+15

Fifteen years ago I had just moved to Cambridge and began working in conservation NGOs. What a wild and adventurous ride it has been since.

It’s not an anniversary I could celebrate because of current work demands. 80-page funding proposals should be outlawed. I am sure we could convey the important information in documents one quarter of the size or shorter. Donors have not become more dynamic in the last 15 years. In fact they’ve often become more bureaucratic and risk-averse, entailing pages and pages of information about how projects working in volatile places will mitigate x, y and z issue. It is among the most box-ticking of activities that I have to do. The real answer, which would lead to the rejection of a funding bid, is that we will use our combined professional experience to deal with unexpected issues as they arise.

A moment of sanctuary was found in looking at this bush. Wikipedia tells me that this species is actually native to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, in which case as a non-native I don’t think we should be displaying it in our compound…