Category: Uncategorized

By now you know about Ebola. You know it is probably more feared than terrorism.  So, really, if you are going to travel for any reason to areas where Ebola is/was prevalent, you should be prepared to endure 21 days of suspicion upon your return (21 days is the maximum Ebola incubation period). All will be fairly well and good if after 21 days you do not show any Ebola symptoms.

Within the last two weeks, I have had to travel to two countries in West Africa. One has had no case of Ebola at all. The other – Nigeria –  was declared Ebola free by WHO last week. Despite that, I am still a suspect of the Ebola virus (slightly understandably). I returned to work in the UK office this morning and within an hour I had been indirectly asked five ‘important’ questions by some of my colleagues. In case…

I wrote recently on using infographics for evaluation – and just recently I came across an excellent post  from Joitske Hulsebosch on the BetterEvaluation blog  on how to transform evaluation findings into infographics – also providing some hints on software you can use yourself. And l love this – an inforgraphic from Elissa Schloesser on how to create infographics! (click on it to see it bigger).

You have access in my bone and existential structure.[…] Which means you are inside of me in a way no one is or shall ever be. Don’t ask me how I know that. My senses belong passionately to you; you are in me as the relaxing shower drops touch gently my skin; you are in me as the sea waves echo when they crush the beach rocks. You are in me when I lie – as I do now- in bed, paralyzed by the sluggish, dull rhythm of life. You are the air in me delightfully nourishing my small brain, so crammed with unusual perplexities.You are in me like a stillborn pain refusing to be washed off. You are in me like the sun’s spots of quivering light merged with whirling blood and flesh. You are in me in these supposed to be “poetical” corny lines. And I know it…

I’m currently in Uganda where I’ve been conducting a workshop on “communicating evaluation findings effectively” as part of the GIZ project on Evaluation Capacity Development in Uganda.

I also made a presentation  for the Uganda Evaluation Association as part of their Kampala Evaluation Talk series, focusing on “Four challenges and opportunities to communicating evaluation finding” which can be seen below.

Thanks to the participants of both the workshop and the talk for their enthusiasm and interest!

Boko Haram has enough money to buy its own artillery now according to Voice of America. Analysts interviewed by VOA said there probably isn’t enough funding within Nigeria for buying heavy weapons, indicating that much of Boko Haram’s funding comes from abroad. Several revenue sources were named:

Foreign sources

• West African piracy
• Drug smuggling
• Unrest from the Arab Spring has created and weapons trafficking “highway” to Nigeria

Domestic sources

• Bank robberies
• Stealing from the Nigerian military

In addition to the Boko Haram bank robberies, previous Money Jihad coverage has shown that zakat has been funneled by Boko Haram supporters through Nigerian banks to fund terrorist operations.

I told her not to marry him but it was like talking to an electric train. Her mind was made up, my words were a waste.

I listened in disbelief as my twenty-one year old sister begged me to remember her “biological clock was ticking.”

I marvelled as she bade me to reconsider, because “all her mates were married.”

I gasped when she declared that I should get used to it, she was marrying Leo with or without my blessing. Kponkwem.

As I listened to her, lava coursed through my veins. I was angry, livid even, but I wasn’t sure who my ire was for.

Part of it was for a society that made Diana think marriage was a trophy; a 50 metre sprint where the fastest women got medals and flowers instead of a gruelling marathon-relay where your partner’s skill and commitment was as important as endurance, focus and…

Once upon a time, beautiful men and women rose as leaders to embrace the awesome promise of an emerging nation, Nigeria. They were poets and soldiers, intellectuals and doers who mesmerized the world with beautiful words and crisp uniforms – and proceeded to take the promise apart brick by brick with graft, incompetence and civil strife. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s epic novel Half of a Yellow Sun about Nigeria’s anxieties and the ensuing civil war spoke to the heart of that broken promise in a unique and mesmerizing way. Half of a Yellow Sun is a beautiful book that should be required reading in every classroom, so that we may never forget. Many years ago, I was so taken by it, I wrote a cringe-worthy review in which I gushed aloud my hope that the book would be turned into a movie.

My prayers were answered, there is a movie and…

Here’s the thing grownups constantly forget about childhood: sometimes, it sucks. Kids all over the world face poverty, war, bullying, discrimination, and oppression. Being young doesn’t protect you from the pressures of adulthood. It just gives you fewer ways to deal with these pressures, not to mention less control over your life.

But here’s the other thing grownups constantly forget about children: they’re smarter than us. Most of the time, they’re also stronger, more hopeful, and more creative. I’ve met kids all over the world who greet each morning joyfully despite the fact that they don’t know where their next meal is coming from, or where they’re going to sleep that night.

Although I constantly encounter diverse, fiercely optimistic children in real life, I hardly ever see them between the pages of children’s books. Too often, stories for young people feature protagonists whose sanitized adventures occur in immaculate suburban neighborhoods…