All News

Will US embrace boosting farm aid in world food crisis?
Jun 13, 2008 (Reuters)

As the world rushes to reverse decades of declining farm aid for poor nations, the United States remains committed to food aid programs that critics say cannot cure the causes of the global food crisis

Women Say Regional Aids Plan Falls Short
Jun 10, 2008 (Inter Press Service via All Africa)

Despite the admirable progress made by some African countries in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS since 2000, 14 million Africans have died of AIDS in that time span, and an additional 17 million have been infected, says a new report on HIV/AIDS on the continent.

UN plan to tackle food crisis gets a test-drive
Jun 10, 2008 (IRIN - UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)

The UN Secretary–General Ban ki-Moon will have to use all his powers of persuasion to get countries to agree to act on thorny issues such as trade restrictions, responsible for pushing up global food prices to their highest levels in over 30 years, according to a food policy analyst.

Laura Bush urges donors to stand by Afghanistan
Jun 9, 2008 (Christian Science Monitor)

Donors need to keep the needs and requirements of Afghans in mind rather than their own geopolitical and security considerations," says Mudasser Hussain Siddiqui, policy research and advocacy coordinator for Action Aid Afghanistan. .

Greens criticize World Bank climate funds
Jun 5, 2008 (Reuters)

"Clean must mean 'clean', not 'slightly less dirty'," said a statement from the groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and ActionAid, on the fringes of a U.N. climate conference in Germany.

Summit vows to tackle hunger after Latam protest
Jun 5, 2008 (Forbes (Reuters))

A U.N. food summit promised on Thursday to relieve hunger threatening one billion people, but anti-poverty campaigners said rich countries needed to commit to long-term action to boost food output and free up trade.

Nigeria: ActionAid Egbenn Tackles Girl-Child Education
Jun 3, 2008 (This Day (Nigeria) via AllAfrica)

ActionAid took its advocacy campaign to the North Western States of Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi in Nigeria. The project's main thrust is to address gender inequality and its attendant negative factors which affect girls' education in the North of Nigeria

Food production must rise 50 per cent by 2030: UN
Jun 3, 2008 (CTV)

Peter O'Driscoll, the executive director of ActionAid International USA, told CTV Newsnet that unless the world takes action now, the situation will only grow worse. He said in the coming decades global warming will dramatically reduce overall food production. "This is going to get worse and we have to think of radically new ways to produce foods and feed people,"

Bangladesh prepares for future storms in wake of cyclone in Myanmar
Jun 3, 2008 (International Herald Tribune)

On Eve of Rome Food Summit, NGO Warns of Global Catastrophe
Jun 2, 2008 (Voice of America)

The UN summit on World Food Security and Climate Change opens Tuesday in Rome. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates 850 million people suffer from hunger, with the vast majority in developing countries. The summit is being held as food prices soar around the world. Monday, on the eve of the summit, the development agency ActionAid warns that rising food prices could create a global catastrophe. It calls the crisis a gross violation of human rights.

As Global Wealth Spreads, the IMF Recedes
May 24, 2008 (Washington Post)

The economy in Ghana turned as hot as the local pepper soup earlier in the decade, with soaring global demand for the nation's riches -- gold, cocoa and bauxite -- sparking a rush to modernize Ghana's decaying roads, rails and power grid. But when the government hatched a plan last year to rebuild the national infrastructure by selling $750 million worth of bonds, its minders at the International Monetary Fund balked. As in so many other developing countries, the IMF had for years served as banker, bean counter and financial consultant to Ghana, its authority stemming in part from the $1.3 billion over 20 years it lent this once financially troubled country. In dire need of that cash, officials here had cooperated with the fund's requests, agreeing to slash gasoline subsidies, trim spending and open markets to cheaper foreign imports. But this time, there was a big difference.

International aid coalition says EU falling behind in its aid pledges
May 22, 2008 (International Herald Tribune)

European Union nations will fall $117.3 billion short of their aid promises to the world's poorest nations by 2010, if they don't agree to binding spending increases, according to a coalition of aid groups. The anti-poverty groups — which include Oxfam International, ActionAid and CARE International — urged the 27-nation bloc on Wednesday to heed their warning or risk denting its credibility as the world's top aid donor

Testing Chinese Blog Pull

ActionAid's response to Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone gathers pace
May 20, 2008 (Relief Web)

Myanmar: NGO's fill in where UN, US can't go
May 16, 2008 (One World)

As UN estimates of the number of Burmese affected by Cyclone Nargis rose from 1.5 to 2.5 million and the United States and United Nations continued to wrangle with Myanmar's rulers over visas for aid workers... Internationalist ActionAid reports that, working through local partners, it has established three camps in the hard-hit Irawaddy Delta and delivered "truckloads" of food and water to villages in the area.

Africa: More Policy Freedom Or Belt-Tightening?
May 9, 2008 (Africa Renewal via All Africa)

Rather than "graduating" from the much-criticized economic reform programmes promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a number of African countries are opting to sign on to an extended version.

Save our mountain, Indian tribe urges banks
May 2, 2008 (The Independent)

In Zimbabwe Police Intensify NGO raids
May 2, 2008 (Zimbabwe Independent via AllAfrica)

Police this week intensified their crackdown on civil society by arresting employees of a humanitarian organisation, Action Aid. The non-governmental organisation’s acting director Anne Chipembere, senior programmes officer Precious Shumba and three other employees were arrested in Mayo, Manicaland, by police officers from the Law and Order department.

Sierra Leone: Reduce Foodstuff Importation, Says ActionAid
May 1, 2008 (Concord Times via AllAfrica)

Country director ActionAid Sierra Leone Tuesday said there was need for the country to reduce the importation of foodstuffs, especially rice, which is the country's staple food.