Women the world over are grossly under-represented in the realm of political participation and leadership. This trend is a significant hindrance to democracy and one that both developed and developing countries struggle to contend with and put right. However, the small landlocked nation of Rwanda opposes this trend of gendered marginalisation and has received wide…

The last year saw Mokoro spend a good deal of time in Tanzania. There were various aid portfolios, donor country strategies, budget support programmes and nutrition interventions to evaluate, as the Tanzanian government strives to realise its Development Vision and become a Middle Income Country by 2025. At their January 2016 Quarterly Meeting Mokorons reflected…

Introduction Men are often missing from the gender equality equation, yet are integral to ensuring the equation functions, with benefits on both sides. Efforts towards equality tend to be thought of as being ‘about women and girls’, without due consideration for the part men and boys play – both as contributors and as barriers to…

Introduction Mokoro was again present at what is now the ‘essential’ annual event in the land and natural resources calendar, the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference.  This year was the 17th conference, and with over 1400 participants meeting over an entire week it has grown considerably in size and significance since it began as…

Introduction Accountability and transparency in public financial management (PFM) continue to be the focus for both governments and development partners. As such, the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA) framework, the main tool used to assess strengths and weaknesses in PFM, is undergoing a transformation. This is the first significant change to the PEFA framework…

  This year the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure (CAPE), based at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London, chose for its annual conference topic “Investment in infrastructure”, or “Bricks and dollars”. Sessions covered a gamut of issues including why there is a renewed push for infrastructure, how to decide what to build, how…

Mokoro has a long history of working on land issues, and our consultants have between them decades of experience working to strengthen and support ordinary men’s and women’s land rights. This has not always been easy. In the past, land rights have often been overlooked by the development community, in part because they are difficult…

Two years ago I invited myself to a conference at the University of Utrecht; this time around they invited me! I don’t think I’ve ever declined an invitation to attend an academic conference in the Netherlands. Well, why would I? A wonderful country, wonderful people who mostly cycle to work, great food and I get…

The Kenyan authorities recently calculated that traffic jams in Nairobi cost the economy $600,000 per day. That’s one city I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting recently, but a couple of others have been impressively, depressingly, frustratingly clogged with vehicles. I don’t know whether I’m the only stressed consultant who dreams about missing flights –…

The annual World Bank Land and Poverty Conference is one of the major events in the agenda of all those who work on land and related development issues. It brings together technical specialists, academics, government officers and development experts from all corners of the globe. As well as showcasing new work covering a huge range…