FOOD: More Milk and Meat at a Price

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9x72tQMEGSPyFAung5xRLRlhnpwB84xkrMtFqxMey7vTU3ppJTFMNEsg6yK71J46E6ffxxBM2A4Zkstif-A8ew3lL0SinSXozfup8Ev1gg9WskEW0tgXl1-HfmiAQt0Aq99U7lgCYVzQ/s1600/200802073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9x72tQMEGSPyFAung5xRLRlhnpwB84xkrMtFqxMey7vTU3ppJTFMNEsg6yK71J46E6ffxxBM2A4Zkstif-A8ew3lL0SinSXozfup8Ev1gg9WskEW0tgXl1-HfmiAQt0Aq99U7lgCYVzQ/s400/200802073.jpg" width="265" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Photo: </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Zofeen Ebrahim/IRIN</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Poultry is often kept and sold in unhygienic<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">conditions in south Asian countries like India<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br /> </div></td></tr> </tbody></table><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) - Only 13 diseases or infections transmitted from animals to humans like tuberculosis (TB) and Rift Valley fever, are responsible for around 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths per year, mostly in low- and middle-income countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> In the least developed countries, 20 percent of human sickness and death was due to zoonoses - diseases that had recently jumped species from animals to people - according to a new study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Nairobi, Kenya, the Institute of Zoology in Britain, and the Hanoi School of Public Health in Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> The World Health Organization (WHO) has noted that at least 61 percent of all human diseases, and 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases, are zoonotic or caused by a bacterium, virus, fungus or other communicable disease agent picked up from an animal source.<br /> <br /> While zoonoses can be transmitted to people by either wild or domesticated animals, and at times domestic animals also crossbreed with those in the wild, most human infections are acquired from the world’s 24 billion livestock, including pigs, poultry, cattle, goats, sheep and camels.<br /> <br /> The new study mapped poverty, livestock-keeping, hunger and zoonoses, and found a strong link between them. The good news is that most of the burden of zoonoses, and the opportunities for tackling them, are found in just a few countries - Ethiopia, Nigeria and India. These three countries not only have the highest number of poor livestock-keepers, but also the highest number of malnourished people.<br /> <br /> Over 600 million people living on less than two dollars a day, who depend on animals to some extent, are found in South Asia, mostly in India. Sub-Saharan Africa has over 300 million poor livestock-keepers, concentrated in East and West Africa, and fewer in southern and central Africa.<br /> <br /> In a survey of 28 countries identified as geographical hotpots for zoonoses by the study, Ethiopia tops the list of countries where Leptospirosis - haemorrhagic jaundice - is prevalent. Nigeria is saddled with the highest burden of Query fever (Q fever), a bacterial infection that can affect the lungs, liver, heart and other parts of the body. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> <br /> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="left" dir="ltr"><table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 102, 153); border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-style: solid none; border-top-color: rgb(0, 102, 153); border-top-width: 1pt; width: 300px;"><tbody> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why we need to worry about zoonoses in poor countries</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt; width: 510.0pt;" width="680"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">12 percent of animals have recent or current brucellosis infections, reducing production by 8 percent<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt; width: 510.0pt;" width="680"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">10 percent of livestock in Africa are infected with trypanosomosis - sleeping sickness - reducing their production by 15 percent<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt; width: 510.0pt;" width="680"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">7 percent of livestock are infected with tuberculosis (TB), reducing their production by 6 percent, and 3-10 percent of human TB cases may be caused by zoonotic TB<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt; width: 510.0pt;" width="680"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">17 percent of pigs on smallholder farms show signs of current infection with cysticercosis - tapeworm - reducing their value and creating the enormous burden of human cysticercosis<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt; width: 510.0pt;" width="680"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">27 percent of livestock show signs of current or past infection with bacterial food-borne diseases, a major source of food contamination and illness in people<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt; width: 510.0pt;" width="680"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">26 percent of livestock show signs of current or past leptospirosis infection - affecting milk production and calving - reducing production and acting as a reservoir for infection<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt; width: 510.0pt;" width="680"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">25 percent of livestock show signs of current or past Q fever infection<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: #EBEBEB; border: none; padding: 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt 3.0pt; width: 510.0pt;" width="680"><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Source: ILRI<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> </tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">India has a heavy burden of Brucellosis - which causes spontaneous abortion in animals, and in humans leads to severe joint pain and weakness, and can become chronic if untreated – as well as TB, Q fever, and illnesses caused by food-borne bacteria, such as salmonella, which can also be fatal. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> The goal of the research was to identify areas where better control of zoonotic diseases would most benefit poor people.<br /> <br /> Among the high-priority studies of transmitted diseases were ”endemic zoonoses” like brucellosis, which cause most cases of illness and recorded deaths in poor countries; “epidemic zoonoses”, which typically occur as outbreaks, such as anthrax and Rift Valley fever; and the relatively rare “emerging zoonoses” like bird flu. Of the emerging zoonoses, HIV/AIDS has had by far the most severe global impact. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> <b>Higher demand<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> </span><br /> <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A rising demand for milk and meat, prompted by a growing population and higher incomes in developing countries, has led to the practice of keeping more animals in smaller and often unhygienic enclosures - a major factor in the spread and growth of zoonoses.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> <br /> The selection and breeding of livestock in these conditions, without proper care, creates an environment where a new pathogen (an infectious bacterium, virus or other agent) can develop and infect the animals. The study also found that systems for disease control and reporting were relatively weak in these countries.<br /> <br /> Animals are often transported for long distances and over extensive routes, and sold live either along the way or at the destination, with poor waste management during transportation - which all contribute to the birth and transmission of infections.<br /> <br /> One of the biggest threats is posed by the booming trade in poultry and pigs. Ongoing research is being led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), which is part of a global research network funded partly by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). “Historically, high-density pig and poultry populations have been important in maintaining and mixing influenza populations," said John McDermott, director of the CGIAR Research Programme on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health.<br /> <br /> "A major concern is that as new livestock systems intensify, particularly in small- and medium-sized pig production, more intensive systems will allow the maintenance and transmission of pathogens. A number of new zoonoses, such as Nipah virus infections, have emerged in that way.”<br /> <br /> Nipah virus, first identified on pig farms in Malaysia, and the related Hendra virus, which has particularly affected horses, can cause pneumonia and encephalitis in humans. A million pigs were culled in Malaysia to get rid of the virus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> <b>Should we all become vegetarians? <o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /> </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">More pigs and poultry "will lead to more, cheaper food, which is on the whole good for poor people. At the same time, they may lead to more disease, which is bad. Scientists can provide evidence, but societies need to have a conversation about the benefits, risks and trade-offs for keeping livestock,” Delia Grace, a researcher at the livestock research institute and lead author of the new study, told IRIN via email.<br /> <br /> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"For sure, there are both benefits and harms associated with producing any food type. It is important to factor in the cost of disease when assessing the benefits of more livestock, and to support systems which are "disease-proofed" - that is, designed in such a way as to minimize disease risks,” she noted.<br /> <br /> “We already have some ideas on how to do this. However, more livestock food (which could be milk and eggs, not just meat) has great potential in alleviating the 'hidden hunger' of micro-nutrient deficiency, which is such a huge problem in India and other countries." <o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Livestock can bring advantages. "At least one in two poor households benefits from livestock-keeping, and the benefits are big - [they can contribute from] 12 to 38 percent of household income. Our best estimates are that at least half the poor families get a quarter of their income from livestock - that's big! Poor people don't get much of their calories from livestock, but livestock products are not best used in providing calories - cheap staple foods, like rice, are better for that,” Grace pointed out.<br /> <br /> "But livestock can provide high biological value protein, and vitamins and minerals that staple foods are deficient in. Hence, a contribution of 6-36 percent of total protein in the diet is quite important. But we certainly need more research on the appropriate role of livestock products in the diets of the poor, and especially of children. We are currently looking at which type of production is best for poor children's nutrition: is it milk and dairy, or fish, or monogastric [animals with a single stomach, like pigs and poultry]?"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Prevention<br /> <br /> </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Public agricultural extension services to support farmers in developing countries need to step up to prevent the growth and transmission of zoonoses. "They [extension services] have been neglected and underfunded in many countries. There is also an important role for the media, and for NGOs and civil society. We find that many people in the food chain are 'well-intentioned but ill-informed', and big improvements are possible if people are given more information and simple solutions, like… cheap tests for food safety,” Grace said.<o:p></o:p></span><br /> <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" dir="LTR" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"The ongoing technology revolution offers great opportunity for this. For example, encouraging people to report diseases and get advice using special mobile phone apps [applications], or thermo-sensitive stickers that change colour if food is kept at the wrong temperature," she wrote in her email.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

FOOD: More Milk and Meat at a Price

Photo:  Zofeen Ebrahim/IRIN Poultry is often kept and sold in unhygienic conditions in south Asian countries like India JOHANNESBURG ...

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INDIA: Urban Women Say Career Comes First

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama): The majority of young working women in urban India are putting off plans to start a family as they put career and professional ambitions ahead of motherhood, a survey by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and India (ASSOCHAM) revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Ambitious working women in India are not willing to give up their career for the sake of family as they are apprehensive about dealing with stress and emotional distress associated with issues of work/life balance,” ASSOCHAM’s secretary general D.S. Rawat said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The ASSOCHAM under the aegis of ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF) carried out a random survey of 1,200 married, young full-time working women without children and 800 stay-at-home mothers in the 24-30 age group at urban centres of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune from March to April.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over half of married, young working women in the urban centres said they have shelved plans to start a family as career advancement and higher education is their priority and were unable to sacrifice the same to raise kids, the survey highlighted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Household chores, social commitments and other obligations make raising kids a delicate balancing act for women with successful careers,” said Rawat in a statement here Friday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">About 10 per cent said they work to lead a better lifestyle and need to accumulate enough wealth before they start a family and cope with rising childcare costs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A total of 200 respondents from the working women category said they have put off plans to have a baby as it would disfigure their physical appearance, while 70 of them said they are too young to be a mother.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">However, about 20 per cent of these said they have made a mutual decision with their spouse in that they would accomplish their career goals first before starting a family.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many working women said they work primarily out of passion for their career and to hone their organisational skills.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The survey said about 220 respondents from this category said they have no qualms in going for the family way and becoming a mother would make them feel happier and fulfilled and are not fearful of the effect motherhood might have on their career.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of the 800 stay-at-home moms interviewed, about 25 per cent said they regretted not being able to work as they are less educated, have limited job skills and find it hard to make both ends meet due to rising cost of living.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">About 80 women said they regretted motherhood as they have lost their social identity, the survey revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It also said about 15 per cent said they had previously worked but quit their successful careers and had chosen a family life over their job as it was becoming a conflict of priorities. -NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

INDIA: Urban Women Say Career Comes First

NEW DELHI (NNN-Bernama): The majority of young working women in urban India are putting off plans to start a family as they put career an...

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Briefing: The right way forward for Afghan refugees?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqUXwj9dlGRfdKA7p9JqShqdIVMi9epm655nwMMT_EquoZxdMrg3ZkcwN_nPwrp4W7m2TnobGaXGEZ4OYXA_hEnATThWgZ2UnKLn3x_goV0Ap4ggHbzpQqCfwa0R_PHcrQARSjYe22zis/s1600/201202230712400032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqUXwj9dlGRfdKA7p9JqShqdIVMi9epm655nwMMT_EquoZxdMrg3ZkcwN_nPwrp4W7m2TnobGaXGEZ4OYXA_hEnATThWgZ2UnKLn3x_goV0Ap4ggHbzpQqCfwa0R_PHcrQARSjYe22zis/s1600/201202230712400032.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">Photo: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Heba Aly/IRIN</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-themecolor: text1;">Afghan returnees from Pakistan line up for assistance<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /> </div></td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">DUBAI (IRIN) - As a meeting of representatives of the Afghan, Iranian and Pakistani governments and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) opened to discuss a new strategy for dealing with the most protracted refugee crisis in the world, NGOs working in Afghanistan raised a number of questions about the new approach.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The so-called Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees, to support Voluntary Repatriation, Sustainable Reintegration ad Assistance to Host Countries is an agreement between the three governments on a way forward for the 2.7 million Afghans registered as refugees in Iran and Pakistan; the estimated 2.4-3.4 million unregistered Afghans living in the two countries; and the nearly 6 million Afghans – one quarter of its population – who have returned from exile to very difficult circumstances. (See IRIN’s recent In-Depth look at the realities on the ground). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The two-day meeting in Geneva, which started on 2 May, invited international stakeholders – donors, diplomats, international organizations, aid agencies and others – to endorse the new approach, at a cost of nearly US$2 billion, which seeks to improve conditions in communities of origin in Afghanistan to encourage returns while supporting communities which host Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan, and providing Afghans in exile with skills training to help them upon their return to Afghanistan. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">One key component of the plan’s implementation is to improve up to 48 areas of high return in Afghanistan by creating “model villages” through coordinated community-based development: building schools, clinics, water canals, providing access to land and shelter, and creating livelihood opportunities. The goal is to improve the quality of life of returnees to the levels enjoyed by their local counterparts and to create an environment in which refugees are more willing to return to their areas of origin. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But there are some concerns about how the strategy is to be implemented. Below are some of the key points up for discussion and clarification: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Is it the right time to encourage returns to Afghanistan? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Pakistan and Iran have hosted Afghan refugees for decades and have complained that they cannot continue to shoulder the burden of a massive refugee crisis indefinitely. But is now the right time to encourage refugees to return to Afghanistan? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Deteriorating security conditions mean reintegration efforts over the past 10 years have failed to provide tangible dividends for returning refugees,” says a discussion paper drafted by NGOs in Afghanistan. “Repatriation may not be the panacea many initially hoped for.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Ongoing insecurity has internally displaced nearly half a million Afghans. Some displaced people say they would not return to their areas of origin, even if security conditions improved, because of a lack of government services and employment opportunities. Many refugees who have returned have migrated to the cities, or returned to Pakistan or Iran when they could not find work. And in the midst of all this, international security forces are drawing down their troop presence in a transition period that could well trigger a return to all-out civil war. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The International Crisis Group says under such conditions, a big influx of returning refugees could be de-stabilizing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The strategy itself says “conditions in Afghanistan are too severe to support continued large-scale repatriation” and yet it refers on several occasions to voluntary repatriation as the preferred solution. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We are in an important period of transition in Afghanistan that is characterized by uncertainty,” Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told the conference on 2 May. “Afghan refugees have shown that they vote with their feet when conditions for return are conducive … We have a collective responsibility to support and facilitate their legitimate aspirations.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But UNHCR says the strategy is not aimed at trucking in masses of people. Its estimate for the number of returns in 2012 is about 120,000, up from last year’s 68,000, but far below the numbers during the first half of the last decade. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">According to the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR), a coordination of national and international NGOs, most Afghan refugees are in a ‘wait and see’ mode during the transition period. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Is there enough baseline data? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The solutions strategy says the government of Iran and UNHCR will profile the refugee population in order to allow the establishment of model villages in Afghanistan to which they can return. But NGOs say this research should have been done before embarking on an “expensive hypothesis”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">They say more data and community consultation is needed to assess whether refugees really want to return; whether they want to go back to their areas of origin; and what they would need in order to fully re-integrate – such that solutions are crafted from the perspective of the user, not the designer, as Wael Ibrahim, head of ACBAR, put it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Suzanne Murray Jones, senior UNHCR advisor working on the Solutions Strategy, acknowledges that “in an ideal world, this should have been done before, but we saw the political will of the three governments for discussing this now. It’s a matter of striking while the iron is hot. They were ready to engage, so we acted as a catalyst.” She said refugees are required by law to return to their areas of origin, which are all known in detailed refugee profiling done in both Pakistan and Iran. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“This is not the be-all and end-all. We are just saying a new paradigm is necessary. [Refugee re-integration] hasn’t been working for the last 10 years. We need to re-evaluate and improve the approach…If this works in the next 2-3 years, replicate it in other areas.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But some aid workers say this is an example of policy-making in reverse order. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Most remaining refugees are urbanized and/or born in exile. Why is the strategy focused on areas of origin? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Some 125,000 Afghans are born in Pakistan and Iran every year. In Iran, 97 percent of Afghan refugees live in urban areas. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Deteriorating security conditions mean reintegration efforts over the past 10 years have failed to provide tangible dividends for returning refugees. Repatriation may not be the panacea many initially hoped for.“The strategy is premised around the idea that Afghan refugees should return to place of origin,” said Dan Tyler, protection and advocacy adviser with the Norwegian Refugee Council in the Afghan capital, Kabul. “But all the evidence shows that when you try to return people who have been exiled for generations to their place of origin, it is very difficult to re-integrate.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The profile of the Afghan refugee caseloads in Pakistan and Iran today is different than that of the many who returned between 2002 and 2005. Those who chose not to return then, even when Afghanistan was safer, may have less institutional, family and social ties to Afghanistan, and may not have land or housing. “ For many, returning to rural places of origin, whether or not there are livelihood opportunities, is not really relevant,” Tyler told IRIN. For some, “they’ve never lived in these areas.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“We’re not talking about people who are going to return. We’re talking about people who have already returned,” said Murray Jones. “We are trying to assist those who have already returned, to assist villages whose coping mechanisms have already been stretched to the nth degree.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Besides she told IRIN, the government does not allow UNHCR to assist displaced Afghans living in urban settlements, apart from temporary shelter and some household items, because “the government does not want them there.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But Tyler says more effort should be invested in adequate urban planning. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Urban migration is a major coping response for a population...It’s not something you try and prevent. It’s something you can try and respond to.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Will return really be voluntary? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">NGOs also fear the strategy could give the government of Iran and Pakistan “a green light to... aggressively pursue repatriation efforts,” the draft paper says. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The Pakistani government has noted that it will not extend residency cards for Afghan refugees, which expire at the end of 2012. Both Iran and Pakistan have previously deported undocumented Afghans. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Is it a coincidence that this is happening right before the conference?” asked ACBAR’s Ibrahim. “Are they building the case that they can no longer afford them?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But according to Murray Jones, Pakistan has said it was never going to extend the residency cards past 2012. She said she hoped the conference will help bolster the political support need to maintain asylum space there. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Is this strategy politicized? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">"The ability for refugees to return in safety and dignity and become productive citizens in their communities upon return is also integral to the stability and progress of Afghanistan," Guterres said at the start of the conference, according to Reuters. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The joint strategy similarly notes that improving the quality of life of returnees is critical for the “stability and security” of Afghanistan – language that makes some people uncomfortable. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The timing of the strategy plays into the transition rhetoric,” Tyler said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">International forces have argued during the transition process that the Afghan government is increasingly in a position to take care of itself. Pakistan and Iran can now argue that this should extend to refugees as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“The reason there’s been a lot of reaction on this are some of the wider political conditions around the timing of the strategy and the possible messages that it sends,” Tyler said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Murray Jones says the goal is to work with both countries to preserve a space for refugees. “God forbid things explode in 2014/15, we don’t want those borders closed, which they could very well be.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Why not put more effort into alternative solutions in Pakistan and Iran? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br /> </span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4YZGGrRtfCQZ3CqybQfdqnrTsTfehmaVO2I8Z60bHb9NG5D9HO8Nmuq-5_xtPzG6Z9L2tfWVQtl5QKzRi2my177rv33hSXL88uj_VyfHqBrAK6Kcl2Ew7h9PRvmrjsQBb7KTQ2DR7wv0/s1600/201205021310340965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4YZGGrRtfCQZ3CqybQfdqnrTsTfehmaVO2I8Z60bHb9NG5D9HO8Nmuq-5_xtPzG6Z9L2tfWVQtl5QKzRi2my177rv33hSXL88uj_VyfHqBrAK6Kcl2Ew7h9PRvmrjsQBb7KTQ2DR7wv0/s1600/201205021310340965.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Heba Aly/IRIN</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Many returnees fail to re-integrate, UNHCR says </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /> </div></td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">UNHCR admits the strategy doesn’t address in any detail alternative durable solutions, like legalized migration and naturalization. But UNHCR felt that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” as Murray Jones put it. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“It’s certainly not a complete strategy. But it’s the best that we could get from the three governments that are actually sitting around the same table [for the first time]…This is a consensus. Whilst we would have liked to have [included economic migration], we would rather have this basis of consensus between three governments as a starting line and see if we can build on that moving forward.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A 2010 Pakistani government strategy for dealing with Afghan refugees did refer to regularizing the legal stay of Afghans in Pakistan as one long-term solution. Pakistan has since backed off from that position, but observers say Iran and Pakistan both recognize they need laborers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Is this the best way to spend a lot of money in such tight financial times? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The overall strategy – including projects in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan – is expected to cost around $2 billion, with $863 million needed for the Afghan component. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">The proposed strategy spends “disproportionately large amounts of resources through an alternative off-budget mechanism outside of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund to a statistically small sample of the population,” the ACBAR paper said, making “the sustainability of any intervention questionable.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But Murray Jones said the $863 million reflects the needs of 3.7 million returnees in 19 provinces, as calculated by the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations, in consultation with other ministries and UN agencies. It was simply a “number-crunching exercise just to have a handle on the enormity of it.” She said the majority of that money would be spent through development programmes, primarily the National Priority Programmes (NPPs). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">UNHCR’s project, in conjunction with UNDP to improve 48 model villages, reaching some 600,000 people, will cost $180 million, she said, and come from UNHCR and UNDP funds already available. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“$180 million for 48 sites. That’s $3.75 million a site. One site on average is 12,000 people. That’s a lot of money for a humanitarian like me. But colleagues at UNDP say that’s peanuts for doing development work. We are trying to bridge the gap.” She said she hopes money spent in this coordinated approach will be more cost-effective. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">An earlier proposal to create a new Multi-Donor Trust Fund was ditched when found to be unpopular, Murray Jones said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Why not work through already existing government programmes? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Government programmes like the National Solidarity Programme (NSP), the Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS), and the NPPs, already provide a framework through which to develop the country, critics argue. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“Endorsing a new strategy ahead of the national strategy is counter-productive and dangerous: it risks creating severe inconsistencies,” the NGO paper said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">UNHCR Representative in Afghanistan, Peter Nicolaus, said in December that UNHCR’s approach to refugee re-integration was “the biggest mistake UNHCR ever made…We thought if we gave humanitarian assistance then macro-development would kick in." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">UNHCR says it has realized that existing systems have not worked. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">For Ibrahim, that’s all the reason to work harder to make it work, “rather than create an alternative system. It’s not sustainable and expensive.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But UNHCR says it has identified 13 NPPs that are relevant to returnees and Vice-President Mohammad Qasim Fahim is working with ministries to prioritize returnees within those programmes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Murray Jones says returnees still need special attention, in additional to national programmes that may include them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“If you mainstream a group too much, they become invisible. Twenty-five percent of the country of Afghanistan is returnees. They shouldn’t be invisible.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Observers say the pace of action in government is slow, and made worse by corruption and nepotism. So UNHCR and UNDP – in coordination with partners – will go ahead and build schools and clinics, in coordination with the relevant ministries, who will supply the necessary teachers and doctors. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Are returnees really the most vulnerable people in Afghanistan? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">While refugees may return to Afghanistan with new skills learned abroad, they return to environments where those skills cannot be used, and a recent UNHCR survey found that 60 percent of returnees lived in worse conditions than their local counterparts. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But with internal displacement rising exponentially in 2011 and expected to worsen further in 2012, some wonder whether returnees should really be the central focus. While some are relieved at the search for longer-term solutions for returnees, other worry that continued humanitarian crises may be overlooked. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There are no statistics in Afghanistan assessing comparative vulnerability, and with many returnees becoming IDPs, it is hard to track anyway. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">While UNHCR has been pushing the Solutions Strategy, it has also continued work on IDPs, with what it calls a landmark agreement by the government in March to draft an IDP policy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">But given one-quarter of the population has returned from exile, it is an important segment of the population to prioritize, Murray Jones maintained. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">“These people should not be forgotten.” <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Briefing: The right way forward for Afghan refugees?

Photo:  Heba Aly/IRIN Afghan returnees from Pakistan line up for assistance DUBAI (IRIN) - As a meeting of representatives of the Afgha...

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MALI: Rebellion Claims a President

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fPcptibS9Ionu13Rzy2Vndn-Athgw8ERElqIAN6Q2vS7mnIeUU69BepQ2F3_gDqE1wshwkibAXSKxCkmCSC0-b1VBBwQXQ2LoGhjOqP1ZjyGlIwZ6RAH9ilouEMhUUfQ4jOG68-p0kE/s1600/201203220959050813.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8fPcptibS9Ionu13Rzy2Vndn-Athgw8ERElqIAN6Q2vS7mnIeUU69BepQ2F3_gDqE1wshwkibAXSKxCkmCSC0-b1VBBwQXQ2LoGhjOqP1ZjyGlIwZ6RAH9ilouEMhUUfQ4jOG68-p0kE/s1600/201203220959050813.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Photo:  <a href="http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo/detail.jsp?app=1&lang=en&id=475/475479&key=1&query=Mali&lang=en&sf="><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Just-ousted President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré<o:p></o:p></span></i></div></td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">BAMAKO (IRIN) - Former Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré, overthrown this morning by mutinous soldiers, said recently that tackling recalcitrant Tuareg rebels in the north is going to be an ongoing task for future governments. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The problems of the north have been with us for 50 years now… Our elders dealt with them; we are tackling them, and the younger generation will continue to do the same. This is not going to be over tomorrow,” he told Radio France Internationale. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Touré’s successor government, the Comité national pour le redressement de la démocratie et la restauration de la démocratie et la restauration de l’état (CNRDRE), led by army captain Amadou Sango, has dissolved state institutions, suspended the constitution, reportedly arrested several ministers, taken over the state broadcaster, and announced a curfew. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">CNRDRE says it has brought an end to “an incompetent regime” and singled out Touré’s “incapacity to manage the crisis in the north of the country… and to fight terrorism”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There have been persistent complaints from soldiers of inadequate supplies and military hardware, poor direction and strategic planning and a sense of abandonment for those on the frontline, fighting a war that could and should have been prevented. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Touré, 63, having first taken power aged 42, had planned to retire gracefully, leaving after a second-five year term, as stipulated in the constitution. Until recently, he had been adamant that presidential elections scheduled for the end of April would take place, that there was no question of the military situation forcing an emergency transitional government, and that he was looking forward to retirement and more time with his family. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The current situation has an ironic symmetry. Touré’s first period in office after overthrowing military ruler Moussa Traoré in March 1991 began against a background of revolt in the north and ended in June 1992 just after a Pacte Nationale was signed by the government and representatives of Tuareg resistance movements fighting for a separate territory. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Twenty years later, the long-term solutions put forward in that agreement - decentralization, reconciliation and bringing resources and development to some of the country’s most isolated regions - have not taken hold. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many Malians from different communities believe Touré responsible for the current crisis, alleging that the promises did not turn into concrete developments, too many projects were left on the drawing board, and too much of the funding was never accounted for. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Arsenal from Libya <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having dealt messily with an earlier insurgency, signing an inconclusive peace agreement in February 2009, Touré’s beleaguered army found itself up against a much better organized rebel movement, flush with an arsenal taken from Libya. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The new, largely Tuareg force, the Mouvement National pour la liberation de l’Azawad (MNLA), initiated hostilities with an attack on Ménaka in the far east of the country on 17 January, following this up with a series of strikes on small towns spread across a vast expanse of the north: Léré, Niafunké, Aguel-hoc, Tessalit. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While Touré reorganized his senior command, and military communiqués pointed to a rapid recovery of lost territory, there has been little evidence in recent weeks of the national army gaining ground. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There was a serious warning for the government when widows of soldiers killed in the north demonstrated in the garrison town of Kati, 15km outside the capital, on 1 February, marching with the clear support of sections of the military. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Civil society activists have talked of the need for Malians to come together and draw on a long history of peaceful coexistence, but have warned the situation is much more complex than before, not least because parts of the north now dominated by a flourishing illicit economy that appears strongly linked to Islamist “terrorist” networks, notably Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“This only confirms what I have believed all along”, said Mohamed Ag Ossade, reacting to the overnight coup in Mali. “All Mali’s children have to come and sit down together. We need to talk to each other now more than ever.” For three years, Ag Ossade has run TAMUST, the Tuareg Cultural Centre in Bamako, the capital. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">TAMUST plays host to curious visitors, but has also been a successful concert venue and the site is dominated by a vast tent housing Tuareg cultural artefacts, swords and jewellery. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mixing <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ag Ossade is proud of his Tamsheq heritage, but also a firm champion of the concept of `brassage’ (mixing), pointing out that Mali’s ethnic groups have lived together and intermarried for centuries, and that one of the country’s abiding strengths is its diversity. “No culture can thrive in isolation,” Mohamed told IRIN. “People have to know each other.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He says he has found the events of the past few months distressing and frustrating. “I have friends and family fighting on both sides. They should put an end to this wretched piece of cinema now.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the major fears since even before the conflict began is that revived tensions in the north would lead to inter-ethnic violence in the south. Both Tuareg and Arab communities in the capital have expanded significantly in recent years, partly because of the prevailing poverty and lack of opportunities in the north. Many have fled, Mohamed acknowledged, but stressed that: “nobody has been killed as far as I know and people should be wary of rumours and exaggeration”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /> </div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br /> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /> </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuErETOoqkQb0j7Blvqj6bejzEj_AuNd7V7tbRqUi6SA3si3Zhyphenhyphen_RpGPJi4cHflMN7mVvPKZNgkiYblArgr3pb_hxtqjDuOipPtz-Cmd6tzq29KYc6nfWx51IIs38mZxe8vpDhiJMFEY0/s1600/201203221119390336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuErETOoqkQb0j7Blvqj6bejzEj_AuNd7V7tbRqUi6SA3si3Zhyphenhyphen_RpGPJi4cHflMN7mVvPKZNgkiYblArgr3pb_hxtqjDuOipPtz-Cmd6tzq29KYc6nfWx51IIs38mZxe8vpDhiJMFEY0/s1600/201203221119390336.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Photo: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/" target="_blank">Nancy Palus/IRIN</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">A Tuareg clinic in Kati, outside Bamako, that was recently ransacked.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Turmoil erupted 21 March in Mali when Defence Minister<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;">Sadio Gassama visited a military camp in Kati</span></div></span></td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There were ugly demonstrations in early February, particularly in Kati, as anger over government troop casualties spilled over into attacks on prominent Tuaregs. Malians have bitter memories of rebellions in the 1960s and 1990s, and of how easily armed attacks in one location could bring on a cycle of reprisals and counter-reprisals in another. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People watch out for echoes of the mid-1990s when Ganda Koye (“masters of the land”), a self-defence militia drawn mainly from the Songhai community, took up arms, targeting Tuaregs and Arabs. The latest rebellion has not, so far, triggered that kind of confrontation, although there have been hints of an anti-Tuareg backlash in areas like Gao with a past history of inter-ethnic tension. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Politicians from Touré down spoke out against `les amalgams’ or half-truths that can be used by troublemakers to stir up hate campaigns, using the rebellion as a pretext for ethnic pogroms. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Presidential candidate Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, known to Malians as IBK, made sure that his condemnations of the rebellion were combined with appeals for moderation, pointing out that “the overwhelming majority of communities in the north live in peace and want to contribute to the development of the nation”. IBK called for a special conference on the north, a proposal which has been endorsed by other politicians, religious leaders and civil society organizations. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The faith in dialogue is shared by some outsiders. Prior to the events of 21 March, a Western diplomat confidently observed that: “sorting things out, finding a consensus, that’s in Mali’s DNA”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But there were concerns too about the potential for breakdown.”People often say: “enough is enough, no more peace conferences, we must see this thing through until the end”, said Jean de Dieu Dakouo, Director-General of the Centre Djoliba, in Bamako, which specializes in conflict resolution. “But they don’t think through what they are saying”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With a curfew in place and the capital in shutdown mode, it is difficult to gauge the impact of the coup. “Our main priority for now is working out what is going on”, a Bamako-based diplomat acknowledged. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Displacement and food insecurity <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Watching with particular concern are aid agencies. The coup comes at a critical time in terms of food assistance. The north, west and several other parts of the country are experiencing severe food insecurity due to erratic rains and a poor harvest in 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As the conflict goes into a third month, relief organizations like the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF) have consistently highlighted the need for food, shelter, water and medical care for the 100,000 who have fled across the borders, while stressing the pressure placed on the regions taking in the influx. Northern Burkina Faso, southern Mauritania, western Niger and parts of Senegal are all grappling with serious food insecurity and malnutrition that are likely to escalate in the coming months. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But there has also been massive internal displacement inside Mali, with 93,500 making it to provincial centres, like Gao, Tomboctou and Kidal, while others remain on the fringes of conflict areas, like Aguel-hoc and Tessalit, according to UNHCR. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Germain Mwehu of the ICRC, speaking to IRIN from Niamey, capital of Niger, Mali’s southern neighbour, cited the example of Ménaka, in eastern Mali, the first target of a rebel attack on 17 January and now held by the MNLA. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Many people made for the border with Niger,” Mwehu told IRIN. “Many of those who stayed are living on the periphery of the town. Food and shelter are our priorities and this in an area very vulnerable to drought.” The ICRC has serious concerns about access to people in the more isolated areas and for the security of its staff. Mwehu also talked of the psychological burdens facing the target population. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“People in Ménaka are very stressed about not knowing what to do. Should they try to leave for Niger? Should they stay put? Will the conflict resume? Will the government look to stage an offensive?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aid agencies <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even before the rebellion, international and national NGOs operating in the north faced security scares and access issues, sometimes being forced into a temporary suspension of activities or the withdrawal of expatriate staff. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Médecins du Monde (MDM) was forced to scale down its activities in response to worsening security in February 2012, but was able to resume in early March. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">François Fille, MDM’s Security Focal Point, says his organisation, like other NGOs in Mal, is still taking stock of the coup. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“At the moment, our teams in displacement camps in the north are working”, File emphasized. “There has been no harassment. They are able to access our beneficiaries. That is the situation as of now”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">François Fille, MDM’s security focal point, says his organization, like other NGOs in Mali, is still taking stock of the coup. “At the moment, our teams in displacement camps in the north are working”, Fille emphasized. “There has been no harassment. They are able to access our beneficiaries. That is the situation as of now”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But Fille said nothing could be taken as guaranteed. "We are very concerned about the situation and what could happen now with the coup in Bamako." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">MDM has been able to run its nutritional and medical activities unimpeded, gaining access to populations in both MNLA and government-held areas. "Until now, we haven't noticed extra controls from both sides and hope it won't change in the future". <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">NGOs often have to prioritize humanitarian operations ahead of development work, and there are longer-term concerns too: how will the costs of military campaigns affect government budgets in a year of huge food security problems? “There are going to be three million people affected by the food security problems in Mali come April [2012],” warned Abdoulaye Samoura, advocacy officer with Oxfam in Bamako. “There is a danger that the government will put all its political, financial and decision-making capacity into sorting out the crisis in the north.” <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Numerous small-scale development projects, covering everything from irrigation to governance, operate in isolated, war-affected zones like Kidal. “If there is no security in the north, how can the projects they need there be made to work?” asked Mohamed Ag Ossade. “Resorting to arms will never help a country to develop.” <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

MALI: Rebellion Claims a President

Photo:   Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo Just-ousted President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré BAMAKO (IRIN) - Former Malian President Amadou Tou...

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Development: Microfinance - possibilities and limitations

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3kuWBIMDShj8_mjqA9CXfbXn90Wyg8NyWmGHZyHRPSMdr9dkINPJ_Wf0J50CXMGesQI9PtiYui9U8LKLkfbQSBMrZRTIihirXcAge-f8odILFYPUXOAVms8QQTtluiff1FkYlvm8bCRg/s1600/201106081516360437.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3kuWBIMDShj8_mjqA9CXfbXn90Wyg8NyWmGHZyHRPSMdr9dkINPJ_Wf0J50CXMGesQI9PtiYui9U8LKLkfbQSBMrZRTIihirXcAge-f8odILFYPUXOAVms8QQTtluiff1FkYlvm8bCRg/s1600/201106081516360437.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN<u1:p></u1:p></span></i><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">Benefits in the balance? Small-scale gold trader,<span class="apple-converted-space"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">Ankavandra</span></i></st1:city><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 10pt;">,<span class="apple-converted-space"> <st1:country-region u2:st="on"></st1:country-region></span><st1:country-region w:st="on">Madagascar</st1:country-region></span></i></st1:place><i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><br /> </div></td></tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">LONDON</span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> (IRIN) - The scope of microfinance to lift poor people out of poverty and provide mechanisms of empowerment is being challenged as questions are raised about the supporting evidence.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">In a discussion hosted by the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the academic evidence was concluded to be unclear, unreliable and inconclusive.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"[There is] no clear evidence that microfinance has any positive or negative impacts," said Maren Duvendack, ODI fellow and author of a recent systematic review of microfinance, while David Roodman, of the Centre for Global Development, added: "I [wouldn't] say microfinance doesn't work, I would say it does not systematically reduce poverty. We do not have credible academic evidence that microcredit on average lifts people out of poverty... We [also] do not have evidence that microfinance is systematically making people worse off." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Range of services <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I think a lot of people think that microfinance equals microcredit [providing small loans]," Duvendack told IRIN. "[Microfinance is] not just credit and savings, [but also] insurance, business skills, training, financial literacy." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Most studies consider the impact of microcredit, but Roodman suggested another of the microfinance portfolio products - microsavings - could have positive impacts on poverty reduction. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Duvendack, however, who is completing a study on the impact of microsavings, said it showed no significant benefits over microcredit. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Microfinance risks <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The predominance of microcredit as a microfinance tool could be a significant<o:p></o:p></span></div><table align="right" border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #eeeeee; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1pt; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 6pt; margin-right: 6pt; margin-top: -0.75pt; width: 280px;"><tbody> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt;"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #006699; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 9.0pt;">"This year, I expect even a larger profit"<o:p></o:p></span></b></div></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: initial; border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt;" valign="top"> <div class="MsoNormal"><br /> </div></td> <td style="border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-style: initial; border: none; padding: 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 3.75pt; width: 200.25pt;" width="267"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #006699; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /> Just three years ago, Shila Rani Mazumder and her husband were struggling to make ends meet in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Her husband earned just US$3 per day as a carpenter and she worried she would never be able to send her two children to school.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> "Each month, we were short of money. Quarrelling became a regular part of our daily life," the 31-year-old told IRIN.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> In 2010, she learned about a microfinance initiative in her village to help poor people and decided to take a chance. With a loan of $63 payable over one year, she invested in growing vegetables in their fields. She was also provided agriculture, fisheries and livestock training by the microcredit organization.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> "After one year, I paid back the loan and earned a good profit," she said.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> In 2011, she borrowed another $360 and is working to pay that back now. "This year, I expect even a larger profit," she said. But the dividends are already being realized in other ways; both children now attend school.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> Many people in the Adampur village in Comilla District, 60km east of the capital Dhaka, have changed their lives with the help of micro credit from the Centre for Community Development Assistance (CCDA), a local NGO, which has been operating providing microfinance for poor people in Bangladesh since 1992.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> According to CCDA, close to 2,300 residents, mostly women, in Mazumder's village receive microcredit support, with almost 100 percent repayment rates. Across <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region></st1:place>, the organization is supporting close to 60,000 people by providing microfinance support, offering one-year loans at 24.72 percent interest per year.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> MA Samad, executive director of CCDA, said farmers in the area needed money at certain times of the year, particularly in September and October.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> "The micro-finance support is helping the farmers in the area. Many poor people have changed their lives with the help of microcredit," he said, noting that it was not easy for them to get loans and microcredit was largely the only option available to them.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /> <br /> He denied that the interest rate was high. "Before the introduction of microfinance, people used to take loans from 'mohajan' [informal money lender] and they often charged even two or three times the amount microfinance organization charge," Samad said.<o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr> </tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> hindrance to poverty reduction, as the risk of indebtedness is high. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According to another ODI fellow, Milford Bateman, micro-enterprise failure after funding with microcredit can strip poor people of all their remaining assets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"It is the overall lack of access to credit for small and medium enterprises that prevents micro-enterprises growing into anything more substantive," Bateman added in an ODI paper. Microfinance initiatives have provided a social legitimacy for poor people to become indebted, commented Bateman, and the commercial business model has meant high interest rates for microcredit. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"Microfinance institutes [are] now required to generate high financial rewards for their managers (salaries, bonuses) and owners/shareholders (dividends and capital gains)," Bateman explained. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"The fear is that significant financial flows are flowing out of the poorest communities, rather than being retained and recycled within them to underpin productive investment as the precursor to an escape from poverty." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Consensus is growing that microcredit should not be offered to the poorest of the poor due to the risk of harm, said Ruth Stewart of the Social Science Research Unit at the Institute of Education, University of London, at a London International Development Centre event. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Limitations and advances <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The limitations in evidence of microfinance for poverty reduction result from poor study design and unreliable data, despite more than 30 years' experience. Hopes remain that robust and well-designed research, including randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews, will provide clearer conclusions in coming years. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Microfinance initiatives will not be successful in a vacuum, according to Duvendack. They will need to operate as part of a broader poverty reduction strategy with appropriate large- and small-scale economic frameworks to support advancement for poor people. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Another forthcoming systematic review by Duvendack will also show no benefits of microfinance as a tool to empower poor women, although it does increase recognition of poor people as consumers of financial services, and can result in the development of regulatory frameworks around consumer rights. These factors were argued as possible forms of empowerment and new regulatory frameworks for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region> were cited. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"There are indigenous models and we need to investigate these models," said Will Derben, head of community relations at Barclays Africa. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Indigenous community models to provide finance for poor people, like the Susu men in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ghana</st1:place></st1:country-region>, have been overlooked during implementation of microfinance tools. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Potential customers, as well as existing community models, need to be better understood so as to be better supported by microfinance initiatives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Also overlooked, Duvendack told IRIN, may have been other potentially important financial tools, such as targeted welfare programmes, conditional cash transfer programmes, or small-scale agricultural growth programmes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I think we need more studies to be clearer about what is the actual impact of the various products," said Duvendack. "Do we have to have credit plus savings together or savings alone, or credit alone - or what is it now?" <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Growth <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">By 2008, the microfinance industry had grown to include at least 2,420 microfinance institutes in 117 countries, according to microfinance institute exchange; the number continues to grow annually. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Microfinance institutions are able to be relatively self-sufficient, to innovate, to provide jobs and to compete in financial markets. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">For Barclays Africa, Derban said, "Microfinance is a concept. It's about finding that balance between providing a financial service that will improve people's lives but yet be viable commercially. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We need to provide financial services and we need to find ways of improving the system. Everybody wants to be banked." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">To maintain a balance between doing social good and implementing successful financial products, Derban explained, Barclays Africa combines its commercial expertise with regulations bound to the philanthropic budget used to invest in community projects. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"I think it used to be the case where a lot of people that came into the microfinance sector came via the NGO route, where it's all about helping. [Now] we're seeing... more commercial people are coming in." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Regulation <o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"Certainly we shouldn't just let the market do its own thing," added Roodman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> "Government does need to play a major role, setting the rules of the game and ensuring that it stays on an even keel." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Continuing to increase funds invested in microfinance, Roodman reflected, would not only be unnecessary, but could also potentially create harmful "microcredit bubbles". <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">"We cannot assume that more is always better. The amount of money going into microcredit these days poses the largest threat to the largest strength of microfinance." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Microfinance, argued Roodman, offers "a cautionary tale about putting a lot of money into things where the impacts are not rigorously dealt with". <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Development: Microfinance - possibilities and limitations

Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN Benefits in the balance? Small-scale gold trader, Ankavandra ,   Madagascar LONDON (IRIN) - The scope of microf...

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