By A.D.McKenzie

Louisamène Joseph Alionat. / A.D.McKenzie/IPS.

PARIS, Jan 27 (IPS) – When Louisamène Joseph Alionat unexpectedly began singing in a packed hall at the United Nations cultural agency here this week, it was an attempt to give encouragement to her peers engaged in the uphill battle of trying to end extreme poverty.

"I work with families [...]

By A.D.McKenzie

Louisamène Joseph Alionat. / A.D.McKenzie/IPS.

PARIS, Jan 27 (IPS) – When Louisamène Joseph Alionat unexpectedly began singing in a packed hall at the United Nations cultural agency here this week, it was an attempt to give encouragement to her peers engaged in the uphill battle of trying to end extreme poverty.

"I work with families [...]

By Julio Godoy
BERLIN, Nov 17 (IPS) – Solar thermal power plants are indispensable to meet Europe’s energy demands and to reduce greenhouse gases emissions substantially, according to a new study by a European scientific commission.

The report by the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) says solar thermal power plants can play a central role in [...]

The South African Development Community says states need to protect their forrests as a region. SADC is preparing to put their case before COP 17 in Durban later this month. Zukiswa Zimela reports from the SADC headquarters in Botswana.
 
 
 
 

By A.D.McKenzie

Mirta Lourenco from UNESCO shows the poster of a radio run by women. / A.D.McKenzie/IPS.

PARIS, Nov 11 (IPS) – The demise of radio has been predicted for many years, but the medium is adapting, transforming and proving to be a cost-effective tool in development, experts say.

"Radio is cheap, portable and has enormous potential [...]

By Stephen Leahy
UXBRIDGE, Canada, Nov 1 (IPS) – Mountains of hazardous waste grow by about 40 million tons every year. This waste, mostly from Europe and North America, is burned in developing countries like Ghana in a hazardous effort to recover valuable metals.

A children's school in Accra, Ghana's capital, was recently found to be contaminated [...]

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda

Will the World Trade Organization remain multilateral?

GENEVA, Oct 14 (IPS) – Developing countries, particularly from Africa, are concerned about attempts by industrialised nations to change the negotiating dynamic of the World Trade Organization.

They are worried that developed countries want to introduce new issues at the multilateral body’s eighth ministerial meeting later [...]

By Karina Boeckmann
BERLIN, Oct 4 (IPS) – A delegation of Namibian government representatives and leaders of the indigenous Herero and Nama people who came to Germany to repatriate 20 skulls of their ancestors were once again disappointed in their hopes for dialogue and an official apology.

The skulls were of victims of the mass murder of [...]

By A.D.McKenzie
PARIS, Oct 4 (IPS) – Making some simple, basic changes in education policy can result in many more girls attending school, experts said at a meeting here this week on Gender Equality in Education.

Take the case of Kenya. The United Nations says that the country has made huge strides towards the goal of education [...]

By Servaas van den Bosch

The status of Namibia's fishing industry and the country's 200 nautical miles Economic Exclusive Zone remains a sticking point with the EU. / Servaas van den Bosch/IPS

WINDHOEK, Aug 31 (IPS) – Weariness surrounds the negotiations on an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) regulating trade access between Southern Africa and the European [...]

By Julio Godoy
PARIS, Aug 26 (IPS) – The severe drought in the Horn of Africa, which has caused the death of at least 30,000 children and is affecting some 12 million people, especially in Somalia, is a direct consequence of weather phenomena associated with climate change and global warming, environmental scientists say.

"The present drought in [...]

By Brahima Ouédraogo

The late Thomas Sankara. / Olivier Bain/Wikicommons

OUAGADOUGOU, Jul 29 (IPS) – Opposition members of parliament in Burkina Faso have called on France to open its archives to look for evidence of involvement of the French secret services in the 1987 death of Thomas Sankara.

The call is the latest effort in a long-running [...]

By Timothy Spence
BRUSSELS, Jul 1 (IPS) – Global demand for African oil and precious metals has fuelled a continental surge in exports, helping some of the world’s poorest countries rebound from the 2009 economic shock.

African countries also stand to benefit from trade deals with donors and development agencies. Seeking to boost "south-south" trade, the Asian [...]

By Ren Bishop
BRUSSELS, Jun 30 (IPS) – On an unusually hot Belgian afternoon, Thoko Kaime, leans back in his chair and explains how ‘township’ actually means ‘slum’ in his home country of Malawi.

"When you’re growing in the midst of poverty, it’s quite hard to be inspired because there is nothing really to inspire you," says [...]

By Matt Carr

Numbers or people? Migrants at Lampedusa. / Ilaria Vechi/IPS.

LAMPEDUSA, Italy, Jun 22 (IPS) – It’s only a few hundred metres from the rocky hillside overlooking Lampedusa’s commercial port to the other side of the protected bay. For more than a decade this narrow strip of ocean has been a migratory gateway into [...]