The world’s best known talk show host has become the president-elect of the most powerful country in the world. Trump running the US is unlikely to be good news for Africa.
Options are open for how to spend £1.4 billion of British aid channelled through EU.
Give small amounts as you pass by makes you feel good but is rarely enough to make any significant or lasting difference.
Dmitry Kalinovsky/Shutterstock
Travelling almost always involves confronting experiences with abject poverty. As you step out of the pampered cocoons of hotels, restaurants and airline cabins and see destitute people sleeping on streets…
The relatively low death toll when Cycle Aila hit Bangladesh in 2009 was widely attributed to improvements in disaster preparedness.
Reuters/Andrew Biraj
A reduced aid budget equates to the forsaking of real opportunities in foreign policy terms. In the long term, this could make the savings look miniscule compared to opportunity costs.
Differential treatment between international and local aid workers may undermine international aid programs.
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In the humanitarian aid and development sector, local staff are paid less and receive fewer benefits than their expatriate colleagues, even when they do similar work and have similar qualifications.
Even something as simple as a water pump might not work if it requires parts or power not readily available where it’s installed.
World Bank
Much international aid fails to achieve its ends because the technology employed is not “appropriate” to its intended environment or culture. This needs to change.
On guard? Xi Jinping in South Africa.
REUTERS/Sidney Seshibedi
Do companies really mean it when they talk about being socially responsible? Judging by their mission statements and homepages, it seems increasingly that resources firms do, but many retailers don’t.
Not protected by the Geneva Convention?
Mohammad Ismail/Reuters
How a political theory became a deadly reality for aid groups.
Malawian President Peter Mutharika has promised to fight the corruption that has seen donors withdraw their support for his impoverished nation.
Reuters/Eldson Chagara
Malawi appears to have learnt nothing from the biggest state corruption scandal that rocked the country two years ago, leading to donors withdrawing their support. The same conditions still remain.
I recently noticed a tweet from @CareersatBAT about how British American Tobacco South Africa had packed 200,000 meals of donated food for the Million Meal Challenge being run by Stop Hunger Now Southern…
Rough ride: government troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
EPA/Dai Kurokawa
Australia has cut aid to Indonesia by 40%. That may cause diplomatic displeasure, but the country has restructured its development programs in recent years to be less dependent on foreign money.
Australian aid can make a difference to the lives of millions – but there are few votes and little media interest in it, so it’s an easy target for budget cuts.
John Bransby/Department of Foreign Affairs
The devastation to Vanuatu left in the wake of Cyclone Pam shows small islands in the Pacific need a climate insurance scheme, similar to what has been achieved in the Caribbean.