Opinion

By Joel Obengo 

Eastern European countries should be encouraged to play a greater role in regional leadership and conflict resolution. Such an initiative could have positive outcomes such as helping strengthen diplomatic partnerships between the US and the regional governments.

By Joel Obengo 

Kenya, endowed with plethora of cultural riches,heritages,history, customs and traditions has various instruments that can be used to influence and win the hearts and minds of foreign nationals to help support Kenya’s policies, values and demonstrations in regional, continental and global affairs.

By Victoria Greaves

We, in the international community, want to believe that development is possible and human rights can be respected, but we must ask ourselves: whose interests do we actually represent? And hearing from local people in the developing world reveals that even positive movements, like environmentalism, can have devastating results.

Sanja Ivandić After suffering some of the most degrading and cruel aspects of the war, twenty years ago, women of all nationalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have managed to stay equally interested in the country's development, to invest in their education, to develop the most creative ways of self-employment through rural agriculture, crafts, arts, as well as to become change-makers through civil society initiatives.

By Hriday Ch. Sarma Intra-regional integration in the Fergana Valley will greatly reduce the risk of inter-state conflicts, and enable Central Asian states to take optimal advantage of trade ties along the (New) Silk Roads.

By Edvin Arnby Machata The task for civil servants and development professionals cannot be to find a magic bullet solution – because no such solutions exist. The question is rather one of how to establish continuous mechanisms with which problems can be detected, analysed, and solved.

By Eric Ngang A renewed thinking about availability of water for future generations using a sustainability thinking that focuses on both humans and natural systems is crucial at the moment when the world is currently reflecting on development goals that shall serve as signpost, guiding development post 2015.

By Rajendra Senchurey Nepal’s counterparts in Asia have progressed dramatically in these decades. But since the advent of multiparty democracy, Nepal has not achieved anything significant. Quite surprisingly, in terms of economic progress, Nepal exhibits the characters of a Sub-Saharan economy. Then what is the cause of Nepal’s stagnation?

By Anthony Luberto Yes, gangs do exist and yes, many development areas are flickering but there is also hard work being done to curb the future of Guatemala from draining away to the U.S.

By Sayed Jalal Of course there used to be occasional rape cases in Afghanistan, but the recent trends, in a very ugly and overt way, reveal the darker side of a traditional patriarchal society. These trends also tell us that social morality is in sharp decline. From juvenile rapes by Mullas (Religious scholar) in mosques (Masjid), to rape of daughters by fathers and animal rapes.

By Hriday Sarma Is encouraging democracy among the states in the Middle East, which is presently going on at the behest of the West, a genuinely good way to address the prevalent and future conflicts of the region?

By Deanna Morris Microlending programs have been around for 25+ years and as new players have entered the market creating even more competition, interest rates still remain high, which begs the question: is increased competition spurring greed and encouraging investment in microfinance for the wrong reasons?