Where and how we do foreign aid
With a somewhat cynical and simplistic lead sentence that implies all of our foreign aid is aimed at coercing other nations to serve our interests, this article today in Huffington Post nevertheless...
View ArticleFeed the Future Survives for Another Day
Feed the Future is the Obama Administration’s answer to cyclical global hunger crises. Rather than provide food in response to droughts or work around governments, Feed the Future represent’s a...
View ArticleObama delivers on global promise to lesbian, gay, bi- and transgender community
The Obama administration made good on its 2011 memorandum to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights with the announcement of a four year LGBT Global Development Partnership. The...
View ArticleSupreme Court hears overseas aid anti-prostitution pledge case today
Free speech and public health advocates will see their causes converge today at the US Supreme Court. The case - Alliance for Open Society International vs. United States Agency for International...
View ArticleUSAID declares water is critical to global development
After fifty years in the game, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) unveiled its first ever water and development strategy. Some say it’s about time. “For many years in...
View ArticleBizarre Range of Aid Projects in Afghanistan
With millions to spend on aid projects on Afghanistan, the US has managed to provide funding for some rather strange projects. The New York Times reports on the range of grant recipients that have...
View ArticleFood Aid Fight: World Vision battles Oxfam within the Iron Triangle
Maybe you've heard of the nearly trillion-dollar U.S. Farm Bill. Continue reading →
View ArticleWhy isn’t the humanitarian community united on reforming food aid?
Tom Paulson reported this week on a disagreement between aid groups on the Obama administration’s proposed common-sense reforms to the country’s food aid. The US is the largest food aid supplier in the...
View ArticleGlobal leaders try to get serious about hunger
Young people participating at the BigIf rally in Hyde Park. As the leaders of the world’s economic powers gather to discuss the state of the global economy and find common ground on pressing...
View ArticleLast Ditch Effort for Food Aid Reform
What's at stake: Between 4 million and 10 million more hungry people overseas could be fed -- for the same amount of money -- if proposed changes are enacted, according to experts at a leading...
View ArticleThe man who’s suing the United Nations for bringing cholera to Haiti
Haiti is ground zero for the humanitarian aid system. An influx of international aid agencies dates back decades; today, there are more NGOs per capita in Haiti than in any other country, except...
View ArticleWhy did Seattle’s “Liberal Congressman for Life” vote against fixing food aid?
Many experts say that the current system of how the U.S. government does food aid is plenty corrupted - at least if you assume the goal is to feed the poor and hungry. The current system requires that...
View ArticleUSAID takes another forward step on budget transparency
Raj Shah United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Raj Shah announced that the US Foreign Assistance Dashboard was not only updated, but it included 53,000 financial...
View ArticleUSAID hosts innovation fair to avert maternal and child deaths
A mother plays with her young son in Mwea, Kenya. Gates Foundation Innovators gathered in Washington DC to show off their ideas and inventions that will help reduce child and maternal deaths. Saving...
View ArticleBen Affleck wants you to connect with Congolese organizations
Men collect water from Lake Kivu in Goma, DRC. Phil Moore/Al Jazeera Actor and activist Ben Affleck believes that community-based organizations are the best option for enabling lasting change in the...
View ArticleBringing better nutrition to Tanzania’s farmers
Six percent of children were characterized as wasted (critically below healthy weight for the appropriate age group) in September 2012. Last month, that number reached zero after a steady decline. More...
View ArticleNew global momentum for universal health coverage
The U.S. still remains a notable outlier among rich nations, spending the most on health (about $8500 per person, or 18 percent of GDP) yet failing to provide coverage for one of every six Americans....
View ArticleTyphoon Aftermath: How’s the Philippines recovery going?
Hello! It’s 2014 and the Humanosphere podcast is back. This week, Tom Paulson and I look back at the previous year: What global health stories were most popular? Which ones were neglected and less...
View ArticleWinning hearts and minds, one aid dollar at a time
PEPFAR branding appears on hospital in South Africa. USAID There is plenty of debate over whether aid can help countries grow economically, but there is new evidence showing that it affects public...
View ArticleCalls grow louder for urgent action to protect Syria’s children
The present situation for Syria’s children is bad. Three years have passed and a generation is caught in the middle. It’s not hyperbole when considering that there is no end in sight to the civil war....
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