Stories about Development from May, 2009
Angola: “Every city has its history, and ours is no different”
In a time when Luanda's landscape is suffering big changes, citizens have come together to protect the city’s architectural heritage. In this post we explore bloggers' discussion of the need to save what is left of Luanda.
Pakistan: Fighting Poverty Through Microfinance
Riaz Haq writes how Microfinancing, along with social entrepreneurship can help empower ordinary people in Pakistan and in other countries “to become self-reliant by lifting them out of poverty and teaching them the right skills to help themselves.”
Kenya: What do you see on these images?
What do you see on these images taken in rural Kenya? asks Erik. “Under each image you’ll see why it’s interesting. By the way, I too missed the relevance of the flip flops at first glance…”
Trinidad & Tobago: Seeing the Signs
“It matters not how many skyscrapers, malls, American chain restaurants or chemical plants a country has…if [it] possesses at least five or more of these signs of underdevelopment and tyranny, then it is still a third world country at the very core”: Alien in the Caribbean sees many of those...
Global Shanghai, 1850-2010
Xujun Eberlein from Inside-Out China wrote a book review on Global Shanghai, 1850-2010.
Trinidad & Tobago: Progress & Social Media
Trinidadian blogger KnowProSE.com shares his thoughts on ways in which people do not help the world progress via social media.
Bangladesh: Adopting Solar Energy To Tackle Energy Crisis
An Ordinary Citizen talks about the potential of an alternative energy source for the rural Bangladesh – sustainable solar energy.
Egypt: New blog for human rights
Ramy Raouf started his new Egyptian blog for human rights (EBFHR) [Ar]. The blog monitors the development of human rights especially in Egypt, as well as the Arab world in general.
Bangladesh: Improving Customer Service
Shehzaad Shams at Bangladesh Corporate Blog points to the lack of culture among Bangladeshi companies for valuing customer feedback and opines that its high time they should “apply Mystery Shopping techniques to evaluate and improve their customer services standards”.
Jamaica: The Road Most Traveled
“Universities are supposed to provide hope that at least the coming generation will be better and brighter than the one so corrupted now”: The Phoenix in a Gas House is disappointed that young academics “opted for the ignorant draconian approach” when faced with a burglary incident at Jamaica's Mona campus.
Saudi Arabia: Why are they better than us?
After a visit to the the UK's capital London, Saudi blogger Prometheus [Ar] asks: “As I was looking at all those monumental achievements, I asked myself: Why don't we have similar things? We aren't any less than others. We have immense wealth which, if it was used properly, our conditions...
Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar Children’s Park
Axel writes about and posts pictures of the newly built Children’s Park close to the city centre of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.
Afghanistan: Opium Eradication Campaign
Joshua Foust reflects on how actually affective is the opium eradication campaign in Afghanistan.
East Timor: From sighs to steps forward with the use of the Internet
Being willing to listen what bloggers are talking about, Global Voices faces big challenges to cover the blogospheres of regions where people are not using citizen media. That is the case of East Timor, where there are many Internet connectivity problems which make blogging very difficult. But what are the challenges that bloggers from East Timor face when uploading content to the Internet? And what are the projects, nonetheless, arising in the Timorese blogosphere?
Kenya: Responsible Tourism in Maasai Villages
A video from Joseph about responsible tourism in Maasai villages. F
Jamaica: IMF
“Prime Minister Golding is putting his loving hand out to the International Monetary Fund for a loan to help Jamaica’s struggling economy,” writes Jamaica Salt, adding: “The last time Jamaica got help from the IMF was not a great thing.” Abeng News Magazine also weighs in, here and here.
China: Questions about progress
After ninety years of democracy and science, can a blogger get sincere answers to to-the-point questions posed to his Peking University professor about the progress China has made since the May Fourth Movement? Find out from Alec Ash at 6.
Bangladesh: Faces Of Poverty
Ashley Wheaton at The Dhaka Diaries comments about the faces of poverty in Bangladesh: “Poverty can be determined not only by your income but by by your access to services, your ability to make decisions for yourself, your level of security, your place in society… It can be very deceiving...
Tajikistan: Taking Lessons
Joshua Foust reviews John Heathershaw’s new book titled “Post-Conflict Tajikistan: The politics of peacebuilding and the emergence of legitimate order”.
Afghanistan: Picnics and living standards
Õnne Pärl reflects if the number of picnics match the living standards of Afghans, notices that ruins are being restored in mosques and social spaces with playgrounds and quotes his local friend who says that there are now more wealthy Afghans who can afford to go for a picnic.
Anguilla: Legislation Needed
Corruption-free Anguilla says: “Just passing a law does not achieve much. We need integrity legislation in Anguilla.”
