In the heart of rural Guinea, a World Bank project aimed at improving social services unveils profound lessons about wisdom, understanding, and sustainable development. This blog delves into an encounter between experts and a village chief, highlighting the crucial difference between formal education and true knowledge. Through the community's decision to build a school, the village ingeniously tackles multiple challenges, showing that real insights often come from listening and appreciating the context. Join us as we explore the values of humility, asking the right questions and recognising that no one has a monopoly on knowledge.

ChatGPT has taken artificial intelligence (AI) to a new level. Its exponential rise since its launch in November 2022 has surprised everyone. The private sector adapts as best as it can to this new technological disruption.

The development and humanitarian sector has no choice but to adapt as well. In this article, I explain the pros and cons of adopting AI and the strategies INGOs can implement to harness its potential to achieve their mission.

I have just finished 3 weeks in my new role as Global Programs Director at Oxfam. Even for a seasoned senior leader like me, career transitions are tricky moments that must be carefully navigated to succeed and add value as early as possible. I share 5 tips that can help you achieve just that.

INGOs should not wait for the next crisis to change. Change is now, and they need to make the right choices. They must be agile, adaptable, and alert like a chameleon; vigilant, persistent and fearless like a royal eagle; have a small and committed crew like a speedboat; have well-defined niches like a specialist; and let go of power, trust their local partners and take the back seat.

After four iterations of their operating system, INGOs have progressively moved from an era of opacity and total power control to an era of transparency and progressive power shift. However, the path to achieving the balance of power between the "Global North" and the "Global South" or between aid providers and aid clients is still long and bumpy. But it is an irreversible path.

Rational decision-making frameworks have limits in permacrisis —an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events. Leaders and managers do not find adequate answers in organisational blueprints. They should be able to experiment with alternative decision-making frameworks, relying less on rational data and more on people's emotions and the political forces at stake.

When I arrived in the DRC in October 2021 to take up my post as Country Director of the International Rescue Committee, a friend who has been working in the country for almost ten years said to me: "Welcome to the development laboratory".

On the spot, I didn't understand his words. But it took me less than a month to understand what he was talking about. I relate my experience in this article. Read and comment.

On Wednesday, 11 May 2022, two International Rescue Committee (IRC) vehicles were attacked by armed men, and two colleagues were kidnapped. On Thursday, 19 May 2022, they were released safe, marking the end of a 9-day ordeal for them, their families, relatives and colleagues.

I give a flashback to those nine days of captivity and suffering of our two colleagues and how I experienced them.

In 2020, when the Covid-19 virus spread around the world like wildfire, everyone predicted doom and gloom for Africa. It was not to be. With the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, a dark fate is being predicted for the continent. Africa has the means to protect itself against the negative effects of this crisis.

After years of escalating tension and months of unsuccessful diplomatic attempts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, what the world had feared happened in the early hours of 24 February 2022: the Russian army attacked Ukraine.

The shockwave is spreading at high speed and risks hitting Africa hard.