NAIROBI, Feb 13 (IPS) - Over the last few decades, radio has played an important role in the realm of development. It has enabled the distribution of information on new policies, technology, products, and ideas with the potential of stimulating growth and development, largely in rural Africa.

SANTIAGO/RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 12 (IPS) - A model for fighting against hunger and malnutrition with a global reach which has been successful within and outside the region has spread worldwide, first from Brazil and then from Latin America, notes a distinction given to the current Director-General of FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation), José Graziano da Silva.

ROME, Feb 11 (IPS) - It may sound like an endless tale of modern seven plagues: mad cows, avian flu, led-poisoned fish, swine fever, desert locusts being the most dangerous of migratory pests, let alone new, aggressive rust threatening entire wheat crops in three continents, just to mention a few. Now it is about contaminated food that every year causes illness to 1 in 10 people around the world – or around 700 million - killing 420,000 people as a result.

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 11 (IPS) - Is it possible to spend 5.2 billion dollars to clean up a river which is just 64-km-long and get practically no results? Argentina is showing that it is.

NAIROBI, Feb 10 (IPS) - Agriculture plays a pivotal role in the livelihoods of Kenya's majority, providing both formal and informal employment with women accounting for about 70 percent of the agricultural labour force.

GENEVA, Feb 10 (IPS) - The first-ever independent UN expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Thai lawyer Vivit Muntarbhorn, has already begun the process of open and transparent consultations with individuals, social organizations and States, although some of them still object to the mandate.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (IPS) - The 2008-2009 financial breakdown, precipitated by the US housing mortgage crisis, has triggered an extended stagnation in the developed economies, initially postponed in much of the developing world by high primary commodity prices until 2014. Yet, the financial crisis and protracted economic slowdown since has not led to profound changes in the conventional wisdom or policy prescriptions, especially at the international level, despite global economic integration since the 1980s.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 10 (IPS) - What makes a young girl believe she is less intelligent and capable than a boy? And what happens when those children face the ‘hard' subjects like science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)? A recent study, ‘Gender stereotypes about intellectual ability emerge early and influence children's interests' showed that by the age of 6, girls were already less likely than boys to describe their own gender as ‘brilliant', and less likely to join an activity labelled for ‘very, very smart' kids.

NEW YORK, Feb 10 (IPS) - Just 0.2 percent of humanitarian funding goes directly to local and national NGOs, according to a major UN review of humanitarian financing published ahead of the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit.

ROME/GENEVA, Feb 09 (IPS) - "The world is in a crisis, not least because governing élites have estranged themselves from the needs and aspirations of ordinary people. This sense of being left behind has lead the latter to rebel against their country's stratified governance," warns a Geneva-based human rights and dialogue centre.