Posted 28 February 1999
There is a growing consensus that the future prosperity and progress of all countries will depend on how people and governments access, interpret, use and create knowledge and information. The advent of new information/communication technologies that permit rapid and inexpensive worldwide dissemination of information presents considerable opportunities and risks for developing countries, particularly those with limited access to these technologies. There is also considerable disagreement about the role of these technologies in advancing development objectives, and over the ways in which developing countries - and especially poor people in those countries - can best seize the opportunities presented by the information age and offset some of the threats.
The Economic Development Institute of the World Bank and the Panos Institute in London have recently started an electronic debate on "Knowledge and Information for Development". The discussion, which began on 1 February, 1999 and will last for a period of six to eight weeks, is open for all interested. The dialogue will take as its point of departure the recently published World Bank World Development Report 1998/99 on "Knowledge for Development". While this - and other relevant publications - constitute a point of departure, the principal aim of this initiative is to move the debate forward by drawing on a wide range of insights and opinions.
The dialogue is open to participants from around the world, especially (though not exclusively) those from developing countries. While the dialogue itself is designed to be highly focused, the co-moderators encourage contributions from many different disciplines - journalists as well as academics, NGOs as well as donors, decision-makers as well as technology experts.
To join in the discussion or to access the messages go to the webpages. You can also join by sending an e-mail to: majordomo@jazz.worldbank.org, with the message in the body of the text: SUBCRIBE IKD
The International Conference on Nutrition (ICN), jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) was held in Rome in 1992. This first global inter-governmental conference on nutrition pleaded for an inter-sectoral approach to nutrition problems. Jamaica was represented and adopted the Plan of Action. As a result of this, the National Plan of Action for Nutrition in Jamaica was finalized mid-1995 and points out the problem areas in nutrition and proposed actions and the responsible agencies.
An ICN informal working group was formed in Jamaica after the conference with representatives from the Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Education, the National Food and Nutrition Coordinating Committee of Jamaica, the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute, UNICEF and FAO. A progress report was written on the ICN follow-up in Jamaica and the following priority areas were identified for which activities are now being undertaken:
To improve household food security, for example, the ICN working group directed its activities at increasing food availability in the country. The working group looked at possibilities for expanding already successful projects. A small paper was developed with project ideas, one of which was implemented as a World Food Day activity. This was the proposal to promote Backyard Gardens and Poultry Production in poor urban areas. With funding from the Netherlands Embassy, the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) has started this project with women groups in two areas: Bowerbank in Kingston and Watson Groove in Spanish Town. In each community at least 10 women benefit from the poultry production assistance. A larger number of women in each area will be able to benefit from the vegetable garden component. RADA has decided to extend their services to the Bowerbank area where in addition to implementing the project they will also offer their wider home-economics programme to the women. This small Bowerbank project is interesting since it provides this community with its first opportunity to receive development assistance and it serves as a pilot project for RADA and FAO to work together in an urban environment.
For more information on ICN follow-up and activities in Jamaica, contact Ms. Arine Valstar at: fao-jamaica@field.fao.org
With a last, forceful vaccination campaign, the world can eradicate poliomyelitis within two years, according to World Health Organization Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland. "Thanks to steady progress in vaccination, we are on the brink of eradicating this crippling disease - with an ambitious target of eradication by the end of next year," she said in a speech to the World Economic Forum 30 January 1999.
To achieve this goal, an estimated 370 million dollars is needed in addition to funds already secured in order to carry out the last essential vaccination campaigns. A world free of polio would save $1.5 billion annually in vaccination costs.
Progress in polio eradication over the past 10 years has been remarkable. In 1988, the virus circulated widely on all continents except Australia. By 1998, the Americas were polio-free, transmission has been interrupted in the Western Pacific Region of WHO, including China, and in the European Region, except for a small focus in south-east Turkey. Only three major
foci of transmission remain: South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan, India), West Africa (mainly Nigeria) and Central Africa (mainly Democratic Republic of Congo).
The remaining campaigns will focus on 14 countries and areas that up to now have been hard to reach due to armed conflict or lack of central government infrastructure, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia. Already, truces have been called for polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, El Salvador, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tajikistan.
For further information, please go to World Health Organization.
How can the UNFPA Technical Support Services (TSS) system enhance the contribution of population programmes to poverty alleviation and to the promotion of sustainable development? That was the critical question addressed by an FAO/ILO Thematic Workshop on Population, Poverty and Environment, held in Rome on 26-30 October 1998. The workshop brought together actors of the TSS system - in particular Country Support Teams (CST) Advisers - in an effort to identify:
Poverty was placed at the core of the conceptual framework, with population and environment being considered mainly in terms of their connections with poverty. The potential contribution of the Technical Support Services system was viewed not only within the context of institutional advantages and constraints, but also within the framework of the potential assistance that can be provided by population institutions and population expertise in general.
The Workshop was jointly organized by FAO's Population Programme Service and ILO's Labour and Population Unit, with UNFPA financial support. It was attended by staff from ECA, ESCAP, ESCWA, FAO, ILO, UNDESA, UNESCO, UNFPA and UNIFEM.
To review some of the papers presented (Population and poverty: the policy issues; Population and environmental change: from linkages to policy issues; and Rural poverty: population dynamics, local institutions and access to resources) and highlights from the Workshop Report, go to: the relevant pages.