Both ENDS
Together with 29 other CSO's, we've submitted our comments and recommendations in the Public Consultation on the AfDB Integrated Safeguards System. These include that the Bank should prioritize community-led development and human rights-based approaches; protect natural resources and tackles environmental and climate crises; raise the bar on access to information, transparency and accountability; facilitate participatory processes in policies, programmes and projects; and end inequality, poverty, and the cutback and privatization of vital services.
Before the end of this year, the World Bank will vote on whether to introduce a new lending instrument called "Programme for Results" (abbreviated as P4R), which aims to better meet the needs of developing countries while increasing the World Bank's reach by bringing funds from public and private donors together in sectoral programmes. NGOs from around the world have expressed concern about P4R, as has the business community and various governments. These parties are concerned that a large number of standards, which may have significant adverse effects on humans and the environment, will be released. A number of organisations have therefore voiced their concerns about P4R in a letter to the World Bank.
Both ENDS’ partner the Rutu Foundation for Intercultural Multilingual Education has been awarded the 2026 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize for its language friendly school programme. This prestigious prize recognises the importance of multilingual education and the right of children to learn in an environment where their home languages are valued.
By Sarah Adongo, Lawyer, Witness Radio, Uganda
Sarah Adongo is one of the three winners of the 2026 Irene Dankelman Young Ecofeminist Award, presented on 21 October at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP17) in Yerevan, Armenia. A lawyer working with Witness Radio Uganda, Sarah works with women affected by gender-based violence and communities affected by land dispossession and large-scale investments. In this piece, she shares what the award means to her and why gender and environmental justice must go hand in hand.
Can restoring degraded land also help reduce conflict? According to experts from Niger, Ghana, the Netherlands and other regions, the answer is yes - but only when restoration is rooted in inclusive land governance, local ownership and social cohesion.
From 17 to 28 August, governments gathered in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, for COP17 of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). At stake was more than how the world responds to land degradation and drought. It was also a question of who gets to shape land restoration, whose knowledge counts, and where the money goes.
