I wondered when this would start to happen

Every seminar these days has pictures of program activities. So, of course, I take more photos than I used to in the past. This time in Uganda, the tables turned.

We were visiting a rather spectacular farmer. I whipped out my phone and captured his raised beds and different varietals for posterity. Then we walked off to look at one of his other fields.

At some point during the walk a nice gentleman with a pretty serious camera and camera bag joined our little group. At the last field, the farmer asked us to all pose with him for a picture. When I asked him why, he pointed out that people come, visit his farm and take his picture but don’t send him a copy. He wanted one of us, for his scrapbook.

Markus Goldstein’s latest notes from the field.

I am adding this to my personal cache of Real World Development Indicators, alongside “percentage of subjects that refuse to answer your surveys because they are too busy” and “number of government officials who give white researchers a ‘who the hell are you?’ look and listen to their national economist colleagues for advice”.

Ethiopia, by the way, is doing spectacularly on all counts, and Uganda is catching up. Liberia worsens by the day.

Other RWDI candidates?

43 Responses

  2. Percentage of people in society who become self-conscious and come to recognition of their individual agency!

  3. When governments can feed their own people without assistance from ngo’s.
    When governments want to feed their own people without assistance from ngo’s.

  6. RWDI #1: The tallest building is not a government or United Nations building.
    RWDI #2: There are no wrecked airplanes near the runway of the main airport.