By Milagros Salazar *

LIMA, Nov 29, 2011 (IPS) – Three countries in South America’s Andean region, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, have a great deal to teach and share with those meeting in Busan, South Korean this week to discuss, among other things, how to make sure that development aid incorporates a gender focus in order to be effective. Continue Reading

By Miriam Gathigah

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 29, 2011 (IPS) – Although there has been considerable progress towards reducing maternal and infant mortality, millions of women and children in Africa are still in need of better health services, food and sanitation. Continue Reading

By Suvendrini Kakuchi

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 29 , 2011 (IPS) – Key actors meeting in Busan on Tuesday, the first day of the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), lay emphasis on inclusive ownership, mutual accountability and the platform of the groundbreaking 2005 Paris Declaration.

Continue Reading

Agnes Matilda Kalibata (PhD)

Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Republic of Rwanda 

As the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, commences, Rwanda has a chance to convey its way of doing business in an ever-changing aid architecture. The meeting centres on the Paris Declaration, a tool for donors and developing countries to hold each other to account. Continue Reading

By Miriam Gathigah

BUSAN, Nov 29 (IPS) – Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from around the world attending the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) in this South Korean port city have a rare opportunity to be on equal footing with governments and donors in a global conference. Continue Reading

Suvendrini Kakuchi interviews YUKIKO OMURA, vice-president, International Fund for Agricultural Development

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 28 , 2011 (IPS) – Rising food prices, natural disasters and an energy crisis that is turning wheat into ethanol instead of bread have raised the spectre of inadequate global food supply that hits the poor. This grim reality has finally turned the spotlight on agricultural aid and its link to development effectiveness. Continue Reading

Analysis by Miriam Gathigah

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 28, 2011 (IPS) – When the G-8 countries, comprising the world’s largest industrialised nations, decided that improving Internet access to developing countries should be a priority, scores of leaders from developing world opposed the move. Continue Reading

By Suvendrini Kakuchi

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 27, 2011 (IPS) – The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4), starting in this port city on Tuesday, will examine why international donor assistance worth trillions of dollars spent over decades has failed to eradicate poverty. Continue Reading

By Miriam Gathigah

BUSAN, South Korea, Nov 27, 2011 (IPS) – Gender responsive budgeting becomes important when seen in the background of unpaid but important care work done by women, say delegates to an international meet on aid effectiveness in this South Korean city. Continue Reading

Trips to fetch water a part of daily life for many Haitians in the surrounding neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince. Credit: James Alexis/Haiti Grassroots Watch

PORT-AU-PRINCE, NOV 25, 2011 (IPS/Haiti Grassroots Watch) – 2.5 million U.S. dollars to supply water to several marginal neighbourhoods in the capital. Approved in 2006. Five years later the water has yet to run. Children are still in the streets bearing bottles and buckets. Continue Reading