]
