Humanitarian standards make a difference in Zimbabwe

A review of work done over the last three years by humanitarian agencies in Zimbabwe has shown significant progress both in raising awareness of as well as in implementing Sphere standards and other accountability tools.

Goma, 14 February 2012 – For years the international community has attempted to help stabilise eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at the expense of billions of US dollars, yet sustainable peace remains elusive. Elections in November 2011 were widely seen as lacking credibility(1) and provincial and local elections have been delayed indefinitely.

By Helen Nic an Rí

Many people will know Mali as an exotic tourist destination, with the annual ‘Festival in the Desert’ attracting music fans from around the world.

Recently, however, the music in northern Mali has fallen silent and tourism has all but disappeared. As various rebel groups have seized control of much of the north of the country, Malians have witnessed the harsh imposition of Sharia law and a strict interpretation of Islam that forbids music and has seen religious shrines in the world-famous Timbuktu desecrated.

Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year-old activist recently shot in Pakistan, is recovering from her injuries and reportedly making good progress. Back in Pakistan, however, the struggle for education continues.

Inequality has led to two parallel societies in Pakistan. There is the rich Pakistan – home to 36,000 millionaires – and there is the real Pakistan – home to almost 40 million people living below the poverty line.

For millions of young people in Pakistan, education remains an aspiration.

Posted by Justin Kilcullen

I will never forget the shocking scenes I witnessed in east Africa last summer. Mothers, fathers and children left facing days on end with no food, weak from hunger and desperate in the knowledge that it would be months before the rains came.

There was a hopelessness in people’s eyes as they stared out at their barren land and empty animal pens. Drought had deprived them of food, of animals, of income. They were left with nothing.

Executive Summary

A. Exercise objective

The objective of the People First Impact Method (P-FiM) (Annex 2) exercise in Turkana was to give a voice to communities in selected areas. It records declarations of impact and measures the impact; positive, negative and neutral of interventions by stakeholders without agency or project bias from the perspective of the community. It sets out the attribution of positive, negative and neutral change alongside the drivers of impact.

Gaza 14 June 2012: Fifty international charities and United Nations Agencies have unanimously called for the lifting of the blockade of Gaza. The organizations have published a simple three line statement to mark the fifth anniversary of the tightening of the blockade of the Strip.

It reads:

For over five years in Gaza, more than 1.6 million people have been under blockade in violation of international law. More than half of these people are children. We the undersigned say with one voice: “end the blockade now.”

Situation still dire as malnutrition and death rates remain high

As Christmas approaches and the weather gets colder, it is difficult to picture that in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, in the heart of the West Bank, the sun is still shining brightly as the olive harvest comes to an end.