Guardian
Plenty of true grit in the city of sandbags
Sunday, November 6th, 2011Guardian, October 27: Bangkok is a city of sandbags where instant noodles are like gold dust and bottled water like vintage wine. Amid the panic-induced bare shelves there is bewilderment in the air: what exactly is going to happen to Thailand’s capital?
All along downtown Asoke Road, locals have been fortifying their shopfronts, some opting to [...]
Fragile states speak up on aid spending
Monday, April 4th, 2011Guardian Poverty Matters blog, Friday 1 April 2011 — About a year ago, officials from seven fragile states met out of donor earshot to compare notes and air their grievances about how billions of dollars of donor money has been spent on peacebuilding and statebuilding over the years.
Dili, Timor-Leste’s capital, was the perfect place to [...]
Millennium development goals: Fragile states claim summit outcome off-target
Friday, September 24th, 2010Also run by The Guardian.
DILI, Sep 23, 2010 (IPS) – Calls by fragile states for greater focus on addressing conflict and fragility have been largely ignored in the outcome document of the millennium development goals (MDGs) summit in New York, but critical donors are at least listening to the growing rumble of voices from developing [...]
Asia’s new backpacking hot spots
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor)
Like Bali without the bells, Timor-Leste offers backpackers a chance to enjoy life in the slow lane. The half-island nation is still finding its tourism feet, so the few curious travellers who take the leap of faith invariably find themselves padding along empty beaches or swimming in natural rock pools with only [...]
George Town fears losing World Heritage status over birds’ nest soup
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010Penang residents warn that birds’ nest industry is out of control
Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 10 August 2010 — George Town, the capital of Malaysia’s Penang state, is a city of two tales: on one side there’s a multimillion-dollar edible bird’s-nest industry, on the other there are the residents who say the industry is out of control, [...]
Timor-Leste trials healthcare from the people, to the people
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010Timor-Leste gets creative at the grassroots level in battling a chronic shortage of healthcare professionals
Guardian Weekly, Tuesday 13 July 2010 — A firm belief in community is helping medical experts in Timor-Leste develop strategies for fighting a chronic shortage of healthcare professions.
“The healthcare system is still grossly under-utilised. And where we really fall down is [...]
Fragile nations speak their peace
Saturday, May 8th, 2010Matt Crook investigates why the Millennium Development Goals are failing to be met and how aid recipients are now telling donors how to make their dollars work better
Guardian Weekly, May 7, 2010
With the Millennium Development Goals slipping from the grasp of donor countries and fragile states, a big effort is being made to bring together [...]
Indonesia’s landfill workers
Friday, April 2nd, 2010Indonesia’s landfill workers fulfil a vital but little recognised role, collecting up to 50kg of saleable waste on a good day, which makes about 500 rupiah per kilogram – less than $3 a day. Matt Crook meets them
Guardian Weekly, March 22, 2010
Siswando is 14 years old. He doesn’t go to school and every day he [...]
Timor-Leste: On the road to future prosperity
Friday, April 2nd, 2010Matt Crook reports on a government project that’s tackling two of Timor-Leste’s biggest problems: bad roads and high unemployment
Guardian Weekly, November 18, 2009
School was out in Ermera, a district in the western part of Timor-Leste, but for 17-year-old Natalia de Jesus de Nascimento, there was no time to waste as she got to work on [...]
Timor-Leste’s farmers start again
Friday, April 2nd, 2010Matt Crook visits Timor-Leste to see how farmers in the “coffee triangle” are benefiting from an initiative backed by the US Agency for International Development that will see new coffee trees distributed to 1,200 farms. The revival of Timor-Leste’s traditional coffee crop will be crucial for the country’s economic recovery
Guardian Weekly, June 15, 2009
Marcal Mendonca [...]