Resource

Reforms of public pension programs have been a top social policy priority in a great number of countries around the world over the last decades. The increasing recognition of the implications of demographic changes, awareness of income insecurity in old age, the desire to ensure financial sustainability of pension systems and concerns about the management of public schemes were some of the concerns driving reform debates.

The design of pension schemes differs greatly among countries around the world. How pension schemes look like depends crucially on choices made about system elements, including membership criteria (voluntary vs. mandatory), management of the scheme (public vs. private), possible income-policy or other social goals embodied in pension systems (insurance and equivalence vs. redistribution), the financing method used (funded vs. pay-as-you-go), and procedures for determining the size of a future pension benefit (defined benefit vs. defined contribution schemes). As most national pension systems are comprised of more than one tier, combinations of system elements are found in many cases.

Business people, community activists and policy-makers have an interest in as many people as possible -including people in the lowest income-brackets- having access to the internet, being able to check out important information on websites and communicate cheaply via email or internet phone.

In order to reduce poverty and foster inclusive development through affordable access to the internet, APC is working on a resource kit for realising a universal access agenda, present promising options, experiences, lessons and opportunities in pro-poor access provision in developing societies.

This paper draws on surveys carried out in five Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines) where home-based work (HBW) is widespread. It examines characteristics of home workers and, in particular, conditions of women as home workers. The social protection needs of these women are also examined, and arguments in favour of public action to promote such work as a possible new labour-intensive growth strategy are presented.

In Latin American and Caribbean countries, poverty and inequality have been long-standing problems, and the momentous economic and social policy changes over the past two decades have done little to correct these trends. The most effective means for reducing class- and gender-based poverty and inequality would be citizenship-based entitlements to basic (i.e. allowing basic subsistence) income support, health care, and education. In advanced industrial societies, public spending is an extremely important instrument for the alleviation of class- and gender-based poverty and inequality, and it could potentially play a similar role in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, responsible, that is, non-inflationary financing of such programs, requires a sound system of taxation, something that is scarce in developing countries, including in Latin America and the Caribbean. Systems of taxation on their part have important implications for class and gender equity. This chapter explores changes in the systems of taxation in four Latin American and Caribbean countries - Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Jamaica - from the point of view of their gendered impact.

This article provides you with links of social networks that can be used for social change. 

This is Vivalogo's list of best free, downloadable, open source social networking software.

This link provides a useful list of organisations that work with HIV/AIDS related issues.

This handbook offers a guide to those who want to help media professionals provide reliable information about public health issues.  It is based upon experience from the 'other side' of the news desk.

Play Your Part is a particpatory film project that gives a voice to mothers, midwives and children in one African country - and brings those voices to a global audience. Five midwives and a doctor working on the front line of maternal and child heath were trained in film making in order to gather real life stories within their own country of Tanzania. This is not a professionally made advocacy film. This is a documentary made from the heart by people telling their stories for the first time.

Play Your Part uses film and stories from the community to address mother and child health issues centeral to saving lives and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The vibrant soundtrack is written and performed by one of Tanzania's leading singers, Stara Thomas.

The project was created by the White Ribbon Alliance Tanzania, and funded by the UK Governmennt's Department for Internationl Development. Special thanks to the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the Government of Tanzania for its support.

 While women in many parts of the world have made advances in areas previously closed to them, the problem of violence against women remains pervasive. Unfortunately, this violence takes many forms and occurs across national, cultural, racial, and religious borders.

Islam condemns all forms of violence against women. The basic Islamic premise of equality between women and men cannot be achieved so long as violence against women persists.

In pre-Islamic Arabia violence against women began at birth in the form of female infanticide. Islam prohibited the practice of female infanticide. Not only did the Quran prohibit this practice, it also mocks those who view the birth of a girl child with contempt. (Quran 16:58-59).