Poverty & SDGs

US Casts 45 Vetoes – and Counting—While Protecting a Client State

By Thalif Deen
The UN Security Council (UNSC), the most powerful political body at the United Nations, has largely remained silent or ineffective in resolving one of the longstanding military conflicts in the Middle East involving Israelis and Palestinians.

Russia’s Sputnik Diplomacy

By Valentina Lares
While Western countries were busy with their own vaccination campaigns, Russia has filled the leadership vacuum in developing countries. Amid the West’s scramble for vaccines, a trickle of news flies under the radar. Argentina becomes the first country in South America to produce Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. The first shipment of Sputnik V is promised to Peru by May.

Reimagining Education with Imagination

By Yasmine Sherif
The month of May marks mental health awareness month or mental health awareness week in several countries around the world. Many people will be reading posts and blogs about the importance of getting more sunshine and exercise to avoid the blues, about ways to deal with the stress of the pandemic, about dealing with everyday challenges that disrupt our striving for happiness.

Bridging the Digital Divide Will Save Our Planet

By Benjamin Larroquette and Reina Otsuka
Data, analysis and information are essential building blocks in our race to save humanity from the clear and present risks posed by the climate crisis.

How to Assess the Willingness of US to Suspend Patent Protection on Vaccines?

By Riccardo Petrella and Roberto Savio
The news of the Biden Administration's willingness to lift intellectual property rights protections in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic has sent the world into turmoil, even though in recent days this willingness had become increasingly airy.

Africa Goes Digital

By Cristina Duarte
In rebuilding after COVID-19, policymakers must invest in innovative technology to leapfrog obstacles to inclusive development. Africa has enjoyed strong economic growth for most of the 21st century, mainly because of robust global demand for primary commodities.

20 Million More People Face Food Crises, As Acute Hunger Rates Rise to a 5-Year High

By Alison Kentish
The COVID-19 pandemic, protracted conflicts and climate change have created an untenable situation for the most vulnerable, with 155 million people across 55 territories suffering from severe food insecurity, sending acute hunger figures to a 5-year high.

How West African Leaders Can Tackle Youth and Gender Inequities

By Ifeanyi Nsofor, Adaeze Oreh, and John Lazame Tindabil
Recently, both Republics of Benin and Chad held their 2021 national elections. These countries are among thirteen countries on the continent billed to elect new political leaders in 2021 alone. This is a good opportunity to improve conditions on the continent. Indeed, the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified other issues on the continent like youth unemployment that better leadership could help improve.

Youth Voice and Action Critical to Reforming the World’s Food Systems

By Alison Kentish
Global youth advocates have been told that they play a crucial role in ensuring that the world produces and consumes food with greater attention to nutrition, food security, equality and sustainability. As the United Nations prepares to host the inaugural Global Food Systems Summit in September, the organisation is hosting a series of dialogues to correct flaws in the way food is grown, processed, packaged and marketed, hoping to tackle growing world hunger, water scarcity and climate change.

Unlearning During a Lockdown

By Simone Galimberti
Children all over the world are having tough times while coping with the consequences of the pandemic but the circumstances affecting them in the Philippines are even more daunting.

Refugee Children Explain How Education Helped Put Their Trauma Behind Them

By Ed Holt
Eighteen-year-old Chuol Nyakoach lives in the Nguenyyiel Refugee Camp in Gambella, Ethiopia. Chuol is grateful that despite the trauma she has already experienced in her young life, she is able to continue her education in the refugee camp. Learning has given her a reason to wake up every day.

UN Women Launches New Programme to Foster Economic Participation in Care Industry

By Eugenia Shevchenko, Lotte-Marie Brouwer and Minji Kwag*
The lockdowns and illnesses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically increased the need to care for children, the elderly and the sick. And in societies where gender inequality and biased norms persist, most of this burden has fallen on women, many of whom have had to leave their regular jobs with no idea of when they can return.

A Year Later, COVID-19 Continues to Show the Fragility of Food Security

By Mario Lubetkin
More than a year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, food and nutrition security continues to show its fragility.

Internet Restrictions Harm the Press & Public Alike

By Michael De Dora
When Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected government in February, one of its first actions was to further squeeze the already restricted free flow of information in the country. It obstructed news stations, temporarily shuttered phone and internet access, and blocked social media platforms.

UN Banks on Water as the ‘Game Changer’ in Food Production and Consumption

By Alison Kentish
As the United Nations prepares for its solutions-based Global Food Systems Summit in September, officials say resolving issues around water scarcity, pollution and wastage is crucial transforming food production and consumption.

World Press Freedom in an age of remoteness

By Raghbendra Jha
Edmund Burke called the press the fourth estate, the fourth pillar of democracy, with an oversight role on the remaining three pillars – the legislature, executive and the judiciary. In an ideal world, this fourth estate would have unimpeded access to the other three pillars so that the citizenry could be kept informed at all times. This freedom was conceived to be so sacrosanct that many countries have included it as a fundamental right, e.g., the US Constitution enshrined it as the very first amendment.

Press Freedom Vital in the Fight Against the Pandemic

By Sibahle Zuma
Access to accurate information is vitally important during the pandemic, so that people can understand how to protect themselves and their families, and to hold their governments to account for their response to the health emergency.

Spyware Threatens Press Freedom’s Privacy Imperative

By Jonathan Rozen
Spyware’s repeated use to target journalists and those close to them poses an existential threat to the privacy required for press freedom to flourish. Without the ability to privately communicate with sources, conduct research, and compile information, journalists are hampered in their ability to keep the public informed and hold the powerful to account.

Why Experts are Saying It’s a ‘Make or Break’ Moment for Forests

By Alison Kentish
A new global report on forests says that while the COVID-19 pandemic is the latest threat to achieving ambitious forest protection goals, it has brought the importance of forests to global well-being into sharp focus, and that this recognition must now be met with collection action.

Transparency Offers Pathway to a More Sustainable Earth

By Peter Paul van de Wijs
Last week, the world marked Earth Day – an opportunity to put the spotlight on the pressing needs of our planet, in the face of ever-growing impacts by humanity, and galvanize action to change practices and behavior. Yet these issues were not, and cannot be, addressed in a single day. Resolve and action to protect the environment is a 365 days-a-year endeavor.

Q&A: Drawing Attention to the Crisis in the DRC’s Education Sector

By Judith Raupp
Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait (ECW), has sounded the alarm on the need for Central African Republic refugee children and youth to access quality education during her visit to a refugee site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from Apr. 20-23.
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