I’m due back in the UK at the end of May. Before then, there are elections to be held in Ethiopia, on the 23rd May. The elections in 2005 did not go well – disputes about results, violence, people being shot, people being locked up. The Ethiopian Government’s take on things is here. The EU Electoral Observation Mission’s take on things is here.

The expectation is that things will be more peaceful this time around. There are a variety of reasons for that, very few of which are about a strengthening of democracy and human rights in Ethiopia and most of which I would probably be unwise to comment on. I will leave that to others, including the EU’s Electoral Observation Mission, whose interim reports look good – it will be interesting to see whether their final report, which I imagine will have more oversight from higher political levels (of the EU and its member states), builds on or is substantially different from the interim reports.

I’m not supposed to be here – here is in Addis – this weekend. I had been planning to go to Arba Minch for a couple of days, staying in Paradise Lodge. However, there was some uncertainty this week about whether foreigners would be able to travel outside Addis this close to the election. The authorities here don’t want foreigners to risk getting caught up in any election-related trouble. Or something like that … So, my trip has been cancelled or at least postponed until things are clearer.

Has been a wee bit frustrating travel-wise the last few weeks. A couple of weeks ago I was due to go down to the Somali region – on the border with Kenya and Somalia – on a work field-trip. Turned out that because of my contract – I am in effect a consultant – I am not insured in the same way as regular British DFID staff. My personal insurance would not have been valid so close to the border and DFID (rightly) felt that if I got injured on the trip and needed medical evacuation they would be obliged to pay, and as the cost could be as much as £150k they could not take that risk.

All a bit disappointing, but also thought-provoking. Not easy explaining to Ethiopian colleagues – dependent on the Ethiopian health system – who were going on the visit that I wouldn’t be going because I didn’t have coverage for medical evacuation. I was surprised how easily I put aside any principles – or imagined some new ones – in order to look after my personal interests. My Ethiopian colleagues must think I’m a right wuss, although I guess that foreigners having options that they do not, and making choices that they cannot, is nothing new for them. On a related note, there’s been some discussion in the blogosphere of an interesting piece by Ravi Kanbur about the cushy life of people who work in international development.

As well as elections in Ethiopia, elections in the UK have of course been a hot topic amongst DFID staff. DFID was set up in 1997 so has never served a non-Labour government. It will be interesting to see what changes the Conservatives/Liberal Democrats make. Owen Barder has done a useful primer on the new UK Government’s Development Policy. In his introductory speech to DFID staff, the new Secretary of State, Andrew Mitchell MP, bigged-up Clare Short, which I thought was a nice touch!

Some of the things that the new Government have said they will prioritise – more focus on results, independent evaluation, greater transparency, more attention to accountability, possible introduction of Cash-on-Delivery Aid – have the potential to be good (although I trust that there will be serious discussion about the limitations as well as the potential of the results agenda, impact evaluation and techniques such as Randomized Controlled Trials – for instance, on results, it might not be the case that everyone in the aid chain will prioritise the same results). It will also be interesting to see how the new Government manages the relationship between poverty reduction objectives and other more security-related objectives, and – notwithstanding the Conservatives commitment to meet the 0.7% target by 2013 – what that means for spending on poverty reduction.

Once my time in Addis comes to an end, I will be returning to Brighton – in recent years, and not discounting the fact that I am NOT A SOUTHERNER, my spiritual home, along perhaps with Arsenal-Land). I didn’t vote for Caroline Lucas – I didn’t feel that it was the best option tactically – but I am very pleased, even proud, that Brighton now has a Green MP.

Work-wise, from June I will be working 60% with both the “politics and state” and “fragility and development” teams in DFID’s policy division, focussing on accountability-related issues. So, I’m very excited about that. And then the plan is to use the other 40% to make sure that what I do in policy division is well-informed by the realities of governance in developing countries. I don’t want to be designing frameworks and models and writing How To Notes that aren’t useful for DFID’s country offices. So, I hope to remain engaged in governance work in Ethiopia, and through being involved in other governance/accountability programmes in places such as Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania …

Non work-wise, I’m very much looking forward to being back with Amanda and to enjoying the Summer in Brighton. There’s plenty of wind-surfing, mountain-biking and swimming in the sea to be done and we’ve booked to go to Benicassim music festival in Spain. The weather here in Addis has been rubbish – not sure whether it’s been good for the farmers, whose interests should take precedence over my desire to sunbathe! – so I’m looking forward to a bit of sun too.

Fingers and everything else crossed for the Ethiopian elections.

The questions that the ONE campaign is asking the political parties to respond to (and thus provide a basis for holding them to account …) are:

1. Global leadership
With the UN’s September Summit focusing on extreme poverty and the Millennium Development Goals, there is a historic opportunity for progress. How will you make the most of this opportunity?

2. The UK’s promise
If elected, what would you do to ensure the UK delivers on its commitment to give 0.7% of Gross National Income as development assistance?

3. Climate and development
What would you do to secure a global climate deal that helps people living in poverty and would you ensure that climate funding is additional to current and promised aid flows?

4. Improving aid
UK development assistance is well respected, but are there ways in which you would increase its effectiveness?

5. Security and development
What is your position on using development funding for security operations?

6. Investment in Africa
How would you ensure private sector investment in Africa helps to reduce poverty?

Owen is a fellow (if longer term) resident of Addis and his blog is well worth a read. More vocal on aid and politics than mine is …. than mine is at the moment.

Actually, here’s my response to his blog, just in case he doesn’t get a chance to approve my comment very soon.

As someone who thinks in principle that debate about parties’ policies is an important part of effective democratic/ accountable/ legitimate governance, I’ve been itching to respond to this interesting and thought-provoking post. I think there’s a lot to be said about the relationship between different parties’ positions – which may turn out to be more different than what their Green Papers and manifestos say – and ensuring that UK development cooperation is as effective as possible.

However, my temporary status as a UK civil servant should perhaps restrain me, as does Owen’s analysis that (paraphrased, with apologies) acting as if the presumed development consensus is real is the best way of ensuring that a future government remains committed to sensible (?) policies on poverty reduction – although I am not totally persuaded by that analysis.

[I have been playing around with a matrix of real/unreal commitments or consensus, and best guesses about/probabilities of a future government, to consider whether challenging a party on the truthfulness/reality of its stated position is wise or unwise, but have found myself too busy trying to understand Ethiopian politics and ownership to complete my half-baked analysis!]

What I’d really like to see is a response by Kevin Watkins. In his absence, readers might be interested to have a look at Duncan Green’s recent piece on his dream manifesto for development http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/01/from-poverty-to-power/

Owen, do you think that putting forward a dream manifesto is acceptable or does that – and the judgement that is implicit in that about what a good policy and hence (assuming there are policy differences between parties on the issues in the dream manifesto) party position on international development is – put at risk the supposed cross-party consensus?

How much or what type of discussion of parties’ policies on international development is OK? What if someone’s voting decision were shaped by a party’s likely approach to international development? Wouldn’t that then merit some discussion of the likely/possible differences between parties?

Just some thoughts. Sanitized of my party political views. Almost. And with thanks to Owen and Duncan for interesting posts.

PS: I will be interested to see what my former ODI colleagues – a think tank that prides itself on its political neutrality and basing its advice on “evidence” – might have to say about this sort of thing, particularly with a change of government (and major client) in the offing.