I remember sitting in a humid, windowless office in Goma, staring at a forty-page “After Action Report” that cost more to produce than the actual …
The Same Lesson Learnt Four Times
Reading a Ministry Budget
I spent most of my nine years in East Africa staring at spreadsheets that looked perfect on paper, only to watch the actual supplies rot …
Lending Below Market Rates
I spent most of my years in the field watching people argue over spreadsheets while the actual supplies sat idling at a border crossing. You’ll …
Designing for a Changing Climate
I spent three weeks in South Sudan waiting for a shipment of solar pumps that looked perfect on a spreadsheet in Geneva, only to realize …
Finding a Story in a Dataset
I spent nine years in South Sudan and the DRC watching people pour millions into “digital transformation” while the actual supplies sat rotting in a …
Evaluating a Response While It Runs
I spent a decade in the back of dusty Land Cruisers and humid warehouses, and if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that people …
Paying Someone Else to Check
I spent nine years in the dust of South Sudan and the DRC, watching people present glossy spreadsheets to donors while the actual supplies sat …
What a Development Bank Does
I once spent three weeks in a humid warehouse outside Goma, waiting for a shipment of temperature-sensitive vaccines that were supposedly “funded by a major …
Energy Projects and Financing Rules
I remember sitting in a humid warehouse outside Goma, staring at a stack of procurement forms that had been rejected three times because the transport …
Why Adaptation Money Is Hard to Access
I remember sitting in a humid, corrugated-iron office in Goma, staring at a spreadsheet that claimed three million dollars had been earmarked for flood resilience. …