News items are selected to provide articles and ideas of varying points of view, and are intended to inform and stimulate discussion. Content does not necessarily reflect the views of Transform International, its Board, staff, or member centres.
The Importance of Agriculture in Africa – for the World
"n the case of Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, Dangote stated “we should pray that oil prices remain low. This helps wean us off the dependency on revenues from petroleum. We must take oil to be the icing on the cake. We already have the cake." ... "Dangote noted...
Phones and Agriculture – the way of the future?
"The U.S. Agency for International Development, through the U.S. Global Development Lab and the Bureau for Food Security, is working to demonstrate that digital tools and approaches can improve cost-effectiveness and better development outcomes in food security and...
Re-thinking the Flush Toilet
"It’s time for humanity to rethink the traditional water-flush toilet. This is fairly obvious to anyone who has worked in the development sector and it’s becoming painfully obvious in places that have spent decades taking the flush toilet for granted. In 2017, the UN...
WASH and Gender
A new report from the World Bank, The Rising Tide: A New Look at Water and Gender "reviews a vast body of literature and offers a framework for visualizing water as an asset, a service, and a space. It shows how water is an arena where gender relations play out in...
Evaluating Global Monitoring Data
Global Water Challenge teamed up with an analytics software company to analyze the largest existing data set on water points. Useful insights resulted that can predict the most impactful places to invest in water services. Read More...
Insights into Open Defecation in India
Recent research offers insights into the impact of caste on open defecation, stunting, and high infant mortality rates in India. Concerns about pit emptying seem to be a the route of resistance to toilets - who will do the emptying? Traditionally a job of the Dalit...
Community Water Management
Clarissa Brocklehurst recently posted on the RWSN network the following: At the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina, we decided to make community management the focus of our most recent WASH Policy Research Digest. We've included in this issue a...
Consider shared latrines…
"Funding for safe, shared toilets in fast-growing developing-world cities is at risk of neglect from donors, policymakers and planners, a new journal articleauthored by sanitation specialists, senior economists and leading academics has warned." More...
Peace and Conflict Resolution skills
There is no question that awareness of conflict and conflict sensitive approaches are important to consider when undertaking assessments, planning, and implementation of development programs of all types. Of interest may be the Rotary International 3-month certificate...