Rick Davies (left) in the podcast studio
Mark King's interview with independent Katine monitor Rick Davies (13m 00s)
Consultant Rick Davies is acting as an independent monitor in Katine, assessing how well the work on the ground is corresponding to Amref's stated plans for the sub-county. He is doing this by looking at Amref's own internal systems for monitoring and evaluation, trying to assess how adequate they are and helping them to build up their capacity.
Rick has just got back from his first trip to Katine, where he met all the Amref staff as well as local government officials, and he is currently in the process of finalising his report for publication on the Katine website.
I invited him into the Guardian to talk about how he works, what he found in Katine, where he saw room for improvement, and whether he spotted any warning signs for both the Guardian and Amref.
With over 20 years experience, he certainly knows where the weaknesses are in any development project.
"There is a complex social structure in Katine sub-county that Amref needs to understand and work through, if it wants to ensure that any impact it achieves is sustainable in the long-run," Rick explains.
"You could go in there very easily and hand out lots of things, but it would not be sustainable. Amref needs to help community and other groups improve their capacity to deliver services in the areas of health, education, sanitation, and water, for example."
You can click the following audio button (as above) to hear a streaming version of the interview or you can download it here.
