Development

• February 28, 2012

As the world pins hopes on more effective farming to end cycles of hunger in many developing countries, an important factor holding back food production is a persistent cultural opposition to giving women more power over the land. Nearly half the farm labor in the developing countries is done by women, who are hardworking …

Development, Women

4 Comments

At the UN Nuclear Watchdog, It’s Not Just About Iran

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 25, 2012

United Nations international atomic inspectors confirmed that Iran is moving apace on producing nuclear fuel at an underground site, but that is not what Kwaku Aning, an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency, wanted to talk about on a visit to New York. Nor did his colleague, Geoffrey Shaw, an Australian who represents …

Climate Change, Development

2 Comments

GOINGS-ON

Graziano da Silva, New in Post, to Focus on Hunger and Rural Poor

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 20, 2012

José Graziano da Silva took up his three-year post as the new director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, based in Rome, in January. The agency, which was founded in 1945, is tasked with eradicating hunger worldwide, particularly in rural areas. Graziano da Silva was the agency’s assistant director-general and regional representative …

Development, GOINGS-ON

7 Comments

Africa Upgrades Its Business Climate

Barbara Crossette

• October 31, 2011

This year’s edition of an annual report from the World Bank measuring how easy or hard it is to start and run a business around the world has good news for sub-Saharan Africa. In its 2012 Doing Business survey, the bank found that in 36 of 46 countries – 78 percent of the economies …