Friday, September 30, 2022
News and Views from the Global South
Poverty & SDGs
Poverty Impacts on Efforts to End Child Marriage, say Parliamentarians
Child marriage continues to be a scourge in many African countries – despite legislation and efforts of many, including parliamentarians, to keep girls in school and create brighter futures for them. This was the view of participants in a recent webinar held under the auspices of the African Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (FPA) and UNFPA East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO).
Nepal Government, UN Agency Seek Investors for Latest Cash Crop to Boom in Country’s East
Two and a half hours’ drive north from Kakarbhitta, Nepal’s eastern-most border crossing with giant neighbour India, lies the hilly hamlet of Salakpur where lives Kaushila Moktan, a famed farmer of large cardamom.
Go and Tell the Hungry that Their Food Is Being Thrown in the Garbage
These are facts, not guesses: about 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted and lost… every single year, the equivalent of one ton per each of the one billion hungry people, many of them are those who produced the food.
Aged Persons Haunted by Abuse in Zimbabwe
At his house in Mabvuku, a high-density suburb in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, 86-year-old Tinago Murape claims his grandchildren starve him. Not only that, but Murape, who now walks with the support of a walking stick, said his three grandchildren – grown-up men with their wives and children living in his house, accuse him of bewitching them.
We Must Ensure That Climate Funding Reaches the Guardians of the Forests
US $270 million may sound like a lot of money, especially for just one year. But it is only a small fraction—less than one percent—of all global funding for climate change adaptation and mitigation. This small fraction, however, is the annual amount that was invested in the tenure and forest management of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs) over the past decade.
We Need Urgent Commitment, Resources & Action to Tackle Hunger Crisis
Last week, as world leaders gathered in New York for the 77th United Nations General Assembly, one topic came up more than most: looming famine. That’s because despite a global commitment to make famine a relic of the past, it is once again knocking at our door.
A World of One Billion Empty Plates
Have you eaten today – or are sure you will? The answer depends on where you were born and where you live now. If you are Spanish or live here, you likely did or will, provided that you are not one of this European country’s 900.000 inhabitants who face some sort of hunger, malnutrition or undernourishment.
Why Investing in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Pays Off
As the devastating images of flooding in Pakistan went round the world and the country declared a state of emergency, some 4,000 miles away in Stockholm, delegates had just arrived for World Water Week – an annual focal point for global water issues.
Innovative Financing to Protect Public Health During a Pandemic
Economic recovery since the COVID-19 pandemic has been uneven amidst a cautious loosening of restrictions. But even at the height of the pandemic, it was business as usual for the tobacco industry.
Inflation Targeting Farce: High Costs, Moot Benefits
Policymakers have become obsessed with achieving low inflation. Many central banks adopt inflation targeting (IT) monetary policy (MP) frameworks in various ways. Some have mandates to keep inflation at 2% over the medium term. Many believe this ensures sustained long-term prosperity.
Full Gender Equality Almost 300 Years Away at Current Rate of Progress
While women in rich societies are paid around 25% less than men for equal jobs, those living in impoverished countries receive by far much lower salaries, if any at all.
Let’s Fight for What Counts to End AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Next week, taking place alongside the UN General Assembly, President Biden hosts a financing summit in New York of such importance that it will determine if millions of people live, will shape the world around us for years to come and will set the future direction of global health. At least $18 billion is needed to fund the work of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Pakistan Flooding Shows ‘Adapting’ to Climate Change Can Be a Dangerous Illusion
One third of Pakistan is now under water. The scope of the destruction is difficult to fathom, not just the enormity of the devastation its people are facing today, but also the damage to its infrastructure, its buildings, and its economy that will weigh heavily on the country for months and even years to come.
Unsettled Lives in a Troubled World
Cross-continent vacations seem to be the norm once again with the lessening of COVID-19 while new cities are being built with skyscraping $4M condos shooting up in a matter of months, and just-out-of-University millennials launching into their careers with minimum start-off salaries of $75K.
Building Leadership for Teachers in the Developing World
If we truly want to re-imagine the role education can play in the decades to come, it is going to be indispensable to take drastic measures to elevate the role of teachers in developing countries.
What Does the African Continental Free Trade Agreement Hold for Women?
Agnes Opus sells cereals in Busia, the border town between Kenya and Uganda. This is her lifeline through which she caters for her immediate family’s needs from school fees to housing and medical care and support to her extended family. While she dedicates all her energy and time to this work which she loves, she struggles to meet all her needs. She faces many non-tariff barriers including harassment by officials and unclear and ever-changing information on trade requirements.
What Must COP27 Deliver?
Preparations for COP27 in November are proceeding apace and we are now well past the halfway mark between the preparatory meetings in June in Bonn and the start of the summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The agenda for Sharm El-Sheikh is complex and challenging. Furthermore, the meeting is taking place during a time of international turmoil. So, what are the factors influencing whether Sharm El-Sheikh can be a success? And what, exactly, does COP27 need to deliver?
United We Stand to Achieve Sustainable Development
The world today faces a future that is in peril. Our challenges have become more complex and interconnected, as we see the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, an uneven economic recovery, a climate emergency, growing inequalities, and an increase in conflicts globally. This year also marks a grim milestone, with over 100 million people forcibly displaced.
Zambian Parliamentarians Tackle Population Issues to Improve Quality of Life for Citizens
Parliamentarians play a decisive role in addressing population issues, as was demonstrated when the majority voted against a private member motion to end the teaching of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in Zambia in 2020.
Hundreds of Millions of Children Sentenced to Ignorance
More than two-thirds of 10-year-olds are unable to read and understand a simple text. This shocking finding should be enough to be alarmed about the horrifying fate of an entire generation. But there is much more.
COVID-19 Forced Ugandan Teachers to Go Digital, Teaching Them Important Lessons
Before the outbreak of COVID-19, an education officer in the district neighbouring Uganda’s capital Kampala decreed that teachers could not take computers, mobile phones, or tablets into classrooms.Next Page »
Since 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been devised to promote strategies for countries to reach a globally unified standard for sustainable living and development. This standard of living must be accessible to all, which addresses the first SDG: No Poverty. As the global community stepped into the Decade of Action of the 2020s, UN member states are expected to deliver on their goals by 2030, and it is crucial to examine the measures taken to recognize and meet those goals. Eradicating poverty will require policy frameworks on the national and regional levels to ensure that by 2030 all have equal rights to access economic resources along with access to basic services.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it was estimated that 6 percent of the global population would still live in extreme poverty in 2030. The destabilizing impact of the pandemic could push over 70 million people into poverty, with developing countries most vulnerable. In its wake, the UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund were designed to support the communities most disproportionately vulnerable to the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic.
IPS provides comprehensive reporting on the current practices in ending poverty and the social, economic, and environmental factors that present challenges to this goal.
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Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
