features

Daily struggle continues in Zimbabwe (27 Aug 2008 )
You’ll have seen a lot about Zimbabwe in the news. My country currently has 80 per cent unemployment. Inflation is running at 11,250,000 per cent while month-on-month inflation has accelerated to 839.3 per cent, writes Kevin Ndemera.

The fight for water in El Salvador (21 Aug 2008 )
As world water week draws to a close in Stockholm, Progressio development worker Marcos Sanjuan says the struggle for water is far from over in El Salvador: 42% of the population now lack access to the most basic resource.

Positive news on AIDS is only half the story (11 Aug 2008 )
Last week’s international Aids conference in Mexico (3-8 August) gave the British press the hook it needed to discuss some positive news on HIV and AIDS. And there is positive news to be had writes Liz Tremlett.

Innocent victims (15 Jul 2008 )
Zimbabwe’s food crisis presents an added challenge to female prisoners with children, writes Teclah Ponde

On the Trail to Timor (11 Apr 2008 )
Progressio is an international development organisation working in 11 countries around the world on HIV and AIDS, Civil Society and Sustainable Environment. While many of you first became acquainted with us by sending seedpackets to your MPs expressing your concerns around Terminator technology, as an organisation we actually do much more. Progressio’s Press Officer, Jo Barrett brings you more information about how we work through skilled professionals around the world to end poverty.

Saving seeds from harvest in Ecuador (9 Nov 2007 )
'Seeds are life. We are seeds', one Ecuadorian farmer, Nelson Mamallacta, told me when I visited him recently. A seed is a powerful symbol of life around the world. Currently 10 international seed companies control just under 50 per cent of the world's commercial seed trade. This means they also control 50 per cent of the world's agricultural genetic resources and biodiversity, farming practices and people's ability to feed themselves writes Michelle Lowe.

Beyond the kitchen: advancing women’s political decision-making in Somaliland and Timor-Leste (29 Oct 2007 )
Although there are differences between Somaliland and Timor-Leste – Somalilanders are Muslims, whereas most of us Timorese are Catholics – there are also many similarities, writes Ivete de Oliveira. Both our countries are poor and have seen conflict in recent years. In both, grass roots organisations supported by Progressio have been playing a strong role in helping to rebuild our countries from scratch. And for me, a crucial similarity is that Somaliland’s culture, like that of Timor-Leste, has historically been deeply patriarchal and resistant to letting women’s voices be heard anywhere but in the kitchen.

No green light for Terminator technology (17 Oct 2007 )
The world celebrated World Food Day on 16 October. You, like us, may think that there is not much reason to celebrate: according to the UN’s World Food Programme, more than 800 million people are hungry, writes Sol Oyuela. Progressio believes it is time to stand in solidarity with the struggle of poor people in the developing world to feed themselves and invites you to take part in its campaign, livesimply Say no to Terminator seeds: Become a seedsaver.

Zimbabwe: the need to bear witness (5 Oct 2007 )
The resignation of Pius Ncube, one of the fiercest critics of the Zimbabwean government, from his position as Archbishop of Bulawayo, came as no surprise writes Dr Steve Kibble.

The bishop is being sued by a Bulawayo man, Onesimus Sibanda, for allegedly having a two-year adulterous relationship with Sibanda’s estranged wife Rosemary. Whatever the truth of the allegations, many Zimbabweans agree with the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference that, like the apartheid regime in South Africa, the state is attempting to smear prominent church opponents with sex scandals rather than dealing with the massive crises affecting Zimbabwe, which can be laid squarely at its door.