KENYA: Foreigners in Their Homeland

Resistance to a government scheme to upgrade housing in Nairobi's Kibera slum is enmeshed in economics, history and identity.

DEVELOPMENT: Looking to the Past to Feed the Future

As wheat rust threatened crops in the 1950s, a global effort to breed resistant wheat varieties led to 117 million hectares of cropland being protected from the deadly fungi and ensured the food security of 60 to 120 million rural households.

BRAZIL: Deforestation Down 45 Percent

Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon jungle was reduced more than expected between August 2008 and July 2009 - 45 percent compared to the previous 12 months, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported.

AFRICA: Water Summit Ends

As the Second Africa Water Week ends, participants have reiterated that lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation has a direct bearing on public health and the economy in Africa.

RIGHTS: State of India’s Children: An Unsettling Reality

Here is a sobering thought on the eve of Children's Day celebrated across India on Nov. 14. Despite the country's impressive economic growth trajectory and growing geopolitical heft, the benefits of that prosperity are not percolating down to its children who constitute a sizeable 30 percent of the country's 1.2 billion population.

WATER-AFRICA: Civil Society Demands Action, Not Words

"No more commitments... We have had enough of the promises. Can we please see something happening on the ground? Right now, it is business as usual and that’s why Africa is off-track on the MDG target."

AGRICULTURE-ZIMBABWE: New Methods to Maximise Yields

Last season, for the first time in her more than 20 years as a farmer, Elizabeth Runema harvested her maize crop at the beginning of February.

AFRICA: Taking the Lead on Water

Water is a resource that binds people together, for better or worse.

EDUCATION-URUGUAY: Literacy Starts at Home

"At first I was embarrassed and had a hard time getting involved, but then I started relaxing. I like it a lot, because it helps me share different things with my kids," says María José Jara, a young mother from a poor neighbourhood in this Uruguayan city, referring to an innovative and successful family literacy project.

Q&A: “CEDAW is UNIFEM’S Entry Point”

On Sep. 14, the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly adopted a resolution that opened the door for the creation of a new U.N. agency specifically for women.

BRAZIL: Leading Ladies Give Gender Slant to Campaign

With the possible participation of three high-profile women candidates in Brazil's 2010 presidential elections, the irruption of gender issues in the campaign in Latin America's largest democracy seems inevitable.

FRANCE: Top Designers Make Dolls to Fund Darfur Vaccinations

Designer rag dolls, the concept couldn't sound more frivolous. But dolls made by top fashion designers such as Armani and Prada are helping to fund a vaccination programme in war-torn Darfur.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Dark Clouds Gathering Over Copenhagen

It has been a bad week for the climate change summit in Copenhagen next month. During the week the last meeting in the formal round of pre- Copenhagen talks collapsed in Barcelona. Then, meeting here on the weekend, the G20 finance ministers put the seal on that failure by failing to agree a financial package.

ZIMBABWE: Numerous Challenges For Harare Water Supply

Harare mayor Muchadeyi Masunda is a troubled man. When he took office in July 2008, one of his most immediate tasks was to resolve the water crisis in the capital.

LATIN AMERICA: Journalistic Prize for Making Poverty News

The second "Latin America and the Millennium Development Goals" Journalism Prize, sponsored by the UNDP and IPS, was awarded Thursday in the Chilean capital in a ceremony addressed by the head of the U.N. agency, Helen Clark.

AFRICA: Drug Subsidy Key to Anti-Malaria Effort

Just three percent of malaria-infected children in Africa get World Health Organisation-recommended drugs. One expert has equated this to a death sentence for sick children.

Q&A: Put the New Women’s Agency in Africa

On Sep. 14, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted a resolution that gave the green light to the creation of a new U.N. agency for women.

Q&A: ‘ODA Is What Governments Want to Do at Their Whim’

Think of a world where rich nations did not fund what was popular but instead collaborated to solve the developing world’s most pressing health needs.

RIGHTS-CAMEROON: The Reverend Raped Me


A countrywide survey of the incidence of rape in Cameroon has returned disturbing statistics: 20 percent of the nearly 38,000 women surveyed reported having been raped; another 14 percent said they had escaped a rape attempt.

GUATEMALA: (Barely) Surviving on Beans and Tortillas

Juan Manuel Ardón's bones jut out and his hair is dull and thin: signs of severe malnutrition. He is so weak that he can hardly walk or talk, and the doctors say his weight and stature are those of a six-year-old, rather than 15-year-old, boy.

SIERRA LEONE: New Dawn for Small Farmers?

They call her "Marie Nerica", after a new breed of rice.