HARARE, Aug 30 (IPS) - In 2006, there was shared concern among donors and women’s organisations over the fragmented approaches to gender and women’s empowerment programmes in Zimbabwe.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 29 (IPS) - If the Mexican government has not addressed the demands of indigenous women in the southern state of Oaxaca by the end of the first week of September, 10,000 native women will travel to the capital to directly pressure President Felipe Calderón. "We are fed up," said one of the leading activists.

ROME, Aug 28 (IPS) - Ines Alberdi has worked for over 25 years on gender issues and in politics.

KOULARA, Sri Lanka, Aug 28 (IPS) - An impoverished village in southern Sri Lanka is slowly pulling out of poverty by churning out terra cotta moulds of animal footprints for tea connoisseurs all over the world.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 27 (IPS) - The Mexican government, Catholic Church and conservative groups lost a crucial battle Wednesday in their fight against abortion, which was legalised in the capital in April 2007.

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (IPS) - From the party platform ratified by delegates between speeches Monday, to primetime, headlining speeches by two heavy hitters in the election -- Sen. Hillary Clinton and first-lady hopeful Michelle Obama -- the initial two days of the Democratic National Convention were dominated by women.

MBABANE, Aug 27 (IPS) - Hard on the heels of the signing of the Gender Protocol at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state summit, Swazi women have challenged King Mswati III on the monarchy's lavish lifestyle in the face of abject poverty and disease.

FREETOWN, Aug 27 (IPS) - A barefoot girl watches expressionless as men clad in expensive suits and women in designer clothes make their way on foot to the Community Centre in Kroo Bay, Freetown. They are here to launch the first ever State of Human Rights Report for Sierra Leone; Zainab, 12, is in the midst of another day on the narrow, muddy streets of the area, selling groundnuts to help support her family.

SINGAPORE, Aug 27 (IPS) - After failing to induce young people to marry early and raise families with tax breaks and ‘baby bonus’ schemes, the government appears ready to fall back on the matchmaker to give the stork a chance.

BANGKOK, Aug 26 (IPS) - Nyo Ohn Myint still remembers the moment, 20 years ago, when the legend of Aung San Suu Kyi began. He was there when she gave a stirring speech and became the symbol of hope for a country under the oppressive grip of military rule since 1962.

MELBOURNE, Aug 25 (IPS) - A new collaborative approach among Australian government, police and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is being developed to tackle the scourge of human trafficking.

HARARE, Aug 23 (IPS) - In a highly contested election marred by violence and held under very difficult economic conditions, Zimbabwean women politicians defied the odds to participate as candidates in the March 29th elections.

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 18 (IPS) - Gender activists breathed a sigh of relief when a long-delayed gender protocol was signed at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit this weekend. Women bear the brunt of social injustice and problems on the African continent, ranging from access to clean water, poor health care, access to economic opportunities or adequate protection before the law.

PHNOM PENH, Aug 14 (IPS) - ‘Women are cloth, men are gold’. This traditional Khmer saying is quoted by many studies on gender in Cambodia as emblematic of the different value accorded to men and women in this country of 14 million.

LUANDA, Aug 13 (IPS) - Nearly a third of candidates in Angola's upcoming parliamentary elections are female, thanks to a new quota imposed by the government. The 30 percent rule was designed to bring more women into the country's parliament, but as campaigning gets under way, women continue to stay in Angola's political shadows, barely visible at rallies and with few holding senior party positions.

PRETORIA , 29 août (IPS) - Lorsque les apiculteurs du centre et de l'est de l'Ouganda ont reçu des bons pour aller sur Internet dans des cybercafés, leur préoccupation la plus répandue était de savoir comment soigner les piqûres d'abeilles. Un fournisseur local d'informations agricoles a répondu en Baganda, la langue locale.

ABIDJAN , 29 août (IPS) - Si les organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) de lutte contre le VIH/SIDA ont salué dans l'ensemble la décision de la gratuité des anti-rétroviraux (ARV) prise par le gouvernement ivoirien, certaines parmi elles se montrent sceptiques face aux contours de cette mesure de l'Etat.

KAMPALA, 28 août (IPS) - La fourniture d'eau aux deux millions d'habitants de la capitale ougandaise est menacée par la combinaison de la mauvaise planification de l'urbanisation et du changement de la pluviométrie.

GAROUA, 28 août (IPS) - "Je suis venu planter des arbres -- c'est pour cela que j'ai laissé ma veste et ma cravate à Yaoundé", a déclaré le ministre camerounais des Forêts et de la Faune, Elvis Ngolle Ngolle, au lancement de la plantation des arbres dans un petit village non loin de la ville de Kousseri, dans le nord du pays.

ACCRA, 28 août (IPS) - Le Japon a réitéré son engagement à aider les pays africains dans leurs efforts pour lutter contre le changement climatique, avec une enveloppe globale de 10 milliards de dollars à mettre à la disposition des pays en développement.