Poverty Reduction

The first UN Sustainable Development Goal is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Why we believe in our Digital Monthly

We are sometimes asked why our Digital Monthly is valuable long term, and how it differs from our print issue. Here are the reasons.

Food crisis

Shortage of maize meal in Zambia

In Zambia, there is currently a critical shortage of maize, as external demand for the grain in East Africa is rising

Nutrition

Boys face undernutrition too

While research indicates that girls and women are particularly affected by hunger, boys and men must not be forgotten too

Global Governance

Why “global south” is not a useful term

Some powerful nations – especially China – do not fit into the dichotomy of a global north and south

Flooding

The city of millions that is being flooded every day

Chittagong in Bangladesh is one of the ten fastest-sinking coastal cities in the world.

2030 Agenda

Sustainable Development Goals "almost unachievable"

At the midway point to achieving the SDGs, the number of starving and extremely poor people is rising once again, civil-society organisations lament

Global governance

The SDGs are as important as support for Ukraine is

Western governments tend to underestimate how shaky the world order looks to people in less fortunate countries

Demographics

Family planning is a woman’s right

Smart family-planning policies support women’s rights and empower young people

Demographic change

Slow decline of African birth rates

High fertility correlates with poverty – and compounds it

International relations

African responsibility for climate justice

African elites like to blame the rich nations for the climate crisis, but should reconsider their own attitudes too

Safe disposal

Sal leaves: a traditional South Asian alternative to plastic

Producing sal-leaf tableware is no longer only an informal micro-scale business in India