Global Posts
Conversations in Development: The Critical Role of Women in Agriculture
The majority of those who produce, process, and market Africa’s food are women, but only one in four agricultural researchers and one in seven agricultural policymakers is female
Looking in Switzerland for the Answers to Financial Risk in Economic Development
When you look at mining, logging, and large-scale agriculture in the developing world, an unfortunate set of numbers leap out. Because these industries need land that is mostly inhabited, contested ownership of rural, forest, and dryland areas directly affects the livelihoods of more than two billion people.
Conversations in Development: On the Front Lines in the Fight Against Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease that kills 1.4 million people per year, has existed since the time of the pharaohs. Organizations like the TB Alliance and Aeras are working on new technologies to fight the scourge of this ancient and deadly foe.
Conversations in Development: A Young Zambian Woman on the Value of Education
In Zambia, a country where only 21 percent of girls and 27 percent of boys attend high school, student Patricia Nanyangwe discusses her family, her aspirations and the critical role of education in her community. With the help of the African Education Program, a nonprofit founded by Burnesser Julie-Anne Savarit-Cosenza, Patricia and hundreds of other Zambian students are getting the support they need to excel in high school and beyond.
“Going For It”: An Update on Burness’ Nairobi Office
Burness is returning to Nairobi—where we’ll continue the work we’ve been doing with groups based in Africa. Now, we’ll be closer to the organizations we’re working with and the people we’re ultimately working for—from smallholder farmers struggling to feed their families in the face of a changing climate to the young girls in Nairobi’s Kibera slum seeking a good education so they can climb out of poverty.
Introducing Conversations in Development
BurnessGlobal introduces a new monthly series called Conversations in Development to feature interviews with fascinating people we have known or worked with over our 20+ years in the development space.
Dialing Back on the Drivers of Global Disease Outbreaks: A Look Inside the ‘Black Box’
These ‘causes of causes‘ of zoonotic disease outbreaks and their spread are pinpointed in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Scientists argue in this paper that we’ll only become capable of preventing or stopping the next pandemic when we better understand the drivers of disease emergence.
Scientists Make iPhone into Low-Cost Microscope to Diagnose Intestinal Worm Infections in African Children
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital has shown that you can turn everyday items: iPhone, a cheap lens, some double-sided tape and a flashlight, into a field microscope that successfully detects intestinal worms, also known as soil-transmitted helminths—which infect 2 billion people around the world.
China Leads World’s Embrace of Inexpensive Approach to Clean Water
Charting New Waters: State of Watershed Payments 2012 tallies an uptick in investments by governments, NGOS and private companies that pay communities to shelter or clean up water supplies. The study found that more than $8 billion was invested in these projects—a $2 billion increase from the study’s findings in 2008.
