I was lucky enough to spend a week in Sierra Leone at the beginning of September, and it was a great opportunity to reflect on what we do – and what we could do – in the context of an entirely new country. INASP hasn’t worked in Sierra Leone before, but with a new body of programme work, we’re now in a position to think about introducing our work to a few new countries. But this post isn’t about that new work, but about some broader impressions – of Sierra Leone and its development needs, and why our work matters.

In the fourteen years that I’ve travelled in, worked in, and briefly lived in parts of the continent, I’ve been privileged to explore many countries, and to have had my thinking repeatedly challenged. But in recent years I’ve come to spend much of my time in relatively comfortable hotels and conference venues, in rapidly growing cities where you’re not far from a cappuccino, a decent wifi connection and the chattering of prospering business and political elites. Aside from the shock of an early-morning Freetown arrival – hustled through the airport, down a muddy track, and onto a pitching jetty to board a speedboat for the journey across the bay into town – Sierra Leone was a stark reminder about why we’re really doing this work. Continue reading “In one of the world’s poorest countries, should research and higher education be a priority?” »