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“Childhood Must Never Be Derailed by Motherhood”: Dianne Stewart on UNFPA’s ‘State of the World Population 2013’
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Twenty thousand girls under the age of 18 give birth each day, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Two million girls age 14 or younger give birth each year. Societal norms often frame adolescent pregnancy as the result of promiscuous behavior, but this year’s State of the World Population Report encourages “a shift away from interventions targeted at the girl toward broad-based approaches that build girls’ human capital, protect girls’ rights, and empower them to make decisions,” says Dianne Stewart, director of the information and external relations division of UNFPA, in this week’s podcast.
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Challenging Patriarchy: The Changing Definition of Women’s Empowerment
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As more organizations in the international development community commit themselves to supporting women’s empowerment, it has grown increasingly difficult to evaluate what that really entails. [Video Below]
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Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability (Book Launch)
›Following a surge in global food prices in 2008 and again in 2011, policymakers and scholars have paid increased attention to the intersection of food security and political volatility. [Video Below]
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Beyond the Horizon: Understanding the Future for Better Development Today
›December 16, 2013 // By Kathleen MogelgaardWhen Super Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the Philippines last month, the incredible damage visited on the people, infrastructure, and land was shaped by trends that have been in motion for decades. The country’s population has been growing rapidly, with high concentrations of people living in cities and along the coast; economic growth had been steady, but weak governance and corruption may have exacerbated vulnerability; and the gradual loss of coastal forests and mangroves left many communities exposed to the full brunt of the typhoon’s storm surge. On a positive note, wireless technology and crowd-sourced data helped in disaster response.
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David Canning: Africa’s High Fertility Can Change Quickly, Help Harness the Demographic Dividend
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Compared to East Asia and Latin America, the “demographic transition” in Africa has been slower to date, prolonging periods of rapid growth and creating very youthful populations. But, explains David Canning in this week’s podcast, “the high level of fertility in Africa doesn’t seem to be something that is set in stone.”
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Torrent of Water and Questions Pour From India’s Himalayas
›We made the crossing at night from Chamoli, reaching Okund, a Himalayan foothill town after dark. The innkeeper, anxious for guests in a travel economy that came to a standstill in mid-June, cooked dal and nan bread for dinner and then showed us to a room that was unlit and unheated.
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Critical Mass? How the Mobile Revolution Could Help End Gender-Based Violence
›The past three years – and more pointedly the past 12 months – have laid witness to monumental, if not heartbreaking, incidents of gender-based violence. The gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi last December; the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl left for dead in a pit latrine in Western Kenya last June; the mass sexual assault of women in Tahrir Square during the 2011 revolution in Egypt and since; all were high profile atrocities that ignited outrage around the world.
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Vik Mohan: Madagascar’s Cyclone Haruna Showed Benefits of Integrated Development
›December 10, 2013 // By Jacob GlassWhen Cyclone Haruna swept across Madagascar last February, Blue Ventures, a marine conservation and community health organization, found themselves in a surprising new role. “We went from development, to aid, and back to development, in an integrated way we never expected,” said Medical Director Vik Mohan in an interview at the Wilson Center.
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