Strategzing the day away

So I have 3 more days before I leave for Tajikistan. It has been quite a journey, meeting people from different parts of the world who are impassioned about education and are committed to reaching out to the most marginalized part of society. These people that I met from India, Pakistan, Kenya and Mozambique were so inspiring and are actually making progress towards the lofty goals established by UNESCO and the like. So it's been quite frustrating for me to be sitting here reading reports and documents, analyzing data, and basically not doing anything worthwhile!

Reading the framework for Education for All, the broad mandate to eliminate world illiteracy established by UNESCO makes me laugh. They write these grandiose statements about equity in education and eliminating illiteracy and take these vows to make it happen yet year after year, decade after decade, statistics on education and poverty remain grim. What are we doing wrong? How do we go about eliciting change? What is more important, economics or education? Is that even a fair question to ask? What a depressing post! I need to get out of the office and into the field and start doing something!

11 days before departure

I have become a blogger. I never understood the whole idea of blogging, but now that I am going to be moving away from home for 2 years, I can see why this might be a very useful and fun tool.

So, I am going to be moving to Tajikistan, a country in Central Asia which used to be part of the former Soviet Union. Here's a good map: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/central_asia/tajikistan/tajikistan.htm

I'll be working with a development agency called the Aga Khan Foundation based in Khorog, the second largest city in TJK. My background is in education and I'll be working with the Institute on Professional Development which trains teachers, develops curriculum, and works on school improvement issues. I have always wanted to work in the developing world, so this is a dream come true for me.

More soon...