A new interactive map shows relative potential for wealth creation through cash transfers. Image: New America Foundation

Moving money is easier in some places than in others. This map shows where cash transfers work best as an antipoverty tool.

This new interactive map from the New America Foundation compiles financial access data to illustrate the payment infrastructure—ATMs, mobile phones, commercial banks—that makes it possible to cheaply get cash to people who need it.

For social safety net programs to work, participants need access to a range of financial services, and the mappers have compiled both the physical and human infrastructure components contributing to overall potential for cash transfers.

Composed of 11 different indicators, the color-coded map computes a composite ‘payment infrastructure score’ for many developing countries.

Using indicators of both population and geographic proximity, the map includes ‘layers’ assessing the prevalence of physical infrastructure, such as existing commercial banks, alternate financial institutions, ATMs and point of sale terminals. The darker the country, the higher the score and the more physical access there is to this infrastructure. "Financial literacy" is measured, too.

General patterns are clear from a glance at the map: overall financial infrastructure and potential is greater in rapidly developing countries like India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa, among others, while poorer and more remote countries in Africa and Central Asia currently have lower potential.

But interactive maps like this can do more than show where the money is now. They can also show what works to raise potential for wealth creation. And investors and participants can learn what has worked elsewhere.

For example, high-potential countries including Brazil and Mexico have already implemented successful cash transfer programs, facilitated through available infrastructure.

Composite maps can show where this is feasible, and at the same time can show how “countries looking to develop access to formal financial services where few have existed in the past, such as Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, and Burkina Faso, can often more cheaply and effectively pursue financial inclusion through other means such as mobile banking and point of service terminals, especially if the target population is the poorest of the poor,” according to the New America Foundation.

Down the road, maps like this can help people worldwide find potential routes to savings-based social programs.

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Video courtesy Question Box.

For millions in the developing world who can’t just “Google it,” a box is providing the answers.

To begin, users push a green "talk" button on the metal intercom box and ask a question in their local language. An operator in a larger town with more Internet bandwidth will look up their questions online and relay the answers to the caller. The red button ends the call.

The Question Box was created by Open Mind, a nonprofit founded by Rose Shuman in partnership with the Grameen Foundation.

Internet access is not given a second thought in the developed world, but for billions around the globe, the Internet is far out of reach.

"Question Boxes leap over illiteracy, computer illiteracy, lack of networks, and language barriers," according to Shauman and fellow organizers. "They provide immediate, relevant information to people using their preferred mode of communication: speaking and listening."

Remote villages in India were the first to benefit from the Question Box in 2007. In April 2009, it was introduced in Uganda, but with modifications to fit African resources.

For example, Uganda’s Internet connection is too slow. So Question Box scrapped the physical boxes and built a network of field agents with mobile phones, common throughout Uganda. The field agents either relay users' questions to a call center or let people ask the questions themselves.

Operators search local databases created by Ugandan company Appfrica Labs, which serves as host of the call center. In the database are diverse sources of information: government statistics, answers to past questions, research papers and a repository of documents, all pertaining to the local area.

The Question Box is a powerful economic tool. With over 80 percent of Uganda's workforce employed in the agricultural sector, the ability to receive information regarding crops is essential.

“We are helping farmers make decisions regarding where to sell, what to plant and how to best take care of their crops," said Schuman. “It’s all about giving communities the ability to help themselves.”

Technology comes in many different formats. Now, information comes in a box.

Medic Mobile works with the simplest of cell phones to help provide health care to those far away from their nearest hospital. Photo: Fabiola Coupet/Mercy Corps.

In rural communities around the world, the virtual doctor is in.

The distance between far-flung communities and their nearest hospitals can be fatal. Medic Mobile bridges the gap using a common household item: the cell phone. It’s not the same as a living, breathing doctor, but Medic Mobile comes pretty close, and it does so using a list of platforms that is strikingly similar to what you might find on a smart phone. These seemingly-sophisticated technologies can work on even the most basic of cell phones and computers, just like those found all over the developing world.

Medic Mobile’s Sim Apps, in addition to open-source platforms like FrontlineSMS, OpenMRS, Ushahidi, Google Apps, and HealthMap, allow hospital staff sitting at a computer to communicate with multiple health workers in rural areas. The health workers’ phones are basic, but Medic Mobile uses a tiny parallel SIM card that fits between any GSM phone and a carrier’s cell phone to allow these phones to run the necessary apps. The Medic Mobile website provides a more in-depth description of the many technologies it employs. In a 2009 interview with GOOD magazine, co-founder Lucky Gunasekara described Medic Mobile’s importance:

We can communicate need in real time. Say I am a community health worker in rural Malawi and one of my patients gets really sick. Before this system came along, for a lot of clinics, the patient would die, because even though I have some basic health training as a community health worker, there is nothing I can really do. They're still just as disconnected as the communities they live in. Now with our system clinicians see things in real time and they communicate back.

In addition to saving lives, the program saves time: its website says that in six months, the pilot program in Malawi “saved hospital staff 1200 hours of follow-up time and over $3,000 in motorbike fuel” and cut 900 hours of travel time for antiretroviral therapy monitors by eliminating their need to hand-deliver reports to the hospital.

Since its inception in 2009, Medic Mobile has expanded to Honduras, Haiti, Uganda, Mali, Kenya, South Africa, Cameroon, India and Bangladesh. The platform is adaptable to different situations: it was used in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake to link first responders and locals in need of help. As a result of its successes, Medic Mobile was recently named one of the Top 11 in 2011 mobile health innovators of the year by mHealth Alliance.

The proliferation of cell phones is sparking a revolution in developing-world health care. Innovators from all reaches of the globe have used the near-ubiquitous technology to increase health care affordability and access. By adapting sophisticated platforms to basic devices, they’re turning $15 cell phones into invaluable lifelines.

Editor’s note: For more information on the connection, check out A Medical Lab in the Palm of Your Hand, A Dose of Cell Phone Surveillance Helps Aid Workers Save Lives, and Paging Dr. Smartphone, to name a few.

Reliance on quality produce from Africa prompted Albert Heijn to undertake aid projects. Photo: Erik Mandell for MercyCorps

A Dutch company looks to combine international aid with corporate profit, according to allAfrica.com.

The supermarket chain Albert Heijn is funding and conducting development projects in Africa, including constructing water systems in Ghana, farmer training programs in South Africa, and expanded schooling in Kenya. But the company doesn’t claim that its efforts are based in charity. "It's very much business-driven. It bears almost no resemblance to charity or good causes," says Henri Zondag, chair of the Albert Heijn foundation.

Albert Heijn supermarkets rely heavily on quality produce from Africa, and the idea is that healthier, happier and better-educated suppliers make trade relationships more productive. The Dutch government is a player in this arrangement too, encouraging business-sector participation in cooperative development relationships and economic benefits for the Netherlands. The government hopes that “making a profit can be a great incentive for [development] projects.” The company envisions projects that forge partnerships that lead to greater profit. If both are correct, in the long term all parties involved could win.

Erik Mandell is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in public administration and global leadership at Portland State. Read his other contributions to Global Envision.

Industrial emissions are a major source of CO2 contributing to climate change. Photo: United Nations Photo (flickr)

The ongoing global financial crisis should not impede the fight against climate change. That's the concern coming from a surprising corner of the world: China.

As the latest round of UN-sponsored climate talks continue in Durban, South Africa, Chinese officials warn that financial hardships in Europe, the United States and elsewhere are no excuse for inaction on climate change.

With the Kyoto Protocol about to die, the global financial crisis could add another dimension to the already complex relationship between rich and poor countries when it comes to climate change.

China’s top climate official said a global pact to fight climate change should be a top priority for developed countries, even as they face severe economic challenges at home. "After the financial crisis, every country has had its problems, but these problems are just temporary," Xie Zhenhua, vice-director of the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters, according to Reuters. He expressed concern that rich countries will break their promises to help poor ones mitigate and adapt to climate change.

According to The Economist, the vast majority of ‘climate finance’ for developing countries comes from western nations. Over $75 billion a year, or more than 75 percent of climate finance to the developing world, comes from a combination of private donors and multilateral and bilateral banks funded by taxpayers in wealthy countries. These sources have been hit the hardest by the global financial crisis.

"Climate change hasn't become less important because of the international financial crisis, but it has become less prominent," Xie said.

Developing countries, meanwhile, would be hit hardest by climate-related disasters. They lack the infrastructure and financial resources to deal with problems they have had less of a hand in causing. The 2010 climate talks in Cancun included a commitment of $30 billion to poorer nations to adapt to impacts of climate change, and an increase to $100 billion a year by 2020 for this ‘green climate fund.’ Now, says China, even the initial $30 billion commitment seems unlikely to be met.

China might seem an unlikely voice of support for carbon cuts, as it has surpassed the United States as the world’s leading producer of CO2 emissions. Under the Kyoto protocol, China was deemed an emerging economy, and not bound to the stipulations placed on developed countries. Yet China has pledged to reduce its emissions intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, and hopes western countries sign on for an extension of the protocol’s commitment period. Kyoto signatories Canada and Japan have already refused to extend the protocol’s requirements. The United States has also said further negotiations are off the table.

That means the Durban discussions themselves may well determine the direction of climate funding and its impacts. And without climate action, the financial crisis could soon seem like a small-scale problem.

Erik Mandell is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in public administration and global leadership at Portland State. Read his other contributions to Global Envision.

Developing countries are determined to foster stronger domestic science communities. Photo:NASA (flickr)

Developing countries are shooting for the moon.

No longer willing to follow in the technological footsteps of developed nations, Fast Company reports, developing countries are launching significant space programs to subsidize and promote in-country technological innovation.

From Tanzania to Brazil, governments of developing countries are investing billions into building domestic science institutions, as well as funding science and technology scholarships. The aim is to form cohesive space programs of their own without relying on the previous accomplishments of Western nations. On they way, they'll foster a stronger homegrown science community while strengthening education and promoting industry.

But most importantly, says José Goldemberg, a professor at the University of Saõ Paulo, this fledgling investment is an effort to “adapt and develop technologies appropriate to our local circumstances." Some developing countries are pioneering their own paths, exploring technologies relevant to their countries' unique needs.

The programs focus on everything from energy and bio-engineering to environmental science and water resource management. Some, such as the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (which has institutions located in various locations across Sub-Saharan Africa), will begin to offer master's and Ph.D. degrees.

In April 2010, one of the more ambitious developing-world projects was established. Mexico’s Agencia Espacial Mexicana, working with 45 partner countries from around the world, launched the development of a space program with an agreement by all parties to share financial, scientific, and technological resources in their space exploration efforts.

Though the goal of space exploration may seem far-fetched for countries that often struggle with domestic and economic stability, the growth of national ideas and talent are essential to any nation's progress. Even if space exploration is not in the cards for these countries for many years to come, technology developed in the process could prove to be vital. NASA’s space research led not only to man's first steps on the moon, but provided the technology behind everyday-use inventions like ear thermometers and smoke detectors, long distance telecommunications and cordless devices.

Small steps in the development of domestic science and technology programs could lead to a giant leap for the future of a country. From advanced education and job creation to new technologies that simplify complex problems, these programs promise much for millions across the globe.

Girls who lack access to sanitary pads may miss up to 40 days of school a year. Photo: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps.

In the United States, missing close to two months of school every year might get you expelled. For millions of women and girls in the developing world, it's a routine.

They lack access to something many modern women in the developed world probably take for granted: sanitary pads. Even when pads are locally available, many girls simply can’t afford them: UPI reports that in South Africa, a pack of 10 might cost $2. In many areas, that is more than a day’s worth of wages, according to North Carolina State University. Girls who don’t have access to pads during their period miss school due to embarrassment, fear of being teased and cultural taboos. Some try to use newspaper, old rags, or mud instead, methods that pose health risks and barely even work.

Many girls fall behind in school or drop out entirely as a result of this simple problem. For a variety of reasons, it’s one that’s not often discussed openly. So how do you solve a problem that no one wants to talk about? Fortunately, many businesses and organizations are looking for solutions.

At the same time that FemCare, a part of Procter & Gamble, sells Always-brand sanitary pads in U.S. supermarkets, it seeks to provide the same products to African schoolgirls. But the problem is thornier than you might expect. Beyond a simple lack of supplies, schools also often lack the facilities that allow girls to use feminine products in the first place. They need private spaces to change pads during the day and running water to wash their hands. To address this, FemCare built bathrooms and constructed water pipelines to schools, says the New York Times. They also provide disposal containers and have taught teachers how to incinerate the waste. Of course, there’s something in it for P&G, too: they hope that girls in Africa will become lifelong users of their products.

The problem has also inspired a great deal of innovation as individuals attempt to design new products that can be manufactured more cheaply and sustainably than name brands. Swedish university students used water hyacinth, an invasive species that chokes off Kenyan water routes, to create the Jani pad. In a double whammy, It’s both biodegradable and made from a seemingly endless resource that no one likes.

Starting in 2008, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) tried another tack: it designed a manufacturing process that anyone could replicate. Their award-winning approach makes pads from readily available materials like banana-stalk fibers, which are then processed on inexpensive machines that local people can purchase. Hopefully, SHE’s innovations will better enable people in developing nations to start their own businesses to manufacture the pads. This also lets the finished product be tailored to the needs of women and girls from diverse cultures.

Other projects are born from the creativity of local entrepreneurs. Makapads, invented by a university professor in Uganda, are made from papyrus and waste paper and produced on locally manufactured machines, reports IRIN.

Often, trying to solve a problem in the developing world is like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube. Each group toggles the pieces a bit differently. Hopefully, in the end, someone makes them all line up.

A poster depicting the former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, who received the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership in 2007. Photo: Sakoku (flickr)

It's not exactly earth-shattering news that corruption continues to plague the developing world. According to Transparency International’s most recent Corruption Perceptions Index, corruption is most widespread in African and Middle Eastern countries and is especially prevalent in countries recently or currently embroiled in violent conflict.

Frustrated with the pervasive corruption in African politics, Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim came up with his own way to honor the excellent leaders and shame the corrupt ones. The New Yorker recently profiled Mo Ibrahim and his crusade to end what he sees as an institutionalized legacy of deplorable, corrupt, and despotic rule in Africa through the establishment of a prestigious award for good leadership and an index grading the quality of governance.

The controversial Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is a $5-million grant for African leaders who have transformed their countries, respected the democratic system, and “did not steal from their people,” explains the New Yorker article. In order to be eligible you must have left power peacefully and democratically at the end of your term (leaders still in office are therefore ineligible). The selection committee for the prize has decidedly high standards; the annual Ibrahim Prize has only been given out three times since its start in 2007, one of which was honorarily presented to Nelson Mandela.

From Ibrahim’s point of view, Africa’s richness in natural resources matches its shortage of good leadership.

[The greatest challenge faced by African countries] is a catastrophic failure of leadership and governance. There is no other explanation. We have had to a very large extent very lousy leadership in Africa: too many dictators, too many megalomaniacs, too many thieves, who bled this continent for their personal and family benefit.

And the solution to Africa’s problems is simply honest, active, democratic leadership, Ibrahim tells The New Yorker.

Governance is about managing this place. It’s a mess. There is a need to enshrine the rule of law. That is the first step toward building an advanced society. Transparency. Lack of corruption. Human rights of individuals. Building infrastructure. Taking care of education. Health. All these things are pillars of a civil society [and of good governance].

However, critics argue the prize is outright bribery, that “it creates perverse incentives,” and that it discredits the power of individuals by focusing so wholeheartedly on leadership.

On the other hand, proponents contend that the prize encourages African leaders to succeed and go above and beyond. Mohamed ElBaradei, former member of the selection committee, says that the Ibrahim Index and Prize function “to name and shame—but also to recognize achievement.” In other words, intracontinental competition for both the award and index rating increases motivations for not just ordinary leadership, but great leadership.

African politicians face an entirely different milieu than that faced by Western leaders when their political incumbency comes to an end. As the New Yorker article notes, Western leaders have opportunities for financial benefit after they leave office; such as book deals, lecture tours, etc. African leaders often do not have these same opportunities. Thus, as The New Yorker writes, “the aim of the award is to spur African leaders to excel—or at least to insure that they don’t stay in office because they lack a retirement plan.”

More important than the controversy surrounding the prize, is that it's an African solution to an African problem. It is funded entirely by Ibrahim and more than half the selection committee are Africans themselves.

Within the circles of African academics and outside experts on Africa, this prize is a big deal. The New Yorker article quotes Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank, saying: “Among African policymakers, no one is not aware of the Ibrahim Index and Prize.” It goes on to declare that Ibrahim “is often hailed as a hero in Africa." It is the popularity and domestic focus of Ibrahim's approach that affirms that the most positive and sustainable outcomes for the continent will sprout from brave and avant-garde African answers.

Markets like these in Egypt bring in local as well as tourist business, helping to increase Egypt's overall economic strength. Photo: effeietsanders (Flickr)

Though they are currently considered to be developing economies, the four BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India, and China — are expected to become economically dominant by the year 2050. Now, Jim O'Neill, the economist who coined the BRIC acronym, sees a new emerging power— but it's not a single nation. According to O'Neill, Africa, when taken as a whole, could become the next BRIC.

According to his article in Financial Times, when O'Neill began looking at Africa as a whole rather than as individual nations, he found an economy comparable in growth and potential with the BRICs. Today, Africa has a combined GDP larger than India's and on par with that of Brazil and Russia. If current estimates hold, the total GDP of the 11 largest African economies in 2050 looks as though it would "reach more than $13,000bn, making them bigger than either Brazil or Russia, although not China or India."

O'Neill believes that in particular Egypt and Nigeria are the two countries that have the individual strength to help Africa become a leading world economy. Both are included in O'Neill's group of' the 11 most up-and-coming economies and collectively, they provide almost half of the total African GDP. There is special potential for growth in Nigeria to contribute because almost 20 percent of Africa's population lives there.

While not populous enough to significantly influence continental GDP, South Africa also has a critical role to play. As one of the more developed countries in Africa, South Africa could serve as a connecting force between southern Africa and the strong economies of Egypt and Nigeria.

But in order for Africa to truly emerge as a BRIC, O'Neill acknowledges that reform is necessary. Egypt and Nigeria, as key players in the overall strength of Africa's economy, must take action to encourage business. Rather than promoting censorship, increasing transparency and education is a crucial first step to encouraging economic growth. Focusing on eradicating corruption, lowering national debt and stabilizing inflation are all key moves that must be made, particularly in these leading nations but across the continent, in order for Africa to truly achieve its potential.

South Africa is struggling to absorb incoming refugees from neighboring countries like Zimbabwe. Photo: DFID - UK Department for International Development (flickr)

While the Arizona immigration law continues to cause a great deal of controversy within the United States, the failing global economy is causing problems for immigrants across the world, according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor. Countries, developing and developed alike, are struggling to deal with an increased anti-immigration backlash.

According to the UNDP, only about one-third of immigrants move from a developing country to a developed one. And yet, it is developed countries that have a stronger ability to adapt to new people and integrate them into the workforce. Intolerance toward immigrants is particularly high in developing countries like South Africa that struggle to absorb the additional labor, according to the Christian Science Monitor story.

The source of this resentment in developing countries is much the same as in developed ones: immigrants increase competition for scarce resources like housing and most importantly, jobs. In South Africa, a country where about a quarter of the population is unemployed, South Africans are more concerned for their own wellbeing than accommodating the floods of refugees and immigrants entering their country. "In South Africa, you have high unemployment, high poverty rates, and people want houses, but they don't get them," says Miriam Altman, director of a South African think tank mentioned in the Christian Science Monitor article. "So then they see outsiders coming in and moving next door" and view them as rivals rather than neighbors.

A global "anti-immigration" sentiment, however, might only serve to shuffle migrants -- who often come from the world's poorest populations -- from one country to the next. This constant movement could prevent these people from finding the permanent work they need to break out of poverty.

It's probably no surprise that for big-time soccer fans, watching the world cup is more enjoyable than working. But breaks taken to check the latest score and watch part or all of the game collectively add up to big dips in productivity, according to a recent Atlantic Monthly article on the economics of the World Cup.

As the tournament gets closer to the finals there are even bigger slides in productivity. The Center for Economics and Business Research estimates that the price tag for a month of sports-induced distraction amounts to $2.8 billion.

For soccer fans, going to the World Cup is a dream come true. Watching the games on TV or online is the next best thing. Photo: Axel Bührmann (flickr)

An HIV positive woman marches in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo: Trevor Samson/World Bank Photo Collection (Flickr)

Earlier today, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma announced an ambitious plan to combat HIV/AIDS. Zuma called for more HIV testing centers, better treatment facilities and emphasized the need to identify and treat HIV-positive children younger than one year old, CNN reports.

Zuma's plan ends a decade of neglect imposed by his predecessor Thabo Mbeki. The former president adamantly refused to recognize that the HIV virus led to AIDS and blocked necessary medication from entering his country. A study mentioned in Forbes Magazine suggests Mbeki's policies lead to the deaths of more than 350,000 South African adults and 35,000 babies.

The speech was welcomed by the international community. Without skipping a beat, the United States pledged $120 million to supplement President Zuma’s new policies.

The G-20 is meeting this week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Chaired by President Barack Obama, the purpose of the summit is to, “review the progress made since the Washington and London Summits and discuss further actions to assure a sound and sustainable recovery from the global financial and economic crisis.” I’ve heard of the G-8, but the G-20? I began to wonder about this alphanumeric soup of organizations. Who are they and what are they concerned with? The following scorecard should help interested followers of this subject keep track of the major players.

The G-6: Organized in 1975 by the finance ministers of Germany and France who were frustrated with the formality and structure of larger international meetings, the G-6 and subsequent evolutions of this body are strictly informal bodies that meet to discuss economic issues of mutual interest. After the creation of the G-8, the term G-6 is now used to refer to the six most populous members of the European Union. The member countries are: the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan

The G-7: Formed in 1976, this is an informal forum for the finance members of seven big industrial economies to discuss economic issues and seek agreement. Member countries include: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States. Now also includes the European Union.

The G-8: An evolution of the G-7, membership grew to include Russia. The European Union is a limited member; it cannot host a meeting or hold the presidency of the body. Members are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Russia. European Union (limited member)

The G-8 plus Five: Recognizing the growing influence of other countries, the original group sometimes broadens their meetings by including the Outreach Five. As with all meetings, other countries are sometimes invited to attend. Members: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Russia. European Union (limited member) Plus: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa.

The G-20: According to their website, “[t]he G-20 was created as a response both to the financial crises of the late 1990s and a growing recognition that key emerging-market countries were not adequately included in the core of global economic discussion and governance.” Where the earlier groups (G-6 through G-8) were organized around the industrialized countries of the world, the G-20 begins to bring emerging economies into the dialog. Their first meeting was in Berlin, Germany. The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the President of the World Bank, plus the chairs of the International Monetary and Financial Committee and Development Committee of the IMF and World Bank, also participate in G-20 meetings on an ex-officio basis.

The G-20 is made up of the finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, European Central Bank

The G-33: The name for a group of developing countries that coordinates on trade and economic issues. It was created in order to help group countries which were all facing similar problems and give a unified voice to countries that were traditionally excluded from discussions among the industrialized countries. Members: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Botswana, China, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guyana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Laos, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Senegal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

There are other groups variously labeled as G-8, G-20, G-33, and even N-11 (countries which Goldman Sachs considered in 2005 to have a high potential of becoming the world’s largest economies this century: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey and Vietnam).

One of the best, reliable, sources of information about these groups and their members may be found on the websites of the World Trade Organization and the previously mentioned G-20.

You can Track the ongoing discussions of the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit here. But be prepared for slow page loading. It is a very busy website.

Jacob Zuma. Photo: Pan-African News Wire File Photos (flickr)

Jacob Zuma, South Africa's newly elected president, sure has his work cut out for him.

Zuma came into power just before the country announced that its economy is experiencing it's worst recession in 17 years. The country is also faced with the challenges of high unemployment — nearly 22 percent — and about a quarter of the population lives in poverty.

But the leader of Africa's most influential country says he's determined to turn this situation around.

In his first state of the nation address Zuma ambitiously promised to create 500,000 jobs by the end of the year. Zuma also committed to a new era of fiscal discipline, saying that "In the face of the economic downturn, we will have to act prudently — no wastage, no rollovers of funds — every cent must be spent wisely and fruitfully."

In order to survive this recession, Zuma needs to follow through on his promises. The New York Times quotes Harvard economist Dani Rodrik on the importance of job creation for South Africa: "If you don’t get these people in the work force, you’ll lose them forever to lives of distress."

Poor and out-of-work South Africans are placing a lot of hope in Zuma's pledge to create jobs. Interviewed by the Times, Josephine Nontando Mahlangu, an unemployed mother, reacted to Zuma's speech with some optimism: "Maybe Zuma will change everything the way he’s promised."

Photo: Common Threadz (flickr)

An estimated 12 percent of children in sub-Saharan Africa are homeless. If we're going to make a dent in this problem, we need more people like Anna and Phina Mojapelo.

For these South African sisters, giving homeless children a safe place to live just seemed like the right thing to do. In 2000 they opened up a small orphanage in Midrand, South Africa, called "New Jerusalem." Nearly 100 children under the age of 16 now live at the orphanage. Some of the children are AIDS orphans, some came from abusive homes and some were abandoned by their parents.

The sisters are working to give them an education. The Christian Science Monitor recently profiled the sister's efforts to build a Montessori-style preschool with the help of the Dutch charity, Orange Babies. Forty of the young orphans and 40 children from community attend the school.

Although this project seems small, I am impressed both by the vision and compassion that New Jerusalem was founded upon, as well as the potential it encompasses. Powered by Midrand locals, this orphanage is successfully providing kids with a safe home and an early education — both of which give them a better chance of overcoming poverty. As Adrienne Feldner-Busztin — a New Jerusalem volunteer — says, "If you look at the size of the problem, you can feel hopeless, but we don't feel hopeless at all. When you are impacting 96 little lives, you can't feel hopeless."