Tag Archives: Dilemmas and Wicked Problems

Nine Tips for International Development Practitioners

Posted on April 2, 2016 by

March 2016 marked ten years since I began working in International Development focusing primarily on local economic development. So I thought this a good time to put down a few  insights that I have found useful or which I think … Continue reading →

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Land Of The Free

Posted on October 23, 2014 by

Postcard from America  Back in the USA and it doesn’t matter which side of the tracks you grew up on, everyone here seems to like Bruce Springsteen and he has just been touring to rave reviews. He sings a lot … Continue reading →

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Resident Aliens Christmas

Posted on October 23, 2014 by

Postcard from Kenya I emptied the coffee grounds from my plunger in to the toilet turning the water a rich chocolate grainy brown, wondered what the cleaning staff would think about my health if I forgot to flush, swung to … Continue reading →

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Alone with others and two headed yellow dragons

Posted on August 3, 2014 by

  “Anyone or anything that does not bring you alive is too small for you.”                             (Poet David Whyte) Postcard from Senegal I am back in Senegal, eight months since … Continue reading →

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Fearless Hopelessness

Posted on August 3, 2014 by

 “Whenever there is a simple error that most laymen fall for, there is always a slightly more sophisticated version of the same problem that experts fall for” Amos Nathan Tversky Many NGOs working in international development are finding that their … Continue reading →

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Travelling with Osama bin Laden; Solomon and the deaf cousin

Posted on July 6, 2014 by

I walk up the hill towards the apartment where am staying with friends in the Damascus suburb of Al Afif. Directly in front of me, desert sand coloured houses are stacked against the steep rocky side of Mount Qasioun and … Continue reading →

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What to do?

Posted on June 30, 2014 by

I am currently in Hardoi, which is somewhere in northern India two hours from Lucknow in India, in spell check comes up as ‘hairdo’. It has been around 43 degrees all week. We are meeting with farmers who are poor … Continue reading →

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