Full Coverage: Aid

30.07.2004 For the first time since independence, three states - Kerala, Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh - have told the Indian government that they donÂ’t need any more primary school buildings.

30.07.2004 For the first time since independence, three states - Kerala, Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh - have told the Indian government that they donÂ’t need any more primary school buildings.

29.07.2004 After working in Afghanistan for 24 years, Médecins sans Frontières, one of leading global aid organisations, has begun pulling out due to the deteriorating security situation in the conflict-ravaged country.

28.07.2004 After more than 10 years of frozen cooperation, the European Commission wants to re-open consultation with Togo and has agreed a roadmap for the resumption of financial support. The key test is to hold free and fair elections within the next 24 months and European monitors will be working in the country over that period.

28.07.2004 Reeling under unrelenting floods, the eastern Indian state of Assam has issued appeals requesting aid agencies for baby food to feed hundreds of thousands of starving infants.

26.07.2004 Life in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, where temperatures range from 40 degrees Celsius (about 102 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer to –40 degrees Celsius in the winter, is impossible without the sturdy Bactrian camel. But as more herdsmen in search of sustainable livelihoods move to urban areas , the number of camels has dwindled drastically in the past fifty years. But now the Gobi Regional Economic Growth Initiative, a program run by U.S.-based development agencies, is helping diversify and strengthen business opportunities in the Gobi region so that more local herdsmen will choose to stay.

26.07.2004 Thousands of people turned out to cheer as the first train rode down the newly restored 300-mile railroad linking Lubumbashi and Kindu provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The seven month long restoration project was coordinated by five international humanitarian organizations with the support of the United States Agency for International Development.

22.07.2004 The Centre for Civic Initiatives (CCI) held a round-table discussion “Improvements in the Process and Criteria for Distribution of Cantonal Budget Funds for Civic Associations for 2005.” The discussion took place at the Hotel “Bristol” in Mostar.

22.07.2004 Hundreds of thousands of people in western Nepal are reeling under food shortages caused by a severe drought, with relief efforts hampered by the tough mountainous terrain and looting and threats by Maoist rebels.

22.07.2004 The international donor conference on Haiti ended this week with donors, including the United States, pledging $1.037b in aid to the Caribbean nation. A civil society watch group pointed out however that the pledges may not necessarily be binding because none of the donor countries and agencies made a commitment in writing, all the pledges were announced via the press statements read at the conference.

21.07.2004 The Bush administration will withhold $34 million in congressionally approved assistance to the UN Population Fund because of the fund's alleged connection to China and forced abortions.

20.07.2004 Hundreds of thousands of Eritrean children are living in extreme poverty due to prolonged drought, the aftermath of border conflict with neighbouring Ethiopia and its impact on the country's economy, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reported.

19.07.2004 Haitian civil society organizations are protesting their exclusion from the donor conference to raise $924 million for HaitiÂ’s Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF). Hosted by the United Nations, the World Bank, European Commission and the Inter-American Development Bank, the conference is being held this week in Washington DC after weeks of consultations and workshops which also excluded civil society organizations.

19.07.2004

Children beneath a painted 'Control the Population' slogan, China © Gangfeng Wang/Panos Pict / People & the Planet

The United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) provides population assistance to more than 140 countries and accounts for a quarter of all grant assistance for population programs worldwide. The UNFPAÂ’s projects have suffered form in recent years, especially form the U.S. despite the fact that it helped establish the agency in 1969.

19.07.2004 More than 14,000 students in 39 schools in the Philippines are already benefiting from a pilot project of a global initiative to improve the quality of learning and teaching in underserved schools. The program equips 5th and 6th grade science classrooms with equipment to download video via satellite to digital video recorders connected to a television set in the classrooms. The videos - - which focus on subjects such as space, ecology, geology and human anatomy -- are used by teachers as part of lesson plans.

16.07.2004 From providing seeds to cultivate family gardens to vaccinating cattle against deadly diseases, there are many opportunities to eliminate the burden of hunger and improve long-term food security for families around the world.

15.07.2004 Bolstered by a critical new report by the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, AIDS and public-health activists attending this week's 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok are redoubling their fire against efforts by the Bush administration to protect the interests of major U.S. pharmaceutical companies.

15.07.2004 The World Bank announced this week that Haiti's interim government will require $1.3b in funding to meet the country's social, economic and political needs over the next two years. The announcement followed the release of a needs assessment report titled Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF) which was prepared by the interim governement in coordination with the European Commission, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations and the World Bank.

15.07.2004 Human rights groups welcomed U.S. decision to cut aid to Uzbekistan this week. The groups commended the State Deparment for showing principled leadership over the Uzbek governement's its lack of progress on human rights.

14.07.2004 For some young children in the Philippines, a little poultry lesson is going a long way. After taking part in livestock training sessions organized by a U.S.-based group, the children are generating income to attend school by raising their own poultry.