Accra, Sept 5 (IPS) A government minister from the world’s youngest nation – and also one of its poorest – told a meeting of powerful global bankers today exactly how hard it is to extract aid from rich countries.

Emilia Pires, Minister of Finance of Timor Leste – or East Timor – told the 3rd High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in the Ghanaian capital yesterday conditionalities and bureaucracy made it difficult to obtain foreign aid that is sorely needed to develop her country.

IPS
Interview with Letty Chiwara, UNIFEM Cross Regional Programmes Manager
ACCRA, Sep 4 (IPS) – As the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness draws to a close in the Ghanaian capital, gender activists are reflecting on the way ahead. Having successfully raised the visibility of gender equality and women’s empowerment on the Accra Agenda, attention [...]

“Making the health and rights of women a global priority is not only the right thing to do, it is smart economics,” write Thoraya Ahmed Obaid and Theresa Shaver.

NEW YORK – The neighbour heard Husan Pari’s screams and went to help her. She was about to deliver her baby. A traditional birth attendant tried her best, but the baby just would not emerge. The birth attendant refused to help anymore.

The risks of not acting on climate change are grim, writes Yash Tandon, Executive Director of the South Centre.

GENEVA – There is much to celebrate in the growth and development of the South in recent years, from the ability of certain Latin American countries to avoid dependence on the North to the growth of the economies of certain Asian countries whose increasing sovereign wealth is now being tapped to bail out distressed banks in the North.

Neglecting to provide for treatment for post-traumatic stress disorders can lead to new cycles of violence, says Joanne Sandler, Deputy Director of UNIFEM.

In post conflict settings, where new constitutions are agreed upon, national development plans and budgets drawn up, new laws adopted and institutions rebuilt, there is often a unique window of opportunity to advance women’s rights and gender-equality.

At the same time, because conflict generally brings about changes in existing gender relations…

The majority in Africa — who are the poor women — bear the brunt of the effects of climate change yet they least contribute to it.

As the world grapples with the effects of climate change, the topic could not be ignored at the ongoing 3rd High Level forum on Aid Effectiveness.

The realisation is that majority in Africa — who are the poor women — bear the brunt of the effects of climate change…

Peace baskets bring hope to Rwandan women

KIGALI – In the courtyard of a red brick home in the district of Gitarama outside Kigali, three women sit together on a bench, laughing and gossiping as they wrap lengths of crimson twine around a curl of bunched straw. While it may seem like little more then Rwandan tradition, these weavers represent an economic success the tiny landlocked country has earned by the hands of its women.

ROME – Ines Alberdi has worked for over 25 years on gender issues and in politics.
She comes to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) from her previous position as professor of sociology at Madrid University where she has taught political sociology and sociology of gender since 1993. Prior to that, she was director for research at the Centre for Sociological Research. Her main interest has been gender-based violence.

Birte Rodenberg, Policy Advisor of Action Against Aids, Germany.

The Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), a coalition of women’s groups, held a forum for international women’s organisations in Accra in the leadup to the High Level Forum. Birte Rodenberg, Policy Advisor of Action Against Aids in Germany, who participated in the forum, spoke to IPS.