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"Factsheet Debt Relief Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative September 22, 2009 The Joint IMF-World Bank's comprehensive approach to debt reduction is designed to ensure that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. To date, debt reduction packages under the HIPC Initiative have been approved for 35 countries, 29 of them in Africa, providing US$51 billion in debt-service relief over time. Five additional countries are potentially eligible for HIPC Initiative assistance. Debt relief key to poverty reduction The HIPC Initiative was launched in 1996 by the IMF and World Bank, with the aim of ensuring that no poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage. Since then, the international financial community, including multilateral organizations and governments have worked together to reduce to sustainable levels the external debt burdens of the most heavily indebted poor countries. In 1999, a comprehensive review of the Initiative allowed the Fund to provide faster, deeper, and broader debt relief and strengthened the links between debt relief, poverty reduction, and social policies. In 2005, to help accelerate progress toward the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) , the HIPC Initiative was supplemented by the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) . The MDRI allows for 100 percent relief on eligible debts by three multilateral institutions-the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development Fund (AfDF)-for countries completing the HIPC Initiative process. In 2007, the Inter-American Development Bank (IaDB) also decided to provide additional ("beyond HIPC") debt relief to the five HIPCs in the Western Hemisphere. Two step process Countries must meet certain criteria, commit to poverty reduction through policy changes and demonstrate a good track-record over time. The Fund and Bank provide interim debt relief in the initial st

Why some Kenyan communities are resisting devleopment

Faced with sky-high electricity rates, small communities across a country known more for garbage than environmental citizenship are finding economic salvation in making renewable energy.

Climate change: a development challenge Climate change: building the resilience of poor rural communities Desertification Fighting water scarcity in the Arab countries Fighting rural poverty: the role of ICTs Food prices: Smallholders can be part of the solution The future of world food security Land tenure security and poverty reduction Linking land and water governance Remittances Rural finance: Small amounts making a big difference Women

Guangzhou, China - African migrants have been arriving in Guangzhou, China's third largest city ever since the Chinese economic boom began in the late 1990s.  Current estimates put their numbers anywhere from 20,000 to 200,000. The latter figure would place their population at almost two percent of Guangzhou's 13 million residents. In any event, Guangzhou's Africans constitute Asia's largest African community. The majority of them reside in a 10 square kilometre area in the central districts of Yuexiu and Baiyun locally known as "Chocolate City".