DEVELOPMENT: Chances of Achieving MDGs “Slim” Without Civil Society

Global civil society leaders called on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Thursday to use both international channels and their muscle on the ground for applying pressure on governments to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

RIGHTS: Educating U.N. “Blue Helmets” on Gender Issues

Involving male facilitators can make educating United Nations security personnel on gender issues more effective in preventing the incidents of sexual abuse which have marred several U.N. peacekeeping operations.

COTE D’IVOIRE: A Shot in the Arm for the Northern Livestock Sector

As Côte d'Ivoire tries to pick up the pieces after five years of civil war, efforts are getting underway to deal with a notable casualty of the conflict: the health of livestock in the north, formerly under rebel control.

DEVELOPMENT: “If Anything Goes Wrong, Africa Is Blamed” – Sachs

Development plans like the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are "just words" if financing is not made available to implement the plans, says Jeffrey Sachs, head of the Earth Institute at New York's Columbia University.

Q&A: “Too Few African Governments Have Had the Guts to Say ‘No'”

While Kofi Annan was the United Nations' secretary-general, he handpicked Eveline Herfkens to be the executive coordinator of the Millennium Campaign, a body which mobilises support for the achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Herfkens had previously worked as the Dutch minister of international development and as an executive director at the World Bank.

INDIA: Modest Global Power

Before the age of colonialism, India was a world power. Now, like China, it is returning to the global stage. With economic growth topping 9 percent in 2007, an acknowledged nuclear capability, and a growing role in international relations, it has attained the status of "emerging power."

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Public-Private Partnership Defends Biodiversity

The rich biodiversity of the Altos de Cantillana mountain chain two hours from the Chilean capital has received attention in the past two years through a unique and ambitious conservation model based on a public-private partnership.

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Town of Alhue Goes Green

Time seems to have stopped in Alhué. The dirt roads, colonial history and low-key activity in this sleepy Chilean farming town of 4,500 make it hard to remember that downtown Santiago is just two hours away.

AFRICA: “If You Want More Development, Include Women in Decision-making”

The '8th Triennial Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting' (8WAMM) has closed with an acknowledgement that gender equality is central to democracy, peace and economic growth; ministers also called for greater efforts to achieve parity between men and women.

HEALTH: Commonwealth Event Debates Why AIDS Wears “the Face of a Woman”

The issue of women continuing to be at higher risk of HIV infection than men has received considerable attention at a gathering of women's affairs ministers from Commonwealth countries underway in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

G8: Poverty Reduction and Climate Change Inextricably Linked, Say Activists

In the final hours before this week's Group of Eight (G8) summit gets underway in Germany, activists have underscored the need for progress with both climate change and poverty alleviation - key items on the meeting's agenda - for there to be real improvement in Africa's living conditions.

DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Backs Rising South-South Cooperation

Dramatically explosive growth in trade and investments among the world's developing nations has prompted a call to strengthen the growing economic trend at a proposed international conference on South-South cooperation.

G8-AFRICA: Farm Subsidies a Taboo Subject?

In the preparations for this year's summit of the Group of Eight most industrialised countries, to take place Jun. 6-8 in the Baltic seaside resort of Heiligendamm, Germany, aid for Africa has topped the agenda. But the farm subsidy factor is likely to be avoided in the debate.

SRI LANKA: War Refugees Stressed by Mass Resettlement

An army-supervised mass resettlement plan underway for more than 100,000 people, displaced by fierce battles with Tamil rebels in eastern Batticaloa district, may be causing new problems for the refugees rather than solving existing ones, say volunteers.

PARAGUAY: Solidarity Lending Bolsters Community Development

Esperanza Santos Aranda, who lives in a poor neighbourhood in the Paraguayan capital, used to sell vegetables at a precarious market stall. But thanks to a 60-dollar loan, she was able to open up her own small clothes-selling business.

G8: Demonstrators’ Rights and Africa at Heart of Summit

With two weeks to go to this year's summit of heads of state and government of the world's eight most industrialised countries (G8), respect for demonstrators' rights and the fulfilment of the group's economic aid promises for Africa are at the heart of the preparations.

POLITICS-US: Better Oversight of Post-9/11 Military Aid Urged

Aided by Washington lobbyists, foreign countries regarded as strategic allies in the ‘war on terror' have received billions of dollars in new military and security assistance since 9/11, much of it with little Congressional or civilian oversight, according to the findings of a major investigative project by the Centre for Public Integrity (CPI).

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Gearing Up For Economic Integration

This year the Association of Southeast Asian Nations celebrates its 40th birthday, and it has big plans. After four decades of being largely a political and security alliance, ASEAN is accelerating its plans for economic integration.

ENVIRONMENT: China – New Promoter of Mega Dams

China is emerging as a new backer of massive dam projects around the globe, giving rise to fears for pristine natural resources and the cultural heritage of river peoples.

LATIN AMERICA: Measuring Civil Society By Its Own Yardstick

Legal reforms, manuals of good practice, codes of ethics and schools for activists are some of the tools that organised civil society in Latin America wants in order to improve its transparency and legitimacy.

CHINA: As Role Model for African Development

China is playing a rare host to this year's annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB), hoping to assert its mode of growth as role model for the impoverished African continent and benefit from its rich resources and economic potential.