The wisdom of Buzkashi riders, passed on from generation to generation in Afghanistan, says that ‘when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount’. However, in the UN and NGO community a range of far more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

• Changing riders;
• Appointing a committee to study the horse;
• Arranging to visit other countries to see how others ride dead horses;
• Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included;
• Reclassifying the dead horse as ‘living impaired’;
• Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse;
• Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the speed;
• Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse’s performance;
• Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance;
• Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore contributes substantially more to the mission of the organization than do some other horses;
• Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses;
• Preparing a workshop with paid attendants on the subject of Experience gaining in riding dead horses in post war setting;
• Preparing a second workshop on environmental hazards caused by horse shit, and the advantage on using dead horses since they do not shit therefore are of no hazard to the environment.

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The Welbodi Partnership was established to support the provision of paediatric care in Sierra Leone, where child health statistics are the worst in the world.

The cool thing - as Tristan points out - is that:

they work directly with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to improve the hospital, instead of running their own hospital, as many NGOs like to do. This way, they deliver services and build capacity in the country’s health system.

There are far too many NGOs who, for respectable reasons, set up parallel services. The result is duplication and waste, and foreign-funded NGOs often deplete capacity from already hard-pressed government systems. The Welbody partnership approach seems to combine the best of both worlds.

Does anyone know of other NGOs taking this approach?

Their food is provided by Our Father’s Kitchen, set up a year ago by Yasser and Manal Bagersh who own a couple of restaurants here in Addis. Their kitchens provide food every day for these children, most of whom are living with HIV.

It costs 217.20 birr (about $20) a month to feed a child every day. A decent meal is an essential part of staying healthy for a child living with AIDS - the drugs make you sick on an empty stomach - and the simple provision of this meal enables these children to go to school. With this simple investment, Yasser and Manal are transforming the lives of these children.

They want to expand the programme and they are launching a pledge campaign. Yasser is setting up a website for people to donate; until then you can pick up a sponsorship form at The Lime Tree Cafe or email ourfatherskitchen@yahoo.com.

These people are seriously impressive. People like me write policy papers, attend conferences, and have opinions about how things work, or should work. These people, by contrast, set up and run clinics - navigating their way through the challenges of logistics, bureaucracy, people management and marketing. They have all lived in some of the most challenging places on the planet, and all set about their work with an enthusiasm and optimism which is as infectious as it is inspiring. Real heroes.