The First Fruit Learning Centre analyzes on a semiannual basis the regional and global issues that most affect people living in the Majority World, while also examining the implications for the global Christian Church.
Photo Courtesy of Flickr user Maxime Guilbot
EAST ASIA
Global Times: Chinese universities alarmed by rise of proselytization on campus
A two-year study on college students’ religious beliefs has revealed the rapid growth of Christianity and proselytization, disguised as cultural studies on campuses across China.
Oxford Analytica: China’s urbanisation may hit fiscal barriers
The urban underclass of unregistered workers is both vulnerable and prone to violent unrest. Hukou reform is urgent, but the risks are enormous.
Lausanne Global Analysis: God At Work in North Korea
The church appears to be alive and growing in DPRK, despite the persecution. God is opening doors to rebuild his church in the country.
Reuters: Xi Jinping hopes traditional faiths can fill moral void in China
China’s President hopes “traditional cultures” or faiths – Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism – will help fill a void that has allowed corruption and immorality to flourish.
Christian Science Monitor: As Africa welcomes more Chinese migrants, a new wariness sets in
China has been investing heavily in Africa for more than a decade, and both China and its migrants are in what could be called a settling-in period as the story of a fast-growing Africa and a rising China unfolds.
New York Times: China’s Great Uprooting
The series looks at how China’s government-driven effort to push the population to towns and cities is reshaping a nation that for millenniums has been defined by its rural life.
MENA
Foreign Affairs:The Christian Exodus
The Arab Spring may be the proximate cause of some of the worst violence, but its roots run much deeper. What we are witnessing is nothing less than a regional religious cleansing that will soon prove to be a historic disaster for Christians and Muslims alike.
Oxford Analytica: Political Islam will adapt to survive in Arab politics
Egypt’s Brotherhood is not the only model of political Islam: a wave of ideological transformation is reinventing the Islamic project.
New York Times:Scattered by War, Syrian Family Struggles to Start Over
With an estimated 4.25 million Syrians displaced within their own country, the conflict has uprooted more than a quarter of Syria’s population.
Foreign Policy: Egypt’s Identity Crisis
Egypt’s seemingly tortured present actually reveals something relatively healthy—the normalization of politics.
Egypt’s tracing of a long and tortuous circle from revolution to counter-revolution helps expose another triangular-shaped structure.
SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
This report examines a variety of religious groups in Cambodia that have played important roles in addressing trafficking and giving it international prominence.
The Guardian: Redefining Poverty: what does it mean to be poor in India?
Economists, policymakers and NGOs are starting a debate around the question of how poverty should be measured in India.
Religion itself is not the source of the violent conflicts in Burma, but it has become a medium of politics.
Foreign Affairs: The Rise of the Rest of India
As India’s most dynamic states post rapid and sustainable growth rates, the country is rediscovering its natural fabric as a nation of strong regions.
Oxford Analytica: Pakistan attack puts Taliban talks on hold for now
A September 22 suicide attack on a church in Peshawar was another in a spate of killings claimed by the Taliban, setting back the Afghan peace process and already dicey negotiations between the Pakistani state and the Taliban.
Brookings: Iran Surprises Itself and the World
In the latest election, Iran’s political narrative defied expectations with an unprecedentedly outspoken campaign that gave voice to criticisms of the regime. In the end, it was the candidate who appealed most forcefully for a new path who won the presidency, with a resounding majority.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
New York Times: The Global Elite’s Favorite Strongman
An interview of Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda.
Foreign Affairs: Helping Congo Help Itself
A close reading of the conflict in Congo suggests that it is not local warlords and mining companies that are the key players in this drama, but the Congolese and Rwandan governments.
Christianity Today: Central African Christians Suffer Under Islamist Coup
For the first time, religion plays central role in war-prone Central African Republic.
Oxford Analytica: Education crisis clouds outlook for African economies
The Millennium Development Goals increased the number of children in primary and secondary schools across Sub-Saharan Africa, but evidence of a crisis in learning and the quality of educational outcomes is emerging.
New York Times: For South Sudan and the U.N., a Relationship of Growing Distrust
Amid growing distrust on both sides, South Sudan has become one of the most dangerous bases of operations for the United Nations.
The Economist: The unquenchable fire
From Somalia to Syria, al-Qaeda franchises and jihadists now control more territory, and can call on more fighters, than at any time since Osama bin Laden created the organization 25 years ago, as evidenced by the Nairobi Westgate shopping center attack.
GLOBAL
The Social Progress Imperative: Social Progress Index
Economic development is necessary but not sufficient for social progress.
Washington Post: State Dept. seeks to broaden religious reach
The State Department announced the creation of its first office dedicated to outreach to the global faith community and religious leaders.
Skoll World Forum: Not always with us
The world has an astonishing chance to take a billion people out of extreme poverty by 2030.
The Global Slavery Index 2013: 29.8 Million People in Modern Slavery Globally
This index provides a ranking of 162 countries, reflecting a combined measure of three factors: estimated prevalence of modern slavery by population, a measure of child marriage, and a measure of human trafficking in and out of a country.
PHILANTHROPY AND MISSION
Christianity Today: Want to Change the World? Sponsor a Child
A top economist shares the astounding news about that little picture hanging on our refrigerator.
Knowledge@Wharton: The New Philanthropists
New philanthropists are more sophisticated (now there are schools that teach social impact and philanthropy), more demanding (want proof), and are younger.
New York Times: The Charitable-Industrial Complex
Peter Buffett bemoans the “charitable-industrial complex” and advocates against the existing support system for nonprofits.
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Scale=Partnership
A new study by the Ashoka Globalizer Program, in partnership with Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, provides five key principles for scaling social innovation.
It’s Time to Move Beyond Overhead
Three leading sources of information on nonprofits – GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and BBB Wise Giving Alliance – penned an open letter to the donors of America denouncing the “overhead ratio” as a valid indicator of nonprofit performance.