Drive for quality in global education post-2015

DAKAR, 21 March 2013 (IRIN) - Education experts gathered in the Senegalese capital Dakar this week to discuss what priorities should look like once the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire in 2015. The conclusion: more focus on quality and how to measure it; on equity and access for hard-to-reach children; and on what should happen during the first three years of secondary school. full report

Analysis: The R-word - Rhetoric versus reality in the Sahel

DAKAR, 4 March 2013 (IRIN) - The annual gearing-up of humanitarian programmes to treat the chronic problems of vulnerable Sahelians is a clear sign that development there is not working. As a result, the Sahel is at the centre of the debate on the need to boost vulnerable people's resilience to shocks. full report

African migrants pay high prices to send money home

JOHANNESBURG, 27 February 2013 (IRIN) - New data from the World Bank has revealed that African migrants pay more to send money home to their families than any other migrant group in the world. full report

Why the Sahel needs $1.6 billion again this year

DAKAR, 19 February 2013 (IRIN) - The 2013 Sahel Regional Strategy calls for US$1.66 billion to help meet humanitarian needs and build up resilience among vulnerable groups - an identical figure to the 2012 crisis appeal - even though aid agencies estimate the number of Sahelians at risk of going hungry this year has dropped 44 percent to 10.3 million. IRIN spoke to aid agency representatives to find out why the ask has remained constant. full report

The regional threat posed by Mali’s militants

DAKAR, 18 February 2013 (IRIN) - Militant Islamists fleeing northern Mali under pressure from French forces could undermine security in neighbouring countries from where some of the fighters are believed to hail. They could also attract the support of sympathetic militias in the region, and even target countries with large expatriate communities, analysts say. full report

SENEGAL: Habré investigations mark turning point for African justice

DAKAR, 9 February 2013 (IRIN) - The special court set up to try ex-Chadian President Hissène Habré officially opened its investigations on 8 February in Senegal, making it the first time a former African leader faces trial in another African country. full report

In Brief: Staples, not export crops, key to tackling Africa’s poverty – report

NAIROBI, 18 January 2013 (IRIN) - Africa could reduce its poverty levels faster by focusing more on the production of staples rather than export crops, according to a study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). full report

Mauritania’s ex-refugees want land, ID cards

PK6/ROSSO/NOUAKCHOTT, 8 January 2013 (IRIN) - Nearly 25,000 Mauritanian refugees who had sheltered in Senegal for two decades after fleeing violence in 1989, have returned home since 2008, but despite extensive efforts to resettle them in their original villages many lack ID papers and/or access to their old farmland. full report

Urban water woes

NEW YORK, 2 January 2013 (IRIN) - In Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare (population 3,000,000), a man relieves himself in the dirt next to his tin shack, holding his nose to ward off the stench of a nearby overflowing latrine. In Ramallah (population 300,000) in the occupied Palestinian territory a 14-year-old girl wakes with menstrual cramps - and skips class because her school lacks a washroom where she can clean herself in private. In Bangladesh’s mega-capital (population 12 million), a monsoon-season flash flood leaves thousands with cholera. full report