Tag: International Development

The Millennium Villages

The Millennium Villages project offers a bold, innovative model for helping rural African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty. To date, the Millennium Villages project has reached nearly 400,000 people in 79 villages. The villages are in 10 African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda), and are located …

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Colombia’s forced eradication of illicit crops

Leer la versión en Español In an effort to decrease drug trafficking, many countries have resorted to a forced eradication of illicit crops.  There are two main methods in which crop eradication takes place: aerial spraying of toxic chemicals and forced manual eradication. It is assumed that the eradication of the crops will stop and …

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Iraq Aid – The Water Crisis

One of the most pressing issues the Iraqi people face today is a shortage of potable water. In 2010, the International Community of the Red Cross estimated that one in every four Iraqis did not have access to drinkable water. Iraq is known as the land of the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, …

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The Most Forgotten Aspect of Ecotourism

In my last blog post I wrote about The International Ecotourism Society’s list of 10 energy saving tips for travelers, and today I will cover another aspect of sustainable tourism promoted by TIES: economic impact.  It isn’t enough to reduce your carbon footprint while traveling; you must also increase your economic footprint, otherwise it isn’t …

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A Vicious Cycle

Poverty, Disability, and Exclusion from Development Strategies A World Bank estimate suggests that 25% of the 1.3 billion most impoverished people in the world experience some form of disability, and according to the UN Development Program, 80% of persons with disabilities (PWDs) live in developing countries. These numbers are steadily increasing due to a number …

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The Power of Pensions

Using Social Protection Mechanisms to fight Poverty Social Protection. These two words alone have the ability of easing the tension burden on old and poor people. Over the past few years, more and more attention is being given to this new development tool after the realization that it can combat povertyeffectively. Even while you are …

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Vulture Funds and Sovereign Debts

A couple of years ago, celebrities like Bono and highly respected individuals like Nelson Mandela brought our attention to the importance of debt relief and what such relief might mean to developing countries. Ironically, at the same time, many countries began to understand the importance of having a secondary market for debt especially when dealing …

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Government & Security

The Challenge Development in African countries faces a serious barrier. Over the past two decades, democratization has swept across Africa, reaching countries like Egypt, Tunisia and now Libya. But while the international community rejoices, what they need to understand is that democratization is just the first step. The eradication of poverty is not that simple. …

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The Economic Atom Bomb

On the 11th of March, at precisely 2:46 p.m., a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Japan leaving destruction in its path. The loss of lives and property are constantly rising even today. But probably one of the biggest blows to Japan was the crumbling of its economy. Questions arose of whether the 3rd largest economy in the …

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Water Changes Everything

Yesterday, on the 22nd of March 2011, was World Water Day. It was a day to raise awareness for something most people in developed nations take for granted – clean drinking water. Right now, almost a billion people don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water. That’s about one in every eight people.  Only …

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