Global Development Professionals Network

Ecuador's 'digital currency'

Live Q&A: prevention or cure, what's the best approach in malaria control?

Is attacking the mosquito or curing the patient the best way to manage this disease? Join our debate on 11 September, 1-3pm
• Free financial inclusion seminar
Comment of the day
Anna Strempel

Why gender disaster data matters: 'In some villages, all the dead were women'

The Tongan government identified pregnant and lactating women after a cyclone, and made sure they had priority access to healthcare; to me that's a clear example of how you can use data to make sure you meet specific needs after a disaster.

Dell e-waste director: don't ban secondhand computers

To bridge the digital divide, Africa needs to see waste as a resource then build an infrastructure to reap the benefits, says Dell director Jean Cox Kearns • Life in Sodom and Gomorrah: the world's largest digital dump - in pictures
'Egyptian education system doesn't prepare the youth for modern jobs'

Salma Wahba, youth and adolescent development officer for Unicef Egypt, on supporting the most marginalised young people

Invisible crisis: have donors forgotten the hungry in Chad?

Donors must stop earmarking funds to tackle nutrition emergencies that don’t make the headlines
How to learn from the best digital public services worldwide – livechat

Join us on Friday 19 September from 12-2pm to discuss how governments can share technology innovation globally
The literacy injustice: 493 million women still can't read

Giving women a second chance at literacy will increase their earning power and give their children a brighter future
More from our blog

Poverty porn: is sensationalism justified if it helps those in need?

Glendora Meikle: Stories about fistula in the media prove we've got to do a better job of reporting the plight of the people we want to help – so that the voices that emerge are not ours, but theirs
The F-word: when can we call what's happening in South Sudan a famine?

More people will die before a famine is formally declared yet no declaration means little media attention and even less funding, warns Davina Jeffrey
Untouchable to indispensable: the Dalit women revolutionising waste in India

Pune has give an army of mostly Dalit ('untouchable') women the sole rights to collect and recycle the city's mountains of trash, writes Carlin Carr in Mumbai

This professional network is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The content is determined by The Guardian and is editorially independent. Its purpose is to stimulate debate, discussion and learning among global development professionals. It aims to link to the best content on the web and to promote the sharing of research and ideas. Unless otherwise stated, all statements and materials posted on the professional network website, including any statements regarding specific legislation, reflect the views of the individual contributors and not those of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or the Guardian.

In pictures: Syrian children paint a brighter future

Photographs from an ACTED art project that aims to give Syrian children back their childhoods and help them to develop a connection with their new home

Myshkin Ingawale: using mobiles to develop products for the bottom billion

Biosense co-founder says the internet and mobile phones could help the poorest people find solutions for their own problems
- More from our development disruptors series
Explainers
Protecting produce: ten African countries get biosecurity investment

An Australia-Africa initiative is sowing nearly $1m in training, mentoring and action plans to combat pests' threat to agriculture
- More from our explainers series

World in a week: 600% rise in reports of torture in Mexico

1 - 5 September: Catch up with all the development-related news you may have missed this week
World in a week: Senegal confirms its first case of Ebola

25 - 29 August: Catch up with all the development-related news you may have missed this week

11 views on improving water supply

From realising the right to water to the role of the private sector, experts share their views
Nurturing health innovation in Africa: 13 ways to boost research

What needs to happen to reverse the brain drain and secure funding across the continent? Our panel suggest where to start

Ebola outbreak an avoidable tragedy, say UK ministers

Commons committee report says hesitancy and lack of coordination over crisis suggests that emergency plans failed