In parts of southern Africa, prolonged drought is the new normal. Failed harvests, made worse by an unusually strong El Niño, have created a hunger crisis affecting millions of families. In our latest podcast, Global development editor Lucy Lamble reports from Malawi and Zimbabwe where the crisis is having a devastating effect.
In our Rio voices series, which features diary entries from Rio residents as we lead up to the Olympic Games: Michel Silva from Rocinha writes about the “safari trips” that tour guides lead through his favela, Maré resident Thaís Cavalcante tells of her battle with the Zika virus and Alemão resident Daiene Mendes reflects on continued violence in her neighbourhood.
Elsewhere on the site
Mozambique’s enduring discrimination leaves gay men untreated for HIV
World Bank lending arm sees off lawsuit by Indian fishermen
Egyptian feminist leader Mozn Hassan resolute in face of official investigation
Bolivia’s cholitas: female wrestlers put discrimination in a stranglehold
UK aid budget swelling coffers of private firms, claims campaign group
Opinion
By 2030 sub-Saharan Africa could be adding more working-age people to the global labour force than the rest of the world combined. How can enough jobs can be created, asks Joshua Meltzer of the Brookings Institution.
Multimedia
In parts of rural western Nepal, women are forced to live in cowsheds during their periods and immediately after childbirth. The practice, known as chhaupadi, is banned but still occurs widely.
Photographer James Morgan captured Bhutan’s fight to safeguard its environmental achievements in the face of accelerated development and urban growth. The country absorbs three times more CO2 emissions than its population produces.
What you said
On Project opens lucrative export market for 70,000 Ugandan and Tanzanian farmers, Peter Topping wrote:
Finding the means to bypass government bureaucracy in east and central Africa and going directly to co-op groups is currently a better option for development in many parts of Africa because of a lack of governance, transparency and anti-corruption measures in government.
Co-ops are locally run, have local ownership and interest at heart, and many (but not all) NGO groups have a more open and accountable structure than western government-based overseas aid projects that report to various ministers, civil servants and quasi-government bodies with poor transparency. The smaller the amount of money on offer the less effective the government structures are – all the evidence points to local solutions.
Highlight from the blogosphere
Are we underestimating urban poverty, asks a report from the Overseas Development Institute.
And finally …
Poverty matters will return in two weeks with another roundup of the latest news and comment. In the meantime, keep up to date on the Global development website. Follow @gdndevelopment and the team – @swajones,@LizFordGuardian, @clarnic and @CarlaOkai – on Twitter, and join Guardian Global development on Facebook.
