Stories about Development from May, 2010
Africa: Poor African parents and their choices
The debate about poor African parents and their choices continues.
Why Invest In Bangladesh?
Why invest in Bangladesh? Because “Bangladesh is a winning combination with its competitive market, business-friendly environment and cost structure that can give you the best returns,” comments GuruMia.com.
Russia: Blogger Describes His Experience With E-Gov Portal
Alexey Grigoriev blogs [RUS] about his experience of starting a small business at e-government portal gosuslugi.ru. The portal is still full of technical bugs and even after online application one has to present all the papers in the regional tax service office.
India: Video Giving A Voice To Marginalised Communities
IndiaUnheard is a new initiative involving a network of Community Correspondents around India who will produce video stories about life in their community, and the issues ignored by mainstream media.
[Report] Technology for Transparency
This report is the culmination of four months of research examining the objectives, challenges, successes, and effects of online technology projects that aim to promote transparency, political accountability, and civic engagement. It presents case studies, conclusions, and recommendations toward making the grassroots use of technology more effective in improving governance worldwide.
China: Hebei’s “Great Leap Forward”
More than 1000 residents of Hebei Province will be subject to forced evictions before June 5, in a government development project online opinion has dubbed a “Great Leap Forward.” Guangping County, an impoverished area in southern Hebei, will see 2 billion yuan ($293 million) invested in new building and development...
Africa: Africa “Retrogressive” Report 2010
Phillip comments on the launch of Africa Progress Report 2010: “If only the Africa Progress Report 2010 could be called a retrogressive report on Africa…that way, African leaders will not be lulled into thinking they are making any significant progress. They’d rather wake up from their centuries of slumber.”
China: Dying young in FoxConn
SACOM, a NGO in Hong Kong which concerns about labour rights issue, posted an investigative report on the 10 consecutive suicide cases in FoxConn, one of the I-phone subcontractor in China.
India: Outsourcing The Womb
AmreekanDesi says that India has taken outsourcing to a new level. The country is now outsourcing the womb to produce little babies for the childless parents across the world.
Australia: Bob Geldof Rouses Aussie Rich
Aid celebrity Bob Geldof caused a stir on a visit to Australia this week by saying that "Australia is economically stupid for importing labour while Aboriginal talent goes to waste." Bloggers react.
Russia: Crisis and demography in Eurasia
Anatoly Karlin of Sublime Oblivion discusses the relationship between economic and demographic crisis in Russia and Eurasia.
South Korea and Thailand's Cold War Context
John P. DiMoia from Korea History Group looks into the common historical context (Cold War) of the economic and political development of South Korea and Thailand.
Bahrain: Why was Al Jazeera's Office Shut Down?
Bahrain temporarily shut down the office of Al Jazeera Satellite Channel for "violating professional conventions." Bloggers and tweeps react to the development in this post - especially after rumours surfaced that the Qatari station's bureau was closed because of a report it aired on poverty in Bahrain. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera says it doesn't even operate an office in Bahrain so what exactly is going on?
Russia: Photos of Grozny
LJ user greedyspeedy posts the first installment of photos of Grozny, Chechnya, taken in April, and writes (RUS) in the comments: “This photo report is about the glossy Grozny; I'll show the other, gloomy, side of Grozny in part two. […] Compared to Gudermes, Argun – the largest cities after...
Ghana: China colonises Ghana
Why does Ghana import unskilled Chinese workers?: “You had to ask yourself why on earth there would be a need to import unskilled Chinese labourers to do grunt work in a developing country where the unemployment rate hovers around 71%!!!”
Malawi: Barefoot Solar Engineers Win Best African Electrification Award
Japan-based Malawian blogger Clement Nthambazale writes about a Solar Engineers Project, run by barefoot engineers, which has won Africa’s biggest Rural Electrification Award. The solar project, which has electrified Chimonjo village in the central Malawi district of Salima has brought a new dimension to the rural villagers' lives.
Taiwan: Prix ARS Electronica Give “Puncar Action” Honorary mention
ARS Electronica just announced the winners of 2010 Prix ARS Electronica. Puncar Action, a Taiwanese digital inclusion project, gets honorary mention in the category of Digital Community along with another 11 distinctive projects. See our past report on Puncar.
Qatar: NYT's article draws fire from locals and residents alike
Shabina Khatri reports on rising tensions between locals and expats as Doha residents extol, protest New York Times depiction of Qataris as coddled, self-indulgent creatures, hated by the foreigners who live amongst them.
Zambia: Meet the founder of Media 365
Emeka writes about Mary Tembo of Media 365: “Mary and her sisters founded Youth Media that published the TrendSetters a magazine that won numerous international awards for encouraging honest discussion on matters lifestyle and health among the youth.”
Africa: Africa Gathering event
Bill writes about Africa Gathering event in Washington DC” “I wrapped up a month of travel last week, including a visit to Washington DC to attend Africa Gathering, a conference highlighting innovation and entrepreneurship focused on the continent…”
ICT for Development News in Japanese
“ICT for Development.JP” provides regular and comprehensive coverage of ICT4D news and project updates from around the world in Japanese. It is run by Maki and Tomonari, who started this blog as a response to the lack of centralized resources for this topic in Japanese.
