5 May 2000 : news summary:

Inter. Organisations, Agencies & Partnerships

‘A better way to help the world‘, FT, 28/4/00
~ Feature on the World Bank demonstrators and its need for reform.
Also: ‘Know-nothings at the barricades‘, BWeek, 1 May 2000, pp85-86
~ Despite their failings the World Bank and the IMF are the only organisations able to influence the adverse consequences of globalisation.

‘Make trade work for the poor‘, Oxfam
~ Oxfam’s position paper on Unctad,

Economic Development

‘Unbalanced globalisation process destabilizes world economy‘, Unctad press release, 15/4/00 ~ Unctad warning for policy-makers at World Bank/IMF meeting.

‘Zimbabwe’s political storm could batter Southern Africa‘, BWeek, 1 May 2000, p53
~ Fears for Southern Africa as the situation in Zimbabwe becomes a threat to the entire region.

‘Indian poverty and the numbers game‘, The Economist, 29/4/00-5/5/00, pp69-70
~ Article looks at whether reforms and liberalisation has helped India’s poor.

‘Malaria‘, The Economist, 29/4/00-5/5/00, p132
~ Graph shows the loss of economic growth from malaria across Africa.

Aid & Debt

‘The quality of aid: Towards an agenda for more effective international development co-operation‘, Christian Aid, April 2000
~ A new report from Christian Aid considers British and EC aid from three case studies on India, Ethiopia and Mozambique to ‘identify the most important building blocks of aid quality’ and looks at how we can work to improve the quality of aid.

‘No shame in our aid programme‘, OBS, 30/4/00
~ Letter from Miss Short rebuking criticism of British aid policy.

‘Pope to make debt relief plea‘, T, 1/5/00
~ The Pope is to join forces with the rock world to call for debt relief programmes to be speeded up.

‘Mozambique seeks £285m for flood rebuilding‘, FT, 3/5/00
~ Mozambique’s request at Rome conference of foreign donors.

‘Zimbabwe faces foreign debt crisis…‘, FT, 3/5/00
~ Zimbabwe faces external debt default prospects.

Health

‘Aid for Aids‘, The Economist, 29/4/00-5/5/00, p104
~ Looks at the huge economic costs of the Aids epidemic for poor countries.

Various, 1/5/00
~ Washington has declared Aids a threat to national security.
Also: ‘Clinton makes Aids world security issue‘, ES, 2/5/00

‘Ethiopia food aid a ‘GM experiment", EXP, 2/5/00
~ GM food surpluses sent to Ethiopia.

Education

‘School funding crisis defeats world forum‘, FT, 28/4/00
~ International education conference flounders over financing.
Also: ‘Oxfam fury at education summit‘, G, 28/4/00
~ NGO’s consider walking out of education summit as firm commitments are watered down and postponed.

‘Gulf remains between rhetoric and reality on education‘, FT, 1/5/00
~ Report on the events at the World Forum for Education.
Also: ‘Empty words‘, FT, 1/5/00

‘Keeping the promise: We owe a debt to world education‘, G, 1/5/00
~ Is the government falling behind in its commitment to education?

‘Modernising Mexico finds its schools are out of date‘, FT, 28/4/00
~ As Mexico’s economy grows its educational system must modernise to cope with the growing demand for a skilled workforce.

‘A powerful incentive to keep kids in school‘, BWeek, 1 May 2000, pp50-51
~ Mexico’s government programme, Progresa, is helping children to stay in school.

Government

‘DFID: Departmental Report 2000‘, DFID, April 2000
~ The report examines DFID’s achievements and ‘key developments’ for the year 1999/2000 and looks at what lies ahead for the next 2 years. Reports on how DFID is working with business to promote economic development and responsible business practice.

‘MoD to reject criticism‘, T, 2/5/00
~ International Development Committee report to criticise MoD over handling of Mozambique disaster.
Also: "Inflexible’ MoD accused over flood crisis‘, DM, 3/5/00

Business, Trade & Development

‘Companies not doing enough to be socially responsible‘, FT, 1/5/00
~ Letter from Frank Vogl, President of Vogl Communications.

‘World trade-off‘, G, 2/5/00
~Takes a look at free trade.

‘The fight against Latin poverty‘, BWeek, 1 May 2000, pp48-50
~ Partnerships between government, business and communities are creating programmes to help alleviate poverty.

‘Red for go‘, G, 3/5/00
~ Feature on RedR, also known as Engineers for Disaster Relief, a scheme that allows professionals and their employers to benefit from working overseas in disaster areas.

‘Attacking Goliath‘, G, 1/5/00
~ Anti-capitalist demonstrators protest for a good cause – the revenues of major corporations exceed the gross GDP of many countries.

Environment

‘Still chopping‘, The Economist, 29/4/00-5/5/00, p64
~ Article on Brazil’s attempts to halt the deforestation of its less famous Atlantic forest.

‘African forests: Growing or going?‘, The Economist, 29/4/00-5/5/00, p107
~ A new theory on Africa’s forest suggests that the degree of deforestation may not be as severe as originally thought.

‘How one village beat the drought‘, G, 1/5/00
~ Story of how local planning relieved the drought for one village.

‘Drink in the atmosphere‘, FT, 1/5/00
~ Feature on new method of supplying drinking water to Chilean mountain village which has transformed their lives.

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