Despite many years of elections, Malawi continues to grapple with a history of voting based on regional loyalties, lack of political tolerance, abuse of state resources and a media monopoly—problems that often result in an unfair playing field for candidates. There is also a basic lack of knowledge among voters about laws governing election conduct. All of these factors will come into play when the country holds its first tripartite election next May for president, parliament and local government.

Jobs continue to be the top national issue of concern in Georgia, according to the findings of a National Democratic Institute (NDI) poll released here today. Some 63 percent of poll respondents ranked it as number one, while the cost of communal services is the top local issue at 46 percent.

Seventeen-year-old Vlado has his eye on the future – going to college, learning English, perhaps even running for local office. His reality now is vocational school and a tiny house where he lives in a Roma settlement outside of Roskovce in eastern Slovakia. The challenge he faces is whether his enthusiasm and ambition will be enough to get him out of the cycle of poverty, exclusion, and violence that plagues this and many other isolated Roma settlements throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

What does electricity mean for women in rural Burkina Faso?

For Tankaoano Minata, a midwife from the village of Namoungou in this West African nation, one of the poorest in the world, it means delivering newborns into a brighter world.

“The authorities finally supplied the Namoungou health center with electricity. We no longer have births by flashlight,” Minata said.