Erle Frayne Argonza's Blog – October 2011 Archive (60)

YOUTH ANTI-XENOPHOBIA: WHAT’S UP COSTA RICA?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

The drug menace has been identified as a top crime to boot in Latin America, rendering it as the top national security problem as well. The youth has been notably most direly affected by social problems spawned by the drug menace, so much that…

NIGERIA’S POLL SUCCESS PROVES DEMOCRACY WORKS

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Evaluations of the poll conduct in Nigeria during the April-to-May elections have shown a resonant success for the country’s well organized event. No less than couples of international development agencies collaborated to fund Nigeria’s…

PAKISTAN SHORES UP POWER SUPPLY THRU HYDRO

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Pakistan is undergoing a shortage of power supply estimated at 4200 megawatts. Huge enough to dampen production at industrial sites and agro estates, the power shortage must be addressed the quickest as Pakistan’s growth is moving…

MANAGING RISK FUELS PROSPERITY, AFRICA RE-TOOL!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

African development stakeholders better go through a rethink of their development strategies and frameworks during the past decades. The challenge is for African experts and specialists to re-tool and configure new ‘best practices’ in aid of…

WHATS’ UPDATE ABOUT AMERICA’S HEALTHCARE?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

What’s up with Uncle Sam’s healthcare policy at this juncture? I already touched on the subject in a previous article a couple of years ago. At that time I already observed the systematic exclusion of poor folks in America from healthcare, which is…

DISASTER RISK REDUCTION: NEW CLICHÉ?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Disaster risk reduction is among the latest phraseologies to emerge in relation to climate change and sustainable development. What can the new dictum ‘reduce disaster risk’ offer then in terms of social technologies or ‘best practices’?

I am residing in the Philippines which is accordingly one of the top 5 most hazardous places to live in due to high percentage of…

ANTI-TRAFFICK & LABOR EXPLOITATION

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Human traffick is meant to exploit laborers. This is a commonsensical truth that even kindergarten minds can pretty understand well.

Following the trend for crimes that have become globalized, so has human traffick become globalized as mafia rings and petty criminals engage in the luscious trade of peddling illegal human resource. Some human traffick outfits…

MONGOLIA GROWS METEORICALLY, IS EVERYONE BENEFITED?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Mongolia is growing fast, and the growth trend is very earthshaking and appreciable. Just about 7 years ago, in 2004, the GDP per capita was at a poor US$638. By 2010’s end, that income level soared to $2,200 which practically qualifies Mongolia to the Middle Income Economy status.

Direct foreign investments or FDIs have likewise grown as the…

SALUTATIONS TO WOMEN NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS FOR PEACE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Late as this salutation may be, let me express my own kudos to the three (3) women who recently won the Nobel Prize for Peace, to wit: Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and her compatriot Leymah…

ARSENIC KILLS POOR NATIONS’ FOLKS, ANY NATURAL FILTER?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

In a previous note, the study findings of which were culled from science development news, I cared to help disseminate the finding that sand can serve as water filter. Accordingly, the practice has been around as an indigenous technology for centuries now in Asia.

That holds true for surface water, a fact that can change as the ground water…

CHAMPIONING RISK PREVENTION: SHOWCASING PAKISTAN’S PREX

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Disaster risk reduction is among the buzzwords circulated by development stakeholders worldwide. The phraseology has caught up with the chief execs of nation-states, among which is President Asif Ali Zadari of Pakistan.

Excessive risk levels of whatever kind can be very taxing on the investment climate. Risk management is among the…

AFRICAN COUNTRIES BEWARE OF ANTI-GAY POLICIES, AID CUTS COME!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Gracious day from Manila!

Tough anti-gay African bureaucrats and tyrants beware! Your politically incorrect mindsets will cost you an enormous lot in terms of aid cuts from donor…

ARE SOUTHERN AFRICANS TURNING INTO CITIZEN-LESS ZOMBIES?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Citizenless or stateless? Whichever is right, the situation in southern Africa seems to point to the compass of common folks sandwiched in terrifying conflicts ending up without clear citizenship status.

 …

FUND HIV RESEARCH FIRST!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Smug! Arrogant! Sadistic! One may quip at the title which makes HIV funding as mandatory.

Let’s all face it, fellow global citizens: HIV is tearing down populations, and the reversal towards an HIV-free environment just isn’t around the corner yet. The contingency of the moment HIV-wise is to make HIV research as tops in terms of funding.

“Cease not the lab…

SECURING HAITI’S RAPE SURVIVORS POST-CATASTROPHE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

In case people think that Haiti has already recovered from the catastrophe it encountered just over a year ago, think again. There are still too many tent relief centers in the country, most of which are…

SECURING HAITI’S RAPE SURVIVORS POST-CATASTROPHE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

In case people think that Haiti has already recovered from the catastrophe it encountered just over a year ago, think again. There are still too many tent relief centers in the country, most of which are…

GREEN ECONOMY, POOR NATIONS: COMPATIBLE?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Is development ‘take off’ of poor nations compatible with the green economy goal?

Poor nations refer to economies with per capita income of below US $1,000 per year. At least 30% of their families subsist in incomes of less than US$2 per day. Can its policy makers and market players even think of greening—energy sources, manufacturing, services—when their…

CAMBODIA DEVELOPMENT THRU INFRASTRUCTURES ON THE GO!

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Cambodia is no longer Khmer Rouge country, though there are indeed old habits that die out so slowly in the minds of other peoples such as the thought that Cambodia is so fearsome a place to live in.

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MAD BOMBINGS OF UN WORKERS WON’T STOP DEVELOPMENT WORK

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Mad bombings in Abuja won’t stop social development work by the UN agencies notably the United Nations Development Programme o UNDP. This is surely a most welcome move, as UN workers involved in social development have brought home results based on our experiences in PH and Asia.

I still recall the blog I published earlier about the Abuja bombing.…

POPULATION IMPACTS CROPS LARGER THAN CLIMATE CHANGE

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

I have no fondness for Malthusian bogey perspectives about population outstripping food production. And I do scorn such fear-mongering neo-Malthusians as Paul Erlich’s nauseating ‘population bomb’ thesis.

Albeit, there is indeed validity to the pressure exerted by burgeoning population on limited arable lands. A study done in Africa shows the…