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From the Field
In Kingston, Jamaica we will celebrate Reading Week. As part of the celebration, Jamaica’s Mission Director will take time to read to a class of children. I-PLEDGE is an initiative of Grace Kennedy Money Services (GKMS) through the brand Western Union, which seeks to support the development of primary education by improving literacy, particularly reading. [...]
On World Water Day, Rain Water Harvesting Highlighted in Zimbabwe
By Cary Jimenez, Development Outreach and Communications Officer at USAID/Zimbabwe USAID/Zimbabwe commemorated World Water Day 2011 on March 23 with a special ceremony to draw attention to the efficiency and effectiveness of rainwater collection as a way to provide clean water to families and schools. The event took place at the Tasimukira Primary School in [...]
Haiti: First Impressions on the Runoff Election
Submitted by Ben Edwards, USAID/Haiti Like most days in Port-au-Prince, Haitians began to fill the streets at sunrise. On this Sunday, however, they were headed to the polls, eager to exercise their democratic right in the presidential runoff and parliamentary elections. Voters at many polling stations waited calmly in line for their turn to vote. [...]
Improving the Lives and Livelihoods of Women at Work
Submitted by Arup Banerji, Director for Social Protection and Labor at the World Bank As I write this from my home city of Kolkata (Calcutta), India, the changes for women here in India during the last 100 years—since the first International Women’s Day—are wonderfully evident. Women are among the top political leaders; they are CEOs [...]
An Ancient Disease, A Modern Day Development Challenge, A Child Who Deserves a Future
By: Clydette Powell, Medical Officer, Division of Infectious Diseases We need a game changer that puts innovation for Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment at the forefront of our global health agenda. Unsanitary and unhealthy realities bred by third world conditions provide the perfect opportunity for this ancient disease to continue to spread through vulnerable populations. There [...]
Women: A Resource in Development
By: Caren Grown, Senior Gender Adviser Seeing the flurry of material published to commemorate Women’s History Month and the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, I was unsettled by a popular view suggesting that women are an under-utilized resource of development. This view cannot be further from the truth; in fact, women are the most [...]
U.S. and World Bank Strengthen Water Partnership on World Water Day
By: Christian Holmes, USAID’s Global Water Coordinator On March 22nd, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and World Bank president Robert Zoellick signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) committing to a stronger partnership on water issues. The agreement, signed at a World Bank ceremony on World Water Day, will bring the U.S. government and World Bank [...]
Innovative Solutions to Save Lives
Submitted by Melinda Gates During Women’s History Month, it’s important to stop and reflect on the incredible progress women have made the past few decades. Perhaps nowhere have results been more impressive than in women’s health and the health and wellbeing of their children. I am optimistic this progress will continue as the tools and [...]
Presidential Trip to El Salvador Highlights Youth
By: Mark Feierstein, Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean On his trip to Latin America, President Obama highlighted the theme of partnership and echoed President Kennedy’s challenge “to build a hemisphere where all people can hope for a sustainable, suitable standard of living, and all can live out their lives in dignity and [...]
Vivian’s Story—Breaking the Cycle of Poverty by Educating and Empowering Girls
By Linda Lockhart, Founder of the Global Give Back Circle and Nicole Goldin, Senior Advisor in USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning Vivian O. was born in the outskirts of Kisumu, Kenya, and is said to have entered the world smiling. Life for Vivian and others in her rural fishing village was challenging, requiring [...]
