The crowd-funded NGO Librii is ready to open the first web-connected libraries in Africa, where members can print books and training manuals. [The Guardian] UNICEF: as many as 100,000 children forced to work in Philippines illegal sex trade. [CNN] After just fifteen minutes of talks about strengthening an Afghan women’s rights law, traditionalists stop the [...]
Tag Archives: education
Signs of the NY Times: Private schools in Bangladesh. Water shortage in Yemen. Quagmire in Syria. Civil war in Iraq?
Opinionator Tina Rosenberg has detailed the remarkable educational innovations and success of BRAC, the world’s largest NGO. Although BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) has rather large field of action that includes health, microfinance, agriculture and water, its chain of “private” schools is perhaps its most inspiring. BRAC schools are private in that they [...]
Press Review: Mali faces food shortages & EU votes to ban pesticides linked to bee deaths
Instability, displacement, and rising food prices threaten Mali with severe food shortages. [The Guardian] By forcing the government to uphold indigenous land rights, Canada’s First Nations leaders hope to protect the country’s rich natural resources from industry. [The Guardian] Improved healthcare and education in northern Ghana help end the ritualized killings of children born with disabilities. [...]
Roma Activists Are Standing Up Against Discrimination
Millions of Roma across Europe experience prejudice, exclusion, forced evictions, segregation in schools, lack of access to essential services and hatred that can lead to violence. How do they deal with discrimination on a daily basis and still keep going? What motivates them to hope that the future is going to be better? Here are [...]
Press Review: Third Somali journalist killed & Brazilian police attack protestors
Rahma Abdulkadir, whose work focused on women’s rights in Somalia, has become the third Somali journalist to be killed in the country this year. [The Guardian] The candidate for the WTO director general post, Mari Pangestu, argues that although spikes in food prices have fallen, the World Trade Organization’s trade talks in Doha are essential [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Inequality in Peru. Ivory horror. Education in Pakistan. Abuse in Sri Lanka. Obama in Israel.
Op-Ed Guest Columnist Marie Arana reminds us that there’s a dark side to the economic boom in Peru, perhaps the country least affected by the global financial crisis. Peru’s skyrocketing wealth is based around its gold mining industry; yet, as seems to be a recurring historical theme, the profits earned from this industry are concentrated [...]
Press Review: Fighting indoor air pollution in developing countries & Syria’s children lost to war
Aiming to eliminate the indoor air pollution that kills 4 million people each year, an India-based company produces clean cooking stoves for developing countries,. [The Guardian] Creating social programs that help transform gender roles and empower women are the key to tackling issues like food security, education, and health care in the developing world. [The [...]
Press Review: Conflict-free smartphones & Educating girls in India
Despite its rising economic status, India fails to provide educations for girls and other marginalized groups. [The Guardian] George Monbiot searches for a smartphone made with conflict-free minerals. [The Guardian] The Congolese government expresses doubts about signing a peace agreement with M23 rebels on March 15. [Washington Post] Three challenges that all women face as [...]
ONE WOMAN RAPED EVERY 22 MINUTES: Can a Culture of Sexual Violence Ever Change in India?
As the trial of five men accused of the gang-rape and murder of a student begins in New Delhi, Fairplanet asks a 21 year-old Mumbai medical student about the cultural dangers of growing up a woman in India. India has a systemic problem with sexual violence: one woman is raped every 22 minutes, as is [...]
Press Review: Congo braces for humanitarian crisis & UK debates ending aid to Rwanda
Aid agencies are preparing for a humanitarian crisis in Congo as violence and unrest send half a million people fleeing from their homes. They warn that food shortages are becoming more severe and that cholera and other diseases will most likely break out due to unsanitary conditions. [The Guardian] An independent watchdog claims that a [...]
Press Review: Somali activist assassinated in Mogadishu & Nigeria accused of human rights abuses
The well-known Somali poet and activist Warsame Shire was killed in Mogadishu this week by unidentified gunmen. A total of 18 people working in the Somali media have been killed this year. [BBC] Although private schools in developing countries can provide much-needed educational services, their presence is fraught with controversy. [The Guardian] Polish environmentalists say [...]
Make Malala’s dream come true
We call on Pakistan to agree to a plan to deliver education for every child through building schools, training teachers and funding families whose daughters regularly attend school. All governments and international organisations must play their part to ensure that the millions of children who are currently out of school, get an education. Malala has [...]
