Just read Rachel Glennerster’s new post summarizing the results of a new survey on how Sierra Leoneans are faring during the Ebola crisis. “For much of the last two months Tavneet Suri and I have been working with the Sierra Leone team at Innovations for Poverty Action, the World Bank, and Statistics Sierra Leone on […]
Happy Holidays
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Christmas with Ebola, is Ebola without Christmas.
In Sierra Leone, the month of December has always been the month of festivities. The country has a majority of Muslims but its unique live-and-let-live culture established since the turn of the 19th Century allows both Christians and Muslims to celebrate Christmas as they do for the Muslim holidays, but December is special. The weather […]
Basing Policy on Empirical Evidence
The use of empirical evidence to influence or determine policy is one of the major challenges found in countries at the bottom of the development ladder. What is the evidence so far about the transmission of Ebola? I am told by one of our erudite specialists in the field that over 99% of the cases […]
Sierra Leone’s Capacity Problems
In a recent discussion I had with one of our donor partners, I argued that the view that Sierra Leone suffers from capacity weaknesses and therefore needs to build capacity; in short train more people and give them more qualifications, is rather simplistic and in some cases just plain wrong. This is not to say […]
Statistics In Africa
I read this article on Africa Check by Georgina Alexander and John Endres- The trouble with statistics about Africa -on how “Bad and incomplete data bedevils African statistics…” This is so true. I have had harrowing experiences in two countries, including mine, and in both cases, there were possibilities for immediate correction but the consequences would have been […]