Inequality

Africa’s Youth Not Lured by Unglamorous Farming

By Matthew Newsome
Ketsela Negatu is the son of an Ethiopian goat farmer living close to the country’s capital, Addis Ababa, who refuses to follow in his father’s footsteps. The 19-year-old has negative perceptions about the family profession after seeing the dim prospects a farming livelihood has offered his father. 

20 Years On – Rwanda Uses Genocide Reconciliation to Boost Economic Growth

By Aimable Twahirwa
It’s almost 20 years now since Sylidio Gashirabake, a Hutu, was a perpetrator in Rwanda’s genocide. It’s also almost 20 years since his neighbour, Augustin Kabogo, a Tutsi, lost his sister and family in the violence. But today, both men work side-by-side in their joint business venture in Kirehe district in southeastern Rwanda.

Ugandans Fight for the Right to Access Their Own Medical Records

By Amy Fallon
Dressed in a white dress with black polka dots and pink and red carnations, white knee-high socks and matching patent shoes, Babirye recently celebrated her second birthday. 

Côte d’Ivoire’s Middle Class – Growing or Disappearing?

By Marc-Andre Boisvert
“I’m middle class. Definitively,” Sonia Anoh, a young and independent 30-year-old Ivorian tells IPS. Anoh has a master’s degree, earns 1,470 dollars a month working in marketing, lives alone, owns a car and is now shopping for a home. 

West Africa’s Refugee and Security Crisis

By Marc-Andre Boisvert
In West Africa, the Malian and Ivorian political crises have resulted in the biggest number of refugees in the region. But brewing insecurity could mean that they will be unable to return home any time soon as armed groups remain a threat to West Africa.

Cameroon ‘Safe Haven’ Town Strains Under CAR Refugee Influx

By Monde Kingsley Nfor
Abdul Karim arrived in Cameroon’s eastern border town of Garoua-Boula from Central African Republic’s Yaloke district at the end of February as part the largest influx of refugees into Cameroon.

Small Argentine Town Becoming Waste Dumping Ground

By Fabiana Frayssinet
While the magnificent samba schools of Brazil were getting ready for the grand carnival in Rio de Janeiro, a modest carnival troupe toured a small Argentine town to draw attention to an urban problem that has brought the central province of Córdoba to the brink of environmental disaster: garbage.

IMF Urges Redistribution to Tackle Growing Inequality

By Carey L. Biron
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is wading strongly into the global debate over the impact of growing income inequality, offering a series of controversial findings that push back on long-held economic orthodoxy – of which the fund itself has long been a key proponent.

Koreans Embrace Some Old Ways

By Ahn Mi Young
Old family bonds still seem to run deep in the South Korea of today. For evidence, one need only look at the yearning of the elderly to meet their long separated kin in North Korea during last month’s historic family reunions.

The Rich Complain That we do not Love Them

By Roberto Savio
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said “The rich are different from you or me”, yet in his days, in the early years of the 20th century, the rich were not subject to public scrutiny, and were generally an object of envy, not resentment.

Italy Closes Its Eyes to Sealed Mouths

By Silvia Giannelli
“We walk inside an area that is 128 steps long and seven-and-a-half steps wide. This is the path they made for us: two metres of bars over our heads, and upon the bars, two metres of plexiglas. We are like canaries in a cage, like birds of different races all in one cage.”

Stateless in Nepal

By Mallika Aryal
Around 4.3 million of Nepal’s 27 million population lack citizenship documents, rendering them stateless, says a report by the Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD), which works to promote and protect the interests of Nepali women.

Duelling U.S. Budgets Herald Showdown over Poverty

By Bryant Harris
U.S. President Barack Obama released a 3.9-trillion-dollar budget proposal for the coming fiscal year, shaping an ideological battle over the role of government in reducing poverty that will likely define the coming election year.

Labour Anger Simmers in Cambodia

By Michelle Tolson
An uneasy calm prevails in Cambodia after the government crackdown on protests by garment workers in January. With public gatherings banned and charges framed against 23 union leaders and activists, labour discontent may not be spilling on to the streets, but it is simmering.

Arab NGOs Warn IMF Against Sharp Cuts to Subsidies

By Jim Lobe
Civil society activists from five Arab countries are urging the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ease pressure on their governments to reduce food and fuel subsidies until stronger social-protection schemes and other basic reforms are implemented.

Ghana’s Small Women’s Savings Groups Have Big Impact

By Albert Oppong-Ansah
Dunwaa Soayare, 45, a smallholder farmer, widow and mother of five had the sort of economic profile that meant she was denied access to credit from Ghana’s mainstream banking institutions.

Rich Railroad Brings Few Opportunities in Brazil

By Mario Osava
The Carajás railroad, regarded as the most efficient in Brazil, runs a loss-making passenger service for the benefit of the population. But this does little to make amends for its original sin: it was created to export minerals and crosses an area of chronic poverty.

Economic Reforms Needed for Peace in South Sudan

By Charlton Doki
Gatmai Deng lost three family members in the violence that erupted in South Sudan on Dec. 15 and lasted until the end of January. And he blames their deaths on the government’s failure to use the country’s vast oil revenues to create a better life for its almost 11 million people.

EU No Instant Saviour for Ukraine

By Pavol Stracansky
Ukrainians are facing years of pain and upheaval if the country moves towards closer EU integration – or the prospect of the country being left to “rot” if they do not, experts say following the weekend’s revolution.

Swiss Vote for New Squeeze on Migrants

By Ray Smith
Swiss voters have approved an initiative by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) aimed at limiting immigration. The result not only threatens the free movement of people, but all agreements between Switzerland and the European Union.

‘Humanitarian Crisis’ for Ogaden Living Near Ethiopia’s Oil Fields

By Ed McKenna
New allegations of scorched earth evictions of the Ogaden people have raised concerns that a lack of benefit sharing could escalate instability in the region and reinforce separatist tensions as foreign energy companies prepare to extract oil and gas from troubled southeastern Ethiopia.
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