By Karipbek Kuyukov* ASTANA | 28 August 2026 (IDN) — I paint with a brush held between my teeth or my toes. I was born without arms in 1968 about 100 kilometres from the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in eastern Kazakhstan. My parents’ generation watched mushroom clouds rise over the steppe without being told what […]
From organising my data to exploring Humanitarian Data Spaces: My FAIR engineering journey with VODAN Africa
By Daniel Tesfa ADDIS ABEBA, Ethiopia | 28 August 2026 (IDN) — I come from the social sciences. My research focuses particularly on patterns of human trafficking and the post-war refugee crisis in the Horn of Africa. When I first joined the VODAN Africa FAIR Engineering journey, my ambition was relatively simple: I wanted to […]
The Palestinian Imperative: Statehood Demands Strategy, Not Slogans
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 28 August 2026 (IDN) — A two-state solution remains the only viable path to peace, yet it will not emerge from Israeli policy shifts alone. Palestinians must undertake a profound strategic transformation—rooted in unity, institutional reform, and nonviolence—to make statehood both credible and attainable For decades, I have written […]
Substitute Sounds for Noise
By Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden | 26 August 2026 (IDN) –Everyone has their favourite sounds- a ball on a cricket bat on a summer’s afternoon, birds singing, waves breaking on the beach, the coffee pot perking on the stove, children playing Scooby-Doo. Mine are the quiet sounds of the English Lake District- William Wordsworth’s: “A […]
Realizing Genuine “Country Ownership”: Beyond Extractive Economics and Elite Collusion
By Soheila Comninos* WASHINGTON DC | 25 August 2026 (IDN) — Since joining the Funders Roundtable on the Future of Development, I have had the opportunity to attend several high-level forums on international development and observe a powerful critique threading through these spaces: old, extractive development models have created a cycle of dependency, holding back […]
Frontline Pacific: Greening The Earth May Pollute The Oceans
By Kalinga Seneviratne * SYDNEY, Australia | 24 August 2026 (IDN) — In the past year there has been a scramble by the big powers to secure the continuing supply of “rare mineral” that are used in batteries driving electric cars and wind power turbines. There is a looming catastrophe awaiting the Pacific Ocean if […]
EEPA reports on Ethiopia’s national dialogue concludes talks
BRUSSELS | 24 August 2026 (IDN | EEPA) — The following are the situation reports on Sudan, Ethiopia, Flash floods in Sudan, Ethiopia’s national dialogue concludes talks and Sharp rise of child-malnutrition in Somalia. Situation in Sudan (per 24 August) Forces allied with Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) claimed to have defeated a Rapid Support Forces […]
Beyond the battlefield: Women and girls facing sexual violence in post-Pretoria Tigray, Ethiopia
By Filmon Gebremikael, Daniel Tesfa and Shim Masha ANTWERPEN | Belgium | 22 August 2026 (IDN) — Semhal Hadush was a civil servant in a municipal office in the Central Zone of Tigray. She was forcibly conscripted by the Tigray Defense Force (TDF) from her workplace and taken to the Werie military training center in […]
A Prisoner, A Peacemaker, and Israel’s Defining Choice
By Alon Ben-Meir* NEW YORK | 21 August 2026 (IDN) — What if the man Israel has imprisoned for murder is also the only Palestinian capable of delivering peace? Marwan Barghouti embodies a paradox at the heart of the conflict: legitimacy born of resistance, yet committed to coexistence. Although his release under the current Israelis’ […]
EEPA reports on US deportations to Liberia
BRUSSELS | 21 August (IDN | EEPA) — The following are the situation reports on the Migration situation in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Sudan, and on East Africa regional and international situations Migration and refugee situation (per 21 August) Liberia has agreed to take 1,200 third-country deportees from the US, including nationals from Africa, […]