You start by knowing what you care about. International Development, as a single topic, is almost impossible to access. It’s too big, and it’s hard to think about the theory without an example to work from. The best way to start learning about it is to look at one or two issues that you feel passionate about. Those issues could be child labor, maternal health, improving agriculture, or a hundred other topics. They key is to choose things you’re excited about, so your research is interesting to you.
The elected president of Nigeria, Umaru Yar’Adua, passed away last night. Yar’Adua had not been seen in public since he fell ill last November and was subsequently transfered to Saudia Arabia for medical treatment.
...but wouldn't she really prefer to save a life in Africa this Mother's Day?
Both UNICEF and the Nothing But Nets offer some pretty compelling ways to send love in your mother's name this Sunday. Trust me, she'll be proud.
One year ago, a massive offensive by the Pakistani military against suspected Taliban strongholds in Pakistan's swat valley resulted in over one million people displaced. At the time, this was the largest mass displacement of civilians since the Rwandan genocide. Today, most of the civilians have returned home. But as this video from the UN Refugee Agency shows, there are many--the UN says thousands--who have no home to which to return.
Ten million people in Niger face food insecurity right now. It’s a complicated situation. There is no one defined cause for the food insecurity, just a range of destructive factors that are adding up into something ugly. It’s being defined as a chronic food crisis at this point, and no one has a clear sense of how to resolve it.
Special to Dispatch from Hima Batavia
On Monday evening, about 70 people ensconced themselves in a windowless conference room on the 3rd floor of the CBC building in downtown Toronto for “Congo on the Wire”, an event that focused on the continuing humanitarian crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
A new poll finds that Americans' support for the United Nations has reached its highest point in five years. The research, conducted last month by pollsters Bill McInturf, Liz Harrington and Geoff Garin, finds that 60% of the survey respondents had a positive attitude about the UN. This marks a fairly rapid rise in the UN's favorability ratings.