World Bank

Why did they choose a basketball as their logo?

Today I went to a meeting at the World Bank which was set up to discuss an extensive report they are publishing on the situation of the education sector in Côte d'Ivoire. Things are not great, with 42% of children aged between 7-12 not attending school. As with the public sector in general, part of the problem is linked to the effective partition of the country between the government-controlled south, and the centre and north (CNO – centre nord ouest) controlled by the Forces Nouvelles – the rebels. There are various agreements in place and the process of handing back the reigns to the local 'prefectures' across the country is supposed to have happened. In reality, decentralisation and effective local governance is something that has yet to be achieved, making things very difficult for many people. Anyway, wasn’t going to talk about this, was going to talk about the mini-muffins. Just setting the context. So you can tell straight away when you walk into the World Bank that you're dealing with a completely different type of animal. And its not just the mini-muffins, it’s the technology and even the way the meeting was carried out. Result-driven, to the point (relatively) and less bogged down by procedure than the French/Commission way of doing things. We are dealing with Americans here, people. Anyway, we arrived late and took our (very comfortable) seats. After a presentation on the report, nicely presented on both a projector and fancy giant screen, I was startled to hear voices from afar chiming into the discussion. Indeed the fancy screen flashed onto the other participants (who's presence until that moment, I was quite unaware of) who were located in Washington, Paris and Cotonou. I was mighty impressed, this being my first participation in a video conversation (choppy/frustrating Skype conversations with the Brussels office during my time at Front Line, not withstanding). So an interesting experience, all in all and some pertinent points by the fawn-like character who was chairing the meeting. Aside from the fact that I now feel like I have the flu and am having childhood flashbacks of ear ache and gross ear drops, thanks to the artificial artic wind that blew around the room for the duration of the meeting. In other news I have discovered, though thankfully not from personal experience but rather from expat anecdotes, that Ivorians eat everything. As in all creatures great and small. Yes, not only does this include monkey meat, which seemingly is quite pricey (still grossed out by story about someone finding a mini hand in their dinner) but ladies and gentlemen, they eat cats. Cats. I mean janey, how much meat can there be on the poor blighters' bodies?? And they eat the head, no less. Can you imagine what Rolf Harris and the rest of the Pet Rescue team would think? I mean I know people say that in the UK and Ireland we're way too into our pets, but come on. I hope Jeremy isn't reading this and I'm glad he's safely tucked away on another continent!