Credit: Sector de Mujeres

By Danilo Valladares

GUATEMALA CITY, Mar 3, 2010 (IPS) – Guatemala knows that when it comes time to demonstrate compliance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of global anti-poverty and development target to be met by 2015, it will make a poor showing.
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Women informal cross border traders negotiate a minefield ranging from bus drivers, customs officials and dangerous and unfamiliar environments. Credit:Trevor Davies/IPS

By Ignatius Banda

BULAWAYO, Mar 1, 2010 (IPS) – From the rickety old buses that miraculously make long cross-border journeys to the frustrating red tape at the border post, from fending off sexual advances from bus crews and customs officials to losing goods worth thousands of dollars, 28-year-old Irene Moyo has seen it all.
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For Hseng Noung, women are a key part of Burma' struggle. Credit:The Irrawaddy

Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews HSENG NOUNG, women’s right activist from Burma

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Feb 26, 2010 (IPS) – Women who fled conflict and oppression in military-ruled Burma have become a potent political force during their lives in exile, says a leading women’s rights activist from the South-east Asian country’s Shan ethnic minority.
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The promise of Africa's Decade for Women is action on the various declarations and conventions which have not yet delivered gender equality. Credit: Mercedes Sayagues/PlusNews

By Omer Redi

ADDIS ABABA, Feb 22, 2010 (IPS) – Fears that the impact of the global economic meltdown would affect funding to various development areas have been rife. Already, several governments have cut their budgets for HIV and AIDS and bilateral and multilateral funding partners have done likewise.
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Veena Panudej at her workplace. Credit:Marwaan Macan-Markar/IPS

By Marwaan Macan-Markar*

TRAT, Thailand, Feb 20, 2010 (IPS) – Veena Panudej makes a living in the night like so many other women and men in this quiet eastern corner of Thailand. They work under the light of the stars in rubber estates spread beyond this city close to the Cambodian border.
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Informal traders in the SADC region sell a wide range of goods: wood and stone carvings, clothes, furniture, electrical goods and doilies. Credit: Ntandoyenkosi Ncube/IPS

By Ntandoyenkosi Ncube

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 19, 2010 (IPS) – Support for regional trade is one of the cornerstones of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). But the focus has been on large scale trade in goods and services, ignoring one important group trading throughout the region. Continue Reading

Primary health care in Uganda is increasingly entrusted to community-based workers: is the strategy safe? Credit: Charles Akena/IRIN

Isaiah Esipisu

KAMPALA, Feb 22 (IPS) – A severe shortage of highly-trained medical personnel is one of the many challenges to providing health care at a local level across Africa. Task shifting – permitting less-specialised people to carry out certain functions – is one proposal to over come this, but it is meeting resistance. Continue Reading