EarthAction

African Countries Top List of 20 Countries Making Most MDG Progress

From End Poverty 2015:

As G-8 and G-20 leaders prepare to gather in Canada, new analysis issued by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the United Nations Millennium Campaign finds that, in absolute terms, many of the world’s poorest countries are making the most overall progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the set of promises world leaders made to significantly reduce extreme poverty, illiteracy and disease by 2015. Particularly relevant for G-8 countries are the findings which underline the importance of open trade and effective and timely aid in driving this success. For poor countries, political leadership, accountability and adequate budgetary allocations for the Goals are cited as key criteria to drive sustained progress.

Eleven of the 20 countries making the most absolute progress on the MDGs are amongst the poorest countries in Africa; half of African countries are on track to meet the target of halving poverty by 2015.

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Guatemala Communities Hit Hard by Tropical Storm Agatha

From Cultural Survival:

Cultural Survival's Community Radio Project director Mark Camp reports from Guatemala that Tropical Storm Agatha  devastated many of the communities that we are working with there. After more than three feet of rain fell, mudslides and flooding now have killed 123 people, and the death toll is expected to rise. Community radio stations did what they always do, worked to serve the community by  putting out calls for blankets, plastic sheeting, drinking water, clothing and food to distribute to makeshift shelters. Read more.