London, United Kingdom | AFP | Scandal-hit British charity Oxfam was reeling Tuesday after fresh claims of sexual assault and cover-up in South Sudan, as Haiti’s president condemned the behaviour of some of its staff in his country as “undignified and dishonest”. The latest revelations by Helen Evans, former global head …
Read More »British actress Minnie Driver quits Oxfam role over charity sex scandal
London, United Kingdom | AFP | British actress Minnie Driver quit her role as an Oxfam ambassador late Tuesday, saying she was “devastated” by the charity’s response to a sex scandal involving its aid workers. Driver was the first celebrity to quit the global charity as accusations over staff paying …
Read More »Donor nations offer $2.3 billion for third world education
Dakar, Senegal | AFP | Donor nations announced on Saturday $2.3 billion in funding to support education in developing countries, following an international meeting in the Senegalese capital Dakar. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) — which brings together donors, international organisations and the private sector — called the figure …
Read More »40,000 displaced Yemenis stranded without aid in Aden: UN
Aden, Yemen | AFP | The UN expressed concern on Wednesday for more than 40,000 displaced Yemenis who had sought refuge in second city Aden, only to find themselves caught in deadly fighting between troops and separatist militia. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it had been unable to distribute …
Read More »UN launches appeal for over 200,000 displaced by Boko Haram
Niamey, Niger | AFP | The UN refugee agency appealed on Wednesday for $157 million (126 million euros) to help over a quarter of a million people affected by the insurgency led by the militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The UNHCR, acting with more than 40 other agencies, said it …
Read More »Trump threatens to cut aid to Pakistan, a ‘haven to terrorists’
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump lashed out at Pakistan on Monday in his first tweet of 2018, threatening to cut off aid over what he said were its “lies and deceit” in offering “safe haven to terrorists.” “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more …
Read More »Over half Syrian refugees in Lebanon in ‘extreme poverty’: UN
Beirut, Lebanon | AFP | More than half of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon are now living in extreme poverty, and the vast majority live below the poverty line, the UN’s refugee agency said Friday. According to the UN, more than a million Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon since …
Read More »UN says 11 million Yemen children desperately need aid
Amman, Jordan | AFP | More than 11 million children in war-torn Yemen are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations children’s fund warned on Sunday. “Today it is fair to say that Yemen is one of the worst places on earth to be a child,” said Geert …
Read More »Guinea receives $20bn in pledges for development
Paris, France | AFP | Guinea on Thursday won pledges in aid worth $20 billion to fund a five-year development plan at a meeting in Paris with banks, private players and governments. The mineral-rich West African nation is slowly emerging from the Ebola crisis and low commodity price shocks that adversely …
Read More »COMMENT: China’s foreign aid model
It has the opportunity, tools, and experience to lift thousands out of extreme poverty globally COMMENT | ASIT K. BISWAS , KRIS HARTLEY | In September, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released a status report tracking progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The data, which were meant to …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price