In an African Arguments brief in January 2011, I wondered ‘why, given that the long-term impact of global land grabbing on many African rural communities could well be catastrophic, does there appear to exist an almost total conspiracy of silence on the subject?’. But I added, ‘I sense that this may at last be beginning…

In a discussion on the limitations of institutional reform in developing countries and why many reforms have failed to bring about desired change, Matt Andrews refers to the ‘invisible norms’ and ‘cultural cognitive and normative mechanisms’ that form the foundations for the new ‘rules of the game’. He argues that many reforms do not look at these…

For over twenty years, Mokoro has been involved in the planning, assessment and evaluation of programmes that aim to strengthen people’s rights to land and other natural resources. In the course of our work for governments, funding agencies and international NGOs in East, Central, West and southern Africa, we have advised on land redistribution, on…

The ODI fellowship scheme has been placing junior economists in line positions in Governments of developing countries for 50 years, and counts the founders of Mokoro amongst its alumni. As my two-year posting in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of the Government of South Sudan draws to a close, I consider myself very…

It feels as though I’ve waited almost a whole career for this to happen. Perhaps that’s because my daughter, Hebe, is here in Dakar to attend the dialogue event on agriculture that is being organised by the Collaborative African Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI). Hebe has just finished her second year at Uni, where she is…

I read the two papers on agricultural extension in Africa by esteemed and expert colleagues with interest. My own thoughts are those of a lay person but who in recent years has learnt a little more on the complexity of the topic. Two streams of ideas came to my mind. One about ‘us here’ in…

On Saturday 15th June 2013 a small but select group of people gathered at Mokoro’s office in Oxford to remember and celebrate the work of Kaori Izumi. Kaori very sadly passed away in March 2013 after a long illness. Mokoro’s Robin Palmer, a long-time colleague and close friend of Kaori and her family, travelled to…

Back in July last year, I dropped in at the friendly Mokoro office to see a couple of people and found myself, against my better judgment, agreeing to take part in a project on producing guidance for pooled funding of basic service delivery in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS) (trips off the tongue nicely). My…

After a long battle against cancer, my friend Kaori Izumi died at her home in Sapporo, Japan, on 7 March 2013, aged 56. She was a truly remarkable person, a campaigner for women’s land rights in a context of HIV and Aids in Southern Africa, an activist, a mover and shaker, someone who really made…

In January’s newsletter, Mokoro’s Stephen Turner reflected on agricultural extension in Africa. Here Ray Purcell and Martin Adams provide their responses to these articles. If you have any responses to articles in this edition that you would like to be included in the next newsletter, please email us. Ray Purcell “I think Stephen picked up…