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Good week for
Arvind Subramanian, the economist who is front-runner in the race to become chief economic adviser in India’s finance ministry.
Nian Bin, a grocery shop owner who, after six years on death row in China, has been acquitted.
Bad week for
Ebola-affected countries, whose economies are continue to suffer as Kenya becomes the latest country to declare a travel ban and Air France staff call for cancellations.
Residents of Kerala as authorities in the southern Indian state outline plans to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol.
Quote of the week
This week a Youtube video showing Vian Dakheel, the only Yazidi female MP, speaking out in parliament about the rape and enslavement of Iraq’s minority women, has been widely circulated. In an emotional appeal she is translated as saying:
Mr Speaker, our women are being taken as slaves and sold in the slave market. There is now a campaign of genocide being waged against the Yazidi constituent. Brothers, away from all political disputes we want humanitarian solidarity. I speak here in the name of humanity: save us!
What you’re saying
To mark World Humanitarian Day on Tuesday 19 August, we asked our Twitter followers who do relief work to complete this sentence: “I love being a humanitarian because...” This is what a few had to say:
@GuardianGDP @eu_echo @theOFDA I love being a humanitarian b/c I meet ppl making a difference in their OWN lives They tell me their stories.
— Sophia Jones (@So_Jo1) August 19, 2014
@GuardianGDP #WHD2014 I was a hum. in DRC & I loved it because I could immediately see the impact of my work. 2 old now but am still in dev
— Tarikua Getachew (@TarikawiPeace) August 19, 2014
This week in numbers
£6.5m Ebola research intiative has been set up by the Wellcome Trust and DfID.
191,300 people killed in Syria’s civil war, between March 2011 and April 2014.
42,000 acres of croplands in Gaza has been destroyed. The damage from the recent conflict is estimated at three times that of 2008-9 conflict.
$20,000 the prize money for the best idea to reinvent development
192 elephant carcasses found in African Mara-Serengeti ecosystem.
51 people are still missing after a landslide in Japan.
Picture of the week
Milestones
The first Iraqi Christian refugees have been flown to Paris. Foreign minister, Laurent Fabius says the numbers seeking asylum could reach “several thousand”.
Bangladesh’s ministry of health and family welfare is implementing a new health strategy.
World Food Programme west Africa announces that food distributions have started in Liberia to people in quarantine area in Monrovia.
The MDG 500-day countdown began on Monday. Eight development leaders celebrate the successes to date.
Newly launched report confirms 2013 was the worst year for aid worker safety since records began in 1997.
Video
Winner of ‘the most creative way to present research’ prize this week goes to Michael Clemens and Timothy Ogden for this lego stop motion video on making remittances a tool for development.
Reading list
- Demystifying the environmental clearance process in India (Centre for Policy Research)
- The end of Aids and the NGO code of conduct (The Lancet)
- Theories of change in international development: communication, learning or accountability? (LSE)
- Unsafe passage: road attacks and their impact on humanitarian operations (Humanitarian Outcomes)
- Bitcoin: a financial revolution driver in Africa and the developing world (VC4Africa)
Coming next week: have your say
- Monday 25 August: look out for our piece asking why no women’s voices are included in agriculture research though they do the brunt of the work.
- Live Q&A on Thursday 28 August: How can we drive health innovation in Africa? Could nurturing scientific research in Africa be the answer to the continent’s frail health systems? To join our expert panel from 1-3pm BST, send an email to rachel.banning-lover.casual@theguardian.co.uk
- Call all southern voices! We want to know what more southern institutions, think tanks and NGOs are writing. Send an email to globaldevpros@theguardian.com to be featured in our reading list.
Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow @GuardianGDP on Twitter.
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