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Photo: In Argentina, UNDP has developed a social media campaign promoting inclusive finance. #PlataSinBanco ("money without bank") explains current alternatives to withdraw money from a local ATM, even without a debit card or bank account. Credit: UNDP Argentina

Poverty and Inequality Get Worse in Latin America as COVID-19 Infections Surge

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) —Latin America is scrambling to contain surging COVID-19 infections while confronting near-certain recession and related impacts. But polices that prioritize poor and vulnerable people can help mitigate the region’s already extreme poverty and inequality, says a new study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Before the pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected only 1.6 percent economic growth for the region in 2020, with recessions in several countries. In April, it projected a contraction of 5.2 percent, with almost every country in recession. However, tourism-dependent Caribbean nations could see GDP plunge between 5 and 10 percent—worsening the region's chronic poverty, inequality, and insecurity.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 1; 16 July 2020

Photo (top): Pastoralist with herd, Horn of Africa. Credit: Katherine Bundra Roux, IFRC

Africa’s Livestock Sector is Key to its Covid-19 Response & Recovery

Viewpoint by Rhoda Peace Tumusiime

The writer is a member of the Malabo Montpellier Panel and former AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union Commission (AUC).

ENTEBBE, Uganda (IDN) – Livestock have long been the insurance policy of Africa’s poorest, with even a single goat or a chicken providing a buffer against economic hardship and hunger.

But as Covid-19 forces many to fall back on these safety nets, the need for more long-term support of the continent’s livestock sector is laid bare.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 15 July 2020

The Path Forward for Higher Education After COVID-19

UN Academic Impact Talks to Students from Several Countries

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – COVID-19 pandemic has forced more than 1.5 billion students in 165 countries out of school, enforcing the global academic community to explore new ways of teaching and learning, including distance and online education, according to UNESCO estimates.

This has proven challenging for both students and educators, who have to deal with the emotional, physical and economic difficulties posed by the illness while doing their part to help curb the spread of the virus, notes United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI). (P11) CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE

: Ramesh Jaura; Project Articles; 10 July 2020

Photo: Cape Coast Castle's 'Door of No Return' that slaves would pass through right before they were put on ships to the Americas and elsewhere. Source, Wikimedia Commons.

Black Lives Matter' Continues to Spur Changes in Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – As Americans explore the renaming of army bases, statues, streets, and schools that honour racist slave-holders or portray demeaning relationships between whites and Black, Brown and Latinx citizens, similar efforts are underway in Senegal and Liberia most recently.

Goree, an island in Senegal linked closely with slave trade, has decided to rename one of its main squares in response to the anti-racist movements around the world.

The island’s municipal council unanimously agreed to rename Europe Square as “Liberty and Human Dignity Square.”

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 10; 07 July 2020

Photo: Women tend a community nursery created as part of a completed ITTO project to assist forest landscape restoration in Togo. Credit: ODEF

A Landmark Project Aims at Reforestation in Togo - Income Opportunities for Women

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – Togo in West Africa is the venue of a milestone project between Soka Gakkai, a global community-based Buddhist organization and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). The two have signed a memorandum to launch a reforestation project offering income opportunities for women's groups in two rural areas of Togo.

The memorandum involving a donation of 10 million yen (US$93,300) for the initial one-year phase of the project was signed on July 1 at the Soka Gakkai (SG) headquarters in Tokyo. The project will kick off on September 1. (P10) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI

: Ramesh Jaura; Project Articles; 05 July 2020

Photo: The Porcupine caribou herd in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Credit: Peter Mather/petermather.com

ARCTIC: Protecting the Sacred Place Where Life Begins

Viewpoint by Nick Engelfried*

BELLINGHAM, Washington (IDN) – As the Trump administration neared the end of its first year in office in 2017, it seemed environmental activists had lost one of the most hard-fought battles in the movement's history. Thanks to a last-minute manoeuvre by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Congressional Republicans succeeded in passing legislation allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Some of the worst fears of environmental and Indigenous rights groups for what might happen under the administration appeared to be coming true.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 13+14+15; 03 July 2020

Photo: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Source: EU

What the EU's Corona Fundraising Tells us about Global Solidarity

Viewpoint by Inge Kaul

The writer, Dr Inge Kaul, is Senior Fellow, Hertie School, Berlin and Non-resident Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC.

BERLIN (IDN) – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen organized two spectacular fund-raising events, one on May 4 and the other on June 27, 2020. The first drive collected €9.8 billion and the second €6.15 billion, including €4.9 billion announced together by the EU and the European Investment Bank.

According to official pronouncements, the funds will be used to make coronavirus vaccines, testing and treatments available worldwide, notably in low and middle-income countries.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 02 July 2020

Photo: Mass graves – such as these in northern Rio de Janeiro – have been needed to bury the dead during the pandemic. Credit: EPA-EFE

COVID-19: How Brazil Became the World's 2nd Worst Hit Country

Viewpoint by Alfredo Saad Filho*

LONDON (IDN) – The COVID-19 pandemic has stress-tested countries, economies and political systems like never before. Nowhere has the outcome been more devastating than in Brazil, arguably the country with the worst pandemic response in the world.

Brazil’s vulnerabilities are visible in the mass graves in São Paulo and Manaus. The country is competing with the USA for the largest number of diagnosed COVID-19 cases (more than one million) and the highest number of fatalities (above 50,000 – but likely to be a vast undercount). Disturbingly, there is no sign that Brazil’s cases or deaths have peaked yet.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 01 July 2020

Image: Small Island States at the forefront. Credit: Simon Sees at Flickr.

Sustainable Tourism and Fisheries Key to Growth in Post-COVID Pacific

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Developing countries of Asia and the Pacific are experiencing unbalanced tolls of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grim milestones in infections and deaths have left countlessly devastated. Yet, we must look at the economic and social impacts in small island developing States (SIDS), where setbacks are likely to undo years of development gains and push many people back into poverty.

: IDN-INPS Editor; Goal 3; 30 June 2020

The Middle East Reeling Under COVID-19 Impact on Livelihoods and Food Security

By Bernhard Schell

AMMAN (IDN) – Highlighting the increasingly dire situation in countries across the Middle East, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that "deep humanitarian needs will worsen and new ones will emerge if the international community doesn't factor socio-economic aftershocks into our response and protect livelihoods and food security".

The ICRC is, therefore, calling for social protection programs to be maintained or increased, including the most vulnerable, such as low-income workers, households headed by women, farmers and people with disabilities. Existing humanitarian activities focused on food security and nutrition must also be reinforced.