Good week
Pepe Julian Onziema, a Ugandan gay rights activist, who has been recognised as Stonewall’s hero of the year.
Fatima Jibrell, a Somalian environmentalist, who has won the UNEP Champions of the Earth award for her fight against illegal charcoal trade.
Bad week
Libya’s parliament, after the Libyan supreme court ruled general elections held in June were unconstitutional.
Malaysian Borneo, where cases of monkey malaria are on the rise.
Quote of the week
Sir Brian Urquhart, who served as personal assistant to the first UN secretary general, was one of many voices this week arguing for the system of selecting a secretary general to be overhauled.
It remains to be seen whether UN member states have any interest in improving the haphazard lottery that passes for a selection system, which would be rejected as a bad joke by any serious institution in the private sector. With no open search procedure, no criteria, no vetting of candidates, no statement of intent, no interview, it is something of a miracle that the United Nations has been as well served as it has.”
What you’re saying
In response to our article Leprosy: what are the final steps to elimination?, LinkedIn user Peter Walker raised concerns about continued funding.
Without multi-drug therapy, the number of new cases would never have fallen to less than the 220,000 we see today, and the numbers of people living with leprosy induced disability would be much higher. However, there is a downside. As there is no commercial benefit in competing with a FOC drug, which company is going to put funds into research for alternatives?”
This week in numbers
$700 is the market price for a kilogram of ivory.
100 bed medical centre for Ebola patients to be opened in Liberia by Chinese doctors.
75% of agricultural grants by the Gates Foundation go to developed countries.
1 button added to Facebook to encourage donations to stop Ebola.
Picture of the week
Milestones
60 years have passed since the UN first pledged to eradicate statelessness.
Three Malaysian transgender women on Friday won their landmark bid to overturn an Islamic anti cross-dressing law.
The one year anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan was marked this week.
Final approval was given for the first Japanese nuclear power plant since Fukushima to resume operations this week.
Interactive
This interactive by the Guardian shows how actual payments fall significantly short of amounts pledged to fight Ebola.
Reading list
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Can’t afford to wait - why disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation plans in Asia are still failing millions of people (Oxfam)
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Humanitarianism in the age of cyber warfare (UNOcha)
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Ending statelessness within 10 years (UNHCR)
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Hashtag standards for emergencies (UNOcha)
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Tracking Joseph Kony: a rebel leader’s nine year odyssey (Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative and Invisible Children)
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Data revolution report: a world that counts (IEag)
- Africa’s top health challenge: cardiovascular disease (The Atlantic)
Coming next week: have your say
- Our live chat on Thursday, 13 November 3-5pm GMT asks financial inclusion: development enabler or goal in its own right? Email globaldevpros@theguardian.com to recommend someone for the panel.
- Calling all professionals and journalists from the Middle East and north Africa (Mena). Pitch your stories to us at globaldevpros@theguardian.com for our Mena month kicking off this November.
Join our community of development professionals and humanitarians. Follow@GuardianGDP on Twitter.
