Pambazuka News 498: Millennium Development Goals: A critique from the South
Pambazuka News 498: Millennium Development Goals: A critique from the South
Determined to break the deadlock in the much-delayed presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire, African diplomats, including members of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC), have embarked on a visit to West Africa to meet key political players in the hitherto peaceful nation. According to a statement, issued Monday by the AU, the diplomats are expected in the Ivorian capital from 27 September on a visit that would take them to other parts of the West African region. They are expected to conclude their mission on 1 October.
The ongoing rainy season has delayed efforts to decontaminate the six villages widely affected by lead poisoning resulting from illegal gold mining activities in Nigeria's northern Zamfara state, the state government said. Over 200 children have died from the lead poisoning in the state, forcing the federal government to ban illegal mining activities there.
In recent decades, the rate at which humans worldwide are pumping dry the vast underground stores of water that billions depend on has more than doubled, say scientists who have conducted an unusual, global assessment of groundwater use. These fast-shrinking subterranean reservoirs are essential to daily life and agriculture in many regions, while also sustaining streams, wetlands, and ecosystems and resisting land subsidence and salt water intrusion into fresh water supplies. Today, people are drawing so much water from below that they are adding enough of it to the oceans (mainly by evaporation, then precipitation) to account for about 25 per cent of the annual sea level rise across the planet, the researchers find.
The Google Public Data Explorer makes large datasets easy to explore, visualize and communicate. Students, journalists, policy makers and everyone else can play with the tool to create visualizations of public data, link to them, or embed them in their own webpages.
For many millions in the developing world, land is central to livelihoods, food security, even identity. It is not surprising, then, that a recent wave of large - scale land acquisitions in poorer countries has sparked a major debate. This brief from the International Institute for Environment and Development lays out key trends, drivers and main features of the deal, with a focus on Africa.
This briefing from the South African Institute of International Affairs describes some of the challenges facing the efforts of Zambian policymakers to secure sustainable benefits from the exploitation of the country’s mineral resources - which generate about two - thirds of the country’s foreign exchange, yet their contribution to national development remains contested for various reasons. It explores the investor - friendly financial terms set by the Zambian government when the mining sector was privatised, the entry into the sector of Chinese companies, and the strain their distinctive mode of operation has put on the regulatory regime.
The ANC's discussion document on a national health insurance (NHI), unveiled at the party's national general council last week, contains few details on how to fix the embattled public health system and little in the way of innovation, experts complained last week. To ensure that an NHI brought better access to healthcare, there would need to be a concurrent improvement in the reach and quality of healthcare services and an increase in the number of facilities and staff in the sector.
Zimbabwe must show greater respect for human rights and political freedoms before the US sanctions on the impoverished African nation can be removed, the U.S. State Department said on Sunday. The State Department said its top diplomat for Africa and other US officials met three Zimbabwean ministers and had praised the economic advances but raised concerns 'that political progress has not been as successful'.
One year after the massacre of 157 people in Conakry, no army official suspected of taking part in the killings has been brought before a court in Guinea, which is still riven by political divisions. On September 28 2009, a peaceful rally organised by the opposition in Conakry's biggest stadium, was bloodily suppressed by junta troops, leaving 157 dead, hundreds of women victims of sexual violence and over a thousand injured.
There have been unprecedented developments in HIV vaccine research recently, but the field is threatened by the global downturn in funding for HIV/AIDS. Ahead of the AIDS Vaccine 2010 conference starting in Atlanta on 28 September, IRIN/PlusNews spoke to Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, about the future of HIV vaccine research and development.
Historically the tool that has been used to counter Gender Based Violence (GBV) has been the law. Following various gender protocols the governments of the SADC countries have readily developed legislation criminalising GBV to varying degrees. Yet, legislative solutions to the problem of GBV and rape in the SADC region can be likened to covering one’s eyes in order to see no evil, says this blog post.
Pambazuka News 497: MDGs in Africa: What progress?
Pambazuka News 497: MDGs in Africa: What progress?
In this wide-ranging interview, Johan Galtung, considered as the father of peace studies, talks on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Middle East peace talks and why Obama is losing his base. The interview is a transcript of a two-part interview with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman. In February 2011, Pambazuka Press will publish
While leader of the Democratic Alliance Helen Zille and leader of the Independent Democrats Patricia de Lille have announced that they will work together, Mphutlane wa Bofelo asks why the South African left can’t find areas of agreement instead of squabbling over differences.
Involving international celebrities like Naomi Campbell in the Charles Taylor trial is essentially an exercise in seeking global attention, writes Niels Hahn. While ‘special courts’ trying alleged African war criminals symbolise a supposedly clear-cut picture of ‘international justice’, this brand of justice should be seen as ultimately operating in multinational and Western political interests, Hahn stresses.
In early September, Rwandan President Paul Kagame was sworn in for his second seven-year term. During the run-up to the recent elections, which Kagame and his Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) won easily, Jenerali Ulimwengu got a chance to talk to President Kagame, who answered his critics on a wide range of issues, including Rwanda’s human rights record. The following are excerpts from that interview.
Leaving your children behind in your home country is by no means easy, but more and more people are moving to crossing our borders in the hope of making a better living. Zoopy TV's newsteam spent a day with Belinda, a Zimbabwean who now works as a domestic worker in South Africa.
Looking at trends within China’s work with Africa around human research development, especially in the areas of education and training, Kenneth King finds certain elements of ‘cooperation’ to be rather one-way and asymmetrical, while others are more based on partnerships.
NGOs are outraged after confirmation that the world's largest bank will finance the destructive Gibe 3 hydropower dam. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is underwriting a $500 million contract awarded 13 May to Dongfang Electric Corporation for the dam's turbines and electro-mechanical works. Although ICBC has not publicly announced the loan, an official confirmed 8 September by email that the financial agreement between ICBC and the Ethiopian government was signed in July. The funding undermines ICBC's efforts to build a global reputation as a socially and environmentally responsible lending institution.
The Malcolm X Grass roots Movement (MXGM) is an organization of people of Afrikan descent in the United States who believe in fighting for and supporting self-determination and human rights for Afrikans in the United States and around the world. Our organization annually takes an international trip to build solidarity with other people struggling for liberation and social justice. This year, we come in solidarity to Haiti (with the people of Haiti).
As we mark 50 years of the decolonisation process in our continent, we note the wide diversity of experiences, of popular and democratic advances, of partial gains, of stagnation and even, in many cases, of grave setbacks and the heavy oppression of progressive forces. Everywhere in our continent the struggle for the legitimate democratic, social and economic aspirations of our peoples continues.
Instead of falling for the rhetoric around the UN development goals, Cameron Duodu argues that Africa should gauge the true commitment of rich countries to ending poverty on the continent by looking to the past. In this area, the G8 has been sorely lacking, he says.
In an interview with the Inter Press Service (IPS), Patrick Bond discusses the failings of South Africa’s drive towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the extent to which the country’s government continues to operate against the interests of its poor majority.
A pilot project using 'early warning indicators' (EWIs) to minimise antiretroviral (ART) resistance in Namibia has provided further evidence of the potential value of this strategy in settings where routine viral load monitoring is not feasible. With more than four million people in the developing world now receiving antiretroviral therapy, but few of those people able to access the relatively costly laboratory tests that are a standard component of HIV medical care in wealthy countries, there is ongoing concern that high rates of undetected treatment failure could cause widespread drug resistance.
Completing the stalled Doha round of trade talks is 'technically doable' by November 2011, World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy said Wednesday. 'Celebrating 10 years of negotiations may not be a big occasion for champagne,' Lamy acknowledged in remarks in Washington, little over a year before the talks hit their 10-year anniversary. Nevertheless, he said that nations involved in the talks could formulate an agreement by November 2011.
Freedom House’s recently released report card on the UN Human Rights Council has noted how human rights abusing countries on the Council often try to prevent NGOs from being able to report on abuses by repeatedly interrupting them as they speak during their designated time slots. Freedom House says this practice is clearly demonstrated during a short speech by Kristyana Valcheva (a Bulgarian nurse imprisoned and tortured for over 8 years in Libya on false charges), who was speaking on behalf of Freedom House. Valcheva was repeatedly interrupted by Libya, Iran, China and Cuba.
At least 20 people have been killed and 70 others injured in a series of street battles in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, sources say. Shells fired by African Union (AU) peacekeepers hit Bakara market, in central Mogadishu, during Thursday's fighting, Al Jazeera has learned.
Cheating, mistresses and having more than one partner might sound very sexy and intriguing. But beneath the surface lies a dangerous web of sexual partners which is leading to the rampant spread of HIV/AIDS. This documentary which was aired on e-tv's 3rd Degree in South Africa, engages with a group of HIV+ individuals who all contracted the disease by having sexual relations with more than one person at a time, examines why they did so, and how they hope to educate others to not follow in their footsteps.
Expectant mothers living in internally displaced people’s camps in western Kenya need qualified medical help to minimise the possible risks associated with delivery, the residents said. 'It is by God’s grace that mothers and children survive,' Paul Thiongo, chairman of Pipeline IDP camp along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway, said. 'Safety during birth is a luxury here; even getting three meals is like a dream. Though it may sound odd for us to be depending on traditional birth attendants [TBAs] in the 21st century, there is not much choice.'
The disproportionately high risk of disaster faced by a billion slum-dwellers across the world could be significantly reduced with prudent investment, states a new report. 'We cannot stop urbanisation but we shouldn't be naïve; a trend does not mean destiny, disasters can be prevented,' Matthias Schmale, the under-secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in Nairobi at the global launch of the 2010 edition of the World Disasters Report.
South Africa is to resume the deportation of Zimbabweans on 1 January 2011, on the basis that conditions in their home country have improved sufficiently, while those with valid documents will be issued with permits to stay. This is a welcome promise, activists say, but hard to implement and irrelevant to most expatriates.
'President [Robert] Mugabe [leader of ZANU-PF] and Prime Minister [Morgan] Tsvangirai [leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)] must apologise to me because I was beaten on the head and all over the body by ZANU-PF militia and sustained a broken leg. My daughter-in-law, who was pregnant, and my six-year-old grandson were locked in a house which was then set on fire.' - Juliet Mashoko, a 61-year-old grandmother, attended the recent Survivors Summit in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, organised by Heal Zimbabwe.
Amnesty International on Tuesday warned that the plan of action on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by governments fails to uphold the rights of the world's poorest. Despite overwhelming evidence that millions are being left out of the MDGs because discrimination and other human rights violations prevent them from accessing basic services, world leaders failed to seize the opportunity to put human rights at the heart of the MDGs, during a UN summit in New York this week, said Amnesty.
For most women who are heavily dependent on their abusers, attaining economic independence is an impossible dream. Consequently, “women – who are often at the heart of every nation” are not able to make sure their children are fed, educated or vaccinated. In order to accelerate progress on some of the Millennium Development Goals, good governance and legal reforms to protect the vulnerable are desperately needed.
As leaders gather this week at the United Nations to discuss the challenges and opportunities to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, Mashable, 92nd Street Y and the UN Foundation brought speakers together at the Social Good Summit on Monday to present new and innovative ideas that bring the MDGs, technology and humanity together.
Hectic lives, jam-packed schedules and the all-too-common feeling of powerlessness can keep us from doing what we can to make a difference — even if that difference is simply offering a donation. Social media and the social good movement has revolutionized and re-energized fundraising, with mobile apps making it easier than ever before to do what you can to help others. And it can be surprisingly simple. Knowing that your ability to help others is but a tap away should be motivation enough for you to download these apps and start pitching in.
“Why is it when people make films about Africa, they always show the bad parts of Africa?” Is an American with extensive world and filmmaking experience more capable of capturing realities on the African continent than a less-experienced African filmmaker? Is a South African filmmaker who has not left his country more credible to shoot a film in the Congo than a Westerner who has a career background in war-torn societies?
The first head of the new United Nations super-agency on female empowerment today voiced hope that the body will be a 'strong champion' of gender equality and hasten existing UN efforts to advance the cause of women and girls. The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women was established on 2 July by a unanimous vote of the General Assembly to oversee all of the world body’s programmes aimed at promoting women’s rights and their full participation in global affairs.
Hailing the move by several countries to ban the use of child soldiers, a top United Nations official has urged that all nations that have not yet done so take the important step of signing and ratifying the global treaty that serves to protect children in armed conflict. 'Today is a landmark day for children,' Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said after three countries either signed or ratified the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict.
The election commission in Guinea has proposed 10 October as the revised date for the presidential election run-off. The poll was due last Sunday, but was postponed following violent clashes between rival supporters. The new date must be approved by the head of Guinea's military government, Gen Sekouba Konate.
Mozambique plans to register non-contract cell phone users, weeks after an anonymous viral text message campaign fuelled riots that killed 14. Communications Minister Paulo Zucula said the new law would improve security for internet banking and prevent crime. 'The main idea is to educate citizens about the way to use, with responsibility, the services put in place by the state,' he said.
When I rise in the morning and when retiring at night, I praise Maawu. I praise her with my mouth; honour him with libation.
On my behalf, Maawu tells Nsho to give me red snappers and giant tuna. That which I cannot control, listens to the voice of Maawu and my net is filled.
Punjab-based farmers, who are known for feeding the country, now want to try their hands offshore, with a group of progressive farmers all set to acquire 50,000 hectares of farm land on lease in Ethiopia for growing high-value cash crops, including pulses and maize.
Chinese investment in Angola is bringing back to life one of the greatest rail routes in Africa, the Benguela Railway. In return, China gets oil - but how fair are accusations that China is engaged in a colonial-style scramble for resources?
The World Bank’s long-awaited report on the global farmland grab is ‘both a disappointment and a failure’, writes GRAIN. The bank provides little ‘new and solid on-the-ground data’ and is silent about its own ‘neck-deep involvement’ in ‘large scale land acquisitions’. Looking ‘beyond the smoke and mirrors effect’, the report is ‘more significant for what it doesn't say than what it does’, says GRAIN.
Greater investment is needed to boost adult literacy initiatives, but this doesn’t have to be spearheaded by government or donors. Salma Maoulidi explores how communities can promote a culture of intergenerational inquiry and learning by encouraging children to share the skills they gain at school with non-literate members of their family.
Ghana ‘may be the political success story of West Africa’, but its socio-economic indices are ‘disastrous’, reports Dibussi Tande in this week’s round-up of the African blogosphere, which also features posts on ‘counterproductive’ US digital activism, election fever in Zanzibar and rethinking development goals in Madagascar.
With youth and development as the thematic focus of this year’s International Day of Peace, Steve Sharra shares insights from the country’s primary school classrooms into how to define and understand peace from a Malawian perspective.
South Africa’s President Zuma is defending the funding of political parties by business ‘on the basis that corporate citizens should invest in democracy’. But, observes Mphutlane wa Bofelo, these donations are not about supporting democracy, they are attempts to ‘cajole and capture the political establishment and the state to be beholden to and defensive’ of corporate interests.
Although Nigerian authors no longer have to rely on European publishers to have their work disseminated, Nigerian publishing houses still control much of the access to readership for emerging authors, Emmanuel Iduma, publisher of the online literary journal ‘Saraba’, tells Sokari Ekine. Online journals like ‘Saraba’ can help young writers develop confidence and publish their work regardless of their experience level.
As New York hosts the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit this week, Steve Sharra considers the problems behind advancing gender equality and the absence of peace education from the goals.
The earthquake in Haiti has served only to worsen the condition of the Haitian people, writes Kamau Karl Franklin, of the US-based Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM). As grassroots organisations attempt to make up for post-disaster aid shortfalls and an unaccountable government, MXGM made this statement in solidarity with Haiti’s people, following a visit to the country earlier this year.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has called for universal testing and treatment for HIV to help combat the pandemic, the local media reported.The state-owned Herald newspaper quoted the veteran leader, who is attending the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, as saying HIV should be treated the same way as diseases such as smallpox where nations vaccinated their entire citizens against it.
Even dead, they would get me, the man from Mugabe's spy agency, the CIO, had warned. My corpse would be shred into "mince meat" even if I returned to Zimbabwe in a coffin for burial, he told me when our paths crossed in Johannesburg. I had been branded a "sell out", and an enemy of the state for my reports in the foreign media on how the ruling party and its supporters waged their land war against white farmers and then tortured and murdered hundreds of black opposition supporters.
The election commission in Guinea has proposed 10 October as the revised date for the presidential election run-off. The poll was due last Sunday, but was postponed following violent clashes between rival supporters. The new date must be approved by the head of Guinea's military government, Gen Sekouba Konate. He has said that he does not want any further delays.
Nigeria's former corruption fighter Nuhu Ribadu has said no-one will be safe from prosecution if he is elected president next year. The elections have been set for January but may be postponed. Election officials, who have asked for a delay, however insist that the new president will be inaugurated in May, as planned. Mr Ribadu came to prominence as head of Nigeria's anti-corruption agency before being sidelined in 2007. He returned from exile in June, after saying he had fled because attempts had been made on his life.
All sides in the conflict - Congolese and foreign armies and an alphabet soup of armed groups - have committed appalling abuses. Their killings, rape, burning, pillaging and forced labour have forced at least 1.2 million people from their homes in 2009 and early 2010 alone, bringing the number of displaced civilians in eastern Congo to almost 2 million.
Although the majority of Kenyans are agricultural producers, only 3.6 percent of the country’s national budget goes towards the sector. This falls severely short of government’s promise to spend at least ten percent on agriculture. About five million out of Kenya’s eight million households are directly involved in agricultural production, according to Vision 2030, a government strategy document geared towards the country’s growth and development. And yet, ten million out of 38 million Kenyans face starvation and will require food aid this year, a recent census showed.
Harassment and sexual exploitation by border officials seeking bribes constitute the biggest obstacles for female informal cross-border traders in Africa, according to a United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) research study. The study, which surveyed over 700 informal traders at their homes, workplaces and markets in Zimbabwe and Swaziland, as well as at border posts with South Africa, describes harassment of traders by South African police, soldiers and customs officials if traders should refuse to pay bribes.
At the age of 13, Chantal Kifungo* is mother to a ten-month-old baby girl. It wasn’t her choice. Almost two years ago, she was raped by her stepfather – and fell pregnant with his child. "My mother was in hospital because she had complications with her own pregnancy. I was left alone with my stepfather. One night, he came home and raped me. I tried to shout for help but nobody heard me," Chantal says while nervously playing with her hands in her lap.
While the implementation of the Ouagadougou Peace Accord saw some progress in mid-2010, in particular with the announcement of a new date for the elections and agreement on the voter list, fears of renewed violence and further displacement remain. At the same time, internally displaced people (IDPs) continue to struggle for durable solutions.
Doctors are working 12-16 hour shifts to cope with the increasing demand at Malakal teaching hospital in Upper Nile State of Southern Sudan, say officials.
"We are trying to encourage more doctors to come work here," Upper Nile State health minister Steven Lor said. The relatively poor living conditions in Malakal, however, made it difficult to convince Southern Sudanese doctors working in the capital Khartoum to move.
Following the Zimbabwean government’s banning of an exhibition focusing on Gukurahundi (a military operation to suppress opposition in the 1980s) by artist Owen Maseko, Sokwanele discusses the future implications of the case not just for political freedom of expression but also for art, in the face of Zanu PF's efforts to control narratives about the past.
In anticipation of Right to Know Day, 28 September 2010, ARTICLE 19 has launched the Global RTI Index, a new tool to compare and contrast right to information laws, highlighting weaknesses and best practices. In the past decade, many new right to information (RTI) laws have been adopted across the world. Despite such a promising development, it is often difficult to know and assess how adequate these laws actually are.
Ronald W. Walters, academic, activist and dedicated Pan-Africanist, died on 10 September 2010. Horace Campbell remembers the man who helped build the global Pan-African movement and mobilised generations of black Americans against racism.
Culminating a global summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Heads of State and Government, along with the private sector, foundations, international organizations, civil society and research organizations, kicked off a concerted world-wide effort to save the lives of more than 16 million women and children. At a special UN event to launch the “Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health”, stakeholders pledged over $40 billion in resources for women’s and children’ health.
African leaders and global health experts rallied at the United Nations today to boost access to life-saving bednets and medicines as part of the fight against malaria, aiming to reach the goal of near-zero deaths by 2015. “We have made solid advances in recent years both in reducing deaths and increasing the use of life-saving nets. The goal of ending malaria deaths is within reach, and I urge all partners to sustain the momentum,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Expanded social protection programmes and other innovative policies have helped to spur Africa’s progress in achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), according to a new United Nations-backed report. The continent has made tremendous strides in several areas, including achieving universal education, with 76 per cent net enrolment in primary education in 2008, up from 58 per cent in 1999, says "Assessing Progress in Africa Toward the Millennium Development Goals."
Journalists in the Somali capital have for the first time announced the launch of the Federation of Somali journalists that brings together all the existing media groups in and an outside the country as well as journalists individually. The launch of FESOJ, calls upon all relevant stakeholders and most prominently the Government of Somalia and the rebel groups to respect and promote the rights of the journalists and the freedom of the expression.
Around 73 WOZA activists arrested Monday, following a demonstration at the Parliament Building in Harare, were eventually released on free bail on Wednesday. The activists marched to commemorate International Peace Day and police arrested them at the end of the march, first charging them with ‘obstructing traffic’ before later changing this to ‘criminal nuisance’.
During the 1982 Lebanon War with Israel, a massacre was carried out on Palestinian and Lebanese civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut, between 16 and 18 September. Although numerous human rights groups argue that it was a war crime and genocide, the event has not been investigated by international officials. Franklin Lamb tells the story of Munir, who was 11 years old at the time of the massacre, and who saw his family killed or disappear in its aftermath.
Reports of corruption and confusion have already started surfacing in South Africa, as the process to legalise undocumented Zimbabweans in the country gets underway. The exercise began on Monday, a few weeks after South Africa announced it was ending its moratorium on Zimbabwean deportations at the end of the year. But by Wednesday there were already indications that the December 31st deadline for Zimbabweans to regularise their stay in South Africa will be hard to meet
If we are to create and provide space and platform for African autonomous thinking on issues of the future of the continent, we have to begin by liberating ourselves from Western ways of thinking and draw knowledge and inspiration from our own heritages, argues Dani Nabudere, in a two-part article based on his inaugural address to the newly formed Nile Heritage Forum on political economy.
The following article is an extract from 'African Women Writing Resistance', which Pambazuka Press will be publishing in January 2011. For customers in Africa and Europe, the book is available at a special pre-publication price of £13.00 when ordering ).
For the hundreds of millions of people around the world who were pushed even further into poverty and marginalisation due to the crisis, and for the planet Earth itself, however, this 'recovery' is meaningless. We call on movements and organisations all over the world to join forces in this fight and to unite in the GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION AGAINST DEBT AND IFIs, October 7-17. Together let us carry out actions wherever we are, in support of our demands and ongoing struggles.
Directed and edited by Kagendo Murungi,‘Taking Freedom Home’ celebrates the creativity and vibrance of diverse LGBTGNC (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Gender Non Conforming) movements and particularly the historical initiatives of trans and gender nonconforming people of colour in New York and throughout the US from the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 to the Critical Resistance (CR10) conference in 2008.
'Africans must focus on their own agenda' when it comes to tackling the continent’s social issues, rather than being distracted by Western views, writes Moalosi Masilo.
For women living in rural areas, access to ICTs means first overcoming multiple barriers relating not only to their location, but also their gender. In a new publication, 'GenARDIS 2002 - 2010: Small grants that made big changes for women in agriculture', Jenny Radloff explores how seed grants were disbursed to innovative initiatives.
Technology blog White African reviews Motribe, a simple community building platform for the mobile web that was launched recently. "You can easily get a site up and going in an hour that allows chat, photo sharing, private messaging and mobile blogs," says the blog.
Donor support for science and technology (S&T) in Africa has been "disappointing", according to a report from the Commission for Africa published last week (12 September). Some US$3 billion, which the commission had urged donors to spend on building centres of excellence in S&T, has not been spent.
Equality Now has called on the UN Human Rights Council to create a new mechanism to
assist member states to achieve women’s equality before the law. "The Human Rights Council is responsible within the UN system for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and ending discrimination against women falls squarely within this mandate. One very concrete action that could be taken by the Human Rights Council to promote women’s equality would be creation of a new special mechanism to focus on women’s equality with men before the law," said the organisation in a written statement to the UN last month.
A project launched in 2009 in Uganda's Bushenyi and Mbale districts enlists trusted local residents, such as farmers, agriculture extension workers, shopkeepers and school teachers, to disseminate and gather information about agriculture using mobile phones. The workers help the Ugandan farmers treat not only sick goats, but also blighted bananas, coffee berry bacterial infections, discolored tomatoes and other plant and livestock problems.
Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, Somalia's prime minister, has resigned after a prolonged dispute with Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the country's president. Sharmarke said on Tuesday he "resigned as the prime minister of the transitional federal government of Somalia after being unable to work with the president". The federal government has failed to end a three-year insurgency by hardline Muslim fighters who now control much of the capital and huge chunks of south and central Somalia.
Preparations for an independence referendum for Sudan's oil-rich south are behind schedule, putting the country at risk of renewed civil war, diplomats and activists say. Plans for the January 11 vote, meant to decide the fate of the Southern Sudan, were signed as part of a 2005 peace deal between the government and southern fighters, and any postponement could reignite civil war in Africa's largest country.
'We want you to bring a strong voice to the women', says President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as she launches Liberia’s first and only radio station for women. Standing in a room full of ministers, officials, journalists and community women, Africa’s first democratically elected female President knows only too well what it’s like being a lone female voice in a male dominated world.
Despite Nottingham University’s Professor Oliver Morrissey’s claim that Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) will accrue only 0.01 per cent of Ghana’s GDP to consumers, and imports from the European Union will go up by six per cent, he is emphatic that Ghana should “not fear the EPA.”
As world leaders meet this week to review a UN bid to cut poverty and hunger by 2015, the Global Campaign for Education warned that the financial crisis had halted improvements in education for children in impoverished countries. There are 69 million children out of school around the world, said a report on the world's 60 poorest nations by the campaign, a coalition of more than 100 organisations.
As millions of children around the world start school this month, many are discovering something critical is missing. It's not teachers or textbooks - it's toilets. Poor sanitation doesn't just cause high rates of illness and absenteeism, but it also affects a child's intelligence, aid agencies say, with research showing that diarrhoea and worm infestations can lower IQ.
As world leaders prepare for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) summit on 20 - 22nd September at the United Nations in New York, aid agencies and development organisations have released colossal amounts of research outlining the progress of the MDGs. Amid this information overload, there are missing voices: those of the developing world, whose poverty the MDGs are meant to address.
External donors contributed some US$1.6 billion in aid to the government of Mozambique in 2009. These donors have all committed to making aid more effective by adhering to the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and to the Accra Agenda for Action. However information about how much money is available, how it is being spent and what are the results of that aid are still poor, says this study.
The latest estimates, which will soon be published in its annual State of Food and Agriculture report, show that there are 925 million hungry people on our planet – that’s roughly one in our six of us. '...there is a fundamental structural problem with our food system that goes beyond temporary increases and decreases in food prices. That the food problem is rooted in poverty and radically unequal distributions of income and assets, within and across countries, which influence both food production systems and food consumption patterns.'
This latest report from the International Crisis Group, analyses the fragile political and economic situation following the devastating war with Ethiopia (1998-2000). Just a decade ago, Eritrea might reasonably have been described as challenged but stable. Today it is under severe stress, if not yet in full-blown crisis. While not likely to undergo dramatic upheaval in the near future, it is weakening steadily. Its economy is in free fall, poverty is rife, and the authoritarian political system is haemorrhaging its legitimacy.
Speculation on food commodities in global financial markets is pushing up and destablising the price of food. In 2008, high prices caused riots because people were going hungry. Big investment banks are making a killing out of reckless speculation, with disastrous consequences for the lives of poor people around the world. Come and find out how, and what we’re going to do to stop them.
After being diagnosed HIV-positive Margaret Bikyele could not even manage the simplest of household chores, let alone being able to work to generate an income for her and her two sons. Since her diagnosis in 2005 and in the years that followed, the Bikyele family’s prospects in life had looked bleak. That is until Bikyele became the recipient of a social cash transfer scheme in 2007 and began receiving 10 dollars a month.
The visit by South African President Jacob Zuma to Beijing from August 24 to 26, heading a delegation of 400 business representatives and 11 government ministers, was another indication of intensifying international rivalry within the African continent.
Two Kenyan activists working on the cases of suspects charged with terrorism for the July 11, 2010 Kampala bombings have been illegally detained in Uganda and are at risk of abuse, Human Rights Watch has said. Human rights activist Al-Amin Kimathi of the Kenyan Muslim Human Rights Forum and Kenyan lawyer Mbugua Mureithi were arrested on September 15, 2010, when they arrived at Entebbe airport, and taken to the Ugandan police's Rapid Response Unit headquarters in Kireka, Kampala.
Attempts to measure the tangible and intangible benefits left by the World Cup suggest that while expenditure on infrastructure and stadiums significantly boosted the economy and had some impact on job creation, overall gains were skewed in favour of the economic and political elite. Justin Sylvester and Daniel Harju of the Political Information & Monitoring Service (PIMS) at Idasa also argue that the disproportionate influence exerted by external actors such as FIFA and the international community reflect the ongoing poor levels of accountability and transparency enjoyed by our own citizens.
With Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi speaking at Columbia University in the US this week, Alemayehu G. Mariam calls upon the institution’s President Lee C. Bollinger to extend the same reservations towards Zenawi that he did towards Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2007.
Despite the Southern Africa region sustaining an annual growth rate of six percent, the U.N. Summit on the Millennium Development Goals will hear that the majority of Southern Africans remain among the poorest people in the world. While economies in the region are growing, inequalities between citizens of the same countries have also increased. "In South Africa, for instance, there is a growth in inequalities on the basis of provinces, gender, classes and races," said Dr Agostinho Zacarias, the United Nations Development Programme resident representative in South Africa.
For the last year and a half two creative Zimbabweans, Juma and Willard, have hustled their way from the traffic lights on Roeland Street to a studio in Woodstock, Cape Town, crafting everything from bags made out of old t-shirts to recycled crate-chairs for corporate clients. Not content to just be small time capitalists, from Mondays to Fridays they run art and craft workshops for 100 kids in Khayelitsha and on Saturday mornings they teach conversational English with a group called Chatterbox (made up of primary school kids). This is their story.
With five years left till the Millennium Development Goals' 2015 deadline, civil society groups say South Africa has made progress on some goals but regressed on others. Pal Mfunzana’s sole source of income is a couple of corrugated tin shacks, indistinguishable from many others in Diepsloot, a deeply impoverished slum on the northern edge of Johannesburg.