Last week I was on a whirlwind trip to Costa Rica. I’ve been sending volunteers to Costa Rica for years to work with ASVO- a local charity that supports conservation activities throughout the country. The program always made sense to me. Volunteers work…

When I started designing my program I knew that situations and opportunities can turn on a dime. I want to teach youth about international community development, but I had seen time and time again the effect of broken promises and the damage it could…

Once again Nick Kristof has written an article on development and aid that has ticked people off. He claims “that if the poorest families spent as much money educating their children as they do on wine, cigarettes and prostitutes, their children’s prospects would be transformed.”

This simplistic approach to a complicated situation provides…

I just finalized a very cool international community education trip inspired by a girls’ school in Vancouver. Instead of focusing on just one area of community development (education, health, environment…), they are interested in gaining a more holistic view. I cannot think of a…

The UN World Food Program (WFP) has popped up twice in my readings this week. Penelope Chester wrote an article for UN Dispatch on Uganda deciding to ban farming in Rwandan refugee camps- leaving little time for the WFP to respond.  The…

According to a report in allafrica.com many northern Ugandan farmers converted their farms to grow organic cotton. Apparently many were “forced” to do this. Regardless, the decision to follow what was seen as a trend towards organic cotton…

Remember when we learned that being able to store surplus food supplies was the key to a strong nation? Over and over again in elementary school we learned about civilizations that were able to store surplus grains. This ability was a key factor in kingdoms moving from vulnerable subsistence to security and prosperity.

We are having a mild winter in Vancouver. The world is watching as a very green Vancouver gets ready to host the Winter Olympics. Cherry blossoms are appearing and the gardens are coming back to life. At home I am preparing my (local) seed order with plans to ramp up our veggie garden and…

While I think it is very hard to generalize about the entire continent of Africa, let alone perhaps even one country… The Christian Science Monitor has published a thorough article linking land disputes to conflict in Africa. The article also looks at women’s rights and the leasing of arable land to produce food for…

Agro-Imperialism or Agro-Opportunity, written by Laura Starita for Philanthropy Action explores the development of large scale agriculture in the Guinea Savannah region (spans Sudan, Angola, Ethiopia, Congo among other countries). Other countries (Saudia Arabia, South Korea, India etc) have leased the rights to the land. So there will be large scale agriculture…