Inequality

Jobless Growth, the 21st Century Condition

By Samuel Oakford
The world’s poorest countries are rethinking economic policies that - even during periods of breakneck growth - have failed to provide quality employment capable of matching a demographic boom.

A Google for India’s Poor

By Keya Acharya
Deep in the forests of central India live the Gond tribals, an almost forgotten lot, neglected as much by the state as by mainstream media. Many cannot read or write. But thanks to a new technology, and the rapid spread of mobile phones through India, they are now picking up their cell phone and making their voice heard.

Flying Above the Impoverished in the Name of Mao

By Sudeshna Sarkar
In Nepal, where a quarter of the population is steeped in poverty, a man who once led a 10-year Maoist insurgency before joining the political mainstream has been splurging on helicopters for his election campaign.

Malawi’s Failed Subsidy Programme Left Millions to Starve

By Mabvuto Banda
Gogo Munthali, from Rumphi, a village over 400 km north of Malawi’s capital Lilongwe, dissolves into tears every morning as she worries about what to feed her five orphaned grandchildren, the youngest of whom has full blown AIDS.

Widening Inequality Shatters Mirage of Social Mobility

By Ramy Srour
Growing income inequality will pose a major threat to social stability in countries around the globe, according to a new report by the World Economic Forum.

Poor Paths Lead to Madrassas

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Mustafa Khan, who sells cigarettes by the roadside in a Pakistani village, has a simple reason for sending two of his sons to a madrassa, an Islamic seminary, and not to a proper school. “We cannot afford it,” he says.

More Chileans Want the Benefits of Living in Latin America’s ‘Tiger’

By Marianela Jarroud
Hugo Hurtado, 47, is a chef. Anyone would say that in his country, Chile, the Latin American “tiger”, his profession would be synonymous with success and even fame. But unfortunately that’s not true.

Déjà Vu All Over Again for Indebted Caribbean

By Samuel Oakford
On May 23, shortly after wrapping up negotiations on the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) 958- million-dollar loan - its second in three years - to keep Jamaica out of default, the fund’s mission chief in the country, Jan Kees Martijn, set out to visit Croydon, a former plantation settlement in the mountainous northwest of the island.

Côte d’Ivoire Poised at a Development Crossroad

By Marc-Andre Boisvert
All over the Ivorian economic capital, Abidjan, large cranes, involved in the construction of new buildings and highways, are dotted across the city skyline.

Bachelet Poised for Easy Win in Fed-Up Chile

By Marianela Jarroud
Voters fed up with the extremely unequal distribution of wealth and power in Chile are expected once again to elect a centre-left government Sunday.

Las Pavas Extracts a Miracle from God

By Constanza Vieira
The rural community of Las Pavas in northern Colombia received this year’s National Peace Prize Wednesday in recognition of its peaceful struggle for land that is claimed by an oil palm company, in a case that became an international symbol of the conflict over land in this country.

Ethiopia’s Indigenous Excluded from Rapid Growth

By Ed McKenna
As the construction of a major transmission line to export electricity generated from one of Ethiopia’s major hydropower projects gets underway, there are growing concerns that pastoralist communities living in the region are under threat.

Uganda Needs to Exploit its Own Mineral Riches

By Wambi Michael
This year, as Uganda gears up to start producing the nearly two billion barrels in oil reserves that were discovered near its western border, critics say that little is being done to exploit the rich mineral resources located in some of the country’s poorest areas.

Dwindling Aid Slows Sri Lanka

By Amantha Perera
When the first trains in almost two and a half decades started running through this war-ravaged town in Sri Lanka in mid-September, Sinngamuththu Jesudasan could not resist the temptation to go and have a look - repeatedly.

Mayor Who Let Them Eat Cake Now Eating Crow

By Samuel Oakford
When Michael Bloomberg was elected mayor of this city only weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, few imagined that by the time he left office a new building would have risen in the shadow of the Twin Towers.

Corruption Smothering Pacific Students

By Catherine Wilson
External interference in the awarding of tertiary scholarships in Pacific Island nations such as the Solomon Islands is denying some of the highest achievers among the young an opportunity to contribute to the future of their country and the region.

Less Food for More Hungry

By Ramy Srour
Deep cuts in food aid for poor people in the United States are poised to bring higher demands on charities and food pantries across the country that provide food to families in need – and which are already overstretched.

Women Find a Green Midas Touch

By Naimul Haq
On a hot and humid day in northwestern Bangladesh, Anisa Begum sits with a group of 25 homemakers, explaining how to use natural fertilisers to increase grain yield.

Over 2,500 Deaths During Indian Clinical Trials

By Ranjita Biswas
More than 2,500 Indians have died in the course of clinical trials in recent years, government figures reveal.

For Kurdish Women, It’s a Double Revolution

By Karlos Zurutuza
"I got married when I was 14 and I already had four children at 20," recalls Nafia Brahim. In her fifties now, she is working hard so that no other woman loses control of her life.

Corporations Rewriting U.S. Labour Laws

By Ramy Srour
U.S. state legislators and corporate lobbies have engaged in an unprecedented attack on minimum wages that has lowered U.S. labour standards, according to new research released Thursday.
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