Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

How Skills Can Change Lives of World’s Youth Lakshi De Vass Gunawardena When the United Nations commemorated World Youth Skills Day, there was one stark reality that emerged out of the event: the world’s youth account for over a third of the global population of more than 7.7 billion people, and they also account for over a third of those unemployed across the ... MORE > >

UN Report Shows Mixed Results in Meeting SDGs Daniel Yang The United Nations launched its 2019 report on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), showing inadequate progress in the fourth year into the sustainable development agenda and highlighting the need for imminent global action. Released on the first day of the SDG High-Level Political Forum ... MORE > >

The Road to Zero Hunger Lakshi De Vass Gunawardena Over 820 million people across the globe are currently undernourished, according to a new report released here. After nearly a decade of progress, the number of people who suffer from hunger has slowly increased over the past three years, with about one in every nine people globally suffering ... MORE > >

Growing African Agriculture One Byte at a Time Busani Bafana Ella Mazani is a mobile phone farmer. “My mobile phone is part of my farming. It supports my farming and my family’s welfare through the services I get via the phone,” the smallholder maize farmer from Shurugwi in central Zimbabwe quips. Mazani grows maize and finger millet and keeps ... MORE > >

US Defunds UNFPA for Third Consecutive Year-- on Misconceived Assumptions Thalif Deen The Trump administration, in its continued hostility towards the United Nations-- and as part of its policy aimed at undermining multilateral institutions and international commitments-- has withheld its annual contributions to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) – for the third consecutive ... MORE > >

Africa on Track Towards Information Black Hole Miriam Gathigah It is an image of resistance that went viral across the world. Alaa Salah, a young Sudanese student, dressed in a traditional white thobe standing atop a car with an enthralled crowd surrounding her as she and they boldly chanted Al-Thawra—Arabic for revolution. It is what many remember of the ... MORE > >

U.N.’s Islamic State Probe Unit Kicks into Gear James Reinl A United Nations-backed probe into atrocities committed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq has frequently been criticised for making slow progress during its first two years of operations. Lately, that could be changing. The head of the team, Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, told the U.N. ... MORE > >

Facebook and Friends Threaten to Libralize the World Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram On 17 June, a Facebook white paper proposed a new global digital currency it plans to launch in the first half of 2020. The Libra will be managed by a ‘not for profit’ Swiss-based Facebook-led consortium of ‘for profit corporations’, with Uber, eBay, Lyft, Mastercard and PayPal among its founding ... MORE > >

Rwanda Prepares the Foundations for Climate-Resilient Cities Emmanuel Hitimana How do you plan a resilient city? A city that can withstand climate change impacts, and the natural disasters that it produces at increased frequencies. And how do you protect the city, its individuals and communities, its business and institutions from either the increased flooding or prolonged ... MORE > >

A Relentless Battle Against Poverty & Hunger in World’s Most Populous Region Thalif Deen The world’s two most populous nations-– China and India—have been making steady progress in eradicating extreme poverty, but have fallen short in their attempts to eliminate extreme hunger, according to the Bangkok-based UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). In ... MORE > >

How NGOs in Rich Countries Control their Counterparts in Poor Countries..and Why they Refuse to Resolve it Paul Okumu Many NGOs around the world are fighting inequality between the rich and the poor, between the policies that make rich countries richer, and poor countries poorer. So while Civil Society Organizations claim to be equal and are are fighting together to secure space for engagement and to work, the ... MORE > >

The Fight to End Violence Against Women in the Asia-Pacific Region Caley Pigliucci Parliamentarians met in Laos last week to discuss violence against women and girls. The meeting was organized by the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) and hosted by the National Assembly of Laos. It was a chance to push parliamentarians to continue developing programs to ... MORE > >

Prejudice and Discrimination, the Uncured Ills of Leprosy Mario Osava “The ambulance team refused to take my sick friend to the hospital because he had had Hanseniasis years before," said Yohei Sasakawa, president of the Nippon Foundation, at one of the meetings held during his Jul. 1-10 visit to Brazil. His friend was completely cured and had no visible effects ... MORE > >

Avoiding the Mistakes of the Asian Green Revolution in Africa Isaiah Esipisu Research scientists are studying groundwater resources in three African countries in order to understand the renewability of the source and how people can use it sustainably towards a green revolution in Africa. “We don’t want to repeat some of the mistakes during the green revolution that has ... MORE > >

Let's Talk About Sex – and Why Power Matters Dr. Natalia Kanem Every year on World Population Day (July 11), UNFPA receives queries from journalists about the total number of people around the world. Numbers are indeed important because they help governments develop policies that respond to evolving needs for services such as education and health. While ... MORE > >