[PDF] Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment
Georgia Taylor, Paola Pereznieto
ODI, Social Development Direct, DFID
March 2014

Key Messages
:: Evaluations that explore how interventions (programmes or projects) lead to transformational change in women and girls’ lives, enhancing their power, including control of resources, decision-making and agency, and not simply increased income, provide a more meaningful understanding of women and girls’ economic empowerment.

:: Mixed methods evaluations lead to more useful findings as they consider not only the effects of interventions but also the underlying reasons why they occur. This is especially important for Women and Girls’ Economic Empowerment (WGEE) projects as changes in norms, attitudes and behaviours are difficult to fully understand with quantitative data alone.

:: This review makes practical recommendations for evaluators and researchers to more adequately capture the impacts of interventions on the multiple dimensions of women and girls’ economic empowerment.

:: The review found a gap in knowledge around the economic empowerment of adolescent girls. Also, data and analysis in evaluations are not generally disaggregated by age or stages of the lifecycle.

:: It is essential to undertake a robust context and gender analysis and to have a Theory of Change to guide the evaluation which builds on a holistic approach to Women and Girls’ Economic Empowerment

Land Use Policy
Volume 38,   In Progress (May 2014)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02648377
Available online 14 March 2014

Renegotiating customary tenure reform – Land governance reform and tenure security in Uganda
Mathijs van Leeuwen

Highlights
:: I explore land reform that integrates statutory and customary tenure.
:: I examine what this implies for tenure security of customary landholders.
:: Land reform inevitably feeds into institutional multiplicity and competition, and serves as a venue for the renegotiation of land governing authorities and regulations.
:: In Uganda, through such reform, customary authorities are delegitimized and local norms renegotiated.
:: Tenure security transforms while smallholders are still not protected.

Abstract
In academic and policy debates on how to effectively secure land tenure, an uncompromising belief in the need to formalize and title landownership has increasingly given way to an acknowledgement of the contributions non-state, ‘customary’ or otherwise local institutions may make in securing tenure. However, the question remains as to how different tenure systems may most effectively complement each other. This paper argues that the debate needs to give more attention to the local dynamics and politics of tenure reform, and how reforms are locally renegotiated as part of local institutional competition. It reflects on the case of Uganda, where legislation and policies over the last 15 years have promoted formalizing land titles and modernizing land law in combination with recognizing customary ownership and land governance. Fieldwork in Mbarara District in South-western Uganda shows that, although reforms delay, they increase institutional multiplicity and fuel contestation among local authorities and about the norms applied. Rather than strengthening local mechanisms to make small customary landowners more tenure secure, renegotiating of the reforms results in delegitimizing customary authorities and the reforms do not succeed in ‘modernizing’ the customary rules and conventions applied. Moreover, reforms fail to generate confidence in both statutory and customary land governing authorities as protectors of smallholders’ claims to land.

Hauser Lecture 2014: What can be done in Syria?
10 Mar 2014 – Remarks delivered by IRC President and CEO David Miliband at the New York University School of Law.
David Miliband characterizes the Syrian situation as a “war without law, characterizes how IRC has engaged the humanitarian challenges that continue, and proposes seven priorities to enable “a step change in the level of engagement” among all parties.

  Excerpt – Bolded text by Editor
…I have been asked to address one of the most pressing topics in international politics today: the war in Syria, its impact on the Middle East, and the role of humanitarian organizations like IRC.  UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has called the war “a disgraceful humanitarian calamity with suffering and displacement unparalleled in recent history”.  It deserves more attention than it is getting, so I welcome your interest tonight.

There is a lot of commentary that this seems to be a war without end.  Also that it is a war without limit.  My theme tonight is that what is happening in Syria is an example of a war without law, and the question I address is what if anything can be done.

A bit of history first.  The IRC worked in Syria from 2007 to 2009.  Our work focused on helping the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees who had fled the internecine strife in their home country. We were ordered to leave abruptly by the Syrian government, for reasons that remain unclear.

Since 2011, we have pivoted the organization’s attention towards cross-border work into Syria from its neighbors, and work on behalf of refugees and host communities in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. Through brave work with Syrian partners, we think half a million Syrians inside the country have received medical aid from us, and another half a million benefited from non-medical help, from winterization kits to help families get through the winter to education for displaced children. In the neighboring countries, we are working to provide post trauma support to women who have suffered sexual and domestic violence; health care to refugees and host communities; and cash support and cash for work programs, again for refugees and host communities.  This fiscal year, help for the victims of the Syrian war will become our biggest program, exceeding the $70m we spent in DRC in 2013.

I am immensely proud of the work IRC has done over the last three years.  We are expanding, innovating, delivering every week.  Lives have been saved and improved.  But equally I am in no doubt about the growing gap that exists between need and help.

In the same way that failure to prevent slaughter in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s defined the humanitarian agenda for a generation which came of age in the 1990s, so the failure to meet humanitarian need with appropriate humanitarian action is the collective failure of this decade.  The parallels are quite striking: the failure to address the drivers of the crisis, to halt the crisis, and to mount a humanitarian effort proportionate to the scale of the crisis are common elements….

  …The threat from this war without law is not just to the well-being of millions of Syrians, but also to the progress that has been made since the second world war in establishing laws and norms for the conduct of war.  As this audience knows well, the laws of war represent  the hard-headed learning from some of the most brutal and deadly conflicts of the past two centuries. War will always be bloody and destructive – but there are laws and norms that act to minimize its impact on civilians.  And there is a further dimension.

Despite the inevitable hatred engendered by bloodshed, the laws and norms of war increase the potential for durable peace-making by trying to reduce the emotional, social, human and physical costs on a country and its people.

   In Syria, we see grave and systematic breaches of the laws of war. Civilians are not just caught in the crossfire – they are targeted by barrel bombs, artillery bombardments, snipers, massacres, chemical weapons attacks.  All have rained down on previously quiet residential neighborhoods. And all except chemical weapon attacks continue to rain down after the passage of the recent UN resolution.

Critical civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, clinics, schools and water supplies are bombed without warning. Access to the most basic, life-saving food and medical aid is being denied. Aid workers themselves are in the cross-hairs: 50 have died thus far and others have been kidnapped.

   In a war without law, where the international community seems paralyzed, the road we are currently on leads not to a Dayton or Geneva but to a Vanni, where, in 2009, 350,000 people were bottled up in the few square kilometers of a sandy peninsular, caught between the Tamil Tigers and a Sri Lankan army bent on their eradication.  UN and other independent inquiries have revealed gross abuse of humanitarian law.  The parallels between the end game in Sri Lanka and that in Syria, where major cities such as Aleppo, Homs, Hama and Deir ez-Zor are likewise encircled, seems clear….

..There is one other point that is relevant. This war has been noteworthy for the strong sense among the western public that the best western nations can do is to keep well away.  This has been most evidently the case in respect of the debate about military intervention.  But it has also infected the humanitarian effort.  IRC raised more money from the public in a matter of weeks for the victims of the Philippines disaster than we have raised for the Syrian effort in three years.

These factors have left humanitarian organizations like IRC with challenging dilemmas.  About the safety of our staff; about our interaction with rebel groups as well as the government; about our engagement with the UN on cross-border questions; about where to make our effort amidst the plethora of competing priorities.

We have been guided by the humanitarian values established in 1864: humanity, independence, neutrality, impartiality and universality.  But in truth we have also found tension – even clash – between those values…

Full text: http://www.rescue.org/press-releases/syria-what-can-be-done-18480

UNHCR released a new report – Children on the Run released – noting that “it was concerned at the increasing numbers of children in the Americas forced from their homes and families, propelled by violence, insecurity and abuse in their communities and at home.” The report “also calls on governments to take action to keep children safe from human rights abuses, violence and crime, and to ensure their access to asylum and other forms of international protection.” Shelly Pitterman, UNHCR regional representative in the United States, said, “With violence and insecurity permeating the Americas region, we found a strong link between this unabated situation, new displacement patterns and the children’s reasons for leaving their homes and families to flee northward. They escaped armed actors, generalized and targeted violence in their communities and abuse in their homes.” Based on a 2013 study funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the report “unveils the humanitarian impact of the situation through interviews with more than 400 unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico held in US federal custody.” It shows that the large majority of these children believed they would remain unsafe in their home countries and, as a result, should generally be screened for international protection needs by authorities along the way. http://www.unhcr.org/53206a3d9.html

   :: Report: Children on the Run – Unaccompanied Children Leaving Central America and Mexico and the Need for International Protection
A Study Conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Regional Office for the United States and the Caribbean
Washington, D.C.
March 2014  Full report: http://www.unhcrwashington.org/sites/default/files/UAC_UNHCR_Children%20on%20the%20Run_Full%20Report.pdf

Excerpt from Executive Summary
Since 2009, UNHCR has registered an increased number of asylum-seekers – both children and adults – from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala lodging claims in the Americas region.15

The United States recorded the largest number of new asylum applications out of all countries of asylum, having receiving 85% of the total of new applications brought by individuals from these three countries in 2012. The number of requests for asylum has likewise increased in countries other than the U.S. Combined, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Belize documented a 432% increase in the number of asylum applications lodged by individuals from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. In the United States, the number of adults claiming fear of return to their countries of origin to government officials upon arriving at a port of entry or apprehension at the southern border increased sharply from 5,369 in fiscal year (FY)2009 to 36,174 in FY 2013.16 Individuals from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico account for 70% of this increase.

Beginning in October 2011, the U.S. Government recorded a dramatic rise – commonly referred to in the United States as “the surge” – in the number of unaccompanied and  separated children arriving to the United States from these same three countries – El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The total number of apprehensions of unaccompanied and separated children from these countries by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) jumped from 4,059 in FY 2011 to 10,443 in FY 2012 and then more than doubled again, to 21,537, in FY 2013. At

the same time, a tremendous number of children from Mexico have been arriving to the U.S. over a longer period of time, and although the gap is narrowing as of FY 2013, the number of children from Mexico has far outpaced the number of children from any one of the three Central American countries. For example, in FY 2011, the number of Mexican children apprehended was 13,000, rising to 15,709 in FY 2012 and reaching 18,754 in FY 2013. Unlike the unaccompanied

and separated children arriving to the U.S. from other countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, most of these children were promptly returned to Mexico after no more than a day or two in the custody of the U.S. authorities, making it even more difficult to obtain a full picture of who these children were and why they were coming to the U.S.

With a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, UNHCR Washington undertook an extensive study to examine the reasons why children are displaced from the four countries. While recognizing a significant contextual difference between the situation in Mexico and in the Northern Triangle of Central America, the common denominator is that all four countries are producing high numbers of unaccompanied and separated children seeking protection at the southern border of the United States. UNHCR’s research was to ascertain the connection between the children’s stated reasons, the findings of recent studies on the increasing violence and insecurity in the region, and international protection needs.17 UNHCR Washington conducted individual interviews with 404 unaccompanied or separated children

– approximately 100 from each country – who arrived to the U.S. during or after October 2011 and, in the context of the current regional and national environments and the tremendous number of displaced children arriving to the U.S. from these four countries, analyzed the children’s responses in order to answer two questions:

–       Why are these children leaving their countries of origin?

–       Are any of these children in need of international protection?…

The Chronic Poverty Report 2014-2015: The road to zero extreme poverty
ODI and Chronic Poverty Advisory Network
Authors: Andrew Shepherd, Lucy Scott, Chiara Mariotti, Flora Kessy, Raghav Gaiha, Lucia da Corta, Katharina Hanifnia, Nidhi Kaicker, Amanda Lenhardt, Charles Lwanga-Ntale, Binayak Sen, Bandita Sijapati, Tim Strawson, Ganesh Thapa, Helen Underhill, Leni Wild
March 2014  186 pages

Full Report: http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8834.pdf
Executive Summary: http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/8835.pdf

Preface
With the debate on the post-2015 development framework in full swing, the third international Chronic Poverty Report addresses one key question: what needs to be done to get to (or close to) zero extreme poverty by 2030 – the new goal for global poverty reduction?

The report is the first produced by the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network (CPAN), the successor to the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC), which produced the first two Chronic Poverty Reports. Drawing on ten years of research by the CPRC and others, and on recent policy guides from CPAN, it presents new analysis of what it takes to sustain escapes from poverty; of countries that have succeeded in tackling chronic poverty; and new projections of poverty in 2030.

It presents a tripartite challenge to the world: to get close to zero extreme poverty countries need to tackle chronic poverty, stop impoverishment and ensure that those who manage to escape from poverty sustain their escapes (the poverty ‘tripod’). It also raises the spectre that there may remain a billion people living in extreme poverty in 2030 unless existing policies are implemented robustly and new policies and political commitments are up and running by 2020.

The bulk of the report focuses on the policies needed to get to zero. While there are many such policies, any country could and should be able to generate a selection of the key policies that will work with the national grain, and the report offers a device – the impoverishment index – to help countries determine the priorities that will carry their citizens out of poverty.

IMF POLICY PAPER – FISCAL POLICY AND INCOME INEQUALITY
23 January 2014 (released 13 March 2014)
68 pages
Full report: http://www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2014/012314.pdf

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Fiscal policy is the primary tool for governments to affect income distribution.
Rising income inequality in advanced and developing economies has coincided with growing public support for income redistribution. This comes at a time when fiscal restraint is an important priority in many advanced and developing economies. In the context of the Fund’s mandate to promote growth and stability, this paper describes:

(i) recent trends in the inequality of income, wealth, and opportunity in advanced and developing economies;

(ii) country experience with different fiscal instruments for redistribution;

(iii) options for the reform of expenditure and tax policies to help achieve distributive objectives in an efficient manner that is consistent with fiscal sustainability; and

(iv) recent evidence on how fiscal policy measures can be designed to mitigate the impact of fiscal consolidation on inequality.

This paper does not advocate any particular redistributive goal or policy instrument for fiscal redistribution. Both tax and expenditure policies need to be carefully designed to balance distributional and efficiency objectives, including during fiscal consolidation. The appropriate mix of instruments will depend on administrative capacity, as well as on society’s preferences for redistribution, the role envisaged for the state, and political economy considerations.

Options for redistributive policies that help minimize efficiency costs, in terms of their effects on incentives to work and save, are the following:

:: In advanced economies: (i) using means-testing, with a gradual phasing out of benefits as incomes rise to avoid adverse effects on employment; (ii) raising retirement ages in pension systems, with adequate provisions for the poor whose life expectancy could be shorter; (iii) improving the access of lower-income groups to higher education and maintaining access to health services; (iv) implementing progressive personal income tax (PIT) rate structures; and (v) reducing regressive tax exemptions.

:: In developing economies: (i) consolidating social assistance programs and improving targeting; (ii) introducing and expanding conditional cash transfer programs as administrative capacity improves; (iii) expanding noncontributory means-tested social pensions; (iv) improving access of low-income families to education and health services; and (v) expanding coverage of the PIT. Innovative approaches, such as the greater use of taxes on property and energy (such
as carbon taxes) could also be considered in both advanced and developing economies.

AMREF  [to 15 March 2014]

AMREF Kenya receives matching grant for mHealth Project
AMREF Kenya and WelTel have partnered to secure a $2 million investment to improve patient care and expand the mobile health (mHealth) program across rural Kenya.

Half of the funding, USD$1 million, is from APHIAPLUS IMARISHA, a five year USAID-funded project managed by AMREF Kenya. Grand Challenges Canada, an organization funded by the Government of Canada that supports bold ideas with big impact in global health, has also invested USD$1 million.

Dr. Lennie Kyomuhangi, Country Director, AMREF Kenya notes that the matching grant will take mHealth interventions to a wider beneficiary cohort.

.
AMREF ‏@AMREF_Worldwide Mar 14
@moqami: KMTC Principals commit to support @AMREF_Worldwide #StandUpforAfricanMothers campaign @vikkimwari”

AMREF @AMREF_Worldwide Mar 7
Mulindi-National AIDS Control Council (Kenya) supports AMREF’s partnership with education institutions to strengthen the health workforce.

AMREF USA @AMREFUSA Mar 11
Training women as “Water Engineers” in Kitui, Kenya has raised the health&welfare of entire community http://bit.ly/1iwivnq  #WomenInspire

AMREF USA @AMREFUSA Mar 11
A2: Invest in more girls like @NailanteiN who is working to end #FGM & child marriage http://bit.ly/1lSG1ja  #WomenInspire

AMREF USA @AMREFUSA Mar 10
Our ED will be presenting shortly at @TheWilsonCenter on #WASH Programs as a Strat to Advance #MaternalHealth Watch: http://bit.ly/1kaT1O9

BRAC  [to 15 March 2014]

‘Impact assessment of credit programme for tenant farmers’ workshop
16 March 2014, Dhaka. Based on the findings of the impact assessment of the credit programme for tenant farmers, a national level workshop was held on Saturday, 15 March 2014 at the BRAC centre auditorium. Since its establishment in December 2009, the tenant farmer development project – funded by Bangladesh Bank – provides credit and other support for tenant farmers.The event was attended by the governor of Bangladesh Bank, Dr Atiur Rahman, as the chief guest and chaired by Dr Mahabub Hossain, ad……Read More

BRAC @BRACworld 2h
Follow & send in your questions to Sir Fazle at his session with @GESForum tomorrow! #GESF #gesf2014 #education pic.twitter.com/UJl0bUZiuU

BRAC ‏@BRACworld Mar 14
BRAC #Tanzania announces Commitment to double #youth #girls clubs by the end of 2014 http://bit.ly/1ktbgP4  #Commit100M #globaldev #MDG

BRAC ‏@BRACworld Mar 14
BRAC’s frontline #health worker’s story of a successful search & destroy #tuberculosis mission – http://bit.ly/OremYw  #globalhealth #MDG

Susan Davis @SusanDavisBRAC Mar 13
@BRACworld excited to be part of @GlobalMoneyWeek prevent future unemployed & ultra poor. Key is kids learn, earn, save & spend wisely.

BRAC @BRACworld Mar 13
Thousands in #Uganda receive #scholarships frm BRAC & @MCFoundation http://uganda.brac.net/news-a-media/209-students-receive-scholorships-from-brac-and-mastercard-foundation … pic.twitter.com/jLau5pi2wU

BRAC @BRACworld Mar 12
Finding forgotten #children on Dhaka streets http://blog.brac.net/2014/03/finding-forgotten-children-on-dhaka-streets/ …

Casa Alianza  [to 15 March 2014]
Covenant House [to 15 March 2014]

Covenant House ‏@CovenantHouse Mar 12
Taquan aged out of #fostercare and became a #homelessyouth, but he still has hopes and dreams. See what fuels him: http://ow.ly/ur8eK

ECPAT  [to 15 March 2014]

ECPAT-USA @ecpatusa 20h
Attention #NYC! Join us for the 1st meeting of ECPAT-USA’s Young Professionals Committee this March 20 > http://ow.ly/uCqhC

ECPAT-USA ‏@ecpatusa Mar 15
Join us on March 17th in #NYC for a panel discussion on the use and misuse of technology in sexual exploitation > http://ow.ly/uCqgb

Handicap International  [to 15 March 2014]

Syria: Handicap International condemns obstacles to delivering aid
Read our latest Situation Report
Takoma Park, MD—March 12, 2014—On the third anniversary of the conflict in Syria, Handicap International condemns the obstacles to delivering humanitarian assistance in Syria, and highlights the painful injuries and disabilities inflicted on Syrians.

Handicap Int’l-US @HI_UnitedStates Mar 14
#Syria–Older refugees in exile via @helpageusa http://www.helpage.org/newsroom/latest-news/syria-three-years-on-older-refugees-in-exile/#.UyMbI8wjRfo.twitter …

Retweeted by Handicap Int’l-US
Handicap Intl PH ‏@HI_PH Mar 7
Jessica Cox visits Philippines REBUILD Project http://wp.me/p48mlL-76  via @wordpressdotcom

Handicap Intl UK @HI_UK Mar 15
Welcome home? – Arriving at the Zaatari refugee camp – A look at our work at the vast camp http://bit.ly/PAT37T  #SyriaCrisis #3yearson

Handicap Intl UK @HI_UK Mar 14
It couldn’t happen here? – powerful #savesyriaschildren made us think about this film on landmine victims http://bit.ly/1hjavoX  #withSyria

Heifer International  [to 15 March 2014]

March 10, 2014
Heifer International Celebrates 70th Anniversary by Launching “Beyond Hunger: Communities of Change” Campaign to Support Family Farmers
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
Heifer International is proud to celebrate its 70th Anniversary during the United Nations-recognized International Year of Family Farming, a time designated to honor the importance of family farming in reducing poverty and improving global food security…

Heifer International @Heifer Mar 14
Want to know more about how Heifer is ending hunger? Read the new @World_Ark magazine online now: http://hefr.in/OqMZOd

Retweeted by Heifer International
Pierre Ferrari ‏@HeiferCEO Mar 13
“When empowered, women can play critical roles in preventing conflict and building peace.” @USAID via http://hiltonprizelaureatescollaborative.net/2014/03/09/report-womens-lives-and-challenges-equality-and-empowerment-since-2000/ …

Heifer International @Heifer Mar 11
Heifer International re-launched its programs in Zimbabwe with a new office in Harare http://hefr.in/PoWqik

HelpAge International  [to 15 March 2014]

Syria three years on: Older refugees in exile, the silent casualties
On the third anniversary of the start of the Syrian conflict, HelpAge International is highlighting the plight of the civil war’s “silent casualties”: the invisible victims of the war who have succumbed both in Syria and also in host countries to what were previously manageable chronic illnesses.

Lack of physical and financial access to regular health care and medication has placed additional stress on people living with chronic disease in exile. This impact is accentuated by the fact that, before the conflict, people in Syria with non-communicable diseases were accustomed to regular treatment. This is in addition to the fact that many of those injured, disabled or traumatised by the fighting will require care and assistance for life.

A forthcoming survey, produced jointly with Handicap International, indicates that 54% of older Syrian refugees living in Jordan and Lebanon have a chronic disease – with war bringing a brutal and damaging interruption to their treatment. The physical, psychological and economic consequences of the conflict in Syria, and in neighbouring countries which have taken in Syrian refugees, are worsening by the day. The research highlights the fact that older refugees fleeing   Syria are affected disproportionately by a variety of conditions, including impairment, and are facing additional difficulties to cope with their displacement.

Displacement has a severe negative impact in the daily life of older people. In the experience of HelpAge International and Handicap International, the presence of a supportive family, but more broadly the existence of an organized network support is an essential part in reducing vulnerability.

Toby Porter, CEO of HelpAge International, said:
“While the perspective for the future still remains unclear, on the third anniversary of the conflict we can see the current Syrian crisis is getting increasingly protracted and will bring additional challenges for both refugees and the host country.

“The loss of previously existing coping mechanisms and support networks also has a big impact on older people. When fleeing the fighting, older people often leave behind a supportive physical and social environment. Life in exile means they often no longer have accessible homes and workplaces, secured access to treatment or connection with family members and relatives.”…

HelpAge @helpage Mar 14
Basheera 68 left #Syria last April. She’s no money 4 rent & bills. Find out what we’re doing http://bit.ly/1kQzdT9  pic.twitter.com/DG7r7993uX

Retweeted by HelpAge
HelpAgeUSA @HelpAge_USA Mar 13
@AARPIntl spotlights @helpage CEO @tobyhporter: “#Olderpeople are the most diverse demographic in any population” http://twitpic.com/dy7lni

HelpAge @helpage Mar 13
Find out what happened when we presented our Global AgeWatch Index at the Age Forum in #Korea: http://bit.ly/1i7VBno  #ageingindex

HelpAge @helpage Mar 12
Our partner in Philippines COSE is 25 today! Together we’ve helped 50,000 people since Haiyan http://bit.ly/1br9Mgw  pic.twitter.com/0g5nUDkMzf

HelpAgeUSA ‏@HelpAge_USA 21h
We are teaming with @HI_UnitedStates outside #Syria to include older #refugees & people w/ #disabilities http://bit.ly/1gx1AP7

HelpAgeUSA ‏@HelpAge_USA Mar 14
Our study w/ @HI_UnitedStates shows just 1% of #aid is specifically allocated to #olderpeople & ppl w/ #disabilities http://bit.ly/1oUbUVD

Retweeted by HelpAgeUSA
InterAction @InterActionOrg Mar 9
@HelpAge_USA board chairwoman reflects on the incredible resilience, generosity of #Haiyan survivors http://bit.ly/1eaWMhD

International Rescue Committee   [to 15 March 2014]

Media Release – 14 Mar 2014 –
Early Arrival of Rainy Season in South Sudan Called ‘Catastrophic’ For Those Already Displaced by Conflict a Second Blow
March 14, 2014 – Early rains in South Sudan are “catastrophic,” says the IRC’s country director, Wendy Taeuber. “Now it’s a race against time. Shelter, sanitation and clean water are urgently needed because of the large number of people living in makeshift shelters. We are concerned about their health and safety.”

The rains, not anticipated at this strength until early April, began to fall last week in different parts of the country and are continuing, exacerbating an already difficult situation for the almost 710,000 people who have been displaced by the violence that has overrun South Sudan since December. “The rains are truly devastating for the people here,” says Taeuber.  “People are still afraid to go home but also fear living knee-deep in water amid dangerously unsanitary conditions, where they are at risk of disease outbreaks.”

The IRC is calling for an urgent shift from planning to action in dealing with the effects of the rainy season in the displacement sites. “Contingency plans developed by implementing partners for the rainy season should be set in motion now to respond to damage already done and prevent the additional damage being done daily by continuing rains,” says Taeuber…

Media Release – 12 March 2014
Syria’s women and girls continue to face chaos and danger, fearing for their safety

Media Release – 10 March 2014
Hauser Lecture 2014: What can be done in Syria?
[see coverage in Week in Review above]

3 million Syrians cut off by violence: Urge Congress to help aid get through
Posted by on March 14, 2014
2.5 million refugees created, 80% of them women and children. An estimated 140,000 people killed. Roughly 6.5 million Syrians displaced inside their own country. The figures continue to grow and leave the world numb in the face of the Syrian crisis, one that will reach the grim third year milestone on March 15. more »

The Syrian crisis: 3 years in
Posted by The IRC on March 13, 2014
Three years after the outbreak of the Syrian conflict, the threat of unspeakable violence and cruelty is a daily reality for women and girls who have fled their homes in search of safety. more »

“I Used to be a Nurse:” A Syrian mother adjusts to life as a refugee in Jordan
Posted by The IRC on March 12, 2014
“I used to be a nurse,” says Leila, who is describing her journey from the besieged Syrian city of Homs to Mafraq in northern Jordan, speaking with a calm dignity that can’t quite disguise a tinge of desperation so characteristic of Syrian refugees in Jordan. more »

David Miliband on the new Pakistan Reading Project [Video]
Posted by The IRC on March 11, 2014
In a recent video interview, IRC president David Miliband explains how the IRC’s new USAID-funded education program, the Pakistan Reading Project, fits in to the IRC’s long history of work in the country. more »

Intl Rescue Comm IRC @theIRC 18h
#Syria‘s #refugees: Where are they going? #WithSyria pic.twitter.com/jH217exdUi

Intl Rescue Comm IRC @theIRC Mar 14
“Women are bearing the major brunt of the Syria crisis”–  @DMiliband on @DailyMirror: http://bit.ly/OdkvaU  #WithSyria #ShesFirst

Intl Rescue Comm IRC @theIRC Mar 13
#Syria:”The defining collective failure of this century so far” Our president @DMiliband on @BBCNewsnight: http://bbc.in/1evCdg8  #WithSyria

Intl Rescue Comm IRC @theIRC Mar 11
@Refugees says its increasingly alarmed at rising level of violence in #Nigeria; working w/ @theIRC, via @VOA_News: http://bit.ly/1g66GB5

MSF/Médecins Sans Frontières  [to 15 March 2014]

Doctors w/o Borders @MSF_USA Mar 14
VIDEO: The MSF month in focus, March 2014. Stories from CAR, Chad, Cameroon, Afghanistan, and more. http://bit.ly/1krLGtA

Doctors w/o Borders @MSF_USA Mar 14
CAR Refugees in Cameroon: “Our Children Have Become Stateless” #CARcrisis http://bit.ly/NdVECR

Doctors w/o Borders ‏@MSF_USA Mar 11
Violent clashes have forced more than 15K people to seek refuge in newly created camps in Melut county, South Sudan http://bit.ly/1qsVzLc

Operation Smile  [to 15 March 2014]

Operation Smile ‏@operationsmile Mar 13
We are able to change the lives of children by healing smiles and creating universal access to safe surgery in developing countries.

Partners In Health  [to 15 March 2014]

Mar 14, 2014
Read a Translation of Paul Mainardi’s Radio Spot

Mar 13, 2014
‘I’m Not Afraid Anymore’: A Young Man Recovers from a Mental Illness
Partners In Health’s team in Haiti helps a patient with a mental disorder reclaim his life.

Mar 11, 2014
In Malawi, Michael Mulepa Keeps the Wheels Turning
As transportation manager for PIH’s Malawian sister organization, Michael Mulepa oversees a fleet of trucks and dirt bikes, ensuring that clinicians and staff members can access the hardest-to-reach patients in Neno, Malawi. Learn more about our work in rural Malawi. 

Partners In Health @PIH Mar 14
Many thanks to @gchallenges for supporting #mentalhealth in Haiti! Read how this work is transforming lives: http://ow.ly/uAEug

Partners In Health @PIH Mar 13
Learn what accompaniment means to six @PIH leaders in this new article from @chwcentral http://ow.ly/uxV5f

PATH  [to 15 March 2014]

Announcement | March 12, 2014
Newly published study indicates lifesaving potential for new rotavirus vaccine
Article in The Lancet provides safety and efficacy data from phase 3 trial of ROTAVAC

What does PATH stand for?
Posted on March 12, 2014

Throughout our 40-year history, people have asked us what our acronym stands for. In the beginning, it stood for a mouthful: Program for the Introduction and Adaptation of Contraceptive Technology, or PIACT. Later, we changed to Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, or PATH. For the last few decades, our partners and colleagues around the world have simply known us as PATH.

And now, it’s legal. Our name is PATH. Full stop.

So now when people ask us what PATH stands for, the answer is easy. PATH stands for the type of transformative innovation that save lives and improves health, especially among women and children. We stand for accelerating innovation and making the world a more equitable place.

We’re proud—and grateful—that you stand with us.

PATH ‏@PATHtweets Mar 15
We’ve set our sights on eliminating #malaria from Senegal, one community at a time. On our blog: http://bit.ly/1f1U5CH

PATH @PATHtweets Mar 14
Rotavirus kills too many. ROTAVAC shows great promise in reducing deaths (at $1 a dose!) http://bit.ly/NdpB5Z  pic.twitter.com/Pb0oFar39S

PATH ‏@PATHtweets Mar 12
It’s not an acronym anymore. Our legal name is officially PATH, but we still stand for something. On the blog: http://bit.ly/1qvT0rS

PATH @PATHtweets Mar 11
We answer where to invest in #globalhealth in 2014 on March 19th. Watch the event live at http://bit.ly/1cRBFAx  #BestBuys4GH

SOS-Kinderdorf International  [to 15 March 2014]

Tackling child poverty and social exclusion in the EU
10.03.2014 – On 10 March, the social affairs ministers of EU Member States will meet to discuss the EU’s social agenda for 2014. SOS Children’s Villages calls on the ministers to give priority to tackling child poverty and social exclusion. And we do so in partnership with 20 other European networks, all part of the EU Alliance “Investing in Children”.

Children’s Villages @sos4children 5h
The SOS Child-Friendly Space in Damascus has been a sanctuary for Sabeen’s family #Syria http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/news/syria-emergency-appeal-2014/syrian-children-haunted-by-nightmares …

Children’s Villages @sos4children Mar 13
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to grow up in an SOS family? Watch this video to find out! http://www.our-africa.org/rwanda/our-family … #Rwanda

SOS Children USA @SOSChildrenUSA Mar 13
.@NBCNews features @SOSChildrenUSA alum’s survival story + advice to #SyriasChildren: http://goo.gl/pyvdM1

SOS Children USA @SOSChildrenUSA Mar 12
Read and watch how SOS Children’s Villages and UNICEF partner to protect children in the #CAR. http://ow.ly/uvhZW

Retweeted by SOS Children USA
Lynn Croneberger @LynnCroneberger Mar 11
Give girls opportunities to train for careers.  @SOSChildrenUSA is training nurses in #Ethiopia. http://qub.me/ZiA3za  #womeninspire

Tostan  [to 15 March 2014]
March 13, 2014

Celebrating International Women’s Day at Thiès Prison!
On March 12, 2014, Tostan’s Prison Project in partnership with the Prison Administration at Thiès Prison in Senegal organized a prison open day to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). Detainees and their family members, prison staff, Tostan employees, and community members all gathered to recognize the accomplishments of the Prison Project.

Since 2003, Tostan has run a modified version of the Community Empowerment Program (CEP) in women and mixed prisons in Senegal. The project is now active in five prisons. At Thiès Prison, there are currently 25 women participating in Tostan classes, they benefit from a number of trainings offered by the prison project, in areas including animal husbandry, clothes dyeing, and weaving. The project’s goal is to help detainees reintegrate into their communities….

Tostan ‏@Tostan Mar 11
@Tostan partner communities #investingirls by building access to health resources & econ opportunity http://bit.ly/1hTbhs1  #WomenInspire