News stories by Portia Crowe

KUMASI, Ghana, Aug 23 (IPS) - In Ghana, a country burgeoning with traffic congestion, increasing economic growth, and a stark urban-rural divide, making frames of bicycles out of bamboo could be the key to promoting sustainable development. It also makes stronger, longer-lasting bikes.

KUMASI, Ghana, Jul 27 (IPS) - The death of President John Atta Mills will have a sobering effect on national politics in the months leading up to Ghana’s December 2012 election, according to the Executive Secretary of the West Africa Network for Peace, Emmanuel Bombandey.

KUMASI, Ghana, Jul 18 (IPS) - At eleven years old, Thema, a native of Kumasi, hopes to be a nurse when she grows up. Currently, however, she is employed wandering between taxis and tro-tros or minibus taxis at rush hour, carrying packs of ice water on her head and selling them for 10 pesewas apiece. She manoeuvres through traffic in Ghana’s second-largest city with practiced ease; she has been doing this for four years.

Many workers' cooperatives are struggling to stay afloat and need increased public support, said experts gathered at the 2011 International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy in Montreal.

Microfinance initiatives to fund development could benefit from reinvigorating their aims and taking on new, integrated approaches, according to experts at the 2011 International Forum on the Social and Solidarity Economy in Montreal.

The United Nations is the only legitimate body to lead a post- 2015 action plan for development, according to civil society ambassadors from around the world.

Nabeel Rajab believes in the power of social media, and he wants his government to know it. Speaking at the CIVICUS World Assembly in Montreal, the Bahraini activist embraced such communication and specifically requested that all live- Tweeters 'hashtag' his name, or include it in their posts.

Civil society leaders meeting here for the 2011 CIVICUS World Assembly are looking ahead toward next year's Rio+20 summit — a milestone anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, and a crucial meeting of U.N. member states and non-governmental organisations to work towards a greener future.

The most pressing global challenge to children's rights may be the increasing number of military attacks on schools in war zones, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday.

As UN Women, the new United Nations agency dedicated to enhancing gender equality, releases its first annual report, its most significant finding may be the shared challenges faced by women across the globe.