Untreated waste water is a health hazard. Nonetheless, it should be considered a resource. Unless it is recycled and re-used, it will be impossible to provide all people in the cities of developing countries with safe drinking water. The example of India shows that agglomerations cannot get ever more fresh water from ever farther away.

A village in northern Jordan depends on polluted water from a spring, as four German and Arab students discovered. Their final report shows how matters could be improved.

To prevent trees from being cut down for firewood, attempts have been underway to introduce fuel-efficient cooking stoves in Nigeria for decades. Today, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) provides an opportunity to lower the purchase price of such stoves. Bureaucratic challenges are tough, however, and it remains unclear whether stove projects really help to reduce Nigeria’s carbon emissions.

To fight climate change, it is not enough to generate electricity from renewable sources. The grid infrastructure must be enhanced too.

For many disadvantaged communities in developing countries, ecological issues are not a matter of luxury, but a matter of survival. In India, protests and social movements are expressing these worries.

Thanks to a voucher scheme, more women are taking advantage of professional healthcare services in five trial-programme areas in Kenya. The idea is to boost the capacities of existing healthcare facilities by ensuring that poor patients have the purchasing power to buy the services they need. Experience of five years shows that output-based aid makes sense.

When shopping for food, ever more consumers in rich nations pay attention not only to prices, appearance and flavour. They also consider environmental and social aspects. Therefore, certifications of organic production, fair-trade practices or regional origin often lead to a premium in the marketplace and can benefit small-scale farmers.

An entrepreneur is someone who undertakes an enterprise, owns and manages a business with a vision to making a profi

Poverty is more than just material deprivation, it is a state of mind – says writer Martin Kämpchen, who

Microcredit schemes in India have recently caused scandal. The media blame them of causing over-indebted clients to commit suicide. Such reporting is overblown, but Indian microfinance certainly is in a mess.