Why did you get involved with DiA? Our committee speaks

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Asia. Aid, Development education, India, volunteering

Why is Development in Action so important? Members of our management committee give their thoughts

Sarah Burns, Chair

“After graduating I was looking for opportunities to develop my existing skills while working overseas. Development in Action provided the perfect opportunity to gain this experience while also returning to India, a country I had been captivated by on a previous trip.

Another draw to DiA was the opportunity to get involved with the organisation in the UK. Following my placement in India I joined the management committee and have now been involved with managing the organisation for the past 18 months. During this time I have progressed within the organisation and developed a number of professional skills which have led me to my current job at a local environmental consultancy.

In addition to the skills and experience I have obtained through DiA, I have also had an amazing time and developed friendships with fellow volunteers which have shaped my personal life.”

The garment industry in Bangladesh: an interview with Muhammad Yunus

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Bangladesh, employment, Garment industry, Muhammad Yunus

Less than two months ago, the Rana Plaza factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people. Since then, discussions about the ethics of the garment industry has reverberated around the world, with one of the key voices being Nobel Prize winner and founder of The Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus. DiA blog editor Emily Wight talks to him about the situation for garment workers and what he is proposing.

Muhammad Yunus. Photo: University of Salford/ Creative Commons

What you’re campaigning for at the moment is an international minimum wage. Can you tell me a bit about it?

It’s significantly women who work in the garment industry in Bangladesh.  They’re producing garments for the international market, and they’re on a minimum wage of less than 25 cents per hour. These women are being exploited. Why should European consumers be wearing products which are made using slave labour, and not give them a decent wage like 50 cents per hour? That would make a tremendous change in their life, and the total cost of this to the consumer wouldn’t break the bank.

In the Shadow of a Man – film review

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Africa, Arab Spring, Women

Last month, DocHouse Documentary Festival screened In the Shadow of a Man, a film about four Egyptian women and their lives both before and after the revolution.  Here, DiA blogger Saara Jaffrey-Roberts reviews the film

Post-revolution, has the situation changed for the women of Egypt? Photo by Gigi Ibrahim/ Creative Commons

“As the old saying goes… better the shadow of a man than that of a wall…”

In the Shadow of a Man, directed by Hanan Abdalla, turns its lens towards Wafaa, Suzanne, Shahinda and Badreya: four Egyptian women from distinct socio-economic backgrounds who span different generations. The film presents a series of intimate conversations with these women, and we learn that, despite their differences, they are all connected in trying to determine their own destinies and break from traditional codes of Egyptian society.

“I have never seen so much enthusiasm and happiness in people’s eyes when they cast their vote”: reports from the historical Pakistan elections

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Asia, Pakistan, politics

This weekend Pakistan went to the polls to hand over power, for the first time in the country’s history, from one civilian government to another. Mohammed Ahmed considers the change that Pakistan needs and explores how the nation has dealt with such a historic event

Voters queue up outside a polling station in Karachi, Pakistan. Photo by Naj Sakib

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan went to the polls on 11 May in what has been called one of the most historic elections in the country’s 65 years of independence.

A nation that has an entangled history of military rule has served its first full term civilian government headed by the husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, President Asif Ali Zardari.

The impact of climate change on the developing world

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Africa, Asia, climate change

Climate change is a problem that has mostly been created in developed nations and exported to the developing world. DiA blogger Adam Routledge explores the challenges facing developing countries

Flooding is becoming more common due to climate change. Photo by barry.poussman

The effects of the rapid alteration of our climate vary across the world. There’s no doubt that the weather in the UK has become more sporadic in recent years: colder and more dramatic winters than previous decades; more frequent floods with greater ferocity. This, however, is little compared to the impact that climate change is causing, and will continue to cause, on parts of the developing world.

Syria: where do we go from here?

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Conflict, Middle East

As the UN’s stalemate remains in place, with no official intervention, former DiA volunteer Lydia Greenaway explores the differing attitudes towards intervening and what the key issues are

More than one million Syrians have been displaced since the civil war started

The Syrian civil war is showing no sign of slowing down. Last month was said to be the deadliest so far, with an estimated 6,000 deaths in just 30 days. According to Christian Aid, more than 1 million civilians have already fled the country due to the mounting violence and there is a strong likelihood that many more are yet to follow. The pressure on aid agencies to get urgent, life-saving support to vulnerable refugees is only intensifying.