Thanks Alimi you make a lot of interesting points, and thanks for venting your frustration,.
One point you make that I agree on, is that I think locally driven cause identification can be really valuable and is heavily underrated by the EA community. People who have lived in a place a long time have the ability to see problems and ideas that can’t be easily identified on the internet from afar, and I think EA could generate a lot of value by asking practitioners from low income countries about what causes/interventions might be cost effective.
Where we might disagree though, in that I think that 95%+ of these causes will fail to meet the EA bar for action, but some of them at least will be causes that the EA community could get stuck into funding and working on.
I also agree that dealing with root causes of problems is theoretically better, but there has been a long history of aid and development initiatives which have tried and failed to address many of these causes. I think EAs are very open to “root cause” fixing, but the problem is it is often unclear how to implement tractable change in many of these issues. Maybe you could suggest some possible fixes for root causes for discussion? One interesting solution of fixing a root cause problem for example is e-procurement to reduce corruption, which some African countries are already doing and I think has a lot of potential.
A small question—becoming a lawyer must be cheaper in Nigeria than in Uganda. Travel to Boston from Nigeria + accommodation (cost maybe $2000) would only pay for 1 year of law school here in Uganda, how much is it in Nigeria?
Thanks @NickLaing for sharing your perspectives. I agree with you all on counts.
However, I see we are missing the point where the “EA Bar for action” fail to rake in some highly neglected and promising causes but with low scale or scope. Also, aid and development initiatives seem to have failed because of the top down approaches employed. For instance, when I was a translator and interpreter working on a JICA sponsored project for the construction and equipment of primary schools in the Republic of Benin, I noticed an innovation in Japanese approach to ODA . It consisted of assisting local people based on what the communities needed and allowing them to take ownership of the project/assistance. It has a really worked then. Prior to this new approach, schools were built and equiped in remote place without consulting the beneficiaries or engaging local authorities
On possible fixes for root causes discussion, I would welcome the opportunity to have a chat with you some day and even make it a recurring activities if all interested parties find it worthwhile.
About the cost of law school in Nigeria, it depends on where one is running the program( I am having mine in Lagos) and some other factors such as being a special student or regular student. I am a special student given my civil law family background ( having studied law in a Francophone country: Republic of Benin) . And, most importantly to be a high impact lawyer, it is a huge investment.
Thanks Alimi you make a lot of interesting points, and thanks for venting your frustration,.
One point you make that I agree on, is that I think locally driven cause identification can be really valuable and is heavily underrated by the EA community. People who have lived in a place a long time have the ability to see problems and ideas that can’t be easily identified on the internet from afar, and I think EA could generate a lot of value by asking practitioners from low income countries about what causes/interventions might be cost effective.
Where we might disagree though, in that I think that 95%+ of these causes will fail to meet the EA bar for action, but some of them at least will be causes that the EA community could get stuck into funding and working on.
I also agree that dealing with root causes of problems is theoretically better, but there has been a long history of aid and development initiatives which have tried and failed to address many of these causes. I think EAs are very open to “root cause” fixing, but the problem is it is often unclear how to implement tractable change in many of these issues. Maybe you could suggest some possible fixes for root causes for discussion? One interesting solution of fixing a root cause problem for example is e-procurement to reduce corruption, which some African countries are already doing and I think has a lot of potential.
A small question—becoming a lawyer must be cheaper in Nigeria than in Uganda. Travel to Boston from Nigeria + accommodation (cost maybe $2000) would only pay for 1 year of law school here in Uganda, how much is it in Nigeria?
Thanks @NickLaing for sharing your perspectives. I agree with you all on counts.
However, I see we are missing the point where the “EA Bar for action” fail to rake in some highly neglected and promising causes but with low scale or scope. Also, aid and development initiatives seem to have failed because of the top down approaches employed. For instance, when I was a translator and interpreter working on a JICA sponsored project for the construction and equipment of primary schools in the Republic of Benin, I noticed an innovation in Japanese approach to ODA . It consisted of assisting local people based on what the communities needed and allowing them to take ownership of the project/assistance. It has a really worked then. Prior to this new approach, schools were built and equiped in remote place without consulting the beneficiaries or engaging local authorities
On possible fixes for root causes discussion, I would welcome the opportunity to have a chat with you some day and even make it a recurring activities if all interested parties find it worthwhile.
About the cost of law school in Nigeria, it depends on where one is running the program( I am having mine in Lagos) and some other factors such as being a special student or regular student. I am a special student given my civil law family background ( having studied law in a Francophone country: Republic of Benin) . And, most importantly to be a high impact lawyer, it is a huge investment.