Canada

By NASER FARUQUI The political dramas unfolding in Tunisia, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries present pivotal opportunities: They improve the prospects for harnessing science and its values to advance sustainable and equitable development, openness and democracy in the Islamic world.

India’s labour force is fast approaching half a billion people, with about 8 million people added every year between the early 1990s and 2004-2005, but there remains a wide wage gap between different sectors of the Indian workforce.

In each month of 2010, IDRC launched a 'Lasting Impacts' minisite to look back at some examples of how research that IDRC has funded has had long term impacts. Links to the minisites can be found in this announcement.

By Hélène Mayrand et Edgard Rodriguez In today’s globalized world, exporting is one of the key policy strategies to promote employment and higher wages in developing countries.

By Louise Guénette Three IDRC regional directors retired in the fall of 2010 after heading offices in Cairo, Nairobi, and Singapore. Eglal Rached, Constance Freeman, and Richard Fuchs look back at some significant moments during their careers at IDRC.

With over 2,000 dead and more than 6,500,000 at risk from cholera, urgent measures are being implemented to contain the cholera outbreak in Haiti, which is present in all ten of Haiti's departments.

Once, GDP was the established benchmark of a country’s progress. Now, new and sophisticated indexes offer a more rounded picture of the condition of society — and IDRC is helping develop them.

The IDRC-funded project Trade, Gender and Equity in Latin America assessed the impact of trade patterns on female labour. The research revealed that, overall, trade has not resulted in more jobs for women, nor has it narrowed the income gap between men and women.

IDRC is pleased to announce the 2011 Call for Concept Notes as part of the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund.

Innovation has a crucial role to play as economies recover from the current financial crisis. This book examines the role of innovation in developing countries, with a focus on Africa.

Dr Durga Datt Joshi is the recipient of the prestigious Birendra Scientific Award from the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) in recognition for his work on animal-transmitted diseases and viral encephalitis and for helping examine, control, and treat the diseases.

Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is pleased to announce the first projects to be supported under the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund.

As food prices rise around the globe, Africa faces increased challenges to feed its citizens. IDRC’s grant will support AGRA’S innovative research to improve agricultural productivity and access to markets.

The design of social protection policies should take into account the complexity and diversity of family arrangements. Families have different needs and structures as well as various ways of reacting and adapting to changes in their economic environment.

Community-run tap water systems in China’s remote Guizhou province have enabled families to develop new income-generating activities and boost a faltering economy.

Treating and reusing water from sinks and baths has helped many small farming families in the Middle East deal with an extreme water shortage. This, in turn, has significantly boosted their incomes.

Highly effective yet simple BioSand Filters are providing clean water in more than 300,000 homes around the world.

Cutting-edge computer modelling and consultation with local communities allowed Bolivia’s Agua Sustentable to find political solutions to potentially disastrous clashes over water.

New agricultural techniques have helped settle conflicts over land use in Arsaal, Lebanon. In doing so, they’ve improved soils and increased fruit crops.

The remarkable transition in land use practices and resource management flows from the work of NEPED funded by the government of Nagaland, IDRC, and the Canadian International Development Agency from 1994 to 2006.

New Delhi, India, October 31, 2010: The Think Tank Initiative (TTI), a partnership of major donors, has awarded 21 Million USD in grants to 16 independent policy research institutions in South Asia. The long-term funding will help strengthen the think tanks’ role as influential players in national policymaking in the region.

Our planet’s ability to sustain human life has long been a subject of study and concern by economists, demographers, and environmentalists.

IDRC hosted a unique gathering in late September to discuss Canada’s contribution to the Palestinian refugee issue as part of the multilateral peace process.

Innovation helps the world's poor feed their families

Chris Seebregts says there’s a growing sense of excitement among talented young software programmers in Africa. These days, they are seeing new opportunities to apply their skills in an area of great social impact: health care.

The Kenya Medical Research Institute has launched a tool aimed at predicting malaria outbreaks in any area of East Africa two to three months before they occur.

The IDRC-supported Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative launched a new tool last month that provides new ways of understanding poverty around the world.

Win-win solutions improve livelihoods and the land

In 2002, a highly publicized survey by the Latinobarómetro polling firm found that 40% of Latin Americans identified employment as the region’s biggest problem — ahead of corruption, poverty, and violence.

Often, the best answers can be found right at home