Topic: Poverty and hunger
The seven myths of ‘slums’ – a summary
Report / 8th December 2010It is easy to believe that urban slums are a consequence of too many people living in cities, or too many poor people migrating from rural to urban areas for governments to contend with the strain on housing. But the real problem is rooted in...
Rethinking the global economy: the case for sharing
Article / 25th November 2010The basic assumptions about human nature that inform economic and political decision-making are long outdated and fundamentally flawed. By acknowledging our interdependence and common ethical values, we can build a more sustainable, cooperative and inclusive global economy.
Sharing the world’s resources – an introduction
Report / 26th October 2010A sustainable global economy fit for the 21st Century must be based on a new ethical framework that reflects and supports humanity’s interdependence. The process of economic sharing can ensure that the world’s essential resources, goods and services are made accessible to all, according to a new brief by Share The World’s Resources.
Rebuilding local economies: a shift in priorities
Article / 20th October 2010The grassroots movement for economic localisation represents a positive and practical response to the challenges of food insecurity, climate change, peak oil and financial instability. Governments should support this alternative vision for sustainable, human-scale development, writes Anna White.
‘Health for all’: the second dawn
Article / 22nd July 2010It may seem that the goal of universal primary health care - in which state capacities are strengthened to ensure the rapid expansion of free publicly-provided health services - is further away than ever before. But there are many signs that the ideal of 'health for all' is making a second resurgence, writes Adam Parsons.
International call for food reserves sign-on letter
News / 17th May 2010Food reserves are a valuable tool in addressing the structural causes of hunger. In a joint letter with concerned civil society groups worldwide, STWR calls on governments and institutions to put the issue of reserves at the centre of their policy considerations.
Overcoming free market apathy
Article / 13th May 2010Despite the oft-repeated claim that ‘there is no alternative', today’s market society is neither natural nor inevitable. Acknowledging and exploring other forms of economic organisation may be the most powerful form of resistance to the status quo, argues Alexia Eastwood.
Development and its discontents
Article / 26th April 2010After decades of failing to address the root causes of poverty and inequality, the aid industry is bigger than ever. Is it time for some serious soul-searching on the value of ‘development’? A review of Rasna Warah's 'Missionaries, Mercenaries and Misfits', by Anna White.
Do we care about urban poverty?
Article / 1st April 2010While the United Nations recently claimed victory for the Millennium Development Goal on slums, the global population of slum-dwellers continues to grow. It is time for governments and civil society to give the problem of urban poverty the attention it deserves.
The fugitive humanity of city spaces
Article / 5th March 2010The emergence of a significant middle class – who demand increasing space for their accommodation – means that the urban poor are everywhere being constricted to a decreasing proportion of land. In these city spaces they exist as a ‘fugitive humanity’, writes Jeremy Seabrook.