Full Coverage: Development

28.01.2008 Sambodhi, a leading research and training organisation, will hold an international workshop on designing development projects from February 18-23 at New Delhi, India. The programme will help development professionals improve their understanding of all relevant factors in planning a successful project.

28.01.2008 The latest issue of the Oxfam journal Gender & Development calls for vibrant and alternative media spaces to prevent stereotyping of women, while providing insight into development initiatives throughout the world. Recommended read for development practitioners, policymakers and academics.

24.01.2008 Development Alternatives, an Indian NGO working to create sustainable livelihoods, is organising a training programme on Organisation Development from February 12-14 at TARAgram in Madhya Pradesh. The course aims to equip the civil society organisations with necessary skills for social action.

23.01.2008 A Dalit-centric policy framework can help the disadvantaged community to have a greater say in local and national programmes and their implementation, says a report released this month by the people’s campaign Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.

22.01.2008 The six-year long ceasefire between Sri Lankan government and Tamil tigers had seen the economy grow by an annual average of over 12% in the war-affected north-east. The Sinhala-dominated southern and western parts too had gained. It now remains to be seen where the current hostilities will lead the economy.

21.01.2008 A comprehensive data pool on gender issues was launched by the SAARC Secretary General at the inaugural of the recent Sixth South Asian Regional Ministerial Conference by UNIFEM at New Delhi. The Gender Database will provide records on violence against women and trafficking in the South Asia region, and on women’s health and HIV/AIDS.

21.01.2008 As the debate on Special Economic Zones (SEZ) continues, a novel idea has been proposed by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) to make farmers direct shareholders in an agri-based food processing venture at Nellore, in southern Andhra Pradesh. SEZs are lands earmarked for industrial growth with massive subsidies granted to capitalists.

21.01.2008 Panos South Asia invites media and communication practitioners in South Asia for a workshop on online radio broadcasting from March 17-21, 2008 at Kathmandu, Nepal. The workshop will provide hands-on training in digital technologies, audio and content streaming and online material distribution to global audiences.

18.01.2008 Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, invites applications for a five-day refresher workshop from February 12-16 on how to use the environment to eradicate poverty in rural India. By drawing lessons from village experiences, the workshop aims to devise a framework for sustainable villages.

17.01.2008 Video Volunteers and local NGOs are helping rural communities in India voice their issues to a global audience. Locally relevant video produced by community video units, are empowering people to lead, change and take action.

17.01.2008 In wake of Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis and demands by various activist groups, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has announced doubling its humanitarian aid to £18 million over the next three years. Around one-third of the country's poor survive on less than US$ 1 a day.

16.01.2008 Several organisations from South Asia are opposing the Asian Development Bank’s revision of safeguard policies on environment and resettlement of indigenous people. The Peoples Forum Against the ADB has called for a boycott of the ongoing consultation and held a demonstration outside the venue in New Delhi.

16.01.2008 The Marico Innovation Foundation invites applications for the Innovation for India Awards 2007-08. The awards are an acknowledgment of original ideas that have successfully moved from concept to reality. The last date for application is January 15.

14.01.2008 New technological innovations in agriculture, electronics and medicine have helped boost income and reduce the number of people living in poverty, says a new World Bank report. Developing countries also need to strengthen the spread of technology through better infrastructure and improved research, the report adds.

14.01.2008 Climate change will aggravate almost all existing inequalities of resource use, including access to food and water scarcity, and inordinately affect the poor. It will intensify almost all existing contradictions of India’s complex and violent social structure, says New Delhi-based activist, Nagraj Adve in a comprehensive and insightful essay.

10.01.2008 Providing an overview on the achievements of the MDGs in India, a citizen’s report titled: Measuring India’s Progress on the Millennium Development Goals was released on January 7 in New Delhi by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA).

09.01.2008 OneWorld South Asia's Annual Regional Meeting to be held on 8-9 February in Indian capital New Delhi will address the contention between the burning issue of climate change and developments goals in the region and underline the need for enhanced Southern participation.

04.01.2008 Can an annual 9% plus growth in India be translated into reality for the 750 million living in extreme poverty? According to an editorial in the Economics Times, the solution may lie in access to bank accounts, where NREGA wages and payments for old age support can be the first step to financial inclusion.

02.01.2008 In its recent judgment, the Supreme Court of India might have given a temporary respite to the people living in Orissa’s Niyamgiri Hills, when it prevented Vedanta from mining. The apex court, however, fails to take into account the larger issue of biodiversity and the lives of the tribals. Kanchi Kohli, of the Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group analyses the verdict.

02.01.2008 The Centre for Science and Environment has released its sixth State of India’s Environment report, titled: Rich Lands, Poor People – Is Sustainable Mining Possible? The report argues that mining in India rarely benefits the regions from where these minerals are extracted; on the contrary it has lead to further impoverishment of people.