What We’re Reading: World leaders pledge help for Somalia

Feb 24th, 2012 1:52 PM UTC
By Emily Walker

World leaders pledge help for Somalia– Leaders from around the world pledged “new funding, additional training for soldiers and coast guards, [and] increased cooperation over terrorism” at meeting Thursday. David Cameron spoke of the famine, bloodshed, and poverty that has torn apart Somalia, and said that “if the rest of us just sit back and look on, we will pay a price for doing so.” The conference also “agreed on new transparency rules for international aid,” as Britain pledged an additional $80 million and the U.S. an additional $64 million in humanitarian assistance to the region. (AP)

Scientists launch African agricultural monitoring system; global network to follow – Backed by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, scientists have “launched a new initiative intended to gather and integrate data about agriculture, ecosystems and human well-being in Africa.” The three-year project is designed to set the stage for an expansive global monitoring system, in an effort to improve “decisions about how to allocate resources and improve agricultural systems in a more sustainable manner.” (Nature, Jeff Tollefson)

Bill Gates: United Nations Needs to Be ‘More Efficient’ To Help Poor Farmers – Bill Gates urged U.N. food agencies at the International Fund for Agricultural Development to “become more efficient in helping poor farmers and to set up a kind of accountability ‘report card’ system for countries receiving aid.” Gates called on the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to issue such report cards, which would “encourage donors to keep up the aid.” (Huffington Post, Frances D’Emilio)

South Africa’s Education System Faces Huge Challenges – Despite the fact that the number of children attending school in South Africa has risen dramatically since the introduction of compulsory education in 1994, “structural problems in the education system have resulted in many poorly prepared high school graduates and high numbers of dropouts.” Only 50% of children who start school make it to their final high school examination, and with the unemployment rate in South Africa at 24%, “dropouts have a bleak future.” (VOA, Delia Robertson)

TAGS: ONE, What We're Reading