Full Coverage: Development

30.04.2008 Millions of volunteers will visit every household in the country in the coming years to gather information on changing demographics, in a census that will reveal how economic growth has affected its people. India’s population is expected to climb to 1.19 billion in 2011 from 1.13 billion in 2008, say officials.

30.04.2008 Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment invites applications for a two-month summer certificate course on the policies, politics and practices of environmental management. Last date to apply is May 10, 2008.

28.04.2008 Is media engagement vital for generating awareness on future challenges? UNESCO’s latest training and resource kit Media as Partners in Education for Sustainable Development provides media professionals with critical information about priority issues and inspires them for investigative reporting.

25.04.2008 The answer to growing traffic and pollution in the Indian capital lies in an effective and massive public transport system, says the Centre for Science and Environment. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, recently implemented in south Delhi, provides the option for an economically sound and better bus system.

25.04.2008 “If the world is serious about achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015, ICT must figure prominently in the effort. Everyone – governments, civil society and private sector businesses – has a vital stake in fostering digital opportunity and putting ICT at the service of development.”

Kofi Annan, Former Secretary-General, United Nations

24.04.2008 Even as UNESCO’s latest report pans India for lagging behind in the race for achieving education for all by 2015, experts gathered in the capital weigh up the nationally sponsored Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Exclusion and discrimination remain core challenges as millions of children remain outside its fold, is the verdict.

23.04.2008 In the recently concluded elections of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), OneWorld South Asia became its new regional coordinator. The Delhi-based civil society network will promote GKP’s objective of building multi-sectoral partnerships for promoting knowledge and ICT for development in South Asia.

22.04.2008 Centre for Science and Environment releases a two year study on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as it becomes pan-Indian from April 1. NREGA can regenerate the village economy through productive assets on water conservation and afforestation and just wages for the people, says CSE.

22.04.2008 International Chamber of Commerce, UNDP and the International Business Leaders Forum invite nominations for 2008 World Business and Development Awards in support of Millennium Development Goals. The awards recognise the contribution of the private sector through business activities that lead to progress in achieving one or more of the MDGs.

21.04.2008 HODI a non profit NGO has trained 12 village reporters in Choma and Kalomo Districts in Southern Zambia with a view of eliminating child labour in tobacco growing.

17.04.2008 Ravaged by ethnic unrest and socio-economic deprivation, Karbi Anglong is the first district of Assam in north-east India to have implemented a quality management system for facilitating public services. Cooperative units for dairy processing and banking are a series of development initiatives aimed at freeing the district of its poverty tag.

16.04.2008 In a step to integrate rural areas with mainstream world, the government of Nagaland, a state in north-eastern India, will distribute community TV sets to villages. The initiative would also provide communities exposure to global and national developments.

11.04.2008 Using Edu-tainment for Distance Education in Community Work is a guide to creating distance education radio, TV and internet programmes in the Edu-tainment format. Clear and concise, the book is a valuable resource for NGOs, donors, programme managers, writers and producers working in developing countries.

11.04.2008 ACWICT in collaboration with other Women’s organizations from the Eastern Africa Region formed the WSIS-Gender Caucus (Africa Region), a group that worked to ensure that African women’s issues and concerns were incorporated in the WSIS process

11.04.2008 The Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco Growing (ECLT) project is premised on three major strategies namely prevention, withdrawal and integration. Activities under the prevention strategy include the sensitization of target community groups (i.e. children, parents, teachers and traditional leaders) on the child labour problem. The key message for the project is that, by working in tobacco fields, most of these children are denied the opportunity of being in school.

07.04.2008 BROSDI uses a multistakeholder approach by engaging government, private sector and civil society in knowledge sharing as a means of rural development. This is through using ICT methods, inclusive of online social networking applications and participatory methods

04.04.2008 Access to safe water and sanitation can be ensured through effective advocacy and planning by involving grassroots voices, says WaterAid's Advocacy Source Book. The book is a useful resource for monitoring policies and programmes in the context of Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation.

04.04.2008 UN Secretary-General has assured Afghanistan that his agency will not move out of the country as long as development needs of the strive-torn nation are not met. He warned that the cost of disengagement would be far greater than the cost of engagement and underlined the need for continued effort by international community.

02.04.2008 Aid has made a big difference to Afghan lives, but major weaknesses have severely constrained its capacity to reduce poverty. ACBR’s report Falling short: Aid effectiveness in Afghanistan published by Oxfam reveals that donors have failed to meet their aid pledges and much of the aid is wasted, ineffective or uncoordinated.

01.04.2008 The Jan Haq Yatra, covering 16 Indian states, was recently organised to sensitise people on pressing social and economic issues. Faisal Anurag and Eknath Awad, spokespersons of NAFRE spoke to OneWorld South Asia in New Delhi and shared their viewpoints on the need and objectives of the people’s march.