Humanitarian Aid

Example of a user-based interactive map. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteafrican/2912806680/in/set-72157605424701325/"> whiteafrican (flickr) </a>

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Can Twitter and Wiki Maps Help Humanitarian Aid?

Imagine being an aid worker isolated in rural Zimbabwe, where the worst cholera outbreak in 15 years has claimed more than 4,000 lives in recent months.

Picture of a refugee camp for Swat Valley civilians. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aljazeeraenglish/3559310232/">Al Jazeera English (flickr)</a>

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The Economic Fallout From Pakistan's Taliban Troubles

Pakistan’s Swat Valley is currently at the epicenter of an armed conflict between the Pakistani military and the Taliban insurgents.

An Architecture for Humanity project site in Sri Lanka. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/motherscratcher/1094620686/in/set-72157601375540506/">2neus (flickr)</a>

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Designing Change

Can architects, community leaders, students, and health care professionals all come together to design a better world for people in developing nations? That's exactly what the non-profit Architecture for Humanity is trying to do.

Displaced Tamil civilians fleeing their homes in north-eastern Sri Lanka, January 2009. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tro-kilinochchi/3187678890/"> trokilinochchi (flickr)</a>

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Rebuilding the Economy in Sri Lanka's War-Torn Northeast

When the fighting ends, it's going to take a lot to rebuild the economy in Sri Lanka's war-ravaged northeast.

Rice is incredibly important for delta communities. Photo: Jeremy Barnicle/Mercy Corps

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Burmese Farmers Caught in Poverty Trap

Mercy Corps has started an agency blog to give a glimpse into the work, thoughts and ideas of our team around the world. Here's a post I wrote yesterday that is really appropriate for Global Envision.

Pirates stock up on goats, cigarettes and other supplies when they return to shore. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlesfred/62784891/">CharlesFred (flickr)</a>

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Piracy Boosts Somali Economy

Piracy along Somalia's coastline represents a very lucrative business — as the pirates collectively earned an estimated $150 million in 2008 — but what is piracy's effect on Somalia's

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Six Years in Iraq and Still Counting

It's been six years since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In recent months, stability has improved, but the gains will unravel unless progress is made toward strengthening the economy.

A young girl walking on the outskirts of Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lo_/402495067/in/photostream">subcomandanta (flickr)</a>

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Is Foreign Aid Helping Or Hurting Africa?

More than $50 billion of foreign aid is given to African countries every year to address poverty on the continent.

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Simple Technologies with Complex Ambitions

Have you heard of "appropriate technology?" It's a movement that helps the world’s poorest people with affordable, simple and practical inventions that address every day problems.

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Translating the G20's Talking Points

Leaders at yesterday's G20 summit in London affirmed a commitment to bailing out developing countries. Just how is this plan spelled out?

A man cooks over a wood-burning fire in Kibera. Over 1 million working poor live in Kibera, with few opportunities to make a comfortable living. Photo: <a href=http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandgyrl/119453524/">Crissy Olson (flickr)</a>

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Building Blocks

Even UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was surprised by the large number of people who greeted him in Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya. But his surprise quickly became concern when he was told so many young people came to see him because they couldn't find work.

Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/3221286316/">CARF Brazil (flickr)</a>

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Real Time Refugee Reunification

War. Famine. Persecution. These are some of the ways thousands of families flee their countries each year and get separated in the process. So how do they reconnect?

The U.S. Navy comes to the assistance of a Taiwanese-flagged fishing trawler been seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/opendemocracy/3055910885/">Open Democracy (flickr)</a>

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Good News (By Somalia's Standards)

After 18 years of civil war, some good news is finally coming from Somalia. The recent election of Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, as Somalia’s new president brings the country a chance for peace and stability.

Food banks are having trouble meeting growing demand. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/steverhode/3288419734/">Steve Rhode (flickr)</a>

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Food Banks to the Rescue

Many people visiting their local food bank these days have never been there before, according to a recent story in the New York Times.

Global Citizen Corps leaders host a fundraiser for World AIDS Day. Photo: <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/21825274@N08/2104226078/">jessicaphansen (flickr)</a>

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Join the Fight Against Global Poverty

On last year's World AIDS Day, Sam held an afterschool open-mic event to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. Rachel got 200 people to sign a letter asking for more government attention on AIDS — and sent it to Barack Obama.