Take one basic little black dress (LBD), a cool girl from India, sustainability, and education for underprivileged children… What do they all add up to? The Uniform Project: the brainchild of Sheena Matheiken of New York, who grew up in India.

Sheena vowed to wear the same dress every day for a whole year to show people it's possible to reinvent your basic wardrobe while creating new looks through smart accessorizing. The LBD was mixed and matched with vintage, flea market, eBay, and Etsy.com finds. Additional accessories came in the form of donations from eco-designers and hand-me-downs from fans.

Through the project Sheena promoted her personal passion for sustainability in fashion while also garnering an awareness around education for underprivileged children in India. The Uniform Project has an impressive following of 6,894 fans on its Facebook page, which is just over a year old. The cause has raised $95,090 for the Akanksha Foundation whose mission is to provide “a positive impact on the lives of less privileged children.”

The Akanksha Foundation provides children from India’s slums the same opportunity for quality education as those enrolled in public schools. In a country where it costs an average of $360 to send a child to school for a year, roughly 264 kids can attend a year of school thanks to the funds raised by The Uniform Project. Check out this video to learn more about how The Uniform Project came to be.

The Uniform Project Trailer from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

Visions of today's world work to sustain tomorrow's planet. Photo: NASA Goddard Photo and Video (flickr)

How do you create and sustain a movement around climate change? Why not use art, suggests writer and environmental activist Bill McKibben.

"We need a big movement, and big movements come from beauty and meaning, not columns of statistics,” writes McKibben for the Huffington Post.

That's why McKibben's nonprofit 350.org and Planet Mag are working with contemporary artists to create visual interpretations of Earth to build awareness around climate change and sustainable living. Ten percent of the proceeds are going to Charity: Water, which works to provide safe drinking water to the poor. You can check out pieces by Chris Scarborough and Allison Schulnik — among others — here.

In the 50s and 60s Afghanistan had modern, clean health facilities. Today only 13% of children are born in hospitals. Photo: Daveeza (Flickr)

Recall an Afghanistan you probably forgot existed (or maybe you never knew). It's modern, stylish, and humming with productive economic activity. Women work alongside men dressed in form-fitting pencil skirts and kitten heels.

Foreign Policy's photo essay on Afghanistan in the 50s and 60s provides a glimpse into this bygone era. The photos highlight how much has changed since a war with the Soviets, a decade of Taliban rule, and the U.S. invasion.

There are shots of cinemas, homes lit with electricity, and well-stocked hospitals — things that few Afghans enjoy today.

This visual reminder of a long-lost Afghanistan says more than words ever could about how much conflict and oppression has cost the Afghan people.

Kids looking snazzy in their new specs. Photo: Courtesy of Fuseproject

While the term “four eyes” might strike you as outdated and retro, kids the world over still often think that glasses are the brand of a nerd. For example, students in Mexico shy away from wearing lenses because it marks them as fresh meat for mockery, according to a recent article in Fast Company Magazine. Moreover, their families often can’t afford to pay the high costs of eye care in the first place.

However, a trendy new collection of glasses invented by Yves Béhar’s design agency, Fuseproject, offers solutions to both these problems. The glasses are ultra kid-friendly, available in adjustable sizes, fun shapes and bright colors. On a practical note, they’re made of flexible plastic that any mom would love — they’re almost impossible to break. Perhaps best of all, they’re free.

These glasses are part of “See Better to Learn Better,” a collaboration between the Mexican government, a local optics company and Fuseproject. The program gives free glasses and eye exams to students in Mexico, where half a million students need lenses, says Fuseproject. Next year they hope to give 300,000 pairs of glasses to kids through local partners.

Being able to see clearly translates to greater success in school, according to a Stanford University study. The study suggests that simply giving kids glasses can be as effective as other educational initiatives, such as reducing class size, giving scholarships and tutoring — and it’s usually less costly. From the looks of it, Fuseproject has 20/20 vision with this one.

Students can customize their glasses with this catalog. Photo: Courtesy of Fuseproject

It's probably no surprise that for big-time soccer fans, watching the world cup is more enjoyable than working. But breaks taken to check the latest score and watch part or all of the game collectively add up to big dips in productivity, according to a recent Atlantic Monthly article on the economics of the World Cup.

As the tournament gets closer to the finals there are even bigger slides in productivity. The Center for Economics and Business Research estimates that the price tag for a month of sports-induced distraction amounts to $2.8 billion.

For soccer fans, going to the World Cup is a dream come true. Watching the games on TV or online is the next best thing. Photo: Axel Bührmann (flickr)

How many times have you seen a picture of a rural African farmer dressed in his Sunday best? Probably not very many.

In an ongoing project called Perspectives of Poverty, Canadian Duncan McNicholl is taking photos of people he meets while working on water and sanitation projects in Malawi to illustrate how photographs can be manipulated to convey different messages.

His latest model is a young girl named Gertrude, who's maybe five or six years old . The mood of the first photo is dreary. Gertrude is looking up at the camera with big, sad eyes and a despondent expression. Her yellow dress is slipping off her small shoulders. Little bits of cereal are stuck to her hand and lips, and she seems to be caught in the act of eating.

In contrast, the second photo is sunny and well lit. Gertrude is hamming it up for the camera with a big grin and mischievous eyes. She’s wearing the same yellow dress, but this time it doesn’t look shabby. A thatched hut in the background is the only clue that this girl lives in poverty. You certainly wouldn’t be able to tell from her smile.

McNicholl started the project because he didn't think the "poverty" photos used by some charities accurately reflected the lives of the friends he had made in Malawi, he explains in his blog.

I thought that these images were robbing people of their dignity, and I felt that the rest of the story should be told as well … I want to bring to light some of the different assumptions we make about a person, especially when we see an image of “poverty” from rural Africa.

A man extracting latex from a rubber tree. Photo: Tran's World Productions (Flickr)

The Rikbaktsa are an indigenous group who live in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. For seven decades they extracted latex from the jungle where they live. About 20 years ago the price of latex dropped, making latex extraction unprofitable. Without this industry, the Rikbaktsa were in trouble.

Since then, an unusual partnership with the tire company, Michelin has helped the Rikbaktsa revitalize latex extraction in their community. An article on the United Nations Development Program's website (UNDP) explains how this agreement has benefited both Michelin and the Rikbaksa. Carlos Castro, the head of the UNDP’s Brazilian environmental unit, writes about the partnership's benefits:

It’s a win-win situation. According to Michelin, the quality of these native trees’ latex is higher than the one extracted from the planted trees — even if in the same area. And this is all done in a way that promotes economic development, conserves natural genetic resources and protects the indigenous peoples’ cultural and social diversity.

This partnership promotes development by strengthening the local economy in Mato Grosso says the UNDP. Michelin buys latex from the Rikbaktsa at 30 percent above market value, which has helped families to increase their incomes from $460 to $860 per month. To ensure they're getting high-quality latex, Michelin provides materials, training, and storage facilities to the community. This training has helped locals become more proficient at extracting latex in addition to bringing more cash into the region.

This partnership has been favorable to the Rikbaktsa for social and cultural reasons as well. In addition to providing jobs, it allows them to manage their land while helping stem the exodus of youth leaving Mato Grosso in search of work.

Another positive aspect of this agreement is its environmental benefits. Deforestation from slash-and-burn farming and cattle ranching has devastated Brazil. The region of Mato Grosso has been especially hard hit. As the process of harvesting latex is similar to harvesting maple syrup it can done without without cutting down trees.

By successfully improving the economy, culture, and environment in Mato Grosso, this project shows that both industry and the indigenous can profit by working cooperatively.

More than half of Tajikistan's labor force works abroad, which gives them the highest remittance-rate in the world.

Men will often leave their wives and children for years at a time. These "left behind" Tajik women often raise their children and eek out a living on their own, a burden evident in Mashid Mohadjerin's stunning collection of photographs featured in the New York Times' Lens blog.

The travails these women face can be seen in the shadowed lines etched into their brows, or the mud caked around their fingers from a day in the fields. But one can also see their hope and perseverance – in the stern gaze of a women’s organization leader in the town of Khorogh, or in a teacher’s tiny smile as she wipes her student’s face. They are, if you will, the Rosie the Riveters of Tajikistan, picking up where the men have left off — but with no foreseeable end to that lifestyle.

A child in Mexico City earns his wage cleaning windshields. Photo: Beto (Kuh) (Flickr)

So far, more than 4 million Mexican families have benefited from a government program aimed at combating some of the country’s toughest problems: poverty, illiteracy and poor health.

Oportunidades, which began in 2002, takes the innovative approach of paying these families to go to school, eat well and stay healthy. Eight years later, the concept is gaining international momentum.

The program is based on a “conditional-cash” idea, whereby eligible adults are given money for achieving specific goals, including regular medical checkups, taking classes on healthier eating habits, and making sure their children are enrolled in school.

Santiago Levy, a social economist and one of the men credited with implementing the “conditional-cash” approach in Mexico, recently spoke about Oportunitidades with PBS. Levy said that he wanted to focus on lasting ways to bring people out of poverty.

These families were trapped in … some kind of an intergenerational mechanism, by which parents were poor, children were poor, and the next generation were also poor. The kids were so poor, they had to be picking coffee in the fields, and they couldn't go to school ... [Through Oportunidades,] what you are saying is, your kid will be equally valuable to you if he's in the school, as opposed if he is in the street begging for money.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Oportunidades is its rigorous evaluation process. The program uses an outside firm to review every aspect of its impact, and so far the results have been convincing. In some affected regions, school enrollment is up 20 percent for girls and 10 percent for boys, according to a World Bank report.

The unique evaluation process has also offered Oportunidades a certain degree of credibility and international recognition. PBS reports that more than 30 counties — many in South America and Southeast Asia — are developing their own "conditional cash" programs.

OLPC instructors teach students how to use their laptops in Kigali, Rwanda. Photo: cellanr (flckr)

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame wants to secure a piece of the growing technology market that has already brought so much change to sub-Saharan Africa, and he’s starting young.

Kagame recently announced that he would provide a laptop for every child in his country between the ages of six and 18, reports The Economist. The magazine suggests the move is based on both economic as well as educational motives: The President has made it clear that he intends to have 50,000 computer programmers by 2020 as a result of the laptop program.

To reach that goal, he is working with the American non-profit One Laptop per Child (OLPC), an organization that is the first of its kind to provide durable and affordable laptops to many in the developing world. According to their website they believe (as I do) that a laptop can be a key for children to engage in their own education more fully than traditional rote learning. OLPC claims their laptops offer a way for the user to connect with both their local and greater communities in order to expose them to a world that is often not available.

The more practical economic benefits of such a program are also apparent. The president has already purchased 100,000 laptops from OLPC, according to the Economist, and plans to buy 1.2 million more as early as 2012. Over the long term, the initiative will create more jobs for computer teachers and repairmen.
And Government agencies and businesspeople have already started programs to help educate a computer-savvy population reports The New Times of Kigali.

Understandably, the plan has been criticized by many who think the money would be better spent on more visible and perhaps more necessary projects for the impoverished nation, including food distribution, health care subsidies and infrastructure development. Although the country must never lose focus on these persistent problems, there must also be room for the Rwandan Government to take risks on other fronts. The overall benefits of education are difficult to quantify but are nevertheless unquestionably valuable. Technology markets are on the rise throughout Africa, and President Kagame doesn't seem to want to let this opportunity pass.

Egyptian women typically work at home or in agriculture. Photo: DruhScoff (flickr)

An increase in the number of working women in Cairo is giving rise to a new niche within the local security industry: female bodyguards, or "lady guards."

In this part of the world, the mixing of single men and women is highly discouraged. So, according to the Christian Science Monitor, Egypt's leading security company has created a new division of "lady guards" to help these wealthy women feel more comfortable while being guarded.

The Falcon Group, as the Egypt-based security company is known, is pioneering a new model of protection that both signals and supports the rising status of women here. Falcon’s female-guard unit, the first of its kind for women clients, is creating an empowering new career for its employees while capitalizing on the demands of an increasingly conservative society.

These newly trained lady guards say they feel empowered by their work. Amine, a twenty year old "lady guard", tells the Jakarta Globe that "her work has given her a sense of power and status in a country where women often fall victim to male discrimination or harassment."

An HIV positive woman marches in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo: Trevor Samson/World Bank Photo Collection (Flickr)

Earlier today, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma announced an ambitious plan to combat HIV/AIDS. Zuma called for more HIV testing centers, better treatment facilities and emphasized the need to identify and treat HIV-positive children younger than one year old, CNN reports.

Zuma's plan ends a decade of neglect imposed by his predecessor Thabo Mbeki. The former president adamantly refused to recognize that the HIV virus led to AIDS and blocked necessary medication from entering his country. A study mentioned in Forbes Magazine suggests Mbeki's policies lead to the deaths of more than 350,000 South African adults and 35,000 babies.

The speech was welcomed by the international community. Without skipping a beat, the United States pledged $120 million to supplement President Zuma’s new policies.

Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perception Index is out. Where does your country rank?

Popular vacation destinations are ready to give tourists what they're looking for, all that's missing now are the tourists themselves. Photo: Marvin (PA) (flickr)

Ah, summer. A time of rest, relaxation, meticulously planned vacations ... and this year, less travel.

One June report by a UN body predicted tourism would decline by 4 to 6 percent this year — and that's before the H1N1 virus further dampened travel.

Tourism is down even in the U.S., where tourists spent more money than anywhere else in 2008. But the downturn is worse across the Atlantic, according to an August Reuters story.

On Spain's popular Costa del Sol, tourist traffic is "the worst I have ever seen it," drink seller Pedro Hervas tells The Telegraph. "There is no one on the beach. If you came here last year at this time you would not be able to get around, there would be so many cars and people."

Analysts cited in a Wall Street Journal story on the battered Mediterranean tourism industry conclude that nations have yet to see the real effects of the tourism slump on economic growth.

"We are seeing a multifaceted impact from the crisis on the tourism sector and there will be a variety of consequences," Marko Mrsnik told the Journal. "These include employment consequences, consequences on the creditworthiness of households and companies in the sector and their ability to pay their debts, and it will certainly have an impact on government revenues."

In Greece about 19,000 jobs have been lost, people in the industry told The Wall Street Journal, and economists predict the lack of tourism could cut more than a percentage point off economic growth this year. According to the same Journal article, in Italy private-sector estimates of tourism-related job losses are as high as 150,000.

Some sunlight, however, has seeped through the dreary forecasts. After Iceland's economic meltdown made their currency more affordable, tourism spiked, and has continued to grow through the summer. North African countries such as Morocco and Algeria have also welcomed more visitors. Some of them are undoubtedly vacationing on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea for a change — or rather, to save some change.

Ditch your car keys and tie up your laces. Photo: Geir Halvorsen (flickr)

Does your neighborhood influence your driving habits?

A University of California at Davis study has found that neighborhoods boasting corner stores, restaurants, coffee shops, hardware stores and other small businesses inadvertently encourage residents to run their errands by foot, rather then by car. About 87 percent of respondents that live less than .5 miles from a grocery store said that they chose to walk instead of drive about six times a month. In contrast, about a third or respondents from less walk-friendly neighborhoods said they walked to complete a single errand in a month's time.

When you add it all up, people living withing walking distance of stores end up driving 42 percent fewer miles than their car-dependent counterparts. Grist points out the importance of this reduction on a global scale. If more people lived in walk-friendly neighborhoods, they would drive fewer miles, and thus, reduce carbon emissions.