Earlier this month a high school student from Ohio was banned from wearing a t-shirt that was meant to be supportive of National Day of Silence, an event created to draw attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. Maverick Couch is one of the only openly gay students at his …
Tag: best practices
Apr 23
International Development through Education, Women, and Social Media
If you’ve had the chance to read my most recent posts, you know that the International Development Conference was held at Harvard earlier this month. I’ve written about some of the key takeaways from the education and women in development panels, but I wanted to write something about the overall conference and what I took …
Apr 20
Nkundabana in Rwanda: Love for Children
In recent years, Rwanda has become a model for many of its neighbors in terms of health indicators. For example, maternal health indicators for the Millennium Development Goals are largely on track in that country. In addition, health systems’ strengthening has been improved with new financing systems and insurance schemes. This has made accessing health …
Apr 18
Connecting Women with Development
In my post on Monday I discussed the key takeaway that I got from sitting in on the education and development panel at the International Development Conference last Saturday. I also had the opportunity to listen to a panel of esteemed speakers talk about women in relation to international development. A quote that was noted …
Apr 17
Rethinking ASHA: The Frontline of India’s Maternal Health
India’s National Rural Health Mission was launched in 2005 with the goal to “improve the availability of and access to quality health care by people, especially for those residing in rural areas, the poor, women and children.” With the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) program, the country has been making remarkable strides in the improvement …
Apr 16
Education and the International Development Conference
Harvard’s 18th annual International Development Conference was held in Cambridge on Saturday. I had the opportunity to attend and sit in on some great panels about education, women, and corruption- all related to development. Speakers from the UN, the World Bank, USAID, and even one of Time Magazine’s top 100 most influential people in the …
Apr 12
Turn Out the Lights
This a video in the form of a public service announcement that encourages people to conserve energy by remembering to turn off unnecessary lights, and leave them off for as long as possible. What is your reaction to this video? Do you have other ideas that people could use to conserve energy in their home …
Apr 11
A Change in Jenna Talackova’s Miss Universe Disqualification
Last month, Jenna Talackova was banned from competing in the Miss Universe competition due to the fact that she is transgender. After finding out about her past, officials promptly took Jenna out of the running, causing uproars along the way. Social media websites devoured the story, news sources kept people constantly updated, and gay rights …
Apr 09
Using the Index of Women’s Economic Opportunity to Improve the Global Economy
As stated in the 2012 version of the Index of Women’s Economic Opportunity, “women are the key driver of economic growth.” Research has shown that in the United States alone, women have added 2 percentage points per year to the overall economic growth. Similar or even better numbers have been seen in numerous countries all …
Apr 09
Unsustainable Consumerism Part 4: Disposal
After three posts on the materials economy we’ve followed the story of our stuff through extraction, production, distribution, and consumption. What’s left? Well, what do you think happens to our stuff after we’re done with it? I mentioned in my last post that 99% of the stuff we purchase gets thrown away within 6 months. Today …