EDITORIAL:

Beyond aid dependency

ELISSA JOBSON
The scenes of emaciated men, women and children, displaced by war and drought in the Horn of Africa, streaming into the refugee camps of northern Kenya, are tragic and traumatic, and all too familiar. The 2011 crisis is the latest in a long list of famines to strike the region...
GLOBAL INSIGHT: EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES

“We will not have succeeded until the citizens of resource-rich countries see real improvements in their lives”

CLARE SHORT
Recently appointed as chair of EITI after the retirement of its founder, Peter Eigen, Clare...

Still much dirt amid the sparkle

IAN SMILLIE
After it had long become public knowledge that ‘blood diamonds’ were fuelling some of Africa’s...

Extracting openness and honesty

IAN GARY
Concern about the environmental impacts of the oil and mining industries has spread to the...

Tribal community takes on a global industry

PARVINDER SINGH
Living in a forest zone halfway between Kolkata and Chennai, the Kondh tribe of India’s...

Peru’s farmers at odds with foreign miners

RICHARD SYNGE
Confrontations between mining companies and traditional farming communities persist across the Andes and Amazon regions,...

DRC: land of commerce and controversy

GREGORY MTHEMBU-SALTER
Now that its complex internal conflicts are gradually ending, the Democratic Republic of Congo has...

Calling a murky business to account

JEREMY WEATE
In Nigeria, the best of intentions underlie the effort to release data on the country’s...

Artisanal miners: vital but neglected

GAVIN HILSON
Reform of the mining sector in Africa has provided no clear benefits for those at...
GLOBAL INSIGHT: NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS

International NGOs: a necessary good

DR HUGO SLIM
During the past 30 years, international NGOs have seen their operations and budgets swell, becoming...

“People think they are listening to the local community, but they’re not”

GEOFFREY DENNIS
Geoffrey Dennis joined CARE International UK as Chief Executive in April 2004. Before that, he...

Lights, camera, public reaction

GLENDA COOPER
The increasingly close relationship between NGOs and the media has provoked criticism and raised concerns...

Social networking

Television? Newspapers? Radio? The first thing aid agencies usually discuss these days when planning their...
SPOTLIGHT: AUSTRALIA

Greer – Stasis and change

GERMAINE GREER
Germaine Greer looks back over 30 years of economic and social change in her native...

Australia: A political fist-fight

MICHAEL PESCHARDT
The unpopular carbon emissions tax and a controversial migration policy have left Australia’s Labor government...

A two-speed economy

CHRIS PRITCHARD
Mining exports have sustained Australian economic growth throughout the international financial crisis, but other key...

Battle against disadvantage and inequality

VICTORIA LAURIE
Despite repeated government attempts to lift Aboriginal peoples out of poverty, by many indicators the...

“The most important thing is to get all your energy on to the road and on to the results board”

CADEL EVANS
In winning this year’s Tour de France, Cadel Evans secured the finest victory of his...

Sun, sea and summitry

Presidents and prime ministers from 54 countries gather in Perth in late October for the...

What lies beneath

With sheep-farming no longer the mainstay of the national economy, Western Australia’s expanding mineral exports...

Gillard – “Australia’s stability depends on stability in Asia”

JULIA GILLARD
Julia Gillard faces controversy at home on two fronts – the planned introduction of a...
GLOBAL ARENA: TALKING POINTS

“Women’s engagement is smart economics”

MICHELLE BACHELET
Michelle Bachelet is a clear illustration that it is possible for women to do it...

The Responsibility to Protect: a mandate for international action

MONICA SERRANO
International silence in the face of atrocities committed by governments against their own citizens is...

The tangle of issues hindering a solution for Jammu-Kashmir

VICTORIA SCHOFIELD
In the tangled web of promises and failed talks that have been the hallmark of...

UK media ownership and reach

Much has been said and written about the role and reach in British politics of...

Tate Modern embraces Africa

Contested Terrains at London’s Tate Modern brings together four artists living in Africa whose work...

Books – recent titles reviewed

Discerning the future in Myanmar Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of...
IN FOCUS: BARBADOS

Barbados: Polls and popularity

ALBERT BRANDFORD
The government’s handling of Barbados’s small, but successful, economy will be closely watched by voters...

Social partnership: Barbados’ saving grace

PETER LAURIE
Experience from the last major recession, 20 years ago, has provided Barbados with a helpful...

Poetry and performance

PHILIP NANTON
The high literacy level among Barbadians is no guarantee of professional success for local writers...
IN FOCUS: NIGERIA

“I believe we can overcome our differences”

GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN
Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria, is at a critical turning point. The newly elected administration...

Nigeria: New team in a hurry for change

ANTONY GOLDMAN
After April’s successful elections, President Goodluck Jonathan’s new cabinet is aware that it has a...

Ongoing bank shake-up

TUNDE OBADINA
Nigeria was not alone in undergoing a major banking crisis in 2009, but the authorities...

Getting the energy to flow

TUNDE OBADINA
Private investors are gearing up to enter a promising market for electric power generation and...

Fashola fashions a new Lagos

KAYE WHITEMAN
A vision of Nigeria’s commercial capital as a model city for the 21st century is...

Nollywood rises: Africa’s maverick cinema

JANE BRYCE
While lacking the big budgets and high production values associated with its US and Indian...
COMMONWEALTH NETWORK: CHOGM 2011

A roadmap for change

SIR RONALD SANDERS
The Eminent Persons Group is convinced that the Commonwealth is in urgent need of reform...

An alternative agenda for CHOGM

Global asked leading figures in a number of prominent Commonwealth organisations what issues they would...

A clear statement of intent

DANNY SRISKANDARAJAH
What do you get when you bring together 250 grassroots leaders in six consultations across...

All talk no action?

JOANNA BENNETT
At the end of October, hundreds of people will descend on Perth, the capital of...

A chance to be heard

The Commonwealth People’s Forum will be convened in Perth from 25-27 October. Over two consecutive...
COMMONWEALTH NETWORK: COMMONWEALTH IN ACTION

From the Commonwealth Secretary-General

KAMALESH SHARMA
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGMs) are always about ‘raising the bar’: lifting our sights,...

“The Commonwealth Foundation and civil society need to work more closely together to drive change from the bottom up”

SIMONE DE COMARMOND
2011 has been a difficult year for the Commonwealth Foundation. In this exclusive interview, Simone...

“People have a right to migrate”

P. J. PATTERSON
Ahead of the publication of the Ramphal Commission’s third report, P. J. Patterson told Global...

Inspirational women

NICHOLAS MENSAH
This year the Commonwealth celebrates ‘Women as Agents of Change’. Member states’ women are working...

Too much, too young

ASHLEY JOHNSON
The Royal Commonwealth Society and Plan believe their campaign to end forced marriage provides a...

Increased press freedom a possibility

TREVOR GRUNDY
Reform of the media in The Gambia is urgently needed, but a landmark Commonwealth forum...

Three days of global Commons

ANDREW TUGGEY
The 57th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference looked to the future while celebrating a century of exchanges...

The Commonwealth Forestry Association

The Commonwealth Forestry Association (CFA) is the world’s longest established international forestry organisation, tracing its...

Great oaks from little acorns grow

ALAN POTTINGER
The Young Forester Award is helping to ensure the preservation of the world’s forests by...

Capturing courage, commitment and change

ASHLEY JOHNSON
The entries in this year’s Commonwealth Photographic Awards were praised for their quality and creativity,...

Questions & Answers

RUTH FEUKOUA
Installation artist Ruth Feukoua is the first Cameroonian to win one of the coveted Commonwealth...
Amnesty International