This is the first of two rapid assessment reports focusing on severely affected crisis contexts in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides a rapid assessment of crisis-affected populations in Somalia, South Sudan and Mali, to inform and bolster Action Against Hunger's humanitarian programming and interventions. This report covers the findings of interviews …
A panel charged with reviewing financial systems at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria recommended a substantial overhaul Monday in the grant organization's practices. The seven-member independent panel, led by a former senior U.S. government official and Botswana's former president, said in a report the fund must …
To maximize the potential of agricultural scale up, NGOs need to act as facilitators of multi-stakeholder processes that establish new types of farmer organizations, alliances to influence policy and investment, new business models, and innovative ways of delivery market services. Small Farmers, Big Change will help NGOs to build their …
Biofuels could help poor nations modernize, but scaling up aid supported projects to commercial operations is far from easy. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v474/n7352_supp/full/474S018a.html
This paper draws on case studies in Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania and Vietnam to explore the different ways in which migration intersects with the changing relations between rural and urban areas and activities, and in the process transforms livelihoods and the relations between young and older men and women. Livelihood strategies …
Mass planting of jatropha as a biofuel crop could benefit poor areas as well as combating global warming, but only if a number of scientific and production issues are properly addressed, a review has warned.
This new report highlights the potential benefits of adopting System of Rice Intensification (SRI) type practices in countries including India. Says that significance of SRI lies not only in enabling increased yields with less water, but in the basket of associated social and environmental benefits. It is based on the …
Pastoralism provides a living for between 100 and 200 million households, from the Asian steppes to the Andes. But misguided policies are undermining its sustainability. Farming Matters looked at how governments can best strengthen the governance of pastoral systems and find more equitable ways to include pastoralists in policy making. …
International investors have recently shown a fast-growing interest in land in developing countries. The IIED, the FAO and IFAD drew attention to the phenomenon of large-scale real estate purchases. In this article, two of the study's authors bemoan that international media coverage has since emphasised the risks involved-without much regard …
Research from a savannah area in Mali shows that satellites can reveal the environmental factors that trigger the biological cycles of both the Plasmodium falciparum parasite and its host the Anopheles mosquito. Remote sensing data of vegetation accurately predicted climate trends affecting both the parasite and the mosquito and could …
The risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection is variable over space and time and this variability is related to environmental variability. Environmental factors affect the biological cycle of both vector and parasite. Despite this strong relationship, environmental effects have rarely been included in malaria transmission models. Remote sensing data on environment …
This publication by the Programme for the Promotion of Household and Alternative Energy sources in the Sahel (PREDAS) is a summary of a series of surveys and analyses conducted in the Sahelian countries of Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Chad.
In 2002 CREPA initiated a regional research and demonstration programme on ecological sanitation in seven West African countries. ECOSAN is focused on simultaneously improving sanitation and food production. This is done by making urine and faeces more hygienic and then using them as safe fertilisers. Demonstrations showed that crops fertilised …
>> Mali's government has ordered the closure of 104 refined cooking oil factories across the country after an investigation revealed most of them don't have necessary equipment to produce safely-refined cooking oil. Most of the cooking oil contain gossypol, a toxic substance naturally produced by cotton plants, which causes sterility, …
Propelled by a unique biodiesel produced from leftover chocolates, this vehicle arrived in Mali's central city Timbuktu on December 22. Nicknamed BioTruck, the vehicle started its journey from the UK on November 26. The BioTruck team claims this is the world's first carbon-negative driving expedition across the Sahara desert. The …
