global aid & development

Scottish police officers are to take their expertise on tackling violence against women and children into the scene of one of the world’s most brutal civil wars of recent times. Police Scotland will team up with the United Nations-backed specialists on gender-based violence and child abuse in the Rwandan capital of Kigali to develop policing techniques and better protect victims. 

The nonprofit develops and delivers lifesaving technologies, from fortified rice to vaccines, that help at least 150 million people around the world every year. [...] PATH’s local partners include Seattle Children’s Hospital, the University of Washington and Tableau, the Fremont-based software company now helping PATH with its effort to reduce and eventually eliminate malaria in Zambia.

President Donald Trump's vow to put "America first" includes a plan to drastically cut assistance to developing countries and merge the State Department with USAID, according to an internal budget document and sources. The administration's March budget proposal vowed to slash aid to developing countries by over one-third, but contained few details. [...] The document details how the Trump administration's plans to reduce direct foreign assistance would take place in fiscal year 2018.

While China’s presence and influence in Africa is well documented – especially regarding resource extraction – another element is increasingly becoming an important economic and political tool: traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese involvement in Africa has long included a prominent medical presence, with Beijing supporting medical efforts on the continent for decades. As China’s export capacity increased in the late 1990s and early 2000s

Earth Day has become a worldwide call to action to address the many critical consequences of climate change and global warming: deforestation, species extinction, ocean acidification, rising seas, extreme weather. The impacts of climate change are also acutely felt in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Africa – over 40% of the continent. While residents of these regions are accustomed to extended dry seasons, the cycles of drought are now more severe. ​

The Foreign Affairs Ministry will this year spend €251,862.16 on development projects to impoverished countries. The money will be distributed across 12 different projects from local non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) across Asia, Africa and South America as part of the government’s Official Development Assistance policy.

The Microsoft founder urged the UK to keep spending at least 0.7% of national income on foreign aid, saying it was proof of its goodwill and humanity. [...] More than £12bn was spent in aid in 2015. Some newspapers and Conservative MPs argue the figure is too large and too wasteful, and some of it would be better spent on schools and hospitals in the UK.

Nigeria’s northeast is facing a tightening hunger gap, say aid organisations, pointing to two years of missed crop harvests in what was once a breadbasket for the country, and the high likelihood of missing a third. [...] The UN says it needs $1.5 billion (€1.4 billion) in humanitarian aid this year for the Lake Chad region – which spreads across parts of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad – and $457 million had been pledged for 2017 by late February.

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