Archive for the tag 'Sir John Holmes'

New drive aims to introduce efficient, life-saving, fuel-saving cooking stoves

September 30th, 2010

Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the $60 million launch of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a public-private partnership that says that it will save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.

Indoor cooking on rough and ready stoves, or using three stones on which a pan is balanced, is practised by an estimated three billion people around the world, and is a major cause of death as a result of the indoor air pollution (IAP) that comes from the particulates released by the wood or other biomass that is burned on these stoves.
Continue Reading »

Tags: , , , , ,

NGOs put forward agenda items as Baroness Amos is picked for OCHA

July 21st, 2010

One Brit, Baroness Amos, is about to take over from another, Sir John Holmes as the head of OCHA.   Her full title will be Under Secretary-General in charge of the Office of the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  She moves to the UN from what sounds a much more comfortable role as British high commissioner to Australia.  She spent four years in Tony Blair’s cabinet between 2003 and 2007, first as leader of the House of Lords and then as international development secretary in charge of DFID.

Baroness Amos

IRIN News, which is an OCHA project, has polled a number of  NGOs and NGO networks to draw up a list of tasks for her once she takes over.  Here’s a digested version of the list recommended:

Continue Reading »

Tags: , , ,