This is the first post on the first day of this blog.
As the sidebar says, we will concentrate on international development and policy issues. Ideas will be tossed around, critiqued, dumped or praised. We will be using some development terms, but will do our best to avoid the useless acronyms invented to drive us all crazy and abbreviate sentences.
The contributors to this blog have one thing in common - and that is the frustration of watching development assistance vanish into the multiple black holes in emerging economies. This is not always the fault of donors - one only needs to glance at the lucky recipient governments to understand what happens at the other end of the money trail.
Most of the time, the posts here will be on technical subjects. Most of the time. But we might go off on a tangent and discuss political decisions and policies that are backward and in our opinion - just plain stupid. We also don't always agree among ourselves, so you might see some fireworks from time to time.
Ultimately, we hope to provide a useful dialogue that actually promotes, well, results.
Finally, all of us work for a living. This blog ain't gonna pay the rent or, more importantly, keep good wine on the table. So, if at times it appears to be a bit thin, we are working. Just sayin'...
If you don't like what we propose or say, keep your criticism polite and rational. Tone is important. Snark is appreciated up to a point. Don't make it a habit and we won't - and we are very, very good at it.
Wish us luck.
