Mauritania – Small Steps Towards Ending Female Genital Mutilation

A multi-pronged strategy to end female genital mutilation in Mauritania is making gradual progress, though campaigners acknowledge much remains to be done in a country where more than two-thirds of girls suffer excision.

Q&A: “We Need to Change the Economics of Development”

After Latin America and the Caribbean's "lost decade" of the 1980s, the region has experienced a period of "light and shadow", says Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Maldivian Women Fight for Rights

Maldivian women, long used to taking a backseat in the Muslim-dominated Indian Ocean country, say they are determined to ensure that they are not deprived of their rights under the new regime of President Mohammed Waheed Hassan.

Afghan Women Victims Not Perpetrators of ‘Moral Crimes’

Mursal, a beautiful 19-year-old girl who has run away from home to escape a mentally ill husband, is just one of many Afghan women and girls who are now considered criminals under the country’s laws on ‘morality.’

BRICS Ministers Say New Trade Narrative Sinks Development

Trade ministers of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa – say that at the G20 trade ministerial summit later this month in Mexico they will try to ensure that attempts by industrialised countries to frame a new trade agenda do not drown development-led trade liberalisation and the World Trade Organization talks.

Liberia’s Government Finding a Way to End FGM

"There were three people. One person was holding me down; one person was holding my hand; and the other person was doing the job. They lay me down, and…" Fatu said of the female genital mutilation she underwent as an eight- year-old in Liberia.

Wind Turbines Bring Relief and Resentment to Pakistan

"I still cannot fathom how electricity can be produced by the wind," said a nonplused Mohammad Ahmed, a 55-year-old local baker, as he gazed up at a row of giant wind turbines.

Payments for Environmental Services Skip Rural Women in Mexico

Despite the key role they play in caring for natural resources in the face of climate change, rural women in Mexico do not benefit from payments for environmental services, say activists and experts.

Breastfeeding, Not Formula, for South Africa’s HIV-Positive Mothers

South Africa's nine provinces will begin phasing out provision of free formula to HIV-positive mothers and implement a new policy on breast-feeding from Sunday. But despite the clarity of the policy and its supporting data, vocal critics, including respected individuals from leading medical and academic institutions, have decried the choice.

Women Pay for Kashmir’s Water Woes

Naseema Akhtar, 38, worries that her daily treks to collect clean water from the mountain springs around her village of Bonpora, in Kashmir’s Kupwara district, are getting longer. She is already doing more than seven km every day.

Brazil and South Africa Hit Hard by Exchange Rate Complications

Brazil and South Africa have experienced a widespread contraction of their manufacturing industries, with the latter suffering massive unemployment as well, thanks to the rampant volatility and misalignment of dominant global currencies like the dollar, trade experts from the two countries say.

ARGENTINA: Lack of Information Raises Risk of Cervical Cancer

A novel research study in Argentina explored women's knowledge and beliefs about cervical cancer, in the provinces with the highest mortality from this highly preventable form of cancer, to design more effective policies.

Careless Handling of Benin’s Medical Waste Could Cost Lives

Fifteen-year-old Aicha is one of the many spice vendors hawking their wares in the Dantokpa market, in Benin's economic capital, Cotonou. But a closer look at her tidy stall reveals a disturbing detail: the powdered spices are packaged in recycled medicine vials.

Chad Famine – Mothers Breaking Apart Anthills in Search of Food

"Only God knows what will happen to me and my children - for two months there's been nothing to eat. We're living like beggars," Henriette Sanglar, a mother of four in the Moursal quarter of the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, told IPS.

South Africa No Longer the Gateway to the Continent

South Africa’s membership of the bloc of leading emerging economies and its unique position in Africa heralded the country’s role as a gateway into the African continent. However, trade experts question whether it can live up to this position as investors begin to increasingly look towards other African markets.

Scientists Claim Their Place in Struggle for Food Security

Weather events such as extreme temperatures and drought caused global agricultural losses of 11.4 billion dollars in 2011, while 12 million hectares of farmland are lost to land degradation every year, and unsustainable agricultural practices contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases.

New Alternative in Senegal After Wade Defeat

Analysts say that Senegal’s outgoing President Abdoulaye Wade was made to pay for his failure to respond to popular demands, particularly arising from the high cost of basic commodities, a lengthy strike by teachers, and high youth unemployment, by losing his bid for a third term of office.

Women Lead Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh

Kalpana Rani Pal’s pottery business is modest by any yardstick but it is small enterprises like these that are helping reduce poverty levels in Bangladesh.

The Forgotten Emergency in Sudan’s Blue Nile State

Hamid Yussef Bashir said he walked for 17 days with his wife and five children to get to a refugee camp in South Sudan. Here in Jamam, they joined about 37,000 other people who fled from the war across the border in Sudan’s Blue Nile state.

Rio+ 20 Suffers Leadership Void Weeks Ahead of Summit

When a landmark U.N conference on sustainable development kicks off in Brazil mid-June, more than 120 world leaders are expected to participate in the much-ballyhooed talkfest on the future of the global environment.

Climate Change Aggravates Water Shortage in Cuba

In this eastern Cuban city, Danny Dip Leyva has begun to use her shower again after decades of hauling water into her house by hand. But in Aurora, a small neighbourhood on the outskirts of Havana, Manuel Roque still longs for a regular supply of piped water.