A new initiative aims to give adolescent girls the skills and confidence they need to build happy and healthy lives. In many regions of the world, girls are discriminated against in education, health, and in their ability to find decent work. And evidence shows that investing in girls can pay off for them, their future children, and society as a whole.   Read more...

Once in while comes along a fiction that is so plausible that it would make some hard core news stories read like “Snow White And Seven Dwarfs’ For most of you out there, India is incredible, mystical, spiritual, beautiful, culturally rich, amicable, hospitable, and magical. Right? You bet it is!

The tourism industry thrives on it. The ‘Incredible India’ is on the world map for its tourist pulling capacity. Every year millions of tourists flock here, charmed by this promising land.   Read more...

Michael Swaine is a ceramics arts instructor based in San Francisco, California, and a lifelong mender. Once a month Michael travels to San Francisco's neediest neighbourhood, the 'Tenderloin' where he offers all-day free mending, friendship, and conversation. His mending is not only about the clothes -- it is about the community, the people in it, and his own needs to find comfort in a world that is so used to throwing things away.   Read more...

Better irrigation, training in how to select seeds and cheap fertilizer made from wild plants and animal or bat droppings have more than doubled the yield of rice fields in Cambodia from 1.5 tons to 3.4 tons per hectare.

The government hopes to increase rice exports and cut poverty among its 14 million people, 85 percent of whom are farmers or members of farming families. Thanks in large part to vastly improved irrigation, farmers can get two crops a year from their fields, earning them an income of $1,500. Per capita income in Cambodia is around $500.   Read more...

On December 24, a train full of 350 of India’s most highly motivated youth, age 18-25, will set out on a journey called Tata Jagriti Yatra to meet a handful of unsung heros on India.

There will be six televised debates at key stops through the journey to increase awareness and participation. Their aim is to encourage entrepreneurship within India’s youth and to inspire community leadership.   Read more...

Ratrian, an extremely poor village in north Pakistan has only the necessities of survival. Villagers have limited access to electricity, and occasionally are able to use a hand pump to get water. But help may be on the way for Ratrian.

Prince Rafeh Malik inherited the village from his father on his 18th birthday. While sitting with a friend in a cafe' in Islamabad, he decided to apply eight basic targets for developing countries (called the Millennium Development Goals by the United Nations) to Ratrian - just one village - in hopes to improve the quality of life there. Rafeh says it will be difficult to sell the idea to his father, King Malik Atta Mohammad, but he is prepared to do so.   Read more...

K.S. Saleeka began her political career in India has a panchayat head, and is now the only Muslim woman MLA in the Indian state of Kerala. She also makes up less than one percent of Muslim women in Indian parliament.

She hopes her determination will be an inspiration for many other Muslim women to become involved in politics. However, it seems that many women do not have the knowledge they need to jump into the political sphere.   Read more...

The 2008 Right Livelihood Awards were founded in 1980, and are sometimes called the Alternative Nobel Prize. They are awarded to individuals who offer practical answers to challenges facing the world. This year's awards ceremony will take place on December 8 at 8 at Sweedish Parliament in Stockholm.

The awards are supported by individual donors. Winners receive approximately $300,000 USD (210,000 EUR). This year’s award is shared between four recipients. The organization believes these four people care champions of independent journalism, peace-building and social justice.   Read more...

Everyone knows when school is back in session when the office lunch room is scattered with catalogs of cookies, candles and gift wrap. It means school fundraising has begun. Luckily, there is now a better alternative called Greenfundraising (www.greenraising.com).

From their website:   Read more...

Notice I didn't say "cheap" living...being frugal doesn't mean becoming a curmudgeonly miser, hoarding your pennies in a corner. Frugal living, especially right now, means making smarter choices so that the money you work for goes a little further than it did before.

With today's headlines reminding us that things are probably going to get worse before they get better, now is a great time to review spending habits and figure out where you can save a little more here and there. And no, it's not about cutting out all the fun! It's about using common sense when it comes to purchasing. Want has replaced need in our culture - how can we tell anymore whether we truly have to have something? Let's recalibrate and start listening to those wise voices in the finance world who know that it's all about balance and making smart choices.   Read more...