17th April 2014 Washington DC, USA
I’ve been getting into Twitter in the last couple of weeks. I know I’m only five years later than everyone else, but I’m loving the new insights and the quirkiness of it all. Two things were “trending” on my Twitter timeline recently that, seemingly unrelated, made me reflect on the incentives shaping donor effectiveness. The […]
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31st March 2014 Washington DC, USA
Diaspora – from Greek, “scattering, dispersion” Identity can be a complicated thing. What does it mean to be part of a diaspora? Do people always carry the old country with them or do they gradually leave it behind? You could read Zadie Smith or Jhumpa Lahiri for some answers. This isn’t a fictional question for me. Over […]
14th March 2014 Washington DC, USA
Saturday will mark the third anniversary of the start of the conflict in Syria. For me, Syria has been a big part of my working and personal life this week and for the last few years. In my day job we’ve been working with the US and others on ways to secure better access into Syria for […]
12th March 2014 Washington DC, USA
Africa has had a “bad start” to 2014. Or so I keep hearing. But I wonder, how does a whole continent have a bad start? Do a billion people collectively have a bad day? What people usually mean is that Africa has experienced a lot of violence this year. No denying that. Horrific atrocities in […]
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4th March 2014 Washington DC, USA
On Tuesday evening at Georgetown University, the UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague, received an award from his friend and former US counterpart, Hillary Clinton. The award recognizes his leadership in steering the energies of the British government into the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, an international project to end the use of rape and sexual assault […]
21st February 2014 Washington DC, USA
Satellites, open data, crowdsourcing – these are some of the hottest buzzwords in the tech industry right now. But these innovations aren’t just limited to Silicon Valley and start-ups – they have come to dominate much of our everyday lives. Each time we open apps like Yelp and Foursquare to find the closest Starbucks or […]
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19th February 2014 Washington DC, USA
My children are the most delightful people I know. You probably feel the same about your children, your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews. My son is a mix of winning charm and 3 year old defiance. My daughter, who is 9 months, is smiley, chubby and cuddly. My children live in a protective environment: one […]
16th January 2014 Washington DC, USA
Ever drive onto the Beltway outside Washington DC, or the equivalent in your home town, during rush-hour and wish there were a couple more lanes available? The residents of Nay Pyi Taw, Burma, probably don’t share your concerns. The tiny handful of in-bound motorists has TEN lanes to choose from – as do their out-bound […]
23rd December 2013 Washington DC, USA
This is a joint post by Andrew Preston and Rosanna Kim who work on international development issues at the British Embassy in Washington. We are loving all the different reviews of the past year, with the best and worst from the world of films, books, and music. So we thought it would be fun to […]
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19th December 2013 Washington DC, USA
In my lifetime, the rise of digital communications has changed nearly every aspect of our daily activities. And in foreign policy, the world is changing as a result of digital’s ability to give a voice to so many. We have seen social media play a huge role in regime change in the Arab world, we have […]
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