family planning

An opportunity that came up right before I left and on which there was some actual movement during the past few weeks has to do with family planning. Had a fascinating meeting yesterday with some colleagues who run health clinics and community health services to talk about what we're going to propose and why. Among other things, I learned that injectable contraceptives are more popular in Pakistan than in most other places -- they're expensive and have to be re-upped every three months, so not exactly a convenient option -- because they're basically undetectable. You get a little pinprick from the shot but otherwise there's no way for a husband or mother-in-law to know that you've chosen to be unable to get pregnant.

Negative attitudes toward family planning and women's choice are the main reason FP in Pakistan sucks so much. Contraceptive use is low, fertility is high, there are around a million illegal abortions in the country each year (holy shit). In snooping around the internet today to learn more, I came across a study that found MTV's teen pregnancy shows contributed to a 5+% drop in the teen pregnancy rate in the US a few years ago. That is amazing. Idea for a show on Pakistani TV: a series on couples including young brides who get pregnant and then have a hard time with it, men and women both. 

back in the saddle

No rest for the weary. Especially when the weary are jet-lagged and have girlfriends who are also jet-lagged but somehow on a different schedule.

Vacation was wonderful, if pretty tiring over the first two weeks. The beach was very relaxing and it's hard to believe that I was in NC just a few days ago. Will leave it at that for now.

Work has been hectic since I got back, mainly because there were a number of things that came up while I was away that turned out to be due or need decisions by this week, and that no one did much on in my absence. Once we get them all out of the way, though, there should be time to deal with a few important longer-term tasks: finishing development of the five-year unit strategy, starting work on a new resource mobilization plan, putting the screws on AI to approve the gender strategy (which I finished a while ago now).

Also, hiring new staff. Got two slots to fill on my team, one of which has already been advertised: a monitoring and evaluation/management information systems person. Hoping to start reviewing candidates the week after next. AI told me to hire one at a time, so the partnerships and communications person will have to wait.

Had a call this morning with my counterpart at our university in Karachi. They are a behemoth and hundreds of miles away, so they're hard to get a grip on and often are off doing their own thing without talking to us. We met earlier this year when he passed through ISB and we'd communicated a bit by email; he made a good impression throughout and the call this morning reinforced that. Seems like a really nice guy, and a pro. Hurray for more decent, competent colleagues.

Looks like I'll be down in Karachi the first week of August, for a workshop hosted by the Sindh government about off-grid energy (i.e. electricity provision for people who are far away from major power sources -- mainly solar). Then LNT and I will stick around for a couple of days so I can finally, finally visit the U. Looking forward to it.

As I mentioned at the top, sleep has been a bit whacked out this week but if history is any indicator I should be back on schedule tonight. Planning to meet some people at the French Club for a drink after work, which should be nice. Many people have been out of town so it'll be fun to catch up on the various adventures. It's supposed to rain a bunch this weekend so perhaps ideal conditions for a game afternoon/evening. Definitely want to play Dixit again, the game Mom got for SRB.