by Rebecca Laes-Kushner | Aug 19, 2026 | development, humanitarian, policy, poverty, SDGs
Rebecca Laes-Kushner, Bawoke Tesfaye and Belayneh Tilahun “When a village water system fails, we step in to fix it. Restoring clean water and seeing the community’s joy makes me proud. Thanks to Helvetas for giving me the skills to make this possible.” — Hareg...
by Rebecca Laes-Kushner | Jul 29, 2026 | policy
Which charities should receive donations? What types of projects deserve funding? Effective altruism seeks to answer these questions by using rigorous research to determine which types of projects and which specific projects are achieving results. A number of...
by Rebecca Laes-Kushner | Jul 5, 2026 | policy
53% of children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read and understand a simple story by the end of primary school. In poor countries, the level is as high as 80%, according to the World Bank. In sub-Sarahan Africa, 89% of children are unable to read and...
by Rebecca Laes-Kushner | Jun 9, 2026 | policy
Can governments achieve policy goals by giving things away for free? Two programs in different parts of the world both test this approach. Free buses The first program comes from Iowa City in the US state of Iowa, In 2023 the city launched an initiative making buses...
by Rebecca Laes-Kushner | Jun 3, 2026 | policy
Traffic accidents between vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists are taken for granted as inevitable events. But Vision Zero has promoted a bold idea for decades: that traffic fatalities and injuries are avoidable with proper design of streets – and in fact, the number of...
by Rebecca Laes-Kushner | Apr 18, 2026 | policy
Challenges in scaling agroecology and practical pathways forward Rebecca Laes-Kushner and Harriet Keturah Traditional agriculture has brought about huge increases in food availability in the past century. But it also relies on pesticides and herbicides, focuses on...
