What We’re Reading 3/30/09

Mar 30th, 2009 11:42 AM UTC
By Chandler Smith

Guardian: The lives of these women is where the crunch bites deepest
The credit crunch is hitting women the hardest. Such is the conclusion of recent research from Oxfam International detailed in this article. Oxfam’s research echoes additional studies from the World Bank and the International Labour Organization.

ModernGhana.com: Africa and “development assistance,” the way forward
A thoughtful editorial from ModernGhana.com that examines the effectiveness of foreign aid. The author concludes that “Africa can take-off with its development ambitions and aspirations if development assistance empowers them in terms of abilities and structures.” He continues, “If development assistance is to be seen as an effective too… then it should be devoid from conditionalities and be purposely aimed at building and creating vibrant social, economic and political institutions and systems that will help break the vicious cycle of poverty.”

Financial Times: Obama interview: Full text
The full text of President Obama’s interview with the Financial Times. In this interview, President Obama lays out his priorities for the G20 summit and reiterates the need for America to avoid protectionist measures.

Reuters: U.S. needs more new exports for Doha deal: Vilsack
The United States cannot support a proposed world trade deal to cut the spending cap on U.S. farm subsidies until developing countries make better offers to open their markets to U.S. farm exports, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Friday.

The Hill: Obama to tout economic plan to wary world leaders
President Obama has work to do in the week ahead as he meets with one-on-one with a variety of international leaders, in addition to participating in the G20 summit. Obama may also need to reaffirm close ties with Britain due to some recent diplomatic gaffes.

-Chandler Smith

TAGS: What We're Reading