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Large-Scale Rainwater Harvesting Eases Scarcity in Kenya

Justus Wanzala

July 12, 2016 |

Inter Press Service News Agency |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Kenya, Narok

Harvesting rainwater is a necessary practice throughout Kenya, but is especially important in the areas of the country that are arid or semiarid. The African Water Bank has made this process more accessibly to many in these areas by creating a less expensive and more efficient water conservation system.

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America Can Fix Its Student Loan Crisis. Just Ask Australia.

Susan Dynarski

July 09, 2016 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Australia

Around the world, students borrow money to pay for college, but, in the United States, students are more likely to fall behind on loans. Australia may offer some lessons: borrowers in Australia only start paying back their loans once their earnings reach $40,000, and beyond that they pay four percent of their income until the loans are repaid. The system does not penalize borrowers when they face economic hardship.

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How Vermont changed the national GMO-labeling debate

Lonnie Shekhtman

July 08, 2016 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Albuquerque, Vermont

Vermont's passage of a law requiring food that is genetically modified to be labeled spurred action at the national level to create one standard, rather than a patchwork of state laws, that offers food companies several ways to label foods with GMOs. The national bill did eventually pass, but as this piece illustrates, no one seems very happy about it. Environmentalists feel it leaves large loopholes and while the food industry likes one standard, it does not like the stigma the GMO label confers.

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Giving Girls a Second Chance at Education

Liza Ramrayka

July 07, 2016 |

News Deeply |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: India, Kodanna, Uttar Pradesh

A special accelerated education program named Udaan in India offers a chance for girls aged 11-14 from rural areas to quickly complete their primary schooling. The highly interactive and engaging curriculum teaches girls language, math, environmental science, and gender politics. In 2016 the program joined President Obama's "Let Girls Learn" initiative to expand across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, Pakistan and Somalia to reach 3 million girls.

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Ugly Is the New Look for Cigarette Packs

Tina Rosenberg

July 05, 2016 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom

During the twentieth century, imagery on cigarette packs communicated that smoking was cool and young, and it encouraged young people, as well as adults, to smoke. In 2012, Australia started “unbranding the pack,” which standardized cigarettes without a brand and showed the physically gruesome effects of smoking with health factoids on the packaging. Since then, the World Health Organization has recommended this new kind of packaging and the idea has spread to other countries to scale the success.

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Can You Make Bankers Behave Better?

Helena Merriman

July 05, 2016 |

BBC |

Radio |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Minnesota

What if you could figure out a way to nudge bankers into making decisions with more integrity, in order to avoid future financial woes? Can a sense of safety and ethics be forced into company culture? The Inquiry takes a look inside Goldman Sachs and meets with a regulator who is deploying psychologists in banks.

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A Future in Code: Building Life Skills in Syria

Liza Ramrayka

July 04, 2016 |

News Deeply |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Syria

Refugees from Syria are finding opportunities to build their own start-ups through the United Nations Population Fund program, which works with local non-governmental organizations to support participants with workshops and mentoring. One of the supported businesses is an app called Remmaz, which works to help Syrian refugees learn skills like coding and ultimately hope to create an accessible, online Arabic MOOC (massive open online course).

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The people trying to save democracy from itself

Patrick Chalmers

July 02, 2016 |

The Guardian |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

Low voter turnouts, populists offering half-truths, corporate interests, and the blurring of facts in the media are signs that democracy around the world is in turmoil. Internationally, citizens have assembled different programs and initiatives that arm ordinary people with information about policy and their elected officials, as well as distinctive ways to reform the electoral system.

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NASA and USAID pioneer the use of space technologies for development efforts

Catherine Cheney

July 01, 2016 |

Devex |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Panama

SERVIR, a joint development initiative of the United States Agency for International Development and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, leverages data from space to improve environmental decision-making in 30 developing countries.

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Refugees Encounter a Foreign Word: Welcome

Jodi Kantor, Catrin Einhorn

June 30, 2016 |

The New York Times |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Toronto

Fueled by xenophobia, many countries around the world are refusing refugees at the border. But Canadian hockey moms, poker buddies, and neighbors are personally resettling Syrians, one family at a time.

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