IPS reporting on Poverty & MDGs

	Donors Must Seize 2013 Opportunity in Sahel, U.N. Urges  Carey L. Biron  Reporting that the worst of the food crisis in the Sahel region of Africa appears to have been averted, the United Nations’ top official on the area, David Gressley, warned on Wednesday that the potential passing of the immediate emergency should not divert international attention from what needs ... MORE > >
	Social Inclusion the Key to Venezuela’s Elections  Estrella Gutiérrez  Whoever wins Venezuela's presidential elections on Sunday Oct. 7 will do so as a result of the idea of social inclusion, which has become dominant in an electorate whose social and political features have changed radically in the last decade. "People have changed and now they want to participate ... MORE > >
Reducing Poverty in South Africa by Cutting Time in Traffic  Gail Jennings  In South Africa, Bus Rapid Transit systems, which were pioneered to great effect in Latin American countries such as Colombia and Brazil, are being promoted as potentially effective ways of delivering improved public transport services to the urban poor. But experts question whether systems such as ... MORE > >
	Less Than Half of International Foreign Aid Is Transparent  Carey L. Biron  As a major international deadline on foreign assistance transparency draws closer, a new index shows that while donors are becoming more open with their data, still less than half of foreign aid information is openly available. “Progress is being met, things are getting better, but that progress ... MORE > >
	Task Force to Kick Start Cairo Population Goals  Becky Bergdahl  Gathered at the Ford Foundation in New York Monday, international luminaries, family planning experts and women's rights activists repeatedly expressed a common sentiment: “I cannot believe that we are still having this discussion today." They were there to mark the launch of a new 26-member ... MORE > >
	Haiti's Two-Million-Dollar Ghost Town  Correspondents  Just months after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake killed over 200,000 Haitians and drove another 1.3 million into squalid camps, the Building Back Better Communities (BBBC) project got the green light from the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC), headed by former U.S. president Bill ...MORE > >
	Self-Financing that Works for the Poor  Estrella Gutiérrez  "We were used to losing, so a group of us said to ourselves: let's lose something here," said Carmen Caravallo, describing the start of a "bankomunal", a self-managed microfinance fund based on investment, in her rural community in eastern Venezuela. Ten years later, Caravallo and the other ...MORE > >
	For Development, Jobs May Outweigh Growth, World Bank Says  Carey L. Biron  The World Bank warned Monday that over the next decade and a half, the world will need to create 600 million new jobs, particularly in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, just to maintain current employment rates. A senior World Bank economist, Martin Rama, called the figure “staggering”. “But the ... MORE > >
	Mexico, the End of the 'American Dream' for Child Migrants  Edgardo Ayala  For many undocumented child migrants from Central America, Mexico is the end of the road in their endeavour to reach the United States, driven by economic reasons, gang violence and domestic violence. "Children have always migrated, and they have always been the most vulnerable," Mexican ... MORE > >
	Climate Change Takes a Bite Out of Global Food Supply  Stephen Leahy  Humanity's ability to feed itself is in serious doubt as climate change takes hold on land in the form of droughts and extreme weather, as well as on the world's oceans. Less well known to many is the fact that emissions from burning oil, coal and gas are both heating up the oceans and making ... MORE > >
	Q&A: "Women and Girls Must Be Front and Centre"  Malgorzata Stawecka  With the global population on track to reach a staggering nine billion people by 2050, according to U.N. figures, a stronger action plan is needed to address the challenges of ending poverty, ensuring a well-functioning health system and access to education, as well as guaranteeing social inclusion ... MORE > >
	Delivering Promises to Africa’s Smallholder Farmers  Terna Gyuse  Investment in rural infrastructure and support for Africa's millions of small-scale farmers have increased in the past decade. But as these farmers begin to see increased yields, the question of better access to markets comes to the fore. Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for ... MORE > >
	Multilateralism is at a Crossroads  Pascal Lamy  Multilateralism is at a crossroads. This is a crucial matter for environmental and sustainability issues, as we have seen in the Rio+20 Summit, and for trade and other economic matters. The G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, focused precisely on improving our collective response to the current ... MORE > >
	Arab Spring Teaches Food Security  Terna Gyuse and Isaiah Esipisu  African leaders should take note of the lessons learned from the Arab Spring and realise that ensuring good governance and food security will avoid crises on the continent, says Kofi Annan, chairman of the Africa Green Revolution Alliance. The former United Nations Secretary General said that ... MORE > >