An article from the New York Times.
Wow.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Good place to drink beer #2
At Virunga Lodge on a hill between Lake Bulera and Virunga National Park in early December.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Muzungu's burden
Having finished a long overdue reading of William Easterly's book, White Man's Burden a couple of months ago, I was pleasantly surprised by the book: Easterly's articles (e.g. Can the West Save Africa, Dismal Science) tend to be a rather excessively pessimistic deconstruction of the failings of modern development aid; in this book Easterly goes much further in proposing ways in which we can move forward in solving the problems of the poor.
The central argument is one of Planners versus Searchers. Easterly's Planners are the proponents of the classical top-down development aid. This is particularly prevalent in the large bi-lateral and multi-lateral donor organisations. The Searchers are grass-roots implementers who try out and search for techniques and projects that work. Many grass-roots NGOs can be described as Searchers. Reform of development aid according to Easterly should involve a shift of power from Planners to Searchers. Easterly also tackles a range of other development issues such as accountability, recipient country participation and military intervention.
White Man's Burden is often seen as the antithesis to Jeffrey Sachs' book, End of Poverty. This comparison hardly does Easterly justice. The End of Poverty is a mostly anecdotal account with very little hard data to back up the core theses of the book. White Man's Burden bases its arguments on historical data, and uses anecdotal evidence only to complement, illustrate and occasionally complete when statistical data is insufficient. By comparison, I found The End of Poverty a weak and sloppy work that borders on populism.
I do however find one important weakness in the argument of White Man's Burden. Whilst results-oriented Searchers may indeed be able to offer direct solutions to straightforward problems such as school enrollment and mosquito bed nets, it is unlikely that more long-term projects such as private sector development or vocational training will work in the same way. Long-term projects tend to require people who can afford to worry less about immediate results. There is a balance to be struck.
This is an excellent book and an entertaining read.
The central argument is one of Planners versus Searchers. Easterly's Planners are the proponents of the classical top-down development aid. This is particularly prevalent in the large bi-lateral and multi-lateral donor organisations. The Searchers are grass-roots implementers who try out and search for techniques and projects that work. Many grass-roots NGOs can be described as Searchers. Reform of development aid according to Easterly should involve a shift of power from Planners to Searchers. Easterly also tackles a range of other development issues such as accountability, recipient country participation and military intervention.
White Man's Burden is often seen as the antithesis to Jeffrey Sachs' book, End of Poverty. This comparison hardly does Easterly justice. The End of Poverty is a mostly anecdotal account with very little hard data to back up the core theses of the book. White Man's Burden bases its arguments on historical data, and uses anecdotal evidence only to complement, illustrate and occasionally complete when statistical data is insufficient. By comparison, I found The End of Poverty a weak and sloppy work that borders on populism.
I do however find one important weakness in the argument of White Man's Burden. Whilst results-oriented Searchers may indeed be able to offer direct solutions to straightforward problems such as school enrollment and mosquito bed nets, it is unlikely that more long-term projects such as private sector development or vocational training will work in the same way. Long-term projects tend to require people who can afford to worry less about immediate results. There is a balance to be struck.
This is an excellent book and an entertaining read.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Turpitude
I just figured out that German citizens don't actually need a visa to the US. Yay. There is however an Electronic System of Travel Authorisation (currently voluntary) which includes some great questions such as:
That started me thinking about any immoral activities that it could be fun to engage in whilst in the US. Is self-idolatry immoral?
Yes, Boris and I have been covertly trying to collect information on your ingenious political system in order to replicate it in the Congo.
I assume this means its ok if I detained a child from a citizen of another country?
I had to look up "turpitude". The first thing Wikipedia comes up with is that is is a legal term used in the Visa Waiver forms without proper explanation.
Am I morally turpit? Leave your opinions in the comments.
Are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?
That started me thinking about any immoral activities that it could be fun to engage in whilst in the US. Is self-idolatry immoral?
Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide?
Yes, Boris and I have been covertly trying to collect information on your ingenious political system in order to replicate it in the Congo.
Have you ever detained, retained or withheld custody of a child from a U.S. citizen... ?
I assume this means its ok if I detained a child from a citizen of another country?
Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude...?
I had to look up "turpitude". The first thing Wikipedia comes up with is that is is a legal term used in the Visa Waiver forms without proper explanation.
Am I morally turpit? Leave your opinions in the comments.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
French, Rwandans, Germans and judiciaries
Foreword: In the interests of German solidarity with the Government of Rwanda the author would like to express his solidarity with Rwandese dislike of all things French (except for French cuisine, a couple of nice French people I know and funny accents), and asks that his German passport not be held against him.
Back in 2006 Paul Kagame and other top Rwandan officials were indicted by a French judge for the shooting down of the former president's plane in 1994. This was a major trigger of the Rwandan genocide, but there is little evidence and many suspects in the case. The Rwandans responded by kicking all French organisations out of the country.
Under EU cooperation agreements, EU member countries are required to carry out arrest warrants of other member states. This, Germany did for one Rwandan official, Ms Kabuye, Chief of Protocol for the President, traveling through the country. This afternoon there were spontaneous government-ordered protests in the centre of Kigali and in front of the German embassy. (UPDATE 12/11: And the German embassador was asked to leave.)
On the arrest, the BBC writes:
Al Jazeera quotes the Rwandan Information Minister who confirms :
And in the Rwandan pro-government New Times:
?
Back in 2006 Paul Kagame and other top Rwandan officials were indicted by a French judge for the shooting down of the former president's plane in 1994. This was a major trigger of the Rwandan genocide, but there is little evidence and many suspects in the case. The Rwandans responded by kicking all French organisations out of the country.
Under EU cooperation agreements, EU member countries are required to carry out arrest warrants of other member states. This, Germany did for one Rwandan official, Ms Kabuye, Chief of Protocol for the President, traveling through the country. This afternoon there were spontaneous government-ordered protests in the centre of Kigali and in front of the German embassy. (UPDATE 12/11: And the German embassador was asked to leave.)
On the arrest, the BBC writes:
Ms Kabuye has visited the country before but under German law could not be arrested as she was part of an official delegation. "Rwanda has been made aware on several recent occasions that if Ms Kabuye returned to Germany she would be arrested," said [a German] diplomat.
Al Jazeera quotes the Rwandan Information Minister who confirms :
Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwanda's information minister, said that Kabuye was not surprised at being arrested on arrival in Frankfurt.
And in the Rwandan pro-government New Times:
[Foreign affairs minister Rosemary Museminali] said that prior to her travel, the German government had warned Kabuye that she risked being arrested...
Seems clear. But then the Rwandan New Times quotes the Foreign Affairs Minister:“We emphasised in the note that Kabuye ... was performing diplomatic duties and therefore the Germany authorities wouldn’t have arrested her...” said [Foreign Affairs Minister Museminali.
?
And to finish, who can explain how the whole "indictment -> arrest -> trial -> verdict" thing works?
"We have always been surprised that people can take these bogus indictments seriously. How can you condemn someone before even bothering to hear their side of the story?” [Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama] wondered. (New Times)
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
100th post
I started this blog 2 and a half years and 3 countries ago and I still don't know what it is for. Here is a selection of the best posts based on hits, comments and my personal favorites:
- Word of the Day: development tourist - February 2008 - Vocabulary for the development industry
- Poor Kiyovu - August 2008 - Social engineering in the City of Kigal
- The problem with Africa's biggest solar plant - June 2007 - My critique of a big solar power plant
- Word of the Day: donor dumping - March 2008 - More vocabulary for the development industry
- Ruhengeri and surroundings (video) - October 2006 - The Rwandan countryside on video
- Adventures with petty criminals - June 2006 - Crime in Cape Town
Sunday, October 19, 2008
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