Stories about Development from June, 2012
Benin: Introducing the African School of Economics
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...
Slovakia: Teachers Call for Help in Open Letter to Education Minister
Two elementary school teachers wrote an open letter to the Slovak Minister of Education, highlighting the problems they face with their students who are “significantly maladjusted socially, [and] are almost exclusively students of the Romani origin,” sparking controversy.
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.
China: Guangdong Village Riots over Land Sale
China Digital Times translates a Caijing news story about a village riot in Guangdong province against local government's secret land sale deal.
Singapore Versus Hong Kong
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
Sri Lanka: Sustainable Agriculture – Not In Practice
Perceptions argues that there are so many words written about sustainable agriculture and “very little of that comes directly from someone who earns 100% of his income from existing agriculture,...
5 Web Sites on Chinese Philanthropy in English
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...
Brazil: Second Round of Occupy Belo Monte Started
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...
China: NGOs Struggle Under the ‘Big Government’
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.
Belarus: Views From the Ground
Below is a selection of some "views from the ground" - recent posts by Belarusian bloggers about the situation in the country and what it is like for ordinary people to live there.
Brazil: Is There A Clear Foreign Policy for the Middle East and Africa?
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?
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
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...
Malawi: New Government, Costly Livelihood
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.
Singapore: Alternatives to Minimum Wage
Kumaran Pillai, editor of The Online Citizen, identifies alternatives to the proposed minimum wage system in Singapore
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...
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...
Development Model for Myanmar
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...
Video: Youth and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
Andrea Arzaba[es] posted a video of young people from all over the world who are attending the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) sharing their perspective on sustainable development...
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...
Baidu Map's Story about China
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.
