Author Archives: alan hudson

Departure Day

Today is a sad day for me. I am very much looking forward to getting back to Amanda and to Brighton, but leaving Ethiopia is hard. I’ve had a great time. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve got to know some … Continue reading

Posted in Development assistance, Ethiopian experiences | Leave a comment

What can and should an “outsider” say?

In the aftermath of the election in Ethiopia – elections that resulted in a landslide victory for the ruling EPRDF party – outsiders such as the UK Government or Human Rights Watch are being told, on the one hand, by … Continue reading

Posted in Development assistance, Ethiopian experiences, Global Development | Leave a comment

Politics and aid effectiveness

Election day in Ethiopia seems like a good day to break my self-imposed ban on blogging about aid and politics and begin to share my reflections about the relationship between the two in Ethiopia.

Posted in Development assistance | Leave a comment

South to Arba Minch

With elections here tomorrow, what should a governance adviser do? Probably not take 3 days off to go travelling. However, with my time in Ethiopia drawing rapidly to a close, I was keen to see a bit more of the … Continue reading

Posted in Ethiopian experiences | Leave a comment

Elections, accountabilities and home

My time in Addis is coming to an end. My replacement – Ahmed – has already started. Employing me was always only a temporary measure, which makes sense. I’ve had a great time. I’ve learned a lot and have been … Continue reading

Posted in Ethiopian experiences, UK politics | 1 Comment

What to do? A request for career advice!

Decisions about what to do career-wise are seldom easy.  My time with DFID Ethiopia comes to an end at the end of May. It’s been great.  I did have a job to go back to at ODI, but I’ve decided … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Journey to the East

I decided to take advantage of the long Easter weekend – not as long as it might be because while DFID has a holiday today, the Government of Ethiopia does not – and embark on a Journey to the East, … Continue reading

Posted in Ethiopian experiences | Leave a comment

Transparency and …

Interesting post, as usual – even though I sometimes disagree – from Owen Barder about transparency. I’ve stuck my oar in – again again – making the point that – CATCHPHRASE ALERT – “transparency is a necessary but not sufficient … Continue reading

Posted in Development assistance, Global Development | 1 Comment

The return of the “missing middle” – A response to David Roodman

There are lots of problems with development assistance. One of them is that people like me don’t really know what we’re doing, but pretend that we do. Or more specifically, that we rarely make explicit why we think that what … Continue reading

Posted in Development assistance, Global Development | Leave a comment

Not-Bob: Ethiopia on the BBC

I’m not going to comment on the recent stories about the possible diversion of aid to Ethiopia in the 1980s to buy arms, but readers might want to have a listen to three recent pieces about the country, and the … Continue reading

Posted in Development assistance | Leave a comment