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For decades the World Bank made decisions to back development projects that had profoundly negative social and environmental consequences. But the institution always avoided responsibility, bolstered by the fact that it was immune from being sued in any national court. The result was that, during the 1980s, it became the target of widespread opposition and protests. This changed in 1993 when the bank decided to set up the world’s first citizen-driven independent accountability mechanism – an inspection panel to review complaints. Danny Bradlow reviews what the panel has achieved in the past 30 years and what its shortcomings are.
The COVID pandemic highlighted an urgent need for diagnostic tests that were fast, cheap, simple and accurate. Angelika Loots outlines how innovators responded with exciting technological developments that can better prepare the world for fighting other diseases too. She points out some of the challenges that remain and calls for continued momentum.
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Danny Bradlow, University of Pretoria
Thirty years ago the World Bank recognised that its position was untenable. It put in place mechanisms to make the bank more accountable to ordinary people.
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Angelika Loots, University of Pretoria
The pandemic spurred the diagnostics industry to consider aspects like scale, affordability, speed and portability of tests.
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Motshedisi Mathibe, University of Pretoria
The industry has the potential to create jobs, alleviate poverty and help reduce the extreme inequality in South Africa
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Adenike Akinsemolu, University of Birmingham
Gender, climate change and water scarcity together create a difficult challenge.
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Nomfundo Xaluva, University of Cape Town
If you ever found yourself in the same room with Gloria Bosman, you were in for a lesson of a lifetime.
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From our international editions
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Julia Morris, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Anthropological fieldwork into ‘outsourced’ asylum measures in Nauru and Guatemala reveal how they actually work - and don’t work - in practice.
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Daniel Merino, The Conversation; Nehal El-Hadi, The Conversation
A US-led coalition and China are both planning to establish bases on the Moon. How the two nations will navigate actions on the Moon and how other countries will be involved is still unclear.
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Doug Jacobson, Iowa State University
Banning TikTok: What data privacy risk does the app pose, and what could the Chinese government do with data it collects? And is it even possible to ban an app?
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Gareth Dorrian, University of Birmingham
Jupiter’s moon Io has more than 400 active volcanoes on its surface.
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