whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

1. Overcoming the Conservation of Energy
(Analysis/Analysis)

... take a lot of abuse, yet it isn't indestructible. The number of mangled motorcar wrecks in scrap-yards attest that even the best cars eventually become rusted heaps if they aren't maintained...

2. Dave Bullard and Graham Knox: "We can't walk on water so why not try wine?"
(Analysis/Analysis)

...price only. Other countries are better constituted to adopt a price strategy; they have long flat vineyards that allow machine harvesting. South Africa has steep slopes and can only farm in short ru...

3. Two Frontiers: wars of liberation and of determination
(Analysis/Analysis)

...Saudi Royal Family and how come there are no opposition newspapers allowed in Saudi Arabia. Geoffrey Nyarota, editor of the Zimbabwe Daily News whose printing presses were fire-bombed, his newspaper ...

4. Nigeria, or the idiots guide to stealing an election
(Analysis/Analysis)

...nder VI, the 215th Catholic Pope. In comparison to Nigerian elections, he got in cheap. Alhaji Umaru Yar'Adua is rumoured to have spent more than US$ 100 million securing his election as preside...

5. Development organisations need to engage with ratings agencies
(Analysis/Analysis)

...catch some of the largess being donated by such luminaries as Bill Gates, of Microsoft, and Pierre Omidyar, of eBay. As they do so they are being subjected to an unusual form of scrutiny – for ...

6. Making money, doing good
(Analysis/Analysis)

...before the information can be brought to Kigali,” the country’s capital, says Dr Innocent Nyaruhirira, who holds the cabinet-level post of minister for HIV/AIDS. “We are a country of...

7. Millennium Development Goals and the Measurement of Change
(Analysis/Analysis)

...l 9: lower the cost of starting a new business The Copenhagen Consensus was published as a measurable yardstick.  Thus far the Millennium Development Goals are falling far short of their target;...

8. The carnage on South Africa's roads
(Analysis/Analysis)

...  Arrive Alive reports on their own success.  They are not measured relative to any external yardstick and the type of hard-core road-safety enforcement required is lacking. Gauteng, the pro...

9. 7 What are all the uses of ratings?
(FAQs/Rating FAQs)

.... The organisations themselves have an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities against an objective yardstick. They can also improve their services and be recognised for the investment involved in ...