Author: Jaclyn Leigh Carlsen

Jaclyn Carlsen is a current student in the new Masters in Development Practice Program at SIPA (MPA-DP 2011). At SIPA, she co-chairs the New Media Task Force and helped to launch the first application of Ushahidi at Columbia University where close to 100 students were trained to monitor and map disaster information for use in responding to earthquake damage in Chile. After earning her B.S. in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University in 2005, Jaclyn worked for Rotary International, connecting club projects with international resources and training Rotary leaders. She also moonlighted for Vibes Media, a mobile marketing firm based in Chicago, solving problems. Jaclyn sometimes blogs at www.jaclyncarlsen.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @jaclynleigh. Visit website »

Relocation Brings Opportunities to Participate in a Historical Event in Kenya

On Monday, the Masters in Development Practice interns at the Millennium Village Project in Sauri, Kenya were relocated to Nairobi as a precaution for the constitutional referendum taking place August 4th. Although this put a damper on our projects, it did enable Steph, Denise and I to participate in a historical event and join 55+…
Mapping Peace, Protests, and Violence in Kenya

You may have heard that on Wednesday, August 4, a historic event will be taking place: a referendum deciding the acceptance or rejection of a new constitution for Kenya. The Green side (aka ‘Yes camp’) is headed by President Mwai Kibaki and supported by Kenya prime minister Raila Odinga and much of the parliament. The…
My Day with a Community Health Worker

Originally posted at karibusauri.wordpress.com The other week I walked the footpaths of Nyaminia, a sub-location of the Millennium Village Project in Sauri, Kenya, to visit households with Richard*, a Community Health Worker (CHW). Going around with a CHW was eye-opening. It’s one thing to read about nutrition screenings and the use of mobile phones for health…
Monitoring and Evaluation is Hard*

A primary component of the Millennium Villages Project education strategy is to improve the quality of education. But are MVP interventions such as school feeding programs, classroom construction, and teacher training truly having an impact on student performance? On Wednesday I attended a planning meeting for an evaluation designed to measure just that. The standardized…
A Week with the Sauri, Kenya Education Team

Originally posted at karibusauri.wordpress.com My first week’s rotation at the Sauri Millennium Village was with the education sector. In three short days I observed MVP sponsored computer labs, school feeding program kitchens, gender separated latrines, a monitoring and evaluation planning meeting, rainwater harvesting, school livestock; the list goes on. The education team is constantly on the…

Relocation Brings Opportunities to Participate in a Historical Event in Kenya

On Monday, the Masters in Development Practice interns at the Millennium Village Project in Sauri, Kenya were relocated to Nairobi as a precaution for the constitutional referendum taking place August 4th. Although this put a damper on our projects, it did enable Steph, Denise and I to participate in a historical event and join 55+…
Mapping Peace, Protests, and Violence in Kenya

You may have heard that on Wednesday, August 4, a historic event will be taking place: a referendum deciding the acceptance or rejection of a new constitution for Kenya. The Green side (aka ‘Yes camp’) is headed by President Mwai Kibaki and supported by Kenya prime minister Raila Odinga and much of the parliament. The…
My Day with a Community Health Worker

Originally posted at karibusauri.wordpress.com The other week I walked the footpaths of Nyaminia, a sub-location of the Millennium Village Project in Sauri, Kenya, to visit households with Richard*, a Community Health Worker (CHW). Going around with a CHW was eye-opening. It’s one thing to read about nutrition screenings and the use of mobile phones for health…
Monitoring and Evaluation is Hard*

A primary component of the Millennium Villages Project education strategy is to improve the quality of education. But are MVP interventions such as school feeding programs, classroom construction, and teacher training truly having an impact on student performance? On Wednesday I attended a planning meeting for an evaluation designed to measure just that. The standardized…
A Week with the Sauri, Kenya Education Team

Originally posted at karibusauri.wordpress.com My first week’s rotation at the Sauri Millennium Village was with the education sector. In three short days I observed MVP sponsored computer labs, school feeding program kitchens, gender separated latrines, a monitoring and evaluation planning meeting, rainwater harvesting, school livestock; the list goes on. The education team is constantly on the…