· June, 2012

Stories about Development from June, 2012

Benin: Introducing the African School of Economics

  30 June 2012

Dr. Leonard Wantchekon  introduced the African School of Economics ASE at the World Bank on June 14. The campus will be located in the city of Akassato in Abomey-Calavi (Benin), near Cotonou.  The goal of the school is to “to address the dearth of quality tertiary education, cutting-edge research, and innovative public policy in...

Yemen: Electricity Woes in Yemen

Electricity, food and water are basic human rights and have been the main demands of the majority of Yemenis long before the revolution started and still continue to be so. Nothing seems to have changed with the overthrow of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and living conditions only seem to get worse under the new National Consensus Government.

Singapore Versus Hong Kong

  27 June 2012

Singapore Armchair Critic compares the economic, financial, governance, and press freedom indicators of Hong Kong and Singapore. The two cities are the major financial centers of East Asia

5 Web Sites on Chinese Philanthropy in English

  25 June 2012

If you are interested in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and desire to know more of  Chinese philanthropy, Helen's “5 Web Sites on Chinese Philanthropy in English” might be a good start for you. Helen is currently preparing for GP Common web site, and thinks it would be beneficial to have a...

Brazil: Second Round of Occupy Belo Monte Started

  24 June 2012

Marcelo Salazar, a Brazilian engineer who works for the [river] Xingu Program of the Instituto Socioambiental, posted on Facebook a series of photos from the second round of “occupy” Belo Monte, which started on June 22, 2012, in the construction site of the hydroelectric power plant.

China: NGOs Struggle Under the ‘Big Government’

  23 June 2012

A TV host's comment on the Hunan education authority's uncooperative attitude towards a rural teacher training program has turned into a national debate on whether or not the Chinese NGOs sector should be more independent from the state.

Brazil: Is There A Clear Foreign Policy for the Middle East and Africa?

  22 June 2012

The twenty-first century has brought important changes to the balance of power which had been in place until then, with obvious ramifications for the international economy and politics. In this context, Brazil has come to dispute its influence in recent years in two regions which were formerly dominated by the central countries: the Middle East and Africa.

China: Space Missions or Social Development?

  22 June 2012

On June 16, China successfully launched its Shenzhou-9 capsule into space. Some netizens have criticized the government's excessive spending on a space mission whilst basic social needs are still lacking in many parts of the country.

Cameroon: Officials’ Corrupt Behaviors

  20 June 2012

Salma Amadore, wrote [fr] about the bad habits of Cameroon officials, on blogitude.mondoblog.org: ” When they are assigned to another city, directors  take it upon themselves to sell the TV, mobile phone (especially when it's a blackberry) and fridges that belong to the office.  As for laptops, one director even bought...

Malawi: New Government, Costly Livelihood

  19 June 2012

The rising cost of living in Malawi has forced some Malawians to come up with innovative ways of making ends meet. Dalitso Chimwaza and several other friends earn a living from collections they make on a wooden brige they constructed across Lilongwe River in the capital city.

SEE: Social Media Use Study

Growth in social media activities has slowed down, indicates the research of Wave6 [sr; en], which surveyed active Internet users in 62 countries: Macedonia and Croatia are more involved in the social media than Serbia, where watching video clips is the most popular activity (91%). For the first time, there...

Serbia: “Internet (R)evolution”

Center for Internet Development in Serbia reports [sr] that Serbs use the Internet mostly for current news (63%) and educational purposes. The research was conducted in April 2012, with a sample of 1,239 respondents: 80% of them considered communication and info-exchange with government institutions via Internet very relevant, while 68%...

Development Model for Myanmar

  14 June 2012

Myat Thu Pan discusses the possible development model for Myanmar by studying the development histories of Singapore and Thailand. The author advises Myanmar to learn from the mistakes of its neighbors in the region

Egypt: Right to Housing initiative

Egyptian blogger and urbanism researcher Yahia Shawkat, in association with Mosireen, a citizen-journalism collective, and the Arab Digital Expression Foundation, ADEF have recently launched the “Right to Housing, a Socially Just and Sustainable Built Environment” initiative. This video, subtitled in English, entitled “No sir these are self-built communities” is the first episode...

Baidu Map's Story about China

  12 June 2012

China Beat has captured a number of Chinese biggest search engine's map search results, which tell an interesting story about China – strong state, strong capital, weak social.