Just got laid off? Good. It’s one of the worst things that can happen to you professionally. But it’s also a rare opportunity to do something new without regrets. I know how it feels because I’ve been there. I got fired from my last job and had to find another one in less than four […]
Jennifer Bussell and Asim FayazMay 2017 Overview This case study discusses government capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters – floods, earthquakes, and heat waves – in Pakistan. The analysis finds that several hypotheses described at the start of this report are particularly relevant to explaining the extent of disaster preparedness and risk […]
This talk was delivered on April 29, 2017 in Oakland, California, to the Fulbright Class of 2017 shortly returning to Pakistan. I have added links and certain references, details and qualifications that I could not mention while speaking (in the interest of time). I was invited by the Institute of South Asia Studies at UC […]
Reading Robert Chamber’s paper “Poverty and livelihoods: whose reality counts?” reminded me of an incident a friend narrated a couple of years back. At the time, he was working for a development sector think-tank in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. The incident occurred after he had just arrived at a 5-star hotel to attend a USAid-funded conference […]
Despite having seen some really dumb “development” ideas in the past waste a large amount of time and money, I recently came across something so… wrong, that it actually made me angry enough to write about it! According to Wikipedia, the PlayPump Water System (shown above) is… “… like a playground merry-go-round attached to a water pump. The […]
I first saw Abdul Jabbar when I joined LUMS eight years back as a freshman. I last saw him yesterday when he opened the gate for me as I was leaving for home. I, in my car, air-conditioning on full blast, thirsty as hell because I was fasting. He, on foot, fanning himself with a […]