We've been reading...

Better sanitation could save 2 million lives a year
Reuters -- Nearly 20 percent of the world's population still defecates in the open, and action to improve hygiene, sanitation and water supply could prevent more than 2 million child deaths a year, health experts said Monday. In a series of studies on sanitation published as a cholera epidemic claims hundreds of live in Haiti, public health researchers from the United States and Europe found that this year 2.6 billion people across the world do not have access to even a basic toilet. Unsafe sanitation and drinking water, together with poor hygiene, account for at least 7 percent of disease across the world, they said, as well as nearly 20 percent of all child deaths in the world... (Kate Kelland)

UN expert praises Congo’s draft law on indigenous rights
UN News -- An independent United Nations human rights expert today welcomed a draft law in the Republic of Congo intended to recognize and protect the rights of marginalized indigenous communities in the central African country. “I welcome the development of a bill for a law on indigenous peoples, and am pleased to have heard from Government and parliamentary officials that the bill will very likely be adopted into law during the current session of Parliament, before the end of the year,” said James Anaya, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples...

Cuban launches next phase of malaria project
SciDev.net -- Cuba has announced plans to build biolarvicide factories in Brazil and several African countries in a bid to tackle malaria and dengue fever. Biolarvicides are biological products that are added to water to kill mosquitoes at the larval stage. The Cuban government will oversee the programme, and funding is expected to come from national governments of the countries involved. Final figures have not yet been confirmed. Ghanaian health minister Benjamin Kumbour welcomed the project and said it would teach Ghana the best practices that Cuba has used to manage the disease and would deepen bilateral relations between the two countries...

United States urged to take action on climate change
ONE Blog -- In a bold call to action, a bloc of 259 investors representing a quarter of global capitalization and assets signed a statement urging the newly minted United States Congress and climate negotiators in Cancun to address climate change reform — or risk further economic woes. Never before has there been such a coordinated effort emerging from the investors’ worldwide circle. The group strategically issued their message before the November 29th international climate change treaty negotiations set to take place in Cancun, Mexico, to tackle the next step in climate change once the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012... (Veronica Weis)

We've been reading...

In today's special Blog Action Day edition of We've Been Reading, we focus on Water. As usual, simply click on the title of each article to read more. If you have any articles you'd like to share, please do.

Youth lead the sanitation charge in Ghana
UNICEF -- They say it takes a village to raise a child. But children themselves are equally capable of important work, as UNICEF Ghana's new hand washing project, known as "IWASH," is proving. Directly targeted at children of primary school age, the program is yielding results that are already rippling throughout entire villages. Worldwide, diarrhea remains the second leading cause of death among children under the age of five. Nearly one in five child deaths—about 1.5 million each year—is due to diarrhea. The illness kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. More shocking even than these staggering statistics is the fact that deaths from diarrhea are easily preventable...

SA, Ghana share ideas on water provision
Sowetan Live -- Parts of Africa do not suffer from water scarcity as South Africa does, but there is a lot to learn in delivering clean, potable water to the public. Rand Water, which services about 12 million people in Gauteng, this week hosted Ghanaian minister of water resources Alban Bagbin. He was in the country to learn about and share ideas on how best to deliver water to the people. Rand Water CEO Percy Sechemane said it costs them R8 billion a year to deliver blue drop water, top quality water, to Gauteng. Though water was not a scarce resource in Ghana, Bagbin admitted that servicing it to the required quality and getting it to the citizens was an expensive exercise that needed improvement.

Melcom donates to Okyenhene's sanitation project
Ghana News Agency -- Melcom Ghana Limited, a nationwide retail outlet, on Thursday presented a number of items in aid of the Okyenhene's nationwide campaign on sanitation, dubbed "Operation Cleaner and Healthier Communities"... Mr Richmond Oduro-Kwarteng, Public Relations Officer of Melcom Ghana Limited, said the Okyenhene's initiative would help achieve sustained and improved water and sanitation in the communities. He said a healthy body and mind served as the greatest platform for the development of individuals and the nation as whole adding that a healthy life depended on the way the individual kept the environment in which he found himself.

We've been reading...

AGRF promises to transform African agriculture
Africa Good News -- The inaugural African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) has reportedly ended with a series of outcomes that will move a united Africa forward in the quest to transform agriculture and tackle food security. Closing the forum in Accra, Ghana, AGRF Chair, Kofi Annan, praised the efforts of public and private institutions, development organisations, the donor community and farmers, to accelerate the green revolution in Africa. "Today we move forward, strongly united and passionately committed to the concrete actions that we have jointly developed," said Annan...

Getting ideas to flow
Leading Blog -- Charles Landry is the founder of Comedia, and works to help cities to be more "creative for the world" so that the energies of individuals and companies can be brought into alignment with their global responsibilities. He recently told Sally Helgesen that his experience has taught him that “the single biggest problem in the world is not finding great ideas but getting great ideas to move, to flow.” Getting stuck is an issue we face both individually and organizationally. At its core, it’s a thinking problem and is often self-inflicted. Creating the right kind of movement and in the right direction begins with re-thinking our view of reality...

US Media Criticized for Ignoring Positive Developments in Africa
VOA News -- The president and CEO of the Africa Society of the National Summit on Africa says that important stories about Africa continue to feature less prominently in mainstream American media outlets. The Africa Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that strives to educate Americans about the richness and diversity of Africa, as well as the economic opportunities that the continent offers.Bernadette Paolo said, despite the fact that the month of August featured many Africa-related events in Washington, those events did not make the mainstream American media...

Canada begins rollout of maternal-health plan in Africa
Globe & Mail -- Two months after the G8 Summit, the Harper government is beginning to roll out its maternal-health plan in Africa. But one of its most controversial elements – family planning – is nowhere to be seen in the announcements so far. Bev Oda, Minister of International Co-operation, made no mention of family planning in her official statements during a seven-day visit to Mali and Mozambique this week and last. She says she discussed the issue privately with government officials in Mali, although no specific commitments were announced. At the G8 Summit in June in Huntsville, Ont., the government pledged $1.1-billion in new money for maternal and child-health programs in the developing world...

Lites
Nigerian 'Sesame Street' to feature health, nutrition and gender equality
Nigerian economy to grow by 10%
Help freeze Pakistan's debt
Angola to spend $18 bln to end power cuts by 2016

We've been reading...

Can youth change the future of Africa?
CIPE Blog -- President Obama’s Forum with Young African Leaders gathered together more than 100 young Africans for three days to discuss how young people can positively impact the future of their continent. Representing 43 African nations, participants hailed from all facets of society, including journalists, entrepreneurs and human rights activists. The excitement of these young African leaders was palpable as they shared with each other their continued challenges and examples of success. At the conclusion of the President’s Forum however, the question still remains: Can youth change the future of Africa?

Dirty water no more
BBC -- A bottle that uses ultraviolet light to sterilise drinking water has won the UK leg of the James Dyson Award. The Pure bottle is the brainchild of Timothy Whitehead, a design and technology graduate from Loughborough University, who had the idea while traveling in Zambia. It eliminates the need for chlorine and iodine tablets which take 30 minutes to work and can leave an unpleasant taste. Once filtered, the water is sterilised by a wind-up ultraviolet bulb in a process lasting 90 seconds. A prototype was effective in killing 99.9% of bacteria and viruses. "Pure provides a practical solution to a real problem - how to get clean drinking water in the most hostile of conditions. It has the potential to make a real difference to people's lives"...

Pretoria defends China's Africa policy
Financial Times -- South Africa’s trade minister on Tuesday embraced China’s surging investment in Africa, saying that Beijing was not pursuing a neocolonial policy and its growing interest in the continent would bring huge benefits. The trade minister is part of a delegation led by South African President Jacob Zuma that includes almost 400 business executives and 11 cabinet members, the biggest group yet to accompany a South African leader abroad. Rob Davies said China’s rapidly expanding African presence “can only be a good thing” because it meant increased competition between developed and developing countries in their pursuit of resources and influence in Africa...

Hope on a Hillside: Helping Small Farmers Help Themselves
Gates Foundation -- Somewhere in Rwanda, a rural farmer is dreaming of providing an education for her children. Not just high school, but maybe even a university degree. Such a dream used to seem out of reach. Like boosting the harvests on her hillside plot. Or multiplying her earnings. Or preventing topsoil from washing down the hilly slope when it rained. But now, an ambitious terracing program is working to reshape Rwanda’s landscape, helping farmers limit erosion, improve irrigation, and boost their yields. And, in the process, it will help transform the landscape of rural poverty, empowering smallholder farmers to provide a better life for their loved ones...

We've been reading...

US billionaires pledge 50% of their wealth to charity
BBC -- Thirty-eight US billionaires have pledged at least 50% of their wealth to charity through a campaign started by investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. They include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, CNN founder Ted Turner and entertainment executive Barry Diller. "The Giving Pledge" lists all the families and individuals who have committed to the project. The site says the pledge is a "moral commitment" not a "legal contract". The campaign was started in June to convince US billionaires to give away at least half of their fortunes either during their lifetimes or after their deaths. "We've really just started but already we've had a terrific response," Mr Buffett said in a statement. He added: "The Giving Pledge is about asking wealthy families to have important conversations about their wealth and how it will be used"...

Sierra Leone's model for improving maternal health & women's rights
Huffington Post -- Continuing high rates of maternal mortality and persistent gender-based violence must be addressed through a holistic and rights-based approach that strengthens health systems and empowers women. As we approach the ten-year review of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in September, we have an extraordinary model of leadership to look to in Sierra Leone of how such approaches can be implemented in practice.My last trip to Sierra Leone was in 1999, when I was serving as UN High Commissioner of Human Rights. At that time, the country was still in the midst of terrible conflict. I returned last week to a nation still struggling to rebuild following more than a decade of civil war. But much has changed, and those changes are nothing short of stunning. One area were Sierra Leone has made important advances is in addressing women's health...

Brain gain: African migrants returning home
GhanaWeb -- Africa may still be suffering from a chronic brain drain but some of the continent's elite are turning their backs on the West and taking their talents back home according to film-maker Andy Jones. The story is as old as the hills. Man leaves village to seek riches in the big city. In recent years, the village has been the continent of Africa, the city represented by the bright lights of Europe and America. Any number of Africans seek to cross the ocean and make their fortunes, never to be seen again. But when our team travelled around Africa recently to film a new TV documentary series, we found a different story. Many of the Africans I met had worked or been educated in the West and come back. Across nine African countries and a journey of 7,000 miles from Mali to South Africa, from Ghana to Ethiopia, the story was often the same...

We've been reading...

Looking to cell phones to deliver aid in [Niger]
Wall Street Journal -- After a crisis, aid workers have found that giving a limited amount of money to the poorest people can help them buy food and weather the storm. But especially in remote or unstable places, doling out cash can be a logistical challenge. Enter the mobile phone. Workers in Niger are testing a system that allows people to store credits on cell phones and transfer the money to vendors to buy things like millet and rice. It might sound more complicated or expensive than physically giving out money, but it doesn’t require things like armed guards and trucks regularly travelling hundreds of miles with bundles of cash…

Leaders accused of breaking their promises as AU talks start
Daily Nation -- African leaders have not kept their promises and are failing their citizens, according to a new report released today as Heads of State arrive in Kampala for the African Union summit. The “State of the Union” coalition is the first of its kind set up to monitor how African governments are delivering on their development commitments — from increasing investment in health care and agriculture to improving human rights and tackling corruption. Drawing on studies from 10 key AU nations, the report paints a picture of unfulfilled agreements, missed targets, and failure to invest in the development of the continent. Most of the landmark announcements made at previous AU Summits are far from being implemented. A scorecard issued with the report rated South Africa as the best performer of the 10, closely followed by Algeria, Egypt and Senegal, but it noted that all the governments have a lot more to do. Nigeria and Cameroon came last...

Why women are the economic backbone of Rwanda
CNN -- Six days a week Bernadette Ndizigiye puts her skillful hands to work. Stretched out on the floor of an empty classroom in Kigali, Ndizigiye and 20 other women weave baskets to earn their keep. Her job at the Agaseke Project, a government run cooperative, has earned Ndizigiye a steady wage, her first savings account, and a taste of financial empowerment. "I can pay school fees for my children. I can buy them clothes and food and when I go out to the street people can see that I am really smart," she said. Women like Ndizigiye are the economic backbone of today's Rwanda. The 1994 genocide left behind a population 70 percent female and when the bloodshed stopped it was women who picked up the pieces and started to rebuild...

Access to Water is Transforming Life in Rural Areas
allAfrica -- Kalla Niang, 12, is highly self assured and energetic. She is busily preparing herself for high school, an opportunity that, until recently, would not have been available to her. She lives in the village of Darou Ngaraf in northern Senegal. Like many girls in rural Senegal, Kalla and her sisters are responsible for many daily chores, including drawing water from a communal well that is located far from their village. "My sisters and I had to rise before dawn to fetch water, and we were very often late for school," she said. "We always arrived very tired because drawing and carrying water is not easy." Lack of energy and time for an education was not the only danger that Kalla and the other villagers faced by not having access to a reliable source of water. Drawing water from unregulated sources of water put them at risk of diarrhoea and malaria...

Lites
Fighting corruption with tattoos
Historic 200% Capital Increase Recommended for African Development Bank
AU, Nepad And AfDB Launch Reinvigorated PIDA in Kampala

We've been reading...

New power in Africa... and beyond
Patricia Sellers, FORTUNE -- Leadership, essentially, is about inspiring others to carry on a mission. The leadership opportunity compounds in a connected, viral, global community. Here's how leadership can spread: In 2006, Fortune and the U.S. State Department launched the Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. Every year since then, we've selected two dozen or more of the best and brightest young women leaders in developing countries and invited them to the U.S. to shadow women who attend the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. Mentor/CEOs like Andrea Jung of Avon (AVP), Ellen Kullman of DuPont (DD), Ann Moore of Time Inc. (TWX), and Ursula Burns and Anne Mulcahy (now chairman) of Xerox (XRX)--plus top women execs at companies like Wal-Mart (WMT) and Exxon-Mobil--have hosted these international women. Ideally, the mentees return home and apply what they learned to improve their own community...

Single Entity to promote women's empowerment
UN -- In a bid to accelerate the empowerment of women, the General Assembly today voted unanimously to create a dynamic new entity merging four United Nations offices focusing on gender equality, a move hailed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other senior officials. “The newest member of the UN family has been born today,” Mr. Ban told the Assembly after it passed the resolution setting up the new UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, to be known as UN Women. “This is truly a watershed day,” he declared. The new body will merge four of the world body’s agencies and offices: UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW)...

Tony Hayward and the failure of leadership accountability
Rosabeth Kanter, Bloomberg -- BP doesn't need an engineer at the helm. It needs a leader. Of course engineers matter, when the task is stemming damage from the largest oil spill in U.S. history. BP needs all the talent it can get. Scientists, engineers, and technicians, including the 2500 BOP employees sent to the Gulf from all over the world, have a critical role to play in cleaning up the environmental mess. But BP must also clean up an organizational and cultural mess. The company needs a leader who engenders confidence. CEO Tony Hayward has had over six weeks in the spotlight to demonstrate his leadership capabilities. Yet the situation keeps getting worse: escalating damage in the Gulf and a whopping 35% drop in BP's stock price...

Has the G8 delivered on its Africa promise?
BBC -- In July 2005, leaders of the G8 group of developed nations promised a $50bn (£33bn) aid-boost to poorer countries. Five years on, Ian Brimacombe of BBC World Service explores how the decision affected the lives of some people in Africa. It was 12 years ago when Ethiopian cancer survivor Fantu Shoamare had her first cancer scare. She had just had a baby and noticed a lump while breastfeeding. Her family raised money for her treatment, and she was able to arrange to receive drugs from abroad. They were not available inside Ethiopia at the time. "I was very very lucky to get the medicine, to get the specialist treatment," she says. "I am lucky. God helps me. Now I am OK"...


Lites
Indian investment in Africa
China to build $8bn oil refinery in Nigeria
World Cup an economic success
Government hints of ‘mentoring’ under NYEP
Ethiopia on Track to Halve the Poverty Rate by 2015

We've been reading...

The East African common market
Africa Business Pages -- In a major development in East Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania decided to join hands and form a trade bloc called East African Community (EAC) in 2001. The new trade bloc aims to work towards economic policies that are pro-market, pro-private sector and pro-liberalisation. By pooling in their resources and promoting free trade within the region, the East African Community aims to emerge as a leading trade entity in East Africa. In a simple ceremony held in Arusha, Tanzania, Kenya's former President Daniel arap Moi, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa, formalised the EAC treaty to pave way for an economic and, ultimately, political union of the three countries...

African countries top list of countries making most progress on MDGs
UN Millennium Campaign, ODI* -- As G8 and G20 leaders prepare to gather in Canada, new analysis issued by the Overseas Development Institute and the United Nations Millennium Campaign finds that, in absolute terms, many of the world’s poorest countries are making the most overall progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals – the set of promises world leaders made to significantly reduce extreme poverty, illiteracy and disease by 2015. Particularly relevant for G8 countries are the findings which underline the importance of open trade and effective and timely aid in driving this success. For poor countries, political leadership, accountability and adequate budgetary allocations for the Goals are cited as key criteria to drive sustained progress...
*Overseas Development Institute

Satya Capital to invest $200 million in Africa this year
Reuters -- Satya Capital, a London-based private equity fund owned by Sudanese Mo Ibrahim, plans to invest some $200 million in Africa this year, Ibrahim said late on Thursday. Known for making a fortune from the mobile phone business and funding a major prize in support of leadership, Ibrahim said the continent offered high returns on investments. "I would not be investing in Africa if I'm not bullish about Africa," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a media conference. He said the global financial crisis had showed risks to investments abounded in any region of the world and bolstered Africa's position as an investment destination.

Afghan women jailed for 'bad character'
BBC -- Meet Sorarya and you meet "attitude". It has something to do with the way she wears her red tunic and trousers, her short cropped black leather jacket, and the way she chews gum and rolls her eyes. "What are you here for?" I ask as we sit in a makeshift beauty parlour, surrounded by a group of Afghan women in less flamboyant attire. "Should I tell her?" she asks the other women with a mischievous grin. "Bad character," she says after a moment's hesitation. She suppresses a giggle then doubles over with laughter...


Lites
Equatorial Guinea president pledges reforms
Liberia's $4.9 Billion Debt Cleared
Africa 'winning the war on AIDS'
UN to set up agency promoting women's rights

Well done Black Stars!!!

We've been reading...

Global fund suspends funding due to corruption
Elias Mbao, allAfrica -- The Global Fund has suspended funding to Zambia's Ministry of Health because of fraud in the ministry. This is a second time that donors are freezing funding to the ministry in about one year. The Swedish and Dutch governments in May 2009 froze aid to the Ministry of Health following reports about embezzlement of public funds including monies from donors. According to a report issued by The Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) after the 21st board meeting in Geneva held between April 28 and 30, 2010, the fund would not proceed with signing any new grants to the ministry until it was satisfied that the situation was under control.

No winner for this years Mo Ibrahim Foundation Award
Botswana Gazette -- The Prize Committee of the 2010 Mo Ibrahim Prize has taken a decision not to award the prize this year. Last year the Prize Committee announced that it had considered some credible candidates, but after in depth review could not select a winner. This year the Prize Committee told the Board that there had been no new candidates or new developments and that therefore no selection of a winner had been made. The Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership. The prize is awarded to a democratically elected former African Executive Head of State or Government who has served their term in office within the limits set by the country's constitution and has left office in the last three years.

Far From Gulf, a Spill Scourge 5 Decades Old
Adam Nossiter, NY Times -- Big oil spills are no longer news in this vast, tropical land. The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface, has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates. The oil pours out nearly every week, and some swamps are long since lifeless. Perhaps no place on earth has been as battered by oil, experts say, leaving residents here astonished at the nonstop attention paid to the gusher half a world away in the Gulf of Mexico. It was only a few weeks ago, they say, that a burst pipe belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in the mangroves was finally shut after flowing for two months: now nothing living moves in a black-and-brown world once teeming with shrimp and crab.

World Bank endorses Africa's progress
Johnstone Ole Turana, Business Daily (Nairobi) -- Africa stands to gain from a new decision-making approach by the World Bank regarding investment priorities. The lender is ditching its Washington-based decision making and is opting for a platform where the key issues will be tackled through increased participation. It is expected to provide Africa with opportunity to rate its priorities and channel resources to critical areas such as infrastructure development. Previously, the Bank came up with uniform programmes for region with little appreciation of the diversity in terms of resource endowment, governance, and state of development. "Africa has undergone tremendous changes over the last decade and our engagement need to be in line with the new realities..."

Lites -- New!
Obama lauds Liberia leadership
Canada invites African leaders to G8 meeting

Go Black Stars!!

We've been reading...

Women leaders urge peaceful end to Israeli-Palestinian conflict 
UN -- Women leaders attending a United Nations-hosted conference in Madrid today called for a just and peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including an end to the three-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip. The conference, co-hosted by the International Women’s Commission for a Just and Sustainable Israeli-Palestinian Peace, was convened in part to mark the 10-year anniversary of the passage of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Rising Africa: A big leap for football, a giant leap for the continent 
Paul Vallely, The Independent -- Not far from Soccer City, the stadium which will today house the opening ceremonies of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, stands the Maponya shopping mall. There you can buy Versace sunglasses, eat sushi, smoke a £20 Havana cigar and even purchase a car from the resident Audi dealer. But this is no smart up-town white suburb of Johannesburg. This is black Soweto. It is as potent a symbol of a changing African continent as the stadium itself, which was built in the apartheid era as a football venue for South Africa’s black population. This was where Nelson Mandela addressed 100,000 ecstatic supporters soon after his release from prison as apartheid crumbled. For the past three years it has stood empty as African workers refurbished it for today’s launch. But more than a football stadium is being reborn...

The makings of a pirate
Yasmine Cathell, Youthink! -- The press has done a great job portraying Somali pirates as evil and greedy individuals who hold innocent seafarers hostage for exorbitant sums of money. While that might be true to an extent, let’s look at it from another point of view. Imagine for a moment that you live in a country that is mostly desert, has minimal sources of food, limited access to freshwater and consists of only 2% arable land. Now add to that no government, no police to keep the streets safe, no schools and no jobs. On the upside you have some of the most beautiful beaches, and the longest coast of any African nation with waters full of fish... Well you had fish, before the government collapsed and illegal unregulated and unreported (IUU) big fishing boats from other richer nations came and depleted the supply...

Zoomlion to establish waste management institute
Ghana Web -- Zoomlion will establish a waste management university next year to undertake fulltime courses in waste management, sanitation and hygiene. The company is putting in place structures to kick start the university that would have campuses in Accra and Tamale. The Public Relations Officer of Zoomlion, Mr. Oscar Provencal, told journalists that the university would be first of its type in Africa and is expected to serve the sub-region and other African countries...

Go Black Stars!!

We've been reading...

Michelle Obama encourages mentoringHuffington Post -- Michelle Obama toured the Detroit area today, urging mentoring as a way to inspire young people to succeed and continue their education. She spoke at the Detroit Institute of Art at a Detroit Mentoring Luncheon. Her speech focused on the difference that individuals can make, even during troubling times. "What we all know in our lives and through our experiences is that there's no magic dust that is sprinkled on us that gives us success," the First Lady said...

France backs Africa's global role
BBC -- The French president has called for Africa to be given a bigger say in world affairs and better representation on the UN Security Council. President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking at a two-day France-Africa summit in Nice, also said Africa would be a key source of global growth in the coming decades. He pledged to push for Security Council reform next year. Thirty-eight heads of state and some 200 business leaders are at the summit, the first to be hosted by Mr Sarkozy...

Trinidad and Tobago's first female prime ministerJohn Yearwood, Miami Herald -- When Kamla Persad-Bissessar shattered the glass ceiling to become this country's first female prime minister, she had her pick of splashy sites for her swearing-in: the stately presidential mansion, the multimillion-dollar diplomatic center or the gleaming new waterfront convention center. She nixed them all. Instead, Persad-Bissessar will be sworn in at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the foreign ministry building across the street from a park where her supporters will be able to congregate...

G8 summit communique drops pledge on aid to Africa
Larry Elliot, Guardian -- The west's seven richest countries are planning to abandon a pledge to double aid to the poorest countries in Africa by this year, the Guardian has learned. A leaked draft communique for this month's Canadian-hosted Muskoka summit contains no mention of the commitment made at the 2005 Gleneagles summit to provide an extra $25bn (£17bn) a year for Africa as part of a $50bn increase in financial assistance. The apparent watering down of the pledge follows strong lobbying from France and Italy, which are way off track to meet their 2010 aid goals, and provides an early test for David Cameron at his first G8 summit. Britain has been at the forefront of attempts to increase western aid to Africa over the past five years, with both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown insisting that the Gleneagles promise be included in successive G8 communiques...

Mentoring resources

June has come by so fast! I've just come across a few resources that I think would be very helpful for anyone in a mentoring relationship. I thought I would share them with you. They aren't very long; I hope you find them useful.

- The Mentoring Life Cycle

- Getting to the Gold (Building a relationship with your mentees)

- Tools for Mentoring Adolescents

- School Based Mentoring: 'High risk' and economically disadvantaged students

They all come from MENTOR, which is a good website for you to check out. It's a shame they don't have a blog, it would probably be a very helpful source. They do however, have links to all sorts of information and resources you might find interesting. The information is all quite condensed; they cover each topic quite extensively.

We've been reading...

From student to UN chief
UN -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had an emotional reunion yesterday with the woman who hosted him in the United States nearly five decades ago when he was a young student on his first-ever trip outside his home country of the Republic of Korea. Libba Patterson, 93, beamed with pride as she hugged Mr. Ban, who spent 8 days at her home in Novato, a city outside of San Francisco, California, in 1962. “You are so wise for your age,” she recalled telling a solemn 18-year-old Mr. Ban...

Guinea headed for free election, analysts say
Africa: The Good News -- Former members of a government that took power after a 2008 coup will be allowed to run in next month's landmark election, underlining the difficulty of staging the first free polls in Guinea since independence more than 50 years ago.The military has long held near-absolute power in this West African nation. Still, analysts say the ex-junta candidates announced late Monday are only a minor setback and that they cannot stop the momentum for democracy after decades of dictatorship. "The mood is optimistic. People are putting their faith in the fact that a relatively clean election will take place," said Michael McGovern, an anthropologist at Yale University who studies Guinea and was recently in the country...

UN and UNICEF urge all countries to adopt measures protecting children
UNICEF -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake and other child-rights advocates came together at UNICEF headquarters in New York this morning, calling for all countries to take extra steps aimed at protecting children from violence and exploitation. Ten years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted two Optional Protocols supplementing the wide-ranging human rights protections of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, or CRC. The protocols offer additional protection for children who are vulnerable to armed conflict, or to being sold or exploited for purposes of prostitution or pornography.

In South Africa, an unlikely leader on AIDS
NY Times -- In a nation ravaged by AIDS, a disease still hidden in shadows of stigma and shame, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa has begun to engage in an extraordinarily open conversation about sex, AIDS and H.I.V. prevention, one ignited in part by his own recent admission that he had unprotected sex during an extramarital affair. Last month, as he announced a vast expansion of H.I.V. testing and AIDS services, he publicly took an H.I.V. test and disclosed that he had tested negative for the virus. Then in a frank interview on Thursday, Mr. Zuma said that he had been circumcised and had encouraged his sons to undergo the procedure, which can reduce a man’s risk of contracting H.I.V. by more than half...

We've been reading...

Where is Obama's foreign policy heading?
BBC -- Mr Karzai was seen in Washington as very much part of the problem in Afghanistan. This week, in contrast, he has had the red carpet rolled out for him in the US capital. Indeed, the apparent flip-flop in approach to the Afghan president seems to be a theme running through much of the Obama administration's foreign policy. Think how tough the Obama team were on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over settlement building, only to back away from an all-out confrontation without any really convincing evidence that settlement construction had been halted. So what is going on? ...

The wavering war on AIDS
NY Times -- The global war on AIDS has racked up enormous successes over the past decade, most notably by providing drugs for millions of infected people in developing countries who would be doomed without this life-prolonging treatment. Now the campaign is faltering. Donations from the United States and other wealthy countries have leveled off while the number of people infected with H.I.V., the AIDS virus, grows by a million a year. By one informed estimate, only $14 billion will be available of some $27 billion needed this year to fight the disease in the developing world. Fewer than 4 million of the 14 million people infected with the AIDS virus are getting drug treatment — far short of the goal of universal access set by the United States and others...

African leaders unite to fight malaria
The East African -- For decades, malaria was the disease of sad contradiction. With a sense of fatalism, Africans accepted it as the leading single killer of pregnant women and children under 5, even though those one million deaths a year were fully preventable and treatable. In the last five years, the international community has awakened to combat this needless killer, pumping billions of dollars in foreign aid for bed nets, miracle drugs, and other interventions to save lives...

Developing countries stepping up action against climate change
World Bank -- Despite the global financial crisis and the resulting economic downturn, the past year has witnessed unprecedented demand from developing countries for World Bank Group support in their efforts to address development and climate change as interlinked challenges, according to a new report. Released today, the Progress Report on the Strategic Framework for Development and Climate Change documents the Bank Group’s growing response to these demands.

We've been reading...

The nation full of strong women
NY Times -- When she pleaded for her life, as taunting rebel soldiers vowed to bury her alive, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, now the Liberian president, remembers defending herself with her most basic strength: “You can’t do this. Think of your mother.” To this day, she is not sure why they spared her, but since she was jailed in a coup uprising in 1980 and later watched Liberia shattered in a bloody 14-year civil war, Mrs. Sirleaf has turned to mothers and women for popular support and to rebuild a country that essentially failed...

World movement for democracy: Dealing with corruption
CIPE Blog -- At the Sixth biennial assembly of the World Movement for Democracy, this year held in Jakarta, Indonesia, I heard a recurring theme in many of the workshops and conversations in between sessions – corruption is a large and growing problem for democracies around the world. Corruption effects established and emerging democracies in strikingly similar ways; it decreases the legitimacy of existing institutions and creates a high level of cynicism among voters. Perhaps the issue was always there, but advances in information technology and greater access to a multitude of channels of communication has brought the issue out of the shadows...

Leaders
BBC -- Leaders are strategic thinkers, planning ahead and anticipating difficulties. They quickly spot inefficiency and organise people to make improvements. Leaders like solving problems at the organisational level, but would rather leave the detailed work to others. Leaders enjoy discussing complex issues and will challenge people's views to spark a debate. They admire people who defend their beliefs by arguing persuasively...

Lead:ology - What is leadership?
Leading Blog -- “If leadership is defined as ...” began an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal. Most leadership definitions have an agenda. This is not to say they are bad, but that they reflect the bias of the writer. Narrow and sometimes cumbersome definitions may help to make a point or clarify what the writer considers good leadership should be, but they shortchange our understanding of leadership overall. The fact that there are so many and assorted definitions of leadership speaks to the very human aspect of leadership. It is as varied as there are leaders and leadership needs. A good definition needs to allow many perspectives. It should create awareness. It should include leaders at all levels...

We've been reading...

Africa's emerging powerhouse
ONE Blog -- There was a quiet victory last week for an emerging powerhouse in Africa’s development. The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is a critical resource for the continent. It’s funded by—and for—Africa with additional assistance from outside donors and it has been playing an increasingly important role financing some of Africa’s most critical needs both for poverty reduction and for economic growth such as infrastructure, the private sector and governance...

Cell phones cut maternal deaths
IRIN Africa -- Cell phones have cut dramatically the number of women dying during childbirth in Amensie village in south-central Ghana, according to local health officials. Health and aid workers say while other improvements in primary healthcare in Amensie - as part of the Millennium Villages project - have contributed to the drop, the availability of cell phones has been pivotal...

Yes Africa Can: Success stories from a dynamic continent
World Bank -- The economic landscape of Sub-Saharan Africa has changed dramatically since the mid-1990s, with stagnation giving way to dynamism in a broad swath of countries. Aggregate GDP growth climbed from less than 2.5 percent in the 1990s to around six percent in 2003–07. The region has also begun to make headway on poverty reduction and on achieving the Millennium Development Goals...

Ex-Mentor: Sharpton is Obama's link to the streets
NY Times -- The Rev. Al Sharpton is a ''lightning rod'' for President Barack Obama on inner city streets, Obama's former Harvard mentor and friend said Saturday at a forum in Harlem. But Sharpton, who led the event, told The Associated Press that America's first black president "has to work both for us and for others," and that if Obama were to push a race-based agenda, "that would only organize the right against him"...

We've been reading...

This is a new feature inspired by ONE blog's 'What We're Reading' we're introducing so we're able to share a more diverse selection of articles. As well as our usual feature pages, we will regularly (once or twice a week) be posting four article snippets at a time for you to have a look at. Like the articles on feature pages, these articles will address issues on development (especially those covered on the six initial cheat sheets), leadership and mentoring. All our 'We've been reading...' posts can be found under the tag 'Recommended'. Simply click on the title of each snippet to read the whole article.

South Africa: Drinking the fog
NGO News Africa -- Gcinikaya Mpumza, mayor of a small municipality perched high in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa, was saddled with a huge problem: more than half the residents did not have access to water. It was a question of money. "We are a rural municipality with insufficient revenue, and providing water with conventional systems [piping it] in most of the areas cost a lot of money," he told IRIN. Then he chanced upon an article about harvesting water from fog by Prof Jana Olivier, a Climatologist at the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the University of South Africa...

Kenyan farmer lauds internet as saviour of potato crop
BBC -- Kenyan farmer Zack Matere pulls his mobile out of his pocket holds it up and takes a couple of photos. "It seems they have come back and are digging here again." He is referring to a group of people who have encroached on a water catchment area and are endangering the whole community's water supply. "When they came before, I took photos of what they were doing, posted them on my Facebook page and was able to get assistance. I got in touch with Forest Action Network and they came back to me quickly saying they would help me protect the catchment area"...

White House water makeover
ONE Blog -- One of the world’s most recognizable buildings was given a shocking makeover by WaterAid, an international development organization and End Water Poverty, a global campaign group. The makeover was done to highlight the first ever High Level Meeting on Sanitation and Water happening today in Washington DC. Gone are the immaculate White House lawns, replaced instead with children collecting water from a filthy, garbage-strewn water hole. But this isn’t another world. Fetching contaminated and potentially fatal water is a daily reality for 884 million people...

'Third World' concept no longer relevant
Reuters -- The old concept of "Third World" no longer applies and rich countries cannot impose their will on developing nations that are now major sources of global growth, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday. In a speech setting the stage for World Bank and IMF meetings in Washington next week, where emerging economies will play a bigger role, Zoellick cautioned against falling back into patterns of self-interest. He said the economic progress in developing countries had profound implications for global cooperation, multilateralism and the work of institutions such as the World Bank.