In Ethiopia basic services are defined as Health, Education, Agriculture, Water & Sanitation and Road Construction. The PBS project was one of the World Bank’s largest operations in the world, involving six donors, 1.5 billion dollars, and the Government of Ethiopia. The PBS Secretariat was at the heart of this complex operation, leading the project’s unique supervision model by providing high quality technical analysis and implementation support.

During my frequent field trips, my role was to document human interest stories reflecting the impact of PBS’s work, understand programme donors, and communicate with them using the appropriate tone of voice to win their trust and confidence. It was important to follow proper editorial, journalistic and ethical standards and be attentive to political and cultural sensitivities.