While development is riddled with complex acronyms and detailed budgets, sometimes the least intricate programs are the most effective. The Girls’ Forum is one example. Implemented by Education for Marginalized Children of Kenya (EMACK) in Kenya’s Coast and North East Province, the program has altered the lives of many young women. 

The Girls’ Forum is essentially an organized peer network. Girls get together in set meetings and talk about everything under the sun - careers, menstruation, boys, homework, family issues. Each group of girls is also provided with a “kit” that contains materials like sanitary towels, underwear, a sewing kit, khangas, and other laundry items to be used during an emergency. As it is, girls will often miss up to 5 days of school a month during their menstruation since sanitary pads are too expensive.  

A Girls' Forum training in a school in Tana River District, Kenya 

 Stuck in Nairobi traffic on my way to the airport, I had the chance to think further about Project Diaspora’s post on the recent anti-LGBT laws in Uganda (without enabling my knee-jerk must-write now reaction).

I still worry that people are jumping on “the blame aid” train a little soon. Granted, I was swept away by the marvelous cohesion of Dambisa Moyo’s arguments (you can finish her book in one sitting!) and William Easterly’s strange but often witty and wise commentary on Aid Watch. But, obviously, there are other reasons for slow social and economic progress in many parts of Africa.

The NMC 1st World Youth Meeting for Sustainable Development held in Bari, Italy is soon coming to an end. While it is great to meet young and motivated people, at the same time, I now realize the persistent hypocrisy of these types of conferences. The NMC’s goal (I think - it was vaguely explained), through this first event, was to inform policy and dialogue on sustainable development through a series of action plans written by young participants after an 8-hour workshop.

While a good idea in theory, the organizers seem to have projected the experiences and expectations of their own generation on us. While there remain many motivated and engaged young activists who exhaust themselves volunteering while working full-time the rest of their lives, there is a growing majority who want to turn this type of activism into a sustainable system. A system where being engaged does pay. These are often the business-minded, practical people who eventually find a responsive home in the corporate sector (at a great loss for the non-profit sector). 

Welcome to a series of posts on international development, social entrepreneurship and information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) with a focus on Africa.

Over the past six months, I have been working with an international development organization called the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF). It has really been a sudden change of pace. Previously, I was freelancing, studying, or interning with small organizations such as the Women of Uganda Network based in Kampala. I have now joined the machinery of global international development and I have a lot to learn and reflect on.