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The discussion around evaluating large-scale development projects is an important one. Michael Clemens and Gabriel Demombynes offer a critique of the Millennium Village Project (MVP) and its research methods. Their paper misunderstands the MVP's aims and evaluation methods. We respond briefly here, to clarify some of those basic misunderstandings about the project's goals and approaches to evaluation.
1. Goals of the Millennium Villages Project
The MVP is a ten-year project running through 2015, the deadline year for the Millennium Development . . . [more]
Not long ago, next to the Ruhiira Health Centre was a relatively unassuming looking building surrounded by scattered building blocks and cast in the shadow of a towering radio mast which usually had the ICT facilitator Elly Nankunda tinkering at the top of it.
Come July 2010, however, and the place was unrecognisable, transformed into a Community Resource Centre (CRC) which Jeffrey Sachs deemed to be 'the first of its kind in . . . [more]
'Welcome visitors, welcome today, we've all been waiting so long!' Coming over the crest of the hill into the Millennium Village of Ruhiira, Uganda, children's singing voices gradually become louder, intermingled with bursts of clapping and laughter. The long-awaited visitor, Jeffrey Sachs, is due to arrive at any moment, and the anticipation is palpable. Sachs, Head . . . [more]
Last Monday I had the pleasure of attending the Second Annual Millennium Promise Partners’ Meeting. It was brilliant.
I have never been in a room with so many people I had only heard about, read articles by and watched lectures from online. Perhaps most wonderfully, everyone seemed impatient for action.
The setup was great. It allowed for sharing of ideas and I think it would have been hard not to come away even more inspired and empowered. The level of innovation was phenomenal.
World leaders, powerful calls to action from all spheres of society, . . . [more]
This has been a terrific week for Millennium Promise, for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and – most importantly – for the hopes of communities and families living in extreme poverty around the world. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama gave his first address to the United Nations General Assembly. In conveying his administration's vision leading up to the major MDG-focused international summit scheduled for September 2010, he eloquently described the challenged current state of our global community:
Far too many people in . . . [more]
Posted by John McArthur | Jul 1, 2009 |
Education
In a posting on the Global Brief blog, Millennium Promise CEO John McArthur writes about two promising educational programs which focus on developing young leaders who can help build a brighter future for those in extreme poverty.
Two events yesterday prompted me to feel encouraged about progress in the education of future socially minded leaders around the world. One was the privilege of having dinner with Fred Swaniker, co-founder of the African Leadership Academy, and two extremely impressive students from its first class. The other was the announcement of grants to launch new Master’s . . . [more]
Here in Rwanda, Magatte Wade's strange recent Huffington Post blog was received with quite a bit of surprise.
Wade's assertions over what she calls "ignorant" and "arrogant" rules for village tourism is wholly off-base. For starters, the community itself began the official tour program--in partnership with a private sector partner--nearly two years ago as a way to manage the significant number of requests to visit the village. As word of . . . [more]
This past Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending a dinner event to mobilize support for the Show Me Campaign. Founded by 5-time Grammy Award winner John Legend, a longstanding supporter of Millennium Promise and our community-level partnership with the people of Mbola, Tanzania, the mission of Show Me is to end poverty through sustainable development, education and service at the individual, family and community . . . [more]
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