How One Kenyan Teacher is Lifting His Students Out of Poverty With Science

Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Nakuru County, situated in a remote, semi-arid part of Kenya’s Rift Valley, could pass for an ordinary secondary school in any part of Africa. But ordinary it is not.

Dismantling Patriarchy Must Begin at Home: A Reflection on Gender Equality

This week, I joined thousands of activists, campaigners, thought-leaders, and change-makers in New York to advocate for women's rights and promote gender equality during the 63rd session of the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Depression Is More than a Stigma

Depression is often distinguished from other non-communicable diseases or NCDs (e.g., cancer, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases, hypertension) because of the stigma attached to it. Among other consequences, those suffering from depression are often denied access to medical care. Indeed, the latter is an outcome of interaction between supply of and demand for medical care. On the provider side, stigmatizing attitudes by service providers are identified as a barrier to access. On the demand side, stigma and low mental health literacy by community members are just as emphatically reported as barriers to accessing care.

UN’s Plan to Offshore Back-Office Jobs is Probably a Waste of Money

A $64 million plan to move 750 back office jobs from the UN’s main duty stations to four new centralized service centres in Budapest, Montreal, Nairobi and Shenzhen, could end up being a waste of money.

VIDEO: World Autism Awareness Day 2019 – Assistive Technologies, Active Participation

Awareness of Austism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has continued to grow worldwide, in recent years. But the number of diagnoses have continued to increase unabated.

Climate Change Also Affects Mental Health in Mexico

Minerva Montes lost her home on Holbox Island in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma hit the Yucatan Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. Rebuilding her home was quicker and easier than overcoming the psychological aftermath of the catastrophe.

Belt and Road Initiative vs Washington Consensus

With the Washington Consensus from the 1980s being challenged, President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and China pursuing its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), most notably with its own initiatives such as the multilateral Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the political and economic landscape in East Asia continues to evolve. Jomo Kwame Sundaram was interviewed about likely implications for developing countries in the region and beyond.

Guinea’s Returnee Migrants Harness the Strength of Unity

Elhadj Mohamed Diallo was a prisoner in Libya between October and November 2017, but he was not helpless. Far from his home in Guinea he understood the power of an organised union.

Closing the Gender Gap: The Economic Benefits of Bringing more Women into the Labour Force

As girls, we were raised with the belief that we could accomplish anything, and that no barrier was insurmountable. Yet, for so many women, the reality doesn’t quite meet their aspirations. Things weren’t exactly equal in the relatively conservative middle-class society in India where we both grew up.

Climate Change: a Threat to Agriculture & UN’s Goal to Eradicate Hunger

The United Nations has vowed to eradicate extreme hunger and malnutrition on a self-imposed deadline of 2030. But it is facing a harsh realty where human-induced climate change – including flash floods, droughts, heatwaves, typhoons and landslides-- is increasingly threatening agriculture, which also provides livelihoods for over 40 per cent of the global population.

Fighting the World’s Largest Criminal Industry: Modern Slavery

Modern slavery and human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries and one of the biggest human rights crises today, United Nations and government officials said.

Q&A: Caribbean Losing Momentum on Climate Change and Concerted Action is Needed

In 2015, the Caribbean was “the region that could” on the climate change scene. Countries rallied under the ‘1.5 to Stay Alive’ banner, in the face of an existential threat. The now former Sustainable Development Minister of Saint Lucia Dr. James Fletcher emerged as a climate change champion at the time. But now, three years on, the scientist is giving regional climate action a C- in an assessment.

It’s Simple, but Requires Determination

I am drafting this on International Women’s Day - March 8 - with an eye towards World Water Day on March 22. On International Women’s Day we celebrate progress in gender equality. At the same time, we recognize how much remains to be done: how many women remain excluded from decision-making across many professions. Changing this is urgent. Water – clean and accessible – is getting scarcer at an alarming rate. While working to change this, we cannot afford to exclude women.

US Survey Finds Lack of Awareness on Global Warming

The U.N.’s World Water day is fast approaching as the state of the world’s consumable water supply remains dismal. Billions of people face at least the very real risk of scarcity, if they’re not facing scarcity already; and about a third of the world’s groundwater systems are in danger of becoming depleted.

Seven Challenges for US Nominee for World Bank President

All incoming World Bank presidents bring a public record of their views about the bank and about development more generally. David Malpass, who is on track to become the bank’s next president, has not been shy in criticizing the role and management of the institution he now plans to lead.

Climate Strike: Hundreds of Thousands Unite for the Planet’s Future

Friday, Mar. 15 saw hundreds of thousands of young people across the world take to the streets to join the climate strike. “We are demonstrating today for our planet and for our future. This is the place where we and those who come after us will live,” Jennifer, a 16-year-old girl from Rome, the Italian capital, who opted to join the protests, told IPS.

Women Take the Lead Tackling Climate Change in Bangladesh

The stakes are high for women when faced with a warming world – their livelihoods jeopardised by labour markets that tend to put men first, their family responsibilities increasing rapidly in the face of droughts and flooding, and politicians who refuse to acknowledge the challenges they face. The story of those living on the frontline of a harsher climate is simply not being heard.

Three Takeaways from Disaster Relief in Puerto Rico

Those of us working in disaster relief know what to expect when a hurricane or earthquake strikes with devastating fury. We know that safe water, food, and shelter will be the most immediate needs for survivors. And we have a good idea of the kind of wreckage we’ll see, although we never cease to be humbled and sobered by the tragic sights.

Scholar Questions ‘Techie’ Approach to Dealing with Climate Change

Trinidad and Tobago unveiled its monitoring, reporting and verification system in mid-March with a flourish, with government authorities underscoring the launch of the Monitoring, Reporting, Verification as a milestone in that country’s efforts to reduce its emissions in line with its commitments under the 2016 Paris agreement.

People Affected by Leprosy in Latin America Unite for Their Rights and Their Voice

With the decision to found a regional coalition to promote rights and greater participation in national and international forums and decisions, the First Latin American and Caribbean Assembly of Organisations of People Affected by Hansen's disease, popularly known - and stigmatised - as leprosy, came to an end.

Helping St. Vincent’s Fishers Maintain an Essential Industry in a Changing Climate

From an influx of sargassum in near-shore waters, to fish venturing further out to sea to find cooler, more oxygenated water, fishers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are battling the vagaries of climate change. The country is doing what it can to respond.