VENEZUELA: Budgets Take On a Woman’s Face

As Venezuela increasingly incorporates a gender perspective in its public budgets, issues like the paving of roads and the construction of schools are being joined by new priorities such as teen pregnancy and domestic violence prevention programmes when it comes to spending.

RIGHTS-SPAIN: Demolishing Memory

The wrecking balls have begun to smash into the walls of the notorious Carabanchel prison, built by the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-1975) to hold its opponents.

ENERGY-EU: Zero Carbon Communities

This small municipality in the south of Portugal is becoming increasingly well-known for its alternative energy initiatives. The latest is the Sunflower project, which also involves communities in seven other European Union countries.

PARAGUAY: Unjustly Imprisoned Inmates Revive Debate on Prison Conditions

An 11-year delay in releasing a prisoner in Paraguay drew attention to the need for a computerised register of inmates, and revived debate on a prison system that continues to be plagued by problems like overcrowding and lack of access to healthcare and food.

NETHERLANDS: When the Electricity Is in Your Feet

As everyone knows, the wind and the sun produce energy. But now there is also a way to generate electricity by dancing.

DEVELOPMENT: South America Fights Poverty Its Own Way

This year, only a few South American nations have responded to the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) and its campaign slogan, "Stand Up and Take Action". The social organisations grouped in the global network point to a variety of reasons to explain the apparent apathy.

Q&A: "When There’s Corruption, All Votes Are Not Equal"

"In Chile, like in other countries, there is very little transparency when it comes to political funding," Andrea Sanhueza, executive director of the Chilean non-governmental organisation Corporación Participa, said in an interview ahead of the Oct. 26 municipal elections.

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Pedalling Against Pollution

As greenhouse gas emissions drive global warming and fuel prices continue to soar, pedalling has come back in style in many cities of the industrialised world. In Chile, as well, public bicycle services, bike routes and special parking areas are some of the initiatives currently being developed.

MEXICO: Marching On the Capital

Dozens of indigenous people walking naked along a main avenue in support of their demand for land, or thousands of stick-wielding teachers blocking main streets at rush hour, are almost daily occurrences in the Mexican capital.

RELIGION: Atheists Take to the Streets

Atheists who have built up a virtual community over the last decade will hold the "First Global Atheist March for a Secular Society" on Sunday, with the aim of defending their views and protesting that they are misinterpreted and in some cases discriminated against.

Q&A: "Violence Is Part of the History of El Salvador"

He says he has read the Bible three times and that gang members are "not only victimisers but victims of the system of violence" in El Salvador.

BRAZIL: Urban Violence Hot Issue in Local Elections

Crime and violence will be key issues in the October local elections in Brazil's largest cities, especially Rio de Janeiro, although public security is the responsibility of state governments rather than the municipalities.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Violence Exacts Increasingly Heavy Toll

Violent crime costs Central America an estimated 6.5 billion dollars a year, equivalent to 7.7 percent of gross domestic product in the region, where the two least violent countries are the wealthiest - Costa Rica - and the poorest - Nicaragua, according to a study carried out in El Salvador.

BRAZIL: 'Social Circus' Turns Young Lives Right Side Up

Standing on your head, walking on stilts, juggling and doing balancing acts - life often seems like a circus metaphor. And for one Brazilian social organisation that is exactly what it is.

BRAZIL: Militarised Election Campaign

Rio de Janeiro will be the most fiercely contested city in Brazil’s upcoming local elections, with an average of 25 candidates for every seat on its municipal councils, and dozens of poor neighbourhoods being militarised in order to prevent violence and allow candidates to campaign safely.

ARGENTINA: Soup Kitchens Feel Impact of Rising Food Prices

"It breaks my heart because I know these kids don't have anything to eat, but I can’t serve any more people," says Estela Esquivel, talking about children who have been turned away at dinnertime from the La Casita de la Virgen soup kitchen in La Cava, a slum neighbourhood on the north side of the Argentine capital.

MEXICO: Time Running Out for Capital’s Garbage

If the Mexico City government were to keep its promises, laid out in laws and plans in 2003 and 2004, the treatment of the 12,300 tonnes of garbage generated daily by this city of 19 million people would be more environmentally friendly. But instead there is a looming threat of collapse and the contaminated area remains enormous.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Green Buildings Popular With Builders, Clients

India’s energy conservation laws for buildings are voluntary but this is one area in which the country is already ‘greener’ than in many parts of the developed world.

PERU: Small Towns Face Challenge of Using Windfall Mining Revenues

Peru is enjoying a mining boom. But while some areas lacking in minerals and oil have seen very little of the windfall profits, other districts have taken in so much money that they have only been able to actually use a tiny portion of it.

ARGENTINA: Children of Exile – Strangers Still

While perpetrators of human rights violations during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship have begun to be sent to prison, a new study has shed light on a less conspicuous aspect of the regime's legacy: the problems faced by the children of former exiles who are struggling to integrate into Argentine society.

RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: Mass Evictions May Follow Lake Grab

A plan to redevelop Phnom Penh’s largest remaining natural lake into a residential and shopping precinct has ignited a storm of protests and claims that it could result in the largest eviction in Cambodia’s post-war history.