Development and
Cooperation

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On this page you can find some articles recommended by the editorial board.

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Growth models

Why Africa needs a strong green growth

Africa’s development requires economic growth, but if it follows the western growth model, the ecological consequences will be disastrous. The concept of strong green growth strikes a balance between environmental sustainability and social justice, explains Ch...

Statements such as “The rapist is you” remind men of their responsibility for the injustice done to women worldwide.
Male allies

Why men must support feminist activism

Men have a responsibility to help overcome the disempowerment that stands in the way of gender equality. However, we need to understand what it means to be a male ally, why it is imperative that men support the feminist cause, and how they can best do so.

The palace of Khudayar Khan in Kokand, Uzbekistan.
Central Asia

Soviet-era borders cause trouble today

The people in the Ferghana Valley have complex, multi-layered identities that cannot be properly defined along ethno-linguistic lines. Polices that are based on this insight may well prove to be the key to lasting peace.

Flooded slum home in the Kolkata area.
Climate crisis

An Indian student expresses her concern about global heating

The impacts of the climate crisis on the South Asian subcontinent are already quite bad.

Demonstration against racism in São Paulo in November 2023.
Brazil

Brazil’s colonial legacies and current challenges

The lasting influence of Portuguese colonialism continues to hinder efforts to improve public welfare, address structural racism and protect the country’s rich ecosystems.

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Traumatising loss of loved ones, livelihoods and homes.
Extreme weather

Lessons to be learnt from Nepal’s recent excessive rains

While extreme weather is increasingly considered normal, Nepal still cannot protect its people properly.

Presidents Xi Jinping and Hakainde Hichilema in Beijing in September 2023.
Sovereign debt

Zambia’s difficult quest for debt restructuring

Hichilema government achieves slow, but steady progress towards making burden of sovereign debt bearable.

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Overcrowded Mumbai slum: health workers screening for TB during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tuberculosis

In India, eradicating TB is a multi-dimensional challenge

Poverty has an impact on the prevalence of TB and has even contributed to the evolution of drug-resistant strains

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A street vendor sells fried snacks and soft drinks in Mexico City.
Malnutrition

Mexico is facing an epidemic of obesity and overweight

Across the country, seven out of ten adults, two out of five of adolescents, and about 37 % of school-age children are obese or overweight. The extent of the problem is due to several factors -– not least low incomes.

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Female workers harvesting cocoa on a plantation in Côte d’Ivoire.
Creating value

Women, climate and chocolate

To eradicate hunger globally, more value must be created locally.

Chinese research ship arriving at Hambantota Port in 2022.
Sovereign debt

Sri Lanka has made important steps towards debt restructuring

Multiple negotiations with different sets of creditors are too cumbersome to help an ailing economy fast and decisively.

A local vendor on the beach of Isla Mujeres.
Respectful tourism

Mexico must include its indigenous population in the tourism sector

Mexico owes many of its tourist attractions to its wealth of indigenous communities. It is important that they are included in the country’s tourism industry in a sustainable, respectful and empowering way.

Shakira Wafula’s courageous stand during the protests has since earned her many media appearances – and a mural of herself. This is a screenshot from one of her most recent interviews.
Youth movements

“I am angry because Kenya is not working for many of its citizens”

Kenya’s youth have been taking to the streets against the government for weeks. Sports student Shakira Wafula almost involuntarily became a face of the movement. In this interview, she talks about what is driving young Kenyans.

Former Boko Haram child soldiers taking part in an EU-funded reintegration programme in 2020.
Islamism

Preventing Boko Haram from recruiting young people

Uneducated youngsters who lack prospects fall victim to terror group’s propaganda easily.

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Competent information on sex education matters.
Teenagers

Don’t leave sex education to internet pornography

That masses of young people around the world only get information about sexuality online is dangerous.

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Education requires funding: school children in Accra, Ghana.
Taxation

Prudent taxation requires national action plus global cooperation

Without adequate financial resources, no government can properly promote sustainable development.

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Artists from Uganda perform at a crafts fair in Faridabad, India.
Cultural industries

Investing in Uganda’s culture

The country’s lively arts scene lacks funding and institutional structures. Young talent is often self-taught.

Demonstration in Rome in favour of a free Ambazonia.
Language politics in Cameroon

From colonial division to bloody conflict

Up to now, life in Cameroon is determined by whether one is Francophone or Anglophone. The so-called “Anglophone crisis” surrounding the independence aspirations of the part of the country that was once a British colony is claiming more and more victims.

Biafrans take part in Catalonia’s national day in Barcelona and support those in favour of Catalonia’s independence as they demand the same for their own region.
Separatism

The Biafra legacy

Nigeria’s ethnic diversity has often been a bane rather than an opportunity to promote plural strength and development for the country. This was never more evident than during the devastating Biafra war.

Political activism matters: trade-union protest in Seoul in 2023.
Post-colonial misery

Whose development?

In the eighth decade of international aid efforts, former colonial powers are still privileged

The South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit, a Dinka, relies on Christian faith as an identity marker to unite his country.
Nation building

A challenge for a young country

Thirteen years after gaining independence, South Sudan is still struggling with the inclusion of its various ethnic communities. Tribalism remains a challenge that undermines a functioning nation state.

Sudanese refugees in Chad’s desert.
Humanitarian emergencies

The forgotten war

Sudan faces one of the world’s most devastating conflicts. However, it is being utterly neglected in the crisis-ridden global political situation.

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Dravidian languages are not related to Hindi and have totally different scripts: Malayalam, Hindi and English on a no smoking sign in a railway station.
Hindu-supremacism

Why South India snubs Modi

In the current election campaign India’s prime minister is emphasising identity politics that so far have not resonated much in regions with Dravidian languages.

Six young claimants pose outside the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg where they challenge the climate inaction of various European countries.
Climate lawsuits

Legal battles for climate justice

Litigation is gaining importance as a tool for climate action. Activists and communities around the world have successfully sued states on environmental issues.

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Zimbabweans wait to cross into South Africa on the dry bed of the Limpopo River.
Intra-African migration

Unwelcome neighbours

South Africa has seen several waves of migration from Zimbabwe. After apartheid, Zimbabweans were welcome. But with South Africa’s own economic problems, they have been met with growing hostility over the past years.

A Nigerian artist creates hyper-realistic pictures using artificial intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence

Handling AI, but with care

AI holds the potential to act as a facilitator in achieving the SDGs in Africa. At the same time, there is a risk that it will exacerbate inequalities and tensions, not least through data exploitation

Children study in front of a classroom at Al Nuur Primary School in Kakuma.
Refugee-camp life

Refugee girls need school opportunities

In Kakuma, Kenya, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is promoting education for South-Sudanese girls, breaking traditional barriers. Efforts have increased school attendance.

Rally in Algiers in 2020 to denounce the brutal killing of 19-year-old Chaïma and other women.
Women’s rights in Algeria

Women stand up against femicide

After several brutal cases of femicide, many women in Algeria no longer want to put up with discrimination and violence

Woman who fled the Congo in Pretoria, South Africa.
Women’s migration

Better jobs for migrant women

Migrating can be an empowering experience for women but also involves considerable hardship. Policy action is needed to improve their opportunities

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Supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan during a rally in May 2023.
Elections

Elections in Pakistan at a crucial moment

The national elections in Pakistan, previously postponed multiple times, are now scheduled for February 2024. The prolonged delays have heightened political tensions in a country already grappling with uncertainty