Fellow development worker, Owen Barder, features this article from Ravi Kanbur on the poverty, development workers and what he terms “poverty professionals.” It is a debate that I’ve felt myself as I travel around Ghana and previously Malawi to do my work. I can’t say that I’ve ever come to a good conclusion, but I [...]
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Lessons from a light bulb and a ceiling fan
Jointly composed with Erin Flanagan. Amazing when you can boil down an ingrained challenge of development into the positioning of a light bulb and a ceiling fan. This is a well positioned light bulb and ceiling fan. It’s rare. There is enough space between both tools to allow decent light and still blow sufficient amounts [...]
Rethinking Power
Escom is the major energy service provider in Malawi. Similar institutions exist all over Southern Africa. In Malawi, we used to have a saying: “Escom – Power All Day, Every Day… Someday.” Access to reliable power is remarkably rare. Only 10% of the population has access to power at all. Power cuts, particularly in the [...]
Loti Ching’oma: Memoirs of a typical villager
This entry is dedicated to the inspiration provided by my good friend Loti. — Memoirs of a typical villager I was born in the village and spent 15 years of my childhood in the village and have some considerable traits of a typical villager. I will not claim that I know or remember everything about [...]
The “second tragedy” of development
This post features a recent article by a friend from EWB: Owen Scott. DIGESTING DEVELOPMENT BY OWEN SCOTT ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS EXPLORING CHANGE Promoting human development and driving extraordinary change requires a solid understanding of the complexities of poverty and the challenges to development that exist in both developing communities and here in Canada. This [...]
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