As Yemenis go to the polls (on Tuesday 21 February 2012), many are optimistic that change is coming and there's no going back.
Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, the only candidate in the running, is expected to replace President Ali Abdullah Saleh after over 30 years - in Yemen that's half of an average lifetime.
“Towns, municipalities, countries … nowhere moves forward if women don’t participate. Between all of us, we create development.”
These were the words of my fellow Progressio development worker María Martínez in the closing ceremony of a competition to promote women’s participation in the eastern department of Morazán, El Salvador, in April of last year.
Progressio is calling for “a higher level of ambition and commitment” at the forthcoming Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.
Irene, a development worker of Spanish/ Dutch nationality, is currently responsible for training and communication with Red COMAL (the Network for Alternative Community Trade) in Honduras.
Progressio development worker Juan Carlos González Díaz reports from the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Friday morning. 37 degrees in the shade. A clear sky with the sun melting heads. It is market day in Dajabón.
Change in Yemen is not going to be straightforward, but Yemeni people are certainly ready for it, according to Progressio’s country representative in Yemen, Abeer Al Absi. She says:
“Of course there are many challenges, but this is a critical time for Yemeni people. Everyone is excited and looking forward to the presidential elections and a new regime.
Much has been achieved in the two years since the earthquake hit Haiti, but huge challenges remain. These continue to demand attention, and will only be met with better coordination between the Haitian state, Haitian civil society, and the international community, says Progressio.
The Honduras Progressio team was delighted to introduce Lisa Barrett, political and consular affairs officer in the UK Embassy in Guatemala, to our field work in Honduras in December. The British consul stepped into Progressio’s world first hand, visiting a couple of Progressio’s projects in Nahuaterique and Marcala, in western Honduras.
In those areas, Progressio is both tackling extreme poverty and malnutrition, and backing the people of Nahuaterique in their struggle for legal recognition as Honduran citizens.
How do you give ordinary men and women a voice in the elitist process of policy-making? A project supported by Progressio in Zimbabwe aims to do just that. Our development worker Christopher Mweembe (above left) and Machinda Marongwe (above right), from partner organisation NANGO, tell us more…
Dominicans of Haitian descent, human rights defenders and international NGOs mourn the death of Sonia (Solange) Pierre. Her work was widely known at national and international level where the news of her death has generated many expressions of sympathy and solidarity.
