A much needed new Wastewater treatment plant in Nicaragua

For over 80 years, waste has been dumped into Nicaragua's Lake Managua. The lake has been described by environmentalists as the "World's Largest Toilet." Further, over 80 percent on Nicaragua's water is polluted.

Even as far back as 1969, the Nicaraguan government declared neighborhoods around the Lake Managua uninhabitable. Only now does the area have it's own waste water treatment plant.

From the IPS, José Adán Silva tells us about Nicaragua's big step in fulfilling the neglected Millennium Development Goal.

Ruth Selma Herrera, president of the Empresa Nicaragüense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados - Nicaragua’s water and sewage utility - said the new plant is processing 132,000 cubic metres of wastewater a day, and will process 180,000 cubic metres a day when it reaches full operating capacity.

The wastewater from 60 chemical companies and Managua’s 1.2 million people has been dumped untreated into the lake from 17 drains since 1927, when the government ordered all sewage to be channeled into the lake until a new sewer system was built.

But the system was not in place until 2007, when 32 kilometres of underground drainage and sewage pipes running to the treatment plant were completed.

"It is an old dream of the Nicaraguan people to salvage the beautiful gifts that God gave this land of lakes and volcanoes and, thanks to God, the government and friendly countries, we are giving a start to that dream," Herrera remarked to IPS.

Work on the plant began in 1997, with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the governments of Germany and other European countries, and the Nicaraguan treasury. The total cost was 85.5 billion dollars.

More than 120,000 users of the sewage system are now connected to the treatment plant, which will begin to ease pollution of the 1,040 square kilometre lake which is located in western Nicaragua, near the Pacific coast.

Comment on the global recession reaching Africa

For the last few years, economic growth in Africa was really moving up fast. But, the credit crisis that began in America is now reaching the underdeveloped world.

A commentary in today's Toronto Star spells out what might be ahead for Africa. Craig and Marc Kielburger describes the fear that the global economic recession could undo all of Africa's recent gains.

The past decade has seen many changes to Africa's economic climate. Foreign aid has helped create jobs through development projects. Soaring commodity prices made raw materials enormously profitable. The region even began moving into stock markets. Companies gained capital investment. A middle class started to emerge as people followed the North American example and began investing their savings.

These markets were fast growing — the Nairobi Stock Exchange expanded from about $1 billion dollars in 2002 to $12 billion in 2008. And, despite the crippling poverty and AIDS pandemic still ravishing the continent, the World Bank estimated 6.5 per cent growth for the region in 2008.

Along came the financial crisis. As North American markets plunged, Africa followed suit. The Nairobi Stock Exchange has lost nearly half its value since October on declining oil, mining and commodity stocks. As well, tourism - East Africa's leading foreign exchange earner — is expected to fall by 20 per cent in 2009.

Then, there is aid. Expatriates working overseas and sending money home are being laid off. And aid from Western nations has been readjusted as these governments bail out their own industries.

The United States has just started distributing its $787 billion (U.S.) bailout to jumpstart its domestic economy. But, that kind of money simply isn't available in African economies. Unable to finance stimulus for the local economy, these nations need international aid to stay afloat.

"If the issues of Africa and the rest of the third world are not given the same or more development aid, a lot of the good work is likely to regress, plunging the continent back into poverty, high mortality rates, war and disease," says N'drangu.

Sudanese exile group calls on UN seize Sudan Oil revenues

A group of Sudanese exiles are calling on the United Nations to create an oil for food program for the people of Darfur.

The government of Sudan has kicked out many agencies that provide much needed aid to Darfur. Creating an aid vacuum to an already urgent humanitarian crisis. To combat the problem the Sudanese exiles want the UN to step in.

The Sudan Tribune carries an article about the press conference.

The Sudanese Group for Transparency and Good Governance held a press conference in London to discuss establishing a UN-controlled fund of Sudanese oil revenues, saying the measure could fill the gap in the relief effort in Darfur after the expulsion of the international humanitarian organizations, and guarantee to South Sudan its full share of oil revenues in accordance with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Haroun Abdulhameed Haroun, the chairperson of the organization, said “peace can not materialize unless the oil revenue is directed to satisfy the needs, desires and welfare of the Sudanese people.” He proposed that oil revenues be used to address the major problems of Darfur refugees rather than financing a regime that he described as criminally violent, corrupt and irresponsible.

According to the proposal of the Sudanese Group for Transparency and Good Governance, the fund would also compensate victims of war and dam construction, as well as to rehabilitate the war-affected areas and “to save the unity of Sudan.”

Organizers claimed that the UN-controlled fund is necessary because “all Darfur is now transformed into a displaced area… The living situation in the camps is miserable as the government is impeding humanitarian aid and expelling the working organizations in this field.”

They also cited lack of compensation for war victims, saying this deficit “is proved by allocating only $30 million for compensation according to the deformed Abuja Peace Agreement. This sum of money merely equals the sum paid in compensation of two victims of the Lockerbie incident in Scotland/UK.”

“The Sudanese government does not respect or fulfill its promises to pay the small sum of allocated (in the budget) for the development and reconstruction in accordance to the unfair and partial peace agreements in Darfur, East and Kurdofan. This is made worse by the deprivation of fair compensation to victims of newly constructed dams in northern Sudan,” complained the group.

Marching to support seniors meals in Hawaii

An annual march to call attention to hungry seniors took place in Hawaii yesterday.

The Lanakila Meals on Wheels helps what is a very poor senior population on the island. The average senior in Hawaii only has an income of $19,000 dollars.

From the Honolulu Advertiser, reporter Dan Nakaso attended the event. Video of the march follows our snippet.

More than 300 senior citizens, children and others carrying signs reading "End Senior Hunger" and "Our Kupuna Need You" marched from Honolulu Hale to the state Capitol yesterday to raise awareness about the elderly who rely on the state's biggest food program for seniors on O'ahu, Lanakila Meals on Wheels.

Yesterday marked the seventh annual march and came at a time when Lanakila Meals on Wheels has a waiting list of 300 names, with more added every day, said Brandon Mitsuda, the program's deputy director.

Maria Loa, 83, of Waikiki, has participated in every march and has been receiving Meals on Wheels for six years.

The meal delivery to Loa once a day "really, really, really, really, really helps," she said. "It means a lot."

While donations are badly needed, Mitsuda said, Lanakila also needs hundreds of volunteers for a variety of jobs, including helping with 19 Kupuna Wellness Centers and delivering food to hundreds of senior citizens across O'ahu.

Last year, Lanakila served more than 250,000 meals to seniors "while food costs are ever-rising and government funding remains flat," Mitsuda said.

The displaced people of Nepal

It has been a few years since the "People's War" has finished in Nepal. The war caused over 50,000 Nepalese to flee from their homes. The war finished in 2006, but many of the displaced people still haven't returned home.

The government of Nepal has been slow in developing a program to help the people without homes. The Non-Governmental Organizations who help the displaced people say their government has totally neglected them.

From the IRIN we learn about the situation from interviews with NGO's that operate in Nepal.

In a mid-2008 IDP report produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of IDPs in Nepal was estimated to be 50,000-70,000, and UN officials say these numbers will not have changed since then.

“There is virtually nothing for them to return to. They have no house or other resources to generate income,” said Geeta Gautam, an official from the Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC), a local human rights NGO.

The Nepal Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, which is responsible for the welfare of the IDPs, is still in the process of setting up poverty alleviation, health care and employment programmes, but has been unable to make much progress due to a lack of reliable data, officials said.

Activists and experts working on the IDP issue are concerned about the growing vulnerability of women and children - the worst victims of displacement-induced poverty.

“Children’s education has been severely hampered and the women have great difficulty supporting their families,” explained Gautam.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said there was an urgent need for national IDP policy to be implemented: IDPs should be able to return to their former villages, and get reintegrated and resettled. NRC country director Phillipe Clerc said he was concerned by the apparent lack of government interest in the matter.

Even two years after the launch of the national IDP policy, a large number of women are still seeking information on civil documentation, widows’ allowances, property restitution, children's education and shelter, said Clerc.

On top of all the other crises

The United Nations has issued a new report that gives warnings on a future water crisis. The UN warns that by 2030 half of the population of the world will be without water. The report blames climate change, diet changes, and biofuel production.

From the Reuters story explaining the report, writer Patrick Worsnip focuses on the effect of Biofuel production is water supply.

The report added to recent U.N. warnings about the downsides of developing biofuels to replace heavily polluting hydrocarbons as an energy source, because of the water needed to grow crops like corn and sugar cane to produce ethanol.

Saying about 2,500 liters of water is needed to make 1 liter of biofuel, it said implementing all current national biofuel policies and plans would take 180 cubic kilometers of extra irrigation water and 30 million hectares of cropland.

"The impact could be large for some countries, including China and India, and for some regions of large countries, such as the United States," it said. "There could also be significant implications for water resources, with possible feedback into global grain markets."

When oil prices peaked at over $140 a barrel last year, "the kneejerk reaction was 'well, we are going to grow our energy - biofuels.' But nobody took account of how much water it was going to require," William Cosgrove, coordinator of the report, told journalists.

On the positive side, the report pointed to successful water policies in Uganda and Turkey and said a U.N. goal of halving the population lacking access to safe drinking water by 2015 would be achieved except in sub-Saharan Africa.

IMF - Africa summit concludes

The summit between the International Monetary Fund and African political and economic leaders has just wrapped up. The summit concluded with a joint statement made by President Jakaya Kikwete, IMF Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

The leaders plead with the international community to not give up on aid to the rest of the world. The fear is that governments will instead only bail out their own economies while cutting aid to the rest of the world.

For our snippet, we decided to hear from the second in command from the UN. Dr Asha-Rose Migiro was a little more direct in her comments

From the IPP Media story that wrapped up the summit, Perege Gumbo recorded the comments from Dr Migiro.

United Nations Deputy Secretary General Dr Asha-Rose Migiro had earlier underscored the importance of overseas development assistance to Africa, especially at this time when the world is facing an economic downturn.

She told the meeting that the continent urgently needs the assistance so as to attain the eight UN Millennium Develop Goals, where it is lagging behind, as well as address other pressing issues.

The UN`s second-in-command said it was of crucial importance for international organisations and development partners to protect Africa`s poorest and vulnerable countries from the impact of the financial crisis by honouring their financial commitments.

She noted that private external finance had been frozen and there was little room to raise more domestic revenue, adding that there was a need for a genuine desire to deliver on existing commitments to increase ODA or the MDGs would remain elusive.

Dr Migiro underscored the gravity of Africa`s plight, saying the economic downturn combined with high food prices, climate change and volatile energy prices in presenting daunting challenges to the continent`s policy makers.

She called on the donor community to deliver on promises made at different times and meetings, such as the one made at the 2005 Gleneagles G8 Summit to more than double annual ODA to Africa by next year worth US$ 62 billion in nominal terms.

``The amount sounds like a huge sum, but it appears more attainable when we consider the trillions of dollars that have been committed to stimulus packages in industrialised countries,`` she told the meeting, called to discuss how African economies could cope in the wake of the global crunch.

South African food pantries visit the states for ideas

A group of South Africans who head up a national food bank are in the states for ideas. People from Food Bank South Africa visited the Food Bank of Northern Indiana in South Bend.

From the South Bend Tribune, reporter Sue Lowe talks to Bob Forney from the Global Food Banking Network, who organized the trip.

There have been food pantries in South Africa for years, but the national food bank network is new. Forney described conditions in South Africa that make us realize our good fortune.

He said unemployment is 40 percent and that's not counting the people who have just given up.

Stuart McPherson, with the Food Bank in Cape Town, South Africa, said the country needs to feed 6 million refugees who have streamed in from neighboring countries.
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Forney said the government has a defined role in operating the regional food banks in the country along with private citizens and business.

He predicted that in the next couple of years, the country will have the fifth or sixth largest food bank network in the world.

He said the South Bend food bank is a good place for the group to visit because the country has many cities the size of South Bend and rural areas like much of the six counties the South Bend food bank serves.

The Food Bank of Northern Indiana works with almost 200 agencies that provide food for people in need.

A Kenyan training program for young carpenters

What started as a joke by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon turned into a great training program for Kenyan youth.

During a visit to a Kenyan slum, Moon wondered why the young people were not working. It was explained to Moon that there were no jobs to be had. After the visit, a UN program was started to help the youths gain construction skills.

As writer Dann Okoth explains in this Standard story, the youths are not working on heavy machinery, but instead are making themselves more employable.

But the youth were not going to spend their money in purchasing huge earth-moving equipment or building materials.

Instead, they opted to use the money to hone their skills in construction on how best to offer professional service.

"Most of the youth were already involved in the industry as unskilled workers anyway," he says.

Sijenji adds Habitat engaged the youth in a training programme to produce cheap building blocks. The youths have since learned to produce the low-cost Stabilised Soil Blocks and soon, they would begin producing the highly popular and futurist Hydroform Interlocking Blocks.

"So far we have witnessed the successes of the programme as more youth have been trained in building and construction," he says.

According to the co-ordinator, 120 youths will be sent to Kenya Water Institute to train as plumbers and Don Bosco Catholic Church training facility to train as electricians.

In all, he says, 320 youth would have graduated by the end of the first phase of the programme.

"The youth will gain more from the Kibera slum upgrading project since they will be contracted as skilled rather than as unskilled labourers like they did before," say Sijenji.

Besides that, many are looking forward to forming their own companies and bid for jobs as building contractors.

"Our aim is to form our own companies that could competitively bid for such contracts on equal level with big companies," he says.

Teach a man to fish a commentary

A director at the Earth Institute of Columbia University uses an old proverb in his latest commentary. Pedro Sanchez tells us how helping hungry people grow more food will do more than giving food, and it can be even cheaper.

The commentary is excerpted by the Guardian but will published in it's entirety in tomorrow's issue of Nature.

New evidence from the Millennium Villages project, which I direct, shows that helping farmers help themselves is more effective than food aid and costs a sixth as much. Farmers were given access to fertilisers, improved seeds, training and markets. Their maize yields more than doubled as a result. Similar results were seen in Malawi after its government provided fertiliser and seeds to farmers. In just two years, Malawi went from being a recipient of food aid to a food exporter.

It costs $812 to deliver one tonne of maize as US food aid to Africa. The fertiliser and seed that Millennium Village farmers need to produce an additional tonne of maize cost $135 on average.

Buying food aid locally, as the UN World Food Programme is increasingly doing, is another important step away from the inefficiency of food aid. Purchasing a tonne of maize in an African country costs approximately $320.

Although estimates on costs may vary, their underlying message is clear. Turning away from food aid and providing subsidies or credit to farmers in poor countries could help millions obtain their own food, begin the escape from poverty, and also meet much of the demand for food aid in developing countries – without costing more.

Fortunately, some donors are starting to shift away from food aid for the chronically hungry. The UN World Food Programme now buys some of its food aid in poor countries. The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon is leading the development of a fund that would provide support for farmers in poor countries to grow more food. The Spanish government has pledged €1 billion over five years for this initiative, and the European parliament has committed the same amount. What is urgently needed now is an innovative financial mechanism that can deliver the funds rapidly and effectively to African governments that have shown a serious commitment to end hunger.

To paraphrase the popular proverb, giving someone a fish so they can "eat for a day" is only a solution for the most hungry who cannot help themselves or are the victims of war and famine. For most people in poor countries, we must give them the tools to fish so they can eat for a lifetime, and at one sixth of the cost.

A visit to fair trade farmers in Mexico

A great before and after perspective of the benefits of fair trade comes from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle today.

Writer Joseph Sorrentino has visited a group of Mexican coffee farmers in the past. Now, the farmers in the Cuetzalan countryside have become organic fair trade, so Sorrentino has returned to see how their lives are different.

In Cuetzalan—a six-hour bus ride from Mexico City—I contacted Tosepan Titataniske (Nahuatl dialect for "together we will overcome"), a fair trade cooperative. Tosepan provided me with guides to take me to the villages. It's important to have guides because some of the villages are remote and all are indigenous. Campesinos don't always appreciate strangers—especially unaccompanied ones carrying cameras.

There's no denying that life in el campo—the countryside—is hard. Cuetzalan is covered in mist or light rain most days from November to March, and coffee is harvested from October through January. Mud is everywhere, and walking is tricky—especially on the many hills. When the sun does shine, it's hot and humid (though gorgeous). Throughout Mexico, campesinos typically farm just a couple of acres. And here, coffee plants are grown in the shade of tall trees and scattered among other plants, not lined up in neat rows. Harvesting is done by hand.

Bags of dried coffee can weigh 110 pounds. I asked one man how he got his bags to market. He said he took a bus to town. When I asked how he got his bags to the bus, he smiled and tapped his back. In other villages I visited, farmers carried 70-pound bags on their backs along a seven-hour hike through the mountains.

All of the campesinos I interviewed in the area belonged to the fair-trade co-op Tosepan, and all grew organic coffee. A study by researchers at Tufts University found that fair trade doubles a campesino's income; in Cuetzalan, in what was clearly a much less rigorous study, I estimated that fair trade pays campesinos between 40 and 60 percent more. Every campesino I met believed in fair trade.

"We're grateful to fair trade because it gives us a better price," said Martha Hernandez Julian, who grows coffee in Xalcuahuta. "Those working in non-fair trade are much worse off." There's also an appreciation for the idea of sustainability. "We live better because of Tosepan and fair trade because they're preserving the environment. We use only organics; it's better for us, our families and our children."
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I returned from Mexico convinced that fair trade can make a difference. I saw the improvements in people's lives. People proudly showed me their houses built with low-interest loans and stores opened with Tosepan's guidance.

The money alone might not be enough to completely lift campesinos out of poverty. But as David Blas of the fair trade Mexican Vanilla Plantation put it to me, "It's a start."

The large number of homeless children in Texas strains resources

Texas has so many homeless children that the amount is straining social and government services. The state is home to 337,000 homeless children or 5 percent of all kids in Texas.

The large number is due in part to the Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Many of the children's families who were left homeless by the storms have yet to afford new homes. Or as in the case for Hurricane Katrina, move back out of the state, after many fled to Texas after the storm.

From this Associated Press article that we found in the Star Telegram, we learn of the demands made of a Fort Worth homeless shelter.

The All Church Home for Children’s emergency youth shelter has housed more than three times as many homeless children this year as in the same period last year, officials say. And the Fort Worth agency’s program for homeless single mothers and their children is not only full, but counselors are at a loss to find other programs for referrals.

"Right now, the perception is that everyone is full with a waiting list," said Barbara Clark-Galupi, vice president of marketing for the children’s home. "These are families who have never been homeless and all of a sudden have a crisis, and it is very hard right now to find a place for them."

The lack of options is not unique to Dallas-Fort Worth. A study by the National Center on Family Homelessness released Tuesday placed Texas last of all states in how homeless children fare.

The ranking considered four areas: the percentage of homeless children; their overall well-being; risk factors for homelessness, such as poverty and foreclosure rates; and how the state is addressing the problems.

Dr. Ellen Bassuk, president of Family Homelessness, said the child poverty level in Texas is 23 percent compared with 18 percent nationwide.

"You’re a big state; you’ve got a significant problem," said Bassuk, who also is an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "Texas needs to respond."

The report

The report defined as homeless any child age 18 or younger living with at least one parent or caregiver in such places as emergency shelters, motels, cars or campgrounds because of economic hardships or loss of their homes.

The definition did not include runaways or abandoned children.

The center estimates that 1.5 million children nationwide experienced homelessness at least once in 2005-06. The states that fared best were Connecticut, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island and North Dakota. At the bottom were Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana.

In that time, Texas had more than 337,000 homeless children — just over 5 percent of all kids in the state, according to the study. It noted, however, that that number may have been temporarily inflated by families who lost their homes during Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005.

"We had a huge influx of families right after Katrina, and they didn’t leave," said Carol Klocek, executive director of the Presbyterian Night Shelter. "They are families that we still see."

Bassuk said that while Texas has a trust created to provide low-income housing — something a lot of states don’t have — it has no statewide plan to address homeless issues.

The study found that 1 of every 50 kids nationwide is homeless each year. The rate in Texas is probably a bit higher.

State officials and advocacy groups differ on the number of homeless children in Texas now — estimates range from 55,000 to 250,000 — but all agree that the numbers are increasing.

The Presbyterian Night Shelter’s Lowden-Schutts Building, which serves homeless woman and their children, helped twice as many families in 2008 as in 2007, Klocek said.

After a slight dip around the holidays, families are once again streaming in.

As the number of families seeking help increased, funding for some agencies has decreased. The YWCA of Fort Worth operates the only early childhood development program for homeless infants and pre-schoolers in Tarrant County and has seen its Department of Housing and Urban Development funding fall from $114,000 in 2008 to $92,000 in 2009.

"At one time, it was $140,000," said Judi Bishop, executive director. "It is just a never-ending cycle of trying to have enough money to provide the services that people need."

'Recipe for disaster’

Gerber said the Texas Interagency Council for the Homeless, which coordinates the state’s homeless resources and services, hopes to release a comprehensive plan next month to battle homelessness.

Ken Martin, executive director of the Texas Homeless Network, an information clearinghouse for more than 250 organizations that help the homeless, said there are signs that the problem is being taken seriously. Still, he called the percentage of Texans without health care insurance, the lack of affordable housing and high poverty rates a "recipe for disaster."

"At the other end of the scale are people who are way over their heads in houses they can’t afford," Martin said. "When they lose their jobs or have a healthcare crisis, they’re out on the street and they take their kids with them."

Journalists trying to live on $3 dollars a day

A number of journalists at making a go of living on $3 dollars a day, which is the poverty line in the US. The challenge is being issued by the SNAP Into Action Project, a group that fights hunger in America.

From the Hartford Couriant, columnist Melissa Pionzio explains her lack of success on living on $3 dollars a day.

It's been one week since I accepted a reader's challenge to try to live on $3 a day, which is the amount that people who live below the poverty line live on every single day.

Well, I made it to Sunday, and finally gave up. I had nearly run out of the $21 worth of food that I had purchased - plus my co-workers were pretty sick of hearing me whine about what I missed - that afternoon cup of coffee and sweet snack.

Need a reminder? The $3 a day initiative is part of the SNAP Into Action Against Hunger program. SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is the new name for the Food Stamp Program, which helps feed millions of hungry Americans every month. Last week, I and dozens of other concerned Connecticut residents agreed to try to live on the minimum - some for the whole 40 days of Lent! (CNN correspondent Sean Callebs just finished a month long committment to the SNAP initiative, which he chronicled on his blog).

I hope they are more successful than I was.

I guess it wasn't so much the small amount of food I consumed each day - although I was often hungry and did think about food all the time. For me, it was the tedium of eating the same foods every day.

I know that sounds bratty, but it's the truth. I ate yogurt and bananas, English muffins and peanut butter and pasta or rice with either vegetables or sauce. I ate this every day for five days. I tried to vary it up. Sometimes I'd have an English muffin with peanut butter instead of yogurt for breakfast or I'd have an English muffin with tomato sauce - a kind of fake pizza - instead of pasta, pasta, pasta.

I'm not in love with pasta any more.

The effectiveness of aid

The new book by Dambisa Moyo entitled "Dead Aid" has reopened the debate on if aid to the underdeveloped world really works. In her book, Moyo makes the claim that cutting off all assistance to Africa would stimulate growth in the continent.

But let's be clear here, international aid has helped, Africa is growing, but it might not be the perfect solution. Of course, we would all want to see Africa self-supporting, but removing all non-emergency aid will not make that happen. Making the aid more effective will help, as well as more free market solutions, which Moyo also proposes.

From this IRIN article that touches on Moyo's book, it examines how Norway has critiqued their own aid and altered it to do more good.

"Norwegian aid constitutes 3 percent of the total aid to Zambia, which was equal to 0.8 percent of Zambia's GDP in 2005. Our report showed that aid is more successful when it is channelled towards technical support. So the dialogue between NORAD and Zambia has become less political and more technical," NORAD's Ase Seim, coordinator of the report, told IRIN. A follow-up report is due to be released in 2009.

An example of a technical programme was computerizing Zambia's Office of the Auditor General, which received $1.6 million between 1997 and 2008, with support for restructuring and staff training, which means there are now regular audits of government activities - making a direct improvement in governance.

The financial downturn has hit Zambia hard in recent months, with copper prices - the mainstay of the economy - dropping dramatically on the back of falling global demand. Shrinking government revenues mean less state spending.

"Right now we are doing the annual audit. However, our budget has been cut by 17 percent by the government because they have less money than last year. So, yes, we have improved our audit methodology through the creation of manuals and computerization in the past few years; in the long term we still have areas that are not fully sustainable without consistent funds," Louis Mwanga, deputy director of Planning at the Office of the Auditor General, told IRIN.

Prescription to African governments

While Dead Aid criticises bilateral and multilateral aid, it also offers some alternatives to prevailing policy, such as the increased use of global capital markets by African policy-makers to raise investment funds: Moyo does not believe that the current financial environment should be a deterrent.

"In the current climate, my prescription to African governments is to focus on ensuring that when the market bounces back, which it will, then they need to be ready to go into the international marketplace to raise bonds. My view is that there is a lot of preparatory work that needs to be done to get bond ratings and to familiarize their countries with international investors."

The IMF uses the words "Great Recession"

The head of the International Monetary Fund is visiting Africa this week. During his visit, Dominique Strauss-Kahn spoke to political and economic leaders about the "Great Recession" that is about to hit Africa's shores.

The global recession which began in the United States is moving to other parts of the world. The underdeveloped world will soon begin to feel the collapse of world trade that has been an effect of this crisis.

From Reuters, writer Lesley Wroughton and George Obulutsa detail Strauss-Kahn's comments on what lies ahead for Africa.

"The IMF expects global growth to slow below zero this year, the worst performance in most of our lifetimes," IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told African political and financial leaders in the Tanzanian capital.

"Continued deleveraging by world financial institutions, combined with a collapse in consumer and business confidence is depressing domestic demand across the globe, while world trade is falling at an alarming rate and commodity prices have tumbled," Strauss-Kahn added.

As advanced countries focus on problems in their own economies, Strauss-Kahn called on the international community not to forget Africa, where regional growth is expected to slow sharply to 3 percent this year, half the rate of the past five years.

That forecast may "even be too optimistic", he said.

"Even though the crisis has been slow in reaching Africa's shores, we all know it is coming and its impact will be severe," he said. "We must ensure that the voices of the poor are heard. We must ensure that Africa is not left out," he added.

The IMF chief warned that millions of people in Africa will be thrown back into poverty by the crisis, while fragile political systems will be tested.

"This is not only about protecting economic growth and household incomes - it is also about containing the threat of civil unrest, perhaps even war. It is about people and their futures," he added.

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World Vision statement on expulsions from Darfur

At least 10 aid organizations have been kicked out of Darfur by the government of Sudan. Which has created of vacuum of aid to the refuges of the area.

World Vision has issued a statement on the expulsions. While they themselves have yet to kicked out, they say the condition of people there remains critical.

Humanitarian agency World Vision is deeply worried that the forced departure of several large relief groups from Sudan will create gaps in critical humanitarian services to thousands of vulnerable children and adults, putting them at risk in the war-torn region of Darfur.

World Vision's license to operate in Sudan has not been affected at this point in time, and the agency plans to continue providing more than 500,000 people in South Darfur with life-saving food, water, sanitation, medical care and other humanitarian services.

World Vision will also continue running humanitarian, recovery and development programmes in Khartoum State, Blue Nile State and Southern Sudan.

World Vision currently provides monthly food rations to more than 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps for displaced people and conflict-affected areas of South Darfur.

World Vision also runs supplemental feeding centers, primary health clinics, clean water and improved sanitation programmes, temporary schools, Child-Friendly Spaces, and vocational training for women.

World Vision is deeply concerned about the prospect of fewer humanitarian resources at a time when needs remain critical in war-ravaged Darfur and encourages donors to continue supporting aid programmes for the region’s needy people.

Geldof urges governments to stay strong

Sir Bob Geldof gave a speech in London today where he urges world governments to stay the course on aid. He asks the governments to continue to give aid to the under developed world despite the world recession.

From Africasia, this AFP story made record of the speech.

"All that is required is that governments hold their nerve in the face of fear, intolerance, short-termism and stupidity while planning together a way out of this mess," Geldof said.

"We will get there. This moment will pass. There will be great pain and there will be great depravation before it all ends -- but end it will.

"And we hasten that end by removing one of the causes in this moment's conception -- the unheeding of the poor."

Geldof joked he had not worn sunglasses to hide his "swollen" left eye -- the result of an insect bite suffered on a recent visit to Africa -- "because you would've confused me with (U2 frontman) Bono, which is easy to do."

What in the world to do now? A preview to the G20 meeting

So if the poor nations don't have enough money to bail themselves out of the global recession...

and the World Bank and the IMF don't have enough money to bail the poor nations out...

and the rich nations don't have enough money to bail the poor nations out..

what do the leaders of the world do?

Do we think they will be able answer this question during the G-20 meeting coming up in London?

As a preview to the meeting and the problems that will be talked about, Reuters Alert-Net has an article interviewing think tanks that monitor the World Bank and the IMF. Writer Megan Rowling asks the tough questions.

"With likely declines in aid and the drying up of other sources of finance, poor countries are in a bind as to where they can get cheap finance," said Jesse Griffiths, coordinator of the London-based Bretton Woods Project, an advocacy organisation that monitors the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The World Bank says the global economic crisis is trapping up to 53 million more people in poverty in developing countries, threatening the achievement of internationally agreed targets to reduce poverty, with child mortality rates set to soar.

Almost 40 percent of 107 developing countries are highly exposed to the poverty effects of the crisis and the remainder are moderately exposed, with less than 10 percent facing little risk, according to the Bank. In response, governments need to finance job creation, essential services, infrastructure and safety net programmes for the vulnerable, it says.

Sam Worthington, president of InterAction, a coalition of 175 U.S.-based aid agencies, told AlertNet developing countries should not be left to cope on their own. "Any effort to jumpstart the global economy and reform global financial systems must take into account the severe impact of this economic recession on the world's poorest people ... We as the affluent part of the world bear a responsibility for these negative consequences."

Nick Highton, head of the Centre for Aid and Public Expenditure at the London-based Overseas Development Institute, urged donors to use existing aid mechanisms rather than inventing new initiatives to deal with the credit crunch, which would place an extra burden on recipient countries.

"I would argue it's...about getting quick injections of flexible money into government budgets so they can do their own fiscal stimulus package if they haven't got the resources already," he told AlertNet.

But will rich countries be prepared to offer this kind of support just as they're digging deep to bail out their own struggling economies and ailing banks?

"It's very hard to see how maintaining or increasing aid spending does - except by a rather long, tortuous route - generate a fiscal stimulus for the rich countries that are providing aid. So there's every reason to be not too optimistic about this," Highton said.

"And it's most unfortunate because...this an example of when you want aid to be exactly the reverse," he added.

Selling Bonds to provide vaccines

Investors in the UK can buy bonds that will help provide vaccines to the developing world. International Finance Facility for Immunization raises cash to give free vaccines to over 72 countries. The money raised goes to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.

IRIN gives us more details about the bond, and explores the new concerns that socially conscious investing has in this global recession. For more on the bonds, you can click to the GAVI website.

“Normally, when people see a brochure with a poverty-stricken baby on the front, they are being asked for charitable contributions,” said Alan Gillespie, IFFim’s chair, “But with these bonds, we are saying ‘Here are the needs, we are asking you to make an investment.’ Your capital will be paid back with interest from rich donor countries.”

Similar to bonds that governments issue to cover debt, the vaccine bonds raise cash to buy and distribute vaccines by promising a return on investment, said George Richardson, the head of capital markets at the World Bank, which manages the bonds. “We are not asking for handouts. These are investments that support a good cause and have fixed market returns,” he said.

But a good cause is not enough to convince UK secondary school teacher Rosanna Magdalen to make the minimum investment of US$1400, even when she is told that amount can immunise 130 children against five life-threatening diseases, or that her earnings will not be taxed.

“Great idea, the principle is fantastic. I would do it if I had the extra money, but I think anyone would be loath to take any risk in the current financial climate," said Magdalen. "I think HSBC [bank] will be hard pressed to find anyone who would invest. Banks are no longer seen as infallible.”

Risky unregulated lending has been blamed for the global recession, which has forced governments in the US and Europe to pledge some two trillion dollars to rescue their economies.

The World Bank’s Richardson said while he cannot change consumer distrust of banks, vaccine bonds give people a socially-responsible way to save. “Even in a recession, there are people who will diligently put away money,” said Richardson.
...

On 2 March HSBC started offering the IFFim vaccine bonds as a five-year tax-free savings account with a 16-percent return. The governments of the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway and South Africa have collectively pledged US$5.3 billion over the next 20 years to repay investors.

World Bank uses the word "recession"

Some very scary figures being cited by the World Bank today. The bank released a report ahead of a major summit of finance leaders to inform them of the depth of the world economic crisis.

The World Bank is warning that the economic needs to bail the world out of the recession could exceed the resources of the international banks. The bank calls on world leaders to contribute 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product to a "vulnerability fund" The fund would be set up for countries without the resources to bail themselves out.

From this Associated Press story that we found in Oregon's Mail Tribune writer Anthony Faiola explains what is in the World Bank report.

The report said that 94 out of 116 developing countries have been hit by economic slowdowns. Net private capital flows to emerging markets are plunging, set to fall to $165 billion this year — or 17 percent of their 2007 levels. Falling demand in the West is sparking the sharpest drop in world trade in 80 years, sending sales of the products and commodities of poorer nations spiraling down, the report said.

That decline is touching off a wave of job losses. Cambodia has lost 30,000 jobs in the garment industry. In India, more than half a million jobs vanished in the last three months of 2008, including cuts in the gems, jewelry, auto and textile industries, according to the World Bank.

As a result, the report estimates that at least 98 countries may have problems financing at least $268 billion in public and private debt this year. It noted a worsening in market conditions could raise that figure as high as $700 billion.

Additionally, only one quarter of vulnerable developing countries, the World Bank said, have the ability to launch their own stimulus programs or to independently finance measures such as job-creation or safety-net programs.

To help them, multilateral lenders will need to dig deep. The World Bank remains well financed and is positioned to almost triple spending to $35 billion this year. But it warned the scope of the need in the developing world will exceed the combined ability of major multilateral lenders, and it called on governments in major nations and the private sector to pitch in more.

For instance, its sister organization, the International Monetary Fund, recently received $100 billion more from Japan, but is still asking more affluent nations to come up with an additional $150 billion to replenish its rapidly diminishing funds. While the World Bank aims to reduce global poverty largely through long-term projects in the developing world, the IMF is charged with offering bigger, more immediate bailouts to countries on the verge of economic collapse. The list of countries fitting that description has soared in recent months.