For someone who is barely five feet, 17-year-old “Nana” walks tall and proud among volunteers in the small rural town of Ganassi in Lanao del Sur.   With a smile as bright as sunshine, Nana recalled how at 14, she was among Grade 8 students selected to be part of an advocacy training facilitated by the […]

For over 17 years, barangay health worker Aprolin Alameda has witnessed how religious, cultural, gender and social beliefs shape the opinions about family planning of families in the municipality of Cagwait, Surigao del Sur. According to Aprolin, this is why many in their community do not believe in contraception and birth spacing. “The traditional notion […]

Transparency and redistribution key to historic SDR allocation supporting fairer global recovery from COVID-19 — Oxfam Responding to the IMF Board of Governors’ approval of a Special Drawing Rights (SDR) allocation of $650 billion, Nadia Daar, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office, said: “New SDRs will bring much-needed liquidity to struggling developing countries without adding to […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened inequality among vulnerable communities in Asia. Workers in the informal economy, such as factory workers, home-based workers, sex workers, street vendors, transport workers, – many of whom are women – are experiencing job losses and income deprivation leading to hardships. This was the central theme that emerged from the stories […]