Assessment of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme in Karaga district,Ghana

This article assesses the contribution of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme in reducing rural poverty in the Karaga district of Northern Ghana, using a mixed research design to compare the livelihoods of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. It concludes that the programme is contributing to poverty reduction among the poor and vulnerable, and recommends that school children benefiting from LEAP should be exempted from paying extra expenses such as examination and PTA fees. There should also be a system to provide subsidies for agriculture inputs to enable beneficiaries to engage in agriculture to promote longer term poverty alleviation.     

Is foreign direct investment good for the poor? New evidence from African countries

This paper conducts an empirical investigation of the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and poverty in selected African economies. Using system generalised method of moments, our findings showed that FDI inflows have significantly contributed to poverty reduction in African countries. Our results also showed that better institutional quality and human capital development are associated with reducing poverty. Furthermore, interacting FDI with financial development was found to significantly reduce poverty, thus providing support to the hypothesis that better functioning financial systems enhance the efficiency of FDI in reducing poverty.     

Managing Mass Fatalities during COVID-19: Lessons for Promoting Community Resilience during Global Pandemics

In the United States and around the world, COVID-19 represents a mass fatality incident, as there are more bodies than can be handled using existing resources. Although the management and disposition of bodies is distressing and heartrending, it is a task that local, state, and federal governments must plan for and respond to collaboratively with the private sector and faith-based community. When mass fatalities are mismanaged, there are grave emotional and mental health consequences that can delay recovery and undermine community resilience. Using insights from one author's mass fatality management research during the 2010 Haiti earthquake, this Viewpoint essay explores how mass fatalities are being managed in response to COVID-19. Based on the researcher's findings a decade ago, it is apparent that many lessons have not been learned. The essay concludes by providing governments with practical lessons on how to manage mass fatalities to facilitate and promote community resilience.     

Religion, Dialogue, and Non-Violent Actions in Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

This article examines the potential constructive role that religious peace builders can play in contributing to Palestinian-Israeli reconciliation and peace. An interfaith setting is a space in which believers from various faith groups come together to explore not only their similarities and differences, but also how they can promote peace in the harsh reality of violence. In such encounters, there is a wide range of interfaith dialogue activities and possibilities that can be deployed. Based on applied training and interfaith dialogue workshops and experiences, this article proposes a framework for conducting interfaith dialogue among Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Palestine and Israel.     

Palestine: Myths and realities

Dispossessed: the ordeal of the Palestinians 1917–80 David Gilmour, London: Sidgwick and Jackson. 1980. 237 pp. £12.50

The Soviet Union and the Palestine Liberation Movement: an uneasy alliance Galia Golan, New York and London: Praeger. 1980. 275 pp. £12.25