The importance of gender mainstreaming and integration The disparities between men and women have resulted in women often bearing the burden of development needs, and as a result, gaining fewer benefits from development interventions. Yet, we know that improving access to health and education for girls will contribute to better child, maternal, and family health…
USAID’s Maximizing Agricultural Revenue and Key Enterprise in Targeted Sites (MARKETS II) project in Nigeria aims to improve the performance, income, nutrition, and food security of poor Nigerian rural farmers or smallholders in an environmentally friendly manner. Why is social inclusion important for the development of Nigeria? In Nigeria, 68 percent of the population lives…
The USAID Human Rights Activity (HRA) in Colombia supports the Colombian government and civil society to foster respect for human rights and protect vulnerable populations. The Colombian government is negotiating a peace accord with the FARC guerrilla group after 50 years of conflict. What are the biggest challenges that the demobilization of the FARC presents,…
It has become increasingly trendy in international development to look to Silicon Valley and the tech world’s start-up culture for inspiration in making our programs more “innovative.” Inspired by the pace at which the tech world can turn an idea into products and staples of everyday life, we aspiring innovators of international development look to…
The United States’ economic future is inextricably linked to Asia. A full quarter of the goods and services exported by the United States are bound for Asia, and about 30 percent of our imports come from the region. In addition, exports to Asia support more than a million American jobs. As such, the United States…
August 12 is International Youth Day, an exciting occasion meant for governments and intuitions to draw attention to youth issues worldwide. More than half the world’s population is now under the age of 30 years old, and it is critical to review successes in working with youth populations to empower young people as tomorrow’s leaders. Below…
Each biennial International AIDS Conference is eventually remembered for the broad themes coming out of a long, exciting, and energizing week of presentations, networking, and protests. A key theme of this year’s conference in Durban, South Africa, was patient empowerment. PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) was a rallying cry to help the most vulnerable populations such as…
The slender young woman was slumped on the metal chair, her malnourished baby in her arms. “I have no milk,” she said, pulling her breast out of her shirt. “I just give him water because it is so hot.” As a Peace Corps volunteer in those days, I struggled in my halting Hausa to explain…
With mobile phone penetration rates exceeding 80 percent in many developing countries, development organizations have a new and exciting way of communicating with and collecting information from beneficiaries and stakeholders. Paired with the growing emphasis on evidence-based decisions, collecting data through SMS surveys has generated a significant following and an array of tools for design and…
This post originally appeared on Devex People think and say all sorts of things that they would never actually do. One of the biggest challenges in countering violent extremism is not only figuring out which people hold radical views, but who is most likely to join and act on behalf of violent extremist organizations. Determining…
Late last year, I know many of you joined me in applauding as the United Nations formally adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, an unprecedented step that aligns development agencies and stakeholders worldwide around a single platform. The goals themselves are ambitious and sweeping — ending poverty and hunger, for instance, are goals we have been…
What would you like to see GHSC-PSM accomplish over the next five years? In other words, how do you define success for GHSC-PSM? On any project where health commodities are involved, the ultimate goal is to get high-quality commodities to those who need them, on time. That is the gold standard. For GHSC-PSM, though, we…