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From Science to Practice: Strengthening Research Uptake to Achieve the SDGs

By Maggie Carter

Humanity is currently facing a threat against which scientific knowledge is our most powerful weapon. Researchers are racing to learn more about the invisible enemy that is Covid-19. However, at the same time, we face another threat, one that has been rearing its head in recent years, but is becoming all the more visible in this unprecedented moment: a growing skepticism of and even hostility towards science. While this is hindering global efforts to reduce the spread of Covid-19, it also has implications that go far beyond the current crisis. Continue reading “From Science to Practice: Strengthening Research Uptake to Achieve the SDGs”

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Digitalizing agriculture in Africa: promises and risks of an emerging trend

by Fabio Gatti and Oane Visser  | EADI/ISS Blog Series

The potential of the digitalization of agriculture in Africa to contribute to food security, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability agendas is being increasingly recognized, as shown by growing investment in digital technologies that are supposed to help small-scale farmers to ‘upgrade’ the way they farm. However, these technologies should not be considered panaceas from the get-go and require critical scrutiny to ensure that they will benefit those who need it the most. Continue reading “Digitalizing agriculture in Africa: promises and risks of an emerging trend”

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COVID-19 and Development Co-operation: we know a lot about what works, let’s use the evidence

By Per Øyvind Bastøe, Wendy Asbeek Brusse and Jörg Faust

The recent statement from the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee calls for sustained action to address the crisis in the poorest countries of the planet. In these societies, the pandemic will encounter weak public health systems. Lock-down measures will crush fragile economic structures and worsen the social situation for many people, particularly among the most vulnerable groups in society. Continue reading “COVID-19 and Development Co-operation: we know a lot about what works, let’s use the evidence”

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The Coronavirus pandemic and the irrelevance of the SDGs

By Remco van de Pas

We are awakened to a new reality. The pandemic outbreak by an infectious pathogen comes to no surprise to the Global Health community. The World Health Organization (WHO) has prepared for pandemic scenarios and response plans since over a decade, albeit that they have been written for an influenza virus, not for the coronavirus disease (covid-19) pandemic that we currently face. What is unpresented though is how countries fall back on their own security and economic matters, and that multilateral cooperation is under severe constraints. A large part of the planet’s population is currently under some form of quarantine and travel restrictions. This is unprecedented in human history. Continue reading “The Coronavirus pandemic and the irrelevance of the SDGs”