The Week with IPS

2015/10/30	Click here for the online version of this IPS newsletter
	Brazil’s Megaprojects, a Short-lived Dream Mario Osava Working as a musician in a military band is the dream of 21-year-old Jackson Coutinho, since hopes that a petrochemical complex would drive the industrialisation of this Brazilian city near Rio de Janeiro have gone up in smoke. "I'll try out for the navy, army and even the military police, but ... MORE > >
	Southeast Asia: How to Make Good Business Out of Doing Good Diana G Mendoza When his father drove back to pay the 47 Malaysian cents they owed to the food stall they had just left, then nine-year-old Anis Yusal Yusoff, today president and chief executive officer of the Malaysian Institute of Integrity, learned the meaning of standing firm by one’s values. “To me, that ... MORE > >
	Sri Lanka: A Ray of Hope for those Looking for War Missing Amantha Perera Thavarasa Utharai’s most treasured belongings are stuck inside several plastic bags and tucked within old traveling bags. Inside, wrapped in more plastic sheets, are old fading photographs, scrap books, legal documents and even some old bills. These are the only processions the 36 year old ... MORE > >
	Opinion: When Schools Become Barracks, Children Suffer Bede Sheppard Surprise turned to confusion, then to horror, when the children at Kiata primary school realized that the soldiers they had spotted at the bottom of the hill were heading for their school and its occupants. As the soldiers reached the hilltop school in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, ... MORE > >
	Pakistani Communities Reel in the Wake of Massive Earthquake Ashfaq Yusufzai “My grandmother rushed inside the room to save me. Roof suddenly collapsed and she died,” said 12-year-old Mushtari Bibi. Bibi is one of the 1,950 people who received multiple injuries in Monday’s massive earthquake that jolted Pakistan and some neighbouring countries and caused heavy material ... MORE > >
	Analysis: Turkey at a Crossroads Prior to Sunday's Snap Elections Joris Leverink This Sunday, November 1, Turkey heads to the polls for the second time this year, to elect the 550 members of its Grand National Assembly. The snap elections were called for by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in late August when the different parties failed to form a coalition government after the ... MORE > >
	Zimbabwe’s Smallholder Farmers Seek Address Food Security and Health Risks with Air Tight Storage Technology Busani Bafana Last season, Mollene Kachambwa lost a tonne of the 5 tonnes of maize the family harvested to weevils and fungi. This season, weevils and fungi have to find a new host. Kachambwa, who is from the Kachambwa village located 75 km north east of Zimbabwe's capital Harare, has stored her maize ... MORE > >
	Bangladesh Facing Tough Climate Choices Amantha Perera Twice a week, 20-year-old Kulsum Begam, a young mother of two, spends over three hours gossiping with the neighbours. Neither her husband nor his family raises any objections. In fact, they encourage the bi-weekly ritual, almost pushing her out the door to go and meet her friends. But there ... MORE > >
	Opinion: People-Powered Data Set to Transform Dull Statistics Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah You probably didn’t notice it was World Statistics Day last week because, let’s be honest, statistics don’t have the most exciting reputation. Thankfully, I have a feeling this is about to change, big time. Dhananjayan (Danny) SriskandarajahWe are witnessing a radical democratisation with ... MORE > >
	Agricultural Keys to Malaria in African Highlands Mzizi Kabiba Sixty-five years after a major international summit here on malaria, the mosquito-borne disease remains a scourge and its incidence may even be rising in parts of sub-Saharan Africa due to the combined effects of climate change, agricultural practices and population displacement. Almost half ... MORE > >
	Itaborai, a City of White Elephants and Empty Offices Mario Osava Itaboraí still recalls its origins as a sprawling city that sprang up along a highway, not far from Rio de Janeiro. But a few years ago big modern buildings began to sprout all over this city in southeast Brazil, whose offices and shops are almost all empty today. The number of white elephants, ... MORE > >
	Terrace Farming - an Ancient Indigenous Model for Food Security Marianela Jarroud Terrace farming as practiced from time immemorial by native peoples in the Andes mountains contributes to food security as a strategy of adaptation in an environment where the geography and other conditions make the production of nutritional foods a complex undertaking. This ancient prehispanic ... MORE > >