Fifteen years of conflicts have cost Africa around $300bn
The cost of conflict on African development was approximately $300bn between 1990 and 2005, according to new research by Oxfam International, IANSA and Saferworld. This is equal to the amount of money received in international aid during the same period. The study “Africa’s Missing Billions†is the first time analysts have calculated the overall effects...
Donate Your Space
How do people make the Millennium Goals visible for themselves in a creative way? Donate Your Space is such an idea, where people can use ribbon or stickers to ‘donate a space’ for one of the Millennium Goals, be it fair world trade, or clean drinking water for everyone. Go and take a look –...
UN uses Google to pinpoint refugee crises
[David Batty] The United Nations is using the mapping programme Google Earth to highlight the plight of millions of refugees and its humanitarian work to help them. The outreach programme, a joint initiative between the internet giant and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), weaves together satellite maps, photos, videos and eyewitness accounts to give viewers...
The forgotten refugees who wait for justice after 60 years
The continuous attention in the media for the latest news can sometimes cause painstaking forgotten issues. West Bengal’s Cooper Camp, a ‘forgotten’ refugee camp in India, is such a forgotten story. Coopers Camp is the sub-continent’s oldest and least-known refugee camp. A hangover from another era, it represents a major embarrassment for the progressive West...
10 Stories the World Should Know More About
From the hidden world of stateless people to the often overlooked advances in malaria protection to the steps taken to bring peace after separate conflicts in southern Sudan and Uganda, the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) has compiled its fourth annual list of stories it believes deserve greater public and media attention. “Ten...
125 million people could face displacement in South Asia
Kolkata, INDIA: Greenpeace alerted the Indian government and people of the subcontinent to the massive humanitarian crisis the South Asian region could face if global warming was not kept below the 2 degree tipping point. Blue Alert – Climate Migrants in South Asia: Estimates and Solutions, a paper authored by Dr Sudhir Chella Rajan, professor...
Design for the other 90%
“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.†—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises A great exhibition on view in the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum,...
Jacqueline Novogratz: Tackling poverty with ‘patient capital’
Jacqueline Novogratz is pioneering new ways of tackling poverty. In her view, traditional charity rarely delivers lasting results. Her solution, outlined here through a series of revealing personal stories, is “patient capital”: support for “bottom of the pyramid” businesses which the commercial market alone couldn’t provide. The result: sustainable jobs, goods, services — and dignity...
On Corporate Altruism
[By Gary Becker] In the past few decades, economists have analyzed the competition from companies motivated solely by the desire for profits against companies truly motivated in part by other considerations. These considerations include altruism toward consumers, discrimination against minority employees, and a desire to help the environment by using carbon offsets to own carbon...
Articles by Christopher Baan / Developing Countries / Globalization & Global Culture / Society / Sustainable Development / World
Doen WIJ genoeg voor een betere wereld?
- This article will soon be published in English, too. Sorry for your inconvenience. - Ondernemend idealisme voor een échte verandering. Het huidige praktisch idealisme is voorbij. Een veranderende samenleving vraagt om een nieuw idealisme en nieuwe ideologieën. Ik pleit hieronder voor een nieuw soort idealisme, wat mijns inziens een duurzamer karakter heeft en meer...
Developing Countries / Globalization & Global Culture / Politics & International Relations / Society / Sustainable Development / World
26,500
Around the world, some 26,500 children die every day. That is equivalent to: 1 child dying every 3 seconds 18 children dying every minute A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring every week An Iraq-scale death toll every 15–36 days Almost 10 million children dying every year Some 60 million children dying between 2000 and 2006 The...
Rich countries owe poor a huge environmental debt
A striking article in this week’s Guardian: The environmental damage caused to developing nations by the world’s richest countries amounts to more than the entire third world debt of $1.8 trillion, according to the first systematic global analysis of the ecological damage imposed by rich countries. The study found that there are huge disparities in...
