"Under the initial national pilot program the Government of Vietnam chose 11 communes to develop and create as ‘new rural areas’... The aim of the project is two-fold. It aims to create better, more developed rural areas and at the same time, it aims to organize economic sectors and the livelihoods of those that live in these rural areas."
"The relative success of the pilot has led to the Government announcing in August of 2010 the plans for developing all rural communes across the Vietnam in 2010-2020....The project has been extended to cover the entire country over the next decade,"

"The revival of ‘paar’, a traditional system of rainwater harvesting is the latest in a series of attempts to use ancient techniques to alleviate the pervasive water insecurity in [Rajasthan in India]...The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has a small grants program through which it has assisted Thar Integrated Social Development Society (TISDS) revive the ancient ‘paar’ technique in Jaisalmer district."

"Under Vietnam’s HIV/AIDS laws, no child can be denied access to a school if either they or any of their family is living with HIV or AIDS. Vietnam’s laws on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control are comprehensive but are not widely known. Public prejudice against HIV/AIDS infected people also stems from the fact that historically, it has been associated with drug users and prostitutes. Combined with the public attitude and lack of awareness, this has led to children with HIV being discriminated against in schools.

The Mt. Merapi volcanic eruption in Yogyakarta, Java that killed over 350 people and internally displaced about 400,000 people, is currently attracting scores of tourists. The ‘Volcano Tour Package’ is being added to the list of sites that Yogyakarta, the site of an ancient kingdom, has to offer. Tourists are taken to the village closest to the volcano to see the extent of devastation as a result of the eruption. The region had also seen a brief increase in tourism post the earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006.

China has long been building infrastructure throughout Africa, but is now being contracted to build an entire city just outside of Angola’s capital.

“In a field 30km south of Angola's chaotic capital, a US$3.5-billion city seems to rise from nothing, a showpiece in government's drive to build one million new homes. Dubbed the “new city of Kilamba Kiaxi”, it is the antithesis of overcrowded Luanda's traffic-choked streets and is being built – like so much else in Angola -- by Chinese contractors.

“Right at the bottom of the pyramid are phone users who can’t afford the minimum cost for a SIM to share in someone else’s phone. Tech company Movirtu has produced a cloudbased, login account which will enable anyone who has access to a GSM phone to share it but still retain their own number. The product was being tested in 2010 and started being deployed as a pilot with several operators in Africa. Two weeks ago it went live with Airtel Madagascar.

“The popular South African mobile chat service MXit, often the source of controversy, is now helping learners to prepare for exams. The service has added a tutoring and quiz portal, QuizMax, for maths, physical science and life sciences learners. A group of teachers developed a suite of free mobile learning tools, including exam-level quizzes that are compliant with the National Examination Guidelines for Grade 12s.

“In Bangladesh, the introduction of solar water pumps, which are manufactured using locally available technologies, will not only help poor and marginal farmers increase their yield but also bring down their agricultural production costs substantially in the next 20 years.

“The Indonesian government plans to develop a value-added processing industry for cocoa in West Sulawesi. Indonesia is the third largest producer of cocoa in the world, after the Ivory Coast and Ghana. By 2013, the province aims to double its cocoa production to 300,000 tons from its 2010 production of 147,000 tons. The cocoa processing industry, however, is still small in Indonesia. More than 70% of cocoa seeds are exported to foreign companies like Cargill, ADM Cocoa, Aramjaro and Ecom Cocoa.

“Women-managed businesses are witnessing growing acceptance in Arab societies. Religiously, Arab women have a powerful role model in Prophet Mohammad‟s first wife Khadija, who was a successful trader and businesswoman. A study by the Syria Trust for Development in 2010 revealed that forty percent of men and eighty percent of women held positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship as a career option for women. Around 65 percent of female owned firms were actively managed by the female owner in Syria. Female entrepreneurship is also gathering support at the ministerial level in governments.