The World Bank and the European Union have pledged more than $6 billion to boost economic growth in Africa’s Sahel region.
The announcement comes at the start of a mission to the region led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.
The delegation will be meeting with the leaders of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad for talks on peace, security and resilience.
Being black and poor in America presents a particular challenge, according to Julia Tripp, a research assistant at the Center for Social Policy (CSP) who also heads up its Constituent Advisory Group of people with a lived experience of poverty.
When you’re a black woman, the stakes are higher, she added. The National Women’s Law Center says the 2011 U.S. census data shows that the poverty rate for black women was 25.9 per cent.
A Syrian family receives food aid at a WFP distribution point. [Photo: WFP/John Wreford][/caption]The humanitarian community in Syria has been able to expand its efforts and deliver aid to areas that were previously inaccessible.
A large number of civilians are trapped in cities and towns, cut off from access to basic services because of the fighting, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Starting this month, people in Somalia will again experience one of the simple joys in life: getting a letter from a loved one abroad.
The Universal Postal Union (UPU) announced that beginning this Friday, international mail service will officially resume in the country which has been isolated from the global postal community for more than 20 years.
Through an agreement with the postal operator in the United Arab Emirates, international mail to Somalia will be forwarded through the city of Dubai.
One of the challenges facing the new African nation of South Sudan is providing education to its children.
Decades of war have left almost three-quarters of adults illiterate in the country.
Since South Sudan seceded from the north in July 2011, it has struggled to build an education system for children and to educate the millions of adults who missed out on school during the war.
In Upper Nile State, the Ministry of General Education has introduced a new curriculum which has been packaged and distributed to all states.
Dianne Penn reports.
Recently, a packed bus in India crashed some 800 kilometres from the capital, New Delhi, while trying to overtake a car on the highway. Media reports say 45 people were burnt alive.
Each year, nearly 1.3 million people die and between 20 million and 50 million more are injured as a result of road crashes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
A United Nations independent expert says the world is increasingly taking a narrow perspective on elections.
Maina Kiai, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of peaceful assembly and association, believes more emphasis is placed on election day than on the process leading up to the vote.
Mr. Kiai this week briefed the UN General Assembly’s committee which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural issues.
Syrian authorities have confirmed their willingness to participate in an international conference aimed at ending the ongoing crisis in the country.
That is one of the outcomes of UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s visit to Syria and other countries in the Middle East to shore up support for the conference.
Although no date has been set for the conference, known as Geneva II, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has indicated that it could take place in mid-November.
Syrian women living in a refugee camp in Southern Turkey are being taught the techniques of traditional carpet making.
Adiyaman camp hosts 10,000 Syrian refugees fleeing violence in their country.
The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, says the project was set up by camp management with help and money from the local municipality.
Jocelyne Sambira has the story.
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Solutions from developing countries geared at meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are being showcased this week at the Global South-South Development Expo in Nairobi, Kenya.
The expo, which runs through Friday, is the first forum solely from the south and for the south, and looks at issues such as building green economies, sustainable development and decent work.
