Wales for Africa (Aug-10)

I'm taking a huge step both personally and professionally and I'm off to Africa - Zambia, to be precise. This October and November I'll be in Lusaka, working with a forum of housing and land rights charities.

I'm one of about 15 (lucky) people from all over Wales going to Africa as part of the Assembly's International Learning Opportunities (ILO) scheme. The scheme provides development opportunites for managers from the Welsh public sector and helps Wales fulfill the UN's Millennium Development Goals as part of the Wales for Africa initiative.

At a presentation last week for people who went to Africa last year Carwyn Jones, the First Minister, talked about Wales's contribution to development in Africa. For instance Wales makes up about a quarter of all the UK's links with hospitals in Africa - we really punch above our weight when it comes to international development. I've felt many things since I found out I had a place on the scheme (excited, mostly anxious...) but listening to that speech I felt really proud.

More details will follow very soon.