First weekend back in Freetown

This week has been exhausting. It began with an overnight flight from Dar Es Salaam to London on Monday, going straight from the airport to the office for a full day of work on Tuesday. Thank you SO MUCH to Nita and Simon Wood for rescuing me with Mexican food, Cabernet Sauvignon, a comfy bed and HOT SHOWER on Tuesday night! I then flew back to Sierra Leone on Wednesday and was in the Freetown office on Thursday and Friday. So this weekend I've tried to take it easy, catching up on a bit of sleep, venturing out to the central Freetown fabric markets with Susie and Thea on Saturday (as if I didn't buy enough in Dar already?!) and heading out of town (for a very bumpy taxi ride) to Tokeh beach with Thea and Perry on Sunday. Still don't feel like I've fully recharged my batteries but it's a start...

Susie and Thea haggling in the market

Susie gets lost in a sea of fabric

The very phallic bird patterned material. No, I didn't buy it. Tempting though (-;

Tokeh beach. My favourite so far.

Perry and Thea catching some rays

Happiness is a coconut on a white sandy beach (-:

Beach football

Heading back to the taxi

Fishing boats

Week off in Dar Es Salaam

This week has been the perfect antidote to the hecticness of last week's conference schedule. I've been staying with friends on the Msasani Peninsula in Dar Es Salaam, and making the most of getting up late, swimming in their pool, drinking coffee with non-powdered milk, reading, sleeping in a comfortable bed and having showers with hot water. I feel like I've fully recharged my batteries and am ready to get stuck back into work (and bucket showers) next week.


It was also great to hang out with Kate (our Programme Manager in Nepal) as, like me, she'd tagged on some leave after the conference. We started the week by going to Bongoyo island (one of four tiny desert islands, a bit closer to the mainland than Zanzibar). It's part of the Dar Es Salaam Marine Reserve and absolutely stunning. We spent the day swimming in the sea, reading under a beach banda and eating freshly caught fish and calamari. Heaven. On Tuesday we treated ourselves to body scrubs and massages at a spa just round the corner from where I've been staying. It was so good I (slightly guiltily) went back again on Friday. On Wednesday we ventured into central Dar to go fabric shopping. I'm looking forward to getting some dresses and skirts made by Mr Mansour (the tailor next to the office) when I get back to Freetown. Kate (who speaks fluent Swahili from her time as a volunteer here) managed to get "local prices" and I ended up with four huge pieces of brightly coloured fabric for just over a tenner. Bargain.


Tomorrow I'm flying to London via Dubai and then have a day of meetings in the London office on Tuesday before heading back to Freetown on Wednesday. Wonder if I'll make it to O'Casey's in time for Open Mic night?!

On the boat to Bongoyo island

Blissful day reading under a Banda

Cleaning the ink out of the squid (not just dirty water!)

Lunch before...

...and after!

In central Dar with Kate

Fabric shopping

Roadside snacks

Programme Quality Conference, Tanzania

This week all the Restless Development Programme Managers and Monitoring & Evaluation Managers in the nine countries that we work in met in Dar Es Salaam for our annual International Programme Quality Conference. It was great to see a lot of familiar faces and meet some new ones. It's always good to put a face to the name of someone you've been emailing for months!

The main aim of the conference was to bring the whole Programme Quality Unit together and bridge the gaps between the programme design/implementation stages of our work (traditionally carried out by Programme Managers) and the monitoring/evaluation stages (usually led by our M&E Managers) - the idea being that it's all a cycle of Programme Quality and all stages of the process are dependent on each other. 

It was a jam-packed schedule, with some sessions focusing on capacity building for specific stages of the Programme Quality cycle and other sessions providing an opportunity for practice sharing where various countries did presentations on different aspects of their work. I co-facilitated some of the sessions on programme design and led the practice sharing workshops. It was really interesting to hear in detail about some of the work we're doing as well as have the opportunity to see how similar models could work in different countries.

Goals and Approaches session for Programme Design

Brainstorming with Jalloh

Programme Design group work

On Tuesday we all had the opportunity to go on a range of field visits to see first-hand some of the work that our Tanzania team is doing. One group went to see a Youth Resource Centre, another met with some of our partner organisations, and another visited some Youth Camps where we are supporting young women to start their own businesses, making and selling jewellery and accessories. I was in the group that met with some of our alumni (ex-volunteers) to talk to them about their continuing role with Restless Development and their plans to be involved in the review of the National Constitution. Exciting stuff!

Meeting with Restless Development Tanzania alumni

Feedback session on Field Visits

On Wednesday we managed to escape the hotel in the evening and head out to the beach for drinks, dinner and some dancing. According to the "Entertainment Director" (aka James from Sierra Leone) we were all meant to teach the rest of the group a traditional dance from our country. There were some very impressive numbers from India, Uganda and Zambia but I'm not sure the UK office's rendition of the Hokey Cokey really matched up. It's the effort that counts, right?!

International dance class from Zambia

Teaching the Hokey Cokey

Kilimanjaro beer with Laura and Robyn

On the last night of the conference we headed out again for more dancing (no Hokey Cokey included) and said our goodbyes as the first departures were early Sunday morning. It's good to know I'll see James and Jalloh back in Freetown and will be seeing the South Africa and Zambia teams when I do my support visits in April and May. 

Ready to head out on last night

PQ ladies!

Last night dancing

It's been a great week, but I'm exhausted, and really looking forward to a whole week off. I'm going to be staying with friends on the Msasani Peninsula in Dar and recharging my batteries before I head back to Freetown. Kate (Programme Manager in Nepal, who has also tagged on some leave) and I have already made plans to go to Bongoyo island for the day on Monday and booked ourselves in for body scrubs and massages on Tuesday. Can't wait!

Last day of Sierra Leone Phase #1

I'm just about to head off to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania for our International Programme Quality Conference, but have managed to cram loads into my last day of Phase #1 in Sierra Leone (I'll be back again after the conference).

Started the day with an early meeting with our Management Committee in Freetown to select, analyse and prioritise the policy problems generated in the workshop on Monday. The problems we chose will form the basis of the action plan I'll be working on when I come back for Phase #2 so it was exciting to see it all come together. Photos below.

I was really pleased to meet with the Policy and Campaigns Manager from Leonard Cheshire Disability this afternoon. Before I started at Restless Development, I did a consultancy there and got to know about a great programme they run called "Young Voices" which is all about young people with disabilities campaigning for their rights through the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. They have lots of experience in engaging young people in policy and advocacy work so there is a lot of crossover with the work we do, and I'm looking forward to introducing them to some of our team and exploring possibilities for shared working when I get back from Tanzania.

I thought I'd finish up with a few photos that I've taken round and about Freetown over the last 3 weeks. It's a difficult place to describe, so I'll let the photos do the talking!

Overlooking the harbour from Fourah Bay College

Overlooking the central part of Freetown from Fourah Bay College

Central Freetown

Street vendor in central Freetown

Road heading out of Freetown

Lots of construction work

Funky wall art on my walk on the way to the office

Freetown by night - no street lights!