39 posts categorized "Millennium Development Goals"

Domestic

Senate Cutting Food Stamps to Pay for Medicaid and Teacher Funding. It's the Sophie's choice of budget decisions: Should we cut Medicaid? Fire teachers? Or slash food stamps? [The Washington Post]

Help End Child Hunger in U.S. School food systems are one of the few ways we have to provide good nutrition to all of our kids. [TimesUnion.com]

More Health Woes for Hungry Kids. Children and youth who experience hunger appear more likely to have health problems, and repeated episodes of hunger may be particularly toxic, according to a report in Archives of Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. [Health24.com]

Fuel To Fight World Hunger. Researchers are joining the fight against world hunger by tapping into a local renewable resource. [Keloland.com]

International

The Price of Bread Could Rocket. Wheat prices have doubled in the last two months, notching up the fastest food price rise an economist said he said seen in the last 20 years. [IRIN]

U.S. Government Pledges $95M to Fight Hunger. Two U.S.-funded programs signed agreements with the Government of Bangladesh on August 3 as part of a newly expanded effort to reduce hunger and improve nutrition in Bangladesh. [The Weekly Blitz]

Poverty is About More Than Money. The new Multidimensional Poverty Index is an important tool for understanding the many savage ways of the beast [The Guardian]

Asian Ministers Fret Over Millennium Goals. Ministers from Asian countries expressed "grave concern" Wednesday about persistent high levels of infant and maternal mortality and pledged to reinvigorate efforts to achieve UN development goals. [Mysinchew.com]

Domestic

Clock Ticking on School Lunch Legislation. As the clock ticks down on the 111th Congress, child and health advocacy groups are lobbying furiously for lawmakers to reauthorize the nation’s school lunch program with an expansion that would provide free, healthy meals to tens of thousands of additional children and tackle the problem of childhood obesity. [Education Week]

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Education is the Key Missing Link. While the Administration’s outline includes useful ideas on tracking development outcomes and increasing transparency and accountability, it also represents a missed opportunity to deliver on Obama’s commitment to invest $2 billion in a Global Fund for Education to achieve universal primary education. [The Brookings Institution]

[Blog] A Many Headed Beast. This week, we carried a piece about a new cross-country poverty index devised by a group of researchers at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, which is designed to capture several dimensions of poverty at once. [The Economist]

Technology Still a Barrier for Food Stamp Clients Hoping to Shop at Farmer's Markets. Progress has been slow in New Hampshire and Maine. [Fosters.com]

International

Fighting Poverty and Enhancing Rural Development: The Contribution of CBRDP. Ghana’s fight against poverty to make progress towards the Millennium Development Goals has seen various successive policies introduced to accelerate national development, with a special focus on rural development. [The Ghanaian Chronicle]

Maize Project ‘Breaks the Barriers’ of Rural Poverty. More than 200 residents of Saphukanduku Village in Transkei have broken the barriers of poverty with help from a R1.6million investment by the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA). [Daily Dispatch Online]

1.3 Million Villagers Face Hunger. More than 1.3 million people in Zimbabwe’s rural areas will require food assistance during the peak hunger season in early 2011, according to the latest UN estimates shown to ZimOnline at the weekend. [The Zimbabwean]

Climate Change/Environment

Food Production Must Double. With the global population expected to top 9.2 billion by 2050, experts say the world will need to repeat the Green Revolution that saw food production double between 1960 and 1985. [The Sydney Morning Herald]

International

AFRICA: Bullish About the Agricultural Future. Suddenly, after 20 years of relative neglect, African agriculture is a hot topic, with a substantial growth in production and a new interest among major donors in funding the sector. [IRIN]

BANGLADESH: Unemployment, Food Prices Spur Growing Hunger. Rising unemployment and food prices and a sluggish economy are taking their toll on Bangladesh, where a growing number of people are struggling to survive. [IRIN]

Summit Must Focus On All Eight MDGs.The 15th Ordinary African Union summit is on in Kampala with a timely theme, “Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa.” … To spur consistent development, African leaders must focus on all the eight MDGs with a close linkage to women and children. [Daily Monitor]

Domestic

Community Organizations Receive $500000 from ConAgra Foods Foundation to Fight Child Hunger. Eleven local organizations in 10 different states have been selected to receive a total of more than $500,000 as part of the inaugural ConAgra Foods Foundation Community Impact Grants program. [...] The new program will identify, invest in and support non-profit organizations that are finding innovative ways to combat child hunger and enhance nutrition education among at-risk populations. [PR Newswire]

Five Myths About Unemployment‎. [The Washington Post]

International

Ethiopia on Track to Halve the Poverty Rate by 2015, UN Says. The government has “made an enormous progress in the provision of social services such as education, health, and infrastructure by spending a large share of its budget in the pro-poor sector,” the report said. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

'More Poor' in India than Africa. Eight Indian states account for more poor people than in the 26 poorest African countries combined, a new measure of global poverty has found. [BBC]

FAO Opens Access to Food, Hunger and Ag Database. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization is granting free and open access to its central data repository, FAOSTAT, the world's largest and most comprehensive statistical database on food, agriculture and hunger. [Porkmag.com]

G8 Hunger Aid Insufficient, Report Warns. The package of aid interventions that the world's eight wealthiest nations put in place last year to respond to the food-price crisis of 2007-08 was insufficient, according to a new report  from the U.K. Hunger Alliance and the Oakland Institute. Instead, governments should be investing in sustainable agriculture in the fight against global hunger, the report concludes. [EnvironmentalExpert.com]

Domestic

Idaho Food Stamp Use Doubles National Increase. Percentage wise, Idaho's increase was 42 percent, versus the national average around 21 percent. It's been steadily getting worse in the last couple of years, at the same rate as the decline in the economy and increased unemployment. [Fox News]

Survey Finds Retail Food Prices Edge Higher in Second Quarter. The informal survey shows the total cost of 16 food items that can be used to prepare one or more meals was $47.20, up $1.66 or 4% compared to the first quarter of 2010. The total average price for the 16 items increased about 2% compared to one year ago. [Michigan Farmer]

USDA Cuts Cattle, Hog Price Forecasts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its cattle and hog price forecasts for the second consecutive month amid rising production and slower demand. [Drovers.com]

Climate Change/Environment

How Much Damage Has the BP Oil Spill Done? In the months since the start of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico there have been harrowing images of birds coated in oil and dead dolphins, but just what do we know about the scale of the environmental damage done? [BBC]

In Pictures: Eco-Friendly Water Solutions for Indian Farmers. With 98 million subsistence farmers relying on rain water to grow one crop a year, India has a huge need for small-scale irrigation. International Development Enterprises India (IDEI) believes it has found a solution. [BBC]

International

After 65 Years, a U.N. Agency for Women. ...The General Assembly on July 2 created a new agency dedicated to promoting women's rights and involvement in development, peacemaking, politics and economic activity. [The Nation]

Prevent the Sahel's Next Food Crisis. Another food crisis is unfolding in West Africa's arid Sahel region, putting 10 million people at risk of hunger. Preventing such a scenario, or even better, avoiding it altogether, would be a noteworthy goal. [IRIN]

Asia Needs More Farm Investments to Feed Hungry. Asia and the Pacific, home to two-thirds of the world's 1 billion hungry people, need increased investment in agriculture of $120 billion a year for the next 40 years to contain hunger and future spikes in food prices, United Nations and Asian Development Bank officials said Wednesday. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

Domestic

Special Savings Accounts Can Help Break Cycle of Poverty. Programs provide matching funds for the poor who put money away for expenses such as education, a home purchase, or starting a business. [The Baltimore Sun]

Poverty, Dropout Rates Bode Grim Future for State. Forecast shows Texas incomes plunging if nothing is done. [The Houston Chronicle]

Marriage Loses Ground as Anti-Poverty Panacea.The Bush administration pushed marriage as a panacea for fighting poverty but a recent government study confirms the view of skeptics who say money problems must be solved first, since they destroy and destabilize relationships. [Women's eNews Inc.]

Climate Change/Environment

Rice and Climate Change. Rice plays a central role in feeding more than 3 billion people, including most of the world’s 1 billion poor, and any significant negative effect on rice production caused by climate change would be devastating for efforts to achieve global food security and address poverty. [IRRI]

International

Highly Nutritious Green Cakes Could Save Lives. Donors hope spirulina, a blue-green, protein-packed algae labeled a "wonderful future food source" 45 years ago by the International Association of Microbiology, will deliver on its promise by the time a US $1.7 million cultivation project in Chad, funded by the European Union (EU), ends in December 2010. [IRIN]

[Video] Haiti: The Aid Dilemma. In the aftermath of January's devastating earthquake in Haiti, post-disaster relief is creating a new kind of problem for businesses there. The massive influx of food aid has altered the price of rice, throwing the delicate balance in Haiti's food supply chain out of whack and threatening to collapse the country's rice market. [Frontline]

West Bank Poverty ‘Worse than Gaza.’ Children living in the poorest parts of the West Bank face significantly worse conditions than their counterparts in Gaza, a study conducted by an international youth charity has found. [Aljazeera.net]

Chad: Hungry Season Sets in Early. The poorest households in Chad will find themselves with no food reserves in the coming weeks, according to the U.S. Famine Early Warning System network, FEWSNET. [IRIN].

Domestic

FBN Shopping Cart Prices Take Biggest Jump in 21 Months. Led again by increases in prices for meat and dairy products, the overall cost of items in the FOX Business shopping cart rose sharply in May -- the seventh time the food basket prices have increased in the last eight months. [FOX Business]

Photo Exhibit Shows Face, Airs Stories of Hunger. A North Texas Food Bank photo exhibit puts a face on a widespread problem that often goes unseen. [The Dallas Morning News]

With Federal Stimulus Funds Running Out, Economic Worries Grow. Much of the $787 billion stimulus has been spent, creating jobs and extending jobless benefits. But with lawmakers reluctant to approve more funding, concerns are rising about staving off another recession. [Los Angeles Times]

Climate Change/Environment

G-20 Backs Funding for Climate, Food as Protesters Rage Outside. More funding to address climate change and food security will be available through the Multilateral Development Banks, said the G-20 group of the world's largest economies in a declaration at the conclusion of its annual meeting here Sunday. [Environment News Service]

This article from the Christian Science Monitor shares some good news on U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 – to reduce mortality among children younger than 5 by two-thirds by 2015.

At this point, 31 developing countries are on track to achieve MDG 4.

According to UNICEF, reaching the goal means that deaths in early childhood will drop from 93 of every 1,000 in 1990 to 31.

Among the “top 10 most improved”: Vietnam, where the child mortality rate has dropped from about 46 deaths per 1,000 to about 13.

Some of the countries with the farthest to go have made significant progress. In 1990, 12 countries had more than 200 deaths per 1,000 young children. Now, no country loses that many children.

International
Meeting Millennium Development Goals. As part of a series assessing whether Bangladesh is on track to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, the BBC visits a safety pin factory in the capital, Dhaka, which employs children. [BBC]

Afghanistan Shuts 172 Aid Organizations. Afghanistan has shut down over 10 percent of aid organizations in an effort to create a better accountability of the billions of dollars of aid pouring into the country. [The Media Line]

Markets Can't Self-Regulate; State Should Step In. The Washington Consensus is dead and the state must play a new role in development. [Inter Press Service]

Domestic
Promises, Promises: Rich Farmers Get Most Cash. Lawmakers crafting a sweeping farm bill in 2008 promised it would cut government payments to wealthy farmers. Two years later, little appears to have changed. [AP]

Real Misery Index Hits All-Time High as America's Economic Divide Widens. The unemployment crisis continues to stymie a full economic recovery… [Huffington Post]

Recommendations from White House Task Force to Combat Childhood Obesity. The task force calls for the following recommendations… [The Washington Post]

Climate Change/Environment
Steep Rise in India’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions. India's annual greenhouse gas emissions increased by nearly 60% between 1994 and 2007, a government study says. [BBC]

John Kerry, Joe Lieberman to Introduce Climate Change Bill. A short summary of what to expect from the highly anticipated Kerry-Lieberman energy bill... [Huffington Post]

Report: Climate Change Could Render Much of World Uninhabitable‎. A worst-case scenario of global warming, in which temperatures would soar some 21 degrees, is that much of the world may simply become too hot for humans to live in… [USA Today]

Melinda Gates, co-chair and trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Melanne Verveer, the first U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, will speak today in a conference call about women and global poverty – and you can dial in.

Organized by the ONE campaign, one of Bread’s partners, the call is part of ONE’s new initiative -- Women ONE2ONE -- which helps empower women to end poverty and disease. RSVP with your telephone number and ONE will call you at 7:30 PM (EST) today, March 29.

Gates will share success stories from the Living Proof Project -- a Gates Foundation program that highlights U.S.-funded global health initiatives -- and what we can do to help empower women globally. Ambassador Verveer will talk about her work with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the State Department’s efforts to focus on women and girls.

Women are key to eliminating hunger and poverty. Their pivotal roles as farmers, mothers, and caregivers have immense implications for improving livelihoods, food security, and the health and nutrition of their families. But inequalities in education, economic empowerment, political participation, and access to basic health services have a strong impact on hunger and malnutrition.

See "Gender, Nutrition, and Agriculture," Bread’s new fact sheet on the critical role of women in fighting poverty.

The contributions women make to agriculture and development are significant, though they often go unnoticed. Today, International Women's Day, is a chance to acknowledge the pivotal role of women as mothers, caregivers, farmers, and entrepreneurs. In collaboration with The Hunger Project, we've put together a fact sheet that details the critical ways women improve livelihoods, food security, and the nutrition of their families.

International Women's Day also provides an opportunity to highlight the barriers and discrimination women still face around the world. Many of the most pressing development challenges -- from improving health and nutrition to spurring economic growth and reducing conflict and violence -- can’t be solved without empowering women. Yet, too few resources and too little attention are paid to women’s needs and to the role they play in addressing these challenges.

For example, women are responsible for between 60 and 80 percent of staple grain production around the world, yet they receive only a tiny portion of development assistance designed to improve agricultural productivity. And though women are often responsible for keeping family members, including young children, well-nourished, the lack of resources and education for women means far too many children go hungry, as our interactive map shows. Solving the problem of persistent food insecurity and undernutrition in many countries is not possible without sustained attention to the needs of women.

As the world struggles to address the surge in rising hunger that occurred in 2008 and the looming development challenges presented by the global economic downturn, we should all remember the critical role women play in economic and human development -- and the unique challenges they face. Today’s recognition of International Women’s Day should be the start of lasting empowerment of women.