For farmers in the small Nepali village of Siguali Birta, transporting unprocessed grain to mills takes hours of time and effort. But local entrepreneur Lorik Prasad Yadav built a mobile mill on his tractor, taking his thresher directly where it’s needed. Unfortunately for Lorik, local laws are not on his side. Watch what happens in the latest installment of Atlas Network’s Doing Development Differently video series.

Hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj, one of the world’s most influential female rappers, was scheduled to perform in Saudi Arabia, but canceled her appearance after learning more about the country’s record of human rights violations. What changed her mind? The New York-based Human Rights Foundation sent her a letter explaining that a performance in a country with such discriminatory laws would be the same as passively approving them. 

Photo editorial credit: JStone / Shutterstock.com​

"Kyriakos Mitsotakis managed to achieve, almost single-handedly, the first major victory against populism in Europe." In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Aristides N. Hatzis—the director of research for the Greek think tank KEFiM—explains how Greek voters avoided the global trend of rewarding populists at the ballot box. The success of KEFiM’s efforts to promote the ideas of liberty was also profiled in Fortune Greece.

In the wake of the Brexit referendum in 2016, Atlas Network asked a few of our European partners for their perspectives. Three years—and two Prime Ministers—have gone by since the referendum. We followed up with these same partners for their opinions on the current state of the Brexit debate in the U.K. and how the changes have affected the rest of the European Union.

“Young people have no idea about economic freedom,” says Máté Hajba, director of Hungary’s Free Market Foundation. With the popularity of social media among this demographic, FMF used skills acquired in Atlas Network’s Lights, Camera, Liberty film workshop to create Freedom Vlog, a new video series about liberty that has already attracted more than 300,000 views. Check out the series here.

Smith Fellow Aneta Vainė, vice president of Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI), spoke with Atlas Network about how an iconic book and a student trip to England initially whetted her appetite for freedom. For Aneta, the Smith Fellowship meant the chance to cultivate her fundraising skills and connections as well as promote LFMI as they celebrate 30 years of successes. Find out more about what else she learned here.

Entrepreneurs in Uruguay have historically dealt with red tape and high startup costs just to get a business off the ground, but thanks in large part to the research and advocacy of Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo, the process will be easier in the future. The Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies has passed new legislation to curtail bureaucratic hurdles and reduce costs in order to make it easier for entrepreneurs from entering the market.
 

Several Atlas Network partners walked the red carpet at the libertarian Anthem Film Festival, which was held during FreedomFest 2019 in Las Vegas. Made in Mekhé—a half-hour documentary produced by Foundation for Economic Education that follows Magatte Wade, the director of Atlas Network’s Center for African Prosperity—was awarded "Best Documentary: Short Narrative." Find out what our other partners took home here.

During the week of June 25–29, a group of young African scholars gathered in Tanzania to gain a deeper understanding of liberty with Tanzania-based Atlas Network partner Liberty Sparks. Learning Week, which attracted nearly 300 students from Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania, focused on rule of law, individual rights, limited government, and the free market. Organizer Evans Exaud hopes that these young advocates will have an impact on Africa's future.

Twenty years ago, nearly seven million people were given grants of land by the Ukrainian government as compensation for years worked on collective farms. Today, they are prohibited from selling that land—but people who worked in manufacturing and state-owned factories were given company shares that they were free to sell. So why are farmers precluded from that same opportunity? At FEE.org, Atlas Network’s AJ Skiera explores the issue of land rights violations and how EasyBusiness, a Ukrainian partner, is working to fix the problem.