World Bank

The Pandemic’s Cruelty Visits the World’s Children

June 18, 2020

There are about two billion young children in the world today, ranging from infancy to 14 years old, and most of them live in developing nations in the global south. That is also where the Covid-19 pandemic is spreading the fastest. Three of the top 10 countries in numbers of rapidly rising cases, as of …

Covid-19, Development, Education, Secretary-General

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COVID-19

Global Emergency Funds Must Not Be Pocketed for Corruption

May 28, 2020

by Frank Vogl

Fears abound as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the poorer nations of the world, not only about appalling levels of death and economic depression but also about criminal opportunism. Never before have agencies in the United Nations system, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other official lenders and aid agencies moved on …

Covid-19

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

Nikki Haley Revs Up: ‘We’re in the Money’

March 5, 2019

by Irwin Arieff

Two months after leaving the United Nations, Nikki Haley has assembled a political network that is laying the groundwork for a possible presidential run in 2024, or even in 2020 — should her mentor Donald Trump not run. The best thing about it from her point of view? The scheme will enable her to …

Nikki Haley Watch, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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TAKE A LOOK

Unsafe Food, a Killer in Poor Nations, Needs Government Action

February 6, 2019

by Barbara Crossette

Poverty’s companions — hunger, malnutrition and recurring sickness — do not have to be the inevitable fate of people in low-income countries, the World Bank said in a recent report. But from national governments to farmers to market stallholders and their customers, making food safer has not been recognized and tackled as a major …

Health and Population, Sustainable Development Goals, Take a Look

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Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University

Climate Talks Bypass the Poorest, Who Endure Polluted Homes

December 18, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

Today and every day around the world, in bleak rural villages and the poorest urban neighborhoods, millions of people are igniting small fires to cook their meager meals, brighten dark homes or scare away intruders at night. The number of people using small fires is not small. Climate scientists estimate that three billion people …

Africa, Asia, Climate and Environment

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Why Would Anyone Want This Job? The WHO Prepares to Elect a New Chief

April 24, 2017

by Susan Manuel

GENEVA — In late May by secret paper ballot, all 194 member states of the World Health Assembly that have paid their dues will cast their votes for one of three final candidates in the first-ever election of the planet’s top doctor: the director-general of the World Health Organization. The candidates are Tedros Adhanom …

Africa, Asia, Health and Population, Sustainable Development Goals, UN Agencies, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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A Poverty-Easing Plan to Help Displaced People and Their Host Countries

December 9, 2016

by Tino Calabia

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One year ago, almost 1 percent of the world’s population, about 65 million people, had been forcibly displaced from their homes. That is a population size that would constitute a nation larger than Britain or would be the world’s 21st-largest country. But instead of creating their own country, the majority of the …

Development, Humanitarian Aid, Middle East, Migration, Refugees, World Bank

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Ruth Messinger: A ‘Global Ambassador’ Pushing for Women’s Progress

July 20, 2016

by Barbara Crossette

In the political annals of New York, the 1990s boasted a strong presence of women not only in government but also at the United Nations. One such woman, Ruth Messinger, served as Manhattan borough president from 1990 to 1998, with time out in 1997 to run for mayor of New York City on the …

Development, Gender-Based Violence, Women

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The UN’s Support of Midwifery and the Serious Gaps That Remain

December 21, 2015

by Lori Silberman Brauner

Midwifery is one of the world’s most ancient vocations, its practitioners playing a prominent role dating back to the Bible. In much of the world, midwives continue to play an important role in maintaining the health of women and newborns. It should come as no surprise, then, that investments in this occupation, according to …

Africa, Health and Population, Sustainable Development Goals, UN Agencies, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

Peace Wins a Place in Several New UN Development Goals

August 29, 2015

by Andrew Tomlinson

A key new element in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that will be adopted formally in late September at the United Nations is the inclusion of goals and targets that go beyond the traditional development objectives of the Millennium Development Goals and address social transformation more broadly. In particular, the new framework singles …

WORLDVIEWS

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The 10 Youngest Nations by Population? They’re Mainly in Africa

February 10, 2015

by Amy Wu

While the graying population around the world is rising in countries like Japan and South Korea, along with much of the United States and Europe, other parts of the world — primarily Africa — are experiencing the opposite situation, with young people claiming the majority. The contrast between oldest and youngest populations can be …

Africa, Health and Population, Poverty, Women

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Illegal Money Transfers From Developing Nations Nearing $1 Trillion

December 17, 2014

by PassBlue

A nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C., estimates that in 2011 — the latest data available — $946.7 billion flowed out of developing countries in various illegal ways, including diversions by corrupt officials and businesses as well as through tax evasion, terrorist transfers and cash moved across borders in the suitcases of traffickers. …

Governance, News Bits, World Bank

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Developing Nations Take Aim at the World Bank

July 16, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

In a direct challenge to Western control of two major international financial organizations, the five countries known as the BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — announced on July 15 the formation of a new development bank that they will control. The final plans to establish the bank, to be named …

Development, World Bank

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WORLDVIEWS

The World Trade Organization: Seeking a Fair Balance of Interests

April 16, 2014

by Helmut Volger

Working most of the time, far away from the attention of the world public, an international organization was recently in the limelight: the World Trade Organization. After lengthy negotiations on liberalization measures in world trade, which started in 2001 and dragged on because of considerable differences of opinion between the developed and the developing …

WORLDVIEWS

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Poverty Stalks Eastern European and Central Asian Countries

March 11, 2014

by Barbara Crossette

The world’s most abjectly poor people are most often — too often, they say — illustrated by faces from South Asia or sub-Saharan Africa, where numerically, the majority of the global poor live. A new interactive report from the World Bank moves the focus north, to eastern European countries and Central Asia, where scores of …

Asia, Poverty, World Bank

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World Bank

The Pandemic’s Cruelty Visits the World’s Children

Global Emergency Funds Must Not Be Pocketed for Corruption

Nikki Haley Revs Up: ‘We’re in the Money’

Unsafe Food, a Killer in Poor Nations, Needs Government Action

Climate Talks Bypass the Poorest, Who Endure Polluted Homes

Why Would Anyone Want This Job? The WHO Prepares to Elect a New Chief

A Poverty-Easing Plan to Help Displaced People and Their Host Countries

Ruth Messinger: A ‘Global Ambassador’ Pushing for Women’s Progress

The UN’s Support of Midwifery and the Serious Gaps That Remain

Peace Wins a Place in Several New UN Development Goals

The 10 Youngest Nations by Population? They’re Mainly in Africa

Illegal Money Transfers From Developing Nations Nearing $1 Trillion

Developing Nations Take Aim at the World Bank

The World Trade Organization: Seeking a Fair Balance of Interests

Poverty Stalks Eastern European and Central Asian Countries

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