State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Poverty / Development44

  • New Initiative to Fast-Track Development in Dry Areas of East Africa

    Ministers from six countries in the region endorse project targeting pastoralist communities

  • Resources for health in Ruhiira, Uganda

    By Anjali Chowfla This past week the Uganda MDP team completed our health sector rotation, which proved to be a sobering experience. Despite the many successes the project has made in improving health outcomes in the community ( a decrease in maternal and child mortality and malaria deaths and an increase

  • Gender based training in Ruhiira

    The community sector carries out training workshops addressing gender issues two to three times per year. As part of our community sector rotation last week, we visited the homes of two couples, one of which had attended the training, one of which had not. Based on the day’s discussions with the field facilitators and visited…

  • Water Access in Mbola MVP: Not Just Another Pipe Dream

    For the first week of rotations I went out with the Water and Sanitation team in the Mbola Millennium Village. My interest slowly peaked, as the challenges of providing improved water points to the village coincided with our own struggles for water supply at the Tabora MDP student house.

  • Water is coming to Inga and Pedra Fina, Brazil

    Water Safety and Sustainability: Resilient System Design under Climate Stress The Columbia Water Center program in Ceará, Brazil, working in partnership with the Universidade Federal do Ceará, and with local and regional governments, develops appropriate drinking water infrastructure in rural communities. (Learn more in this blog piece) The following photos are from a progress report…

  • Sustainable Financing in the Mbola MVP?

    The MDP Tanzania Team finished our first week here in Tabora town and the Mbola Millennium Village. After spending an orientation day with the Business Enterprise and Development Coordinator and learning about The Mbola Millennium Savings & Credit Cooperative Society (SACCOS) as well as the MVP input credit scheme I am left with both questions…

  • Micro-focus in Development: Adding Results One-by-one

    By Ana Maria Poveda Garces During three days while driving around Mbola in Tanzania, Columbia University MDP students measure in many ways the return on investments of specifically targeted social interventions.

  • UN Secretary-General Makes First Trip to Millennium Village

    Key Data Toward Achieving Millennium Development Goals Released

  • Matt Berg, ICT Director for Millennium Villages Project, Named TIME’s 100 Most Influential

    NEW YORK, April 29–TIME named Matt Berg, ICT director for the Millennium Villages Project and Earth Institute researcher, to the 2010 TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Berg has been instrumental in bringing mobile phone based services, computer access and connectivity to some of the most…

Columbia Climate School Giving Day on October 28, 2026, featuring students and renewable energy imagery

October 28, 2026 is Columbia Giving Day! Your gift to Columbia Climate School helps advance interdisciplinary research, educate the next generation of leaders, and transform bold ideas into real-world solutions for climate, Earth, and society.

  • New Initiative to Fast-Track Development in Dry Areas of East Africa

    Ministers from six countries in the region endorse project targeting pastoralist communities

  • Resources for health in Ruhiira, Uganda

    By Anjali Chowfla This past week the Uganda MDP team completed our health sector rotation, which proved to be a sobering experience. Despite the many successes the project has made in improving health outcomes in the community ( a decrease in maternal and child mortality and malaria deaths and an increase

  • Gender based training in Ruhiira

    The community sector carries out training workshops addressing gender issues two to three times per year. As part of our community sector rotation last week, we visited the homes of two couples, one of which had attended the training, one of which had not. Based on the day’s discussions with the field facilitators and visited…

  • Water Access in Mbola MVP: Not Just Another Pipe Dream

    For the first week of rotations I went out with the Water and Sanitation team in the Mbola Millennium Village. My interest slowly peaked, as the challenges of providing improved water points to the village coincided with our own struggles for water supply at the Tabora MDP student house.

  • Water is coming to Inga and Pedra Fina, Brazil

    Water Safety and Sustainability: Resilient System Design under Climate Stress The Columbia Water Center program in Ceará, Brazil, working in partnership with the Universidade Federal do Ceará, and with local and regional governments, develops appropriate drinking water infrastructure in rural communities. (Learn more in this blog piece) The following photos are from a progress report…

  • Sustainable Financing in the Mbola MVP?

    The MDP Tanzania Team finished our first week here in Tabora town and the Mbola Millennium Village. After spending an orientation day with the Business Enterprise and Development Coordinator and learning about The Mbola Millennium Savings & Credit Cooperative Society (SACCOS) as well as the MVP input credit scheme I am left with both questions…

  • Micro-focus in Development: Adding Results One-by-one

    By Ana Maria Poveda Garces During three days while driving around Mbola in Tanzania, Columbia University MDP students measure in many ways the return on investments of specifically targeted social interventions.

  • UN Secretary-General Makes First Trip to Millennium Village

    Key Data Toward Achieving Millennium Development Goals Released

  • Matt Berg, ICT Director for Millennium Villages Project, Named TIME’s 100 Most Influential

    NEW YORK, April 29–TIME named Matt Berg, ICT director for the Millennium Villages Project and Earth Institute researcher, to the 2010 TIME 100, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Berg has been instrumental in bringing mobile phone based services, computer access and connectivity to some of the most…