Blogg

Vietnamesisk matkultur er kjend for sin bruk av urter og grønsaker. Så kvifor aukar kjøtforbruket i Vietnam i eit forbløffande tempo?

It has become a mantra in the discourse surrounding the SDGs that in order to reach them we have to "get the private sector onboard". However, in many poor countries, business elites are not only concerned with profit but also to gain political power. The distinction between the public and the private is blurred. This creates many dilemmas for business-oriented aid, as experienced by Norfund in Guatemala and Honduras, where one partner is accused of being complicit in the murder of activist Berta Cáceres.  This article was published on June 13th in Bistandsaktuelt (in Norwegian). 

On Sunday there are presidential elections in Venezuela. However, what happens on election day is much less interesting than what president Nicolás Maduro plans to do with three major problems after he wins :  hyperinflation, dropping oil production and a ticking debt-bomb. The difficult choice for the Venezuelans is whether to participate in the undemocratic elections. Ever larger groups are choosing exit, over voice, while a small group still chooses loyalty. This article was originally published on May 15th in Dagsavisen (in Norwegian) 

Next week Erna Solberg will visit Mexico and Colombia to discuss cooperation on climate, energy, trade, migration and the ever more fragile peace accord in Colombia. However, Latin America needs a cooperation partner that also raises the hard issues of human rights, democracy and social inclusion and how to combat corruption and impunity. Norway can be such a partner. This article was published in Dagsavisen on 3. March. 

The #MeToo campaign has gotten a lot of the credit for the new focus on silenced harassment and abuses. However,the inspiration for the global women's-strike and other initiatives did not come from Hollywood, but from Argentina and the #NiUnaMenos campaign. It is a clear example of the deep paradoxes of the struggle for gender equality in Latin America. This article was originally published on March 8th (in Norwegian) at Bistandsaktuelt.