A few months ago, the White House released its “New Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa,” which contains four key bullets summarizing its approach. The first, and most important, goal is one that has been a pillar of American foreign policy for decades: “Strengthening democratic institutions.” The State Department has tried to Read more…
Today, the Nairobi ex-pats are riled up about a new policy restricting immigration for young and low-skilled workers in Kenya. Here is the story: Kenya has shut the door on foreigners seeking permits for jobs that pay less than Sh168,000 per month or Sh2 million per year (USD $24,000). The move, Read more…
The following is part three of a three-part post on agriculture economic development. Read part two here. Aid, as I have discussed in this blog, is one of the three D’s of foreign policy: defense, diplomacy, and development. It is the hearts in the phrase “winning the hearts and minds.” Read more…
This is part two of a three-part post on agriculture economic development. Read part one here. In the previous post, I explained my experience working in agriculture. In this one, I will talk more generally about the challenges of agriculture economic development in general. Needless to say, the challenges are Read more…
This is part one of a three-part post on agriculture economic development. After the better part of a year working for Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF), a microfinance institution in the Philippines, I decided to head west again – specifically, to West Africa. In late 2010, I moved to Read more…
A few weeks ago, the class of 2012 graduated from university and stepped out into the world. And one commencement speech, in particular, has been attracting a lot of attention for its candor and unexpected message: that the success of the graduates sitting in the audience is due, in large Read more…
When you live abroad, you are, with certain key exceptions, surrounded by people with a similar zest for seeing things differently. This is particularly true for places that are either particularly off the beaten path or destinations for people whose interests reflect your own. Burma a couple of years ago Read more…
This is part one of a two-part post on getting involved in international development work. Read part one here. Trying to answer these questions – at first in vain, and, a few years later, more successfully – helped me so much that I have dispensed this same advice a dozen Read more…
This is part one of a two-part post on getting involved in international development work. Read part two here. One day back in May 2009, I was sitting at my desk at my office on Boylston Street in downtown Boston reading Next Billion. I had decided the week before that Read more…
Around the world, money talks. In some places, it speaks in a whisper; in others, it is like your humble correspondent at a party after one too many dark and stoney’s – loud and obnoxious. And in Kenya, many, if not all, businesses, will at some point find themselves deciding Read more…
