Source:AlJazeera
This has been a year of climate catastrophes for every corner of the globe. From floods in Pakistan and Nigeria to the worst droughts on record across the Horn of Africa, no one on the planet is insulated against our rapidly worsening climate. Among the most disproportionately affected are women and girls. Yet their story is all too often just a footnote in the news.
We know about the gendered impact of climate change from our work across the world. We have seen time and time again how women and girls are pushed to drop out of school or marry early to help manage the financial stress that families face during droughts or floods. New ActionAid research in Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia and Nigeria has found that climate change is also increasing gender-based violence and damaging women’s mental health.
As a warming planet leads to a rise in humanitarian emergencies and displacement, women and girls must not be left to pay the steepest price.
In northern Kenya, Rosemary — a former farmer whom ActionAid works with — now needs to walk several miles farther than before to find water. Her community is facing extreme drought after consecutive failed rains, with 90 percent of all open water sources in their area now dry. This increased burden and the distances she has to go put her at greater risk of violence as she needs to travel, often outside daylight hours, to areas where she has no protection.
Meanwhile, the drought and the invasion of a crop-eating worm pest have already destroyed her farm, once her main source of income. This has forced Rosemary into animal husbandry, but she faces the challenges of an unpredictable climate here too. Unable to access water and grassland, two of her cows recently died, pushing her further into financial precarity.
Farmer incomes have dropped sharply in Rosemary’s community because of the failed rains. This is leading to girls being taken out of school — and in some cases married off — to ease family expenditure and help to bring in income. In precarious times of climate stress like this, girls are 20 percent more likely to be married early than in times of stability, putting women’s rights to education and liberty at risk.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Women and girls on the front line of the climate crisis, like Rosemary, know what actions are needed and are important agents of change. Rosemary leads a local activist network that tackles violence against women and girls and provides guidance to young women on their human rights. This support is key for women and girls navigating the knock-on impacts of climate change and drought.
Women like Rosemary are capable of building communities that are resilient to the challenges of climate change. But they need support to scale up their work and the opportunity to help decide how international, national and local climate finance is spent.
Yet, sadly, we know that the voices of the women on the front lines are not sufficiently heard in the grand halls and behind the closed doors where the big decisions are made, including at the ongoing COP27 climate change conference. This is particularly worrying in 2022 as the impacts of climate change escalate while international support for women like Rosemary remains scarce.
Industrialised nations that have contributed the most to the climate crisis are yet to deliver on their promised — yet inadequate — funding to help mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change in the future. These failed promises, combined with the lack of finance to support climate impacts now — known as loss and damage finance — means that the odds are loaded against a funding paradigm that accounts for the additional risks and consequences women and girls face.
While the United Kingdom is increasing its financial support for climate adaptation, it has not pledged new and additional loss and damage funding to countries like Kenya, which is battling its worst drought on record.
This is unacceptable. Climate finance needs to cover reparations for the lost years of girls’ education, address women’s lost security, and compensate for their failed crop yields. We need progress on these issues at COP27, not yet another year of kicking the can down the road.
World leaders need to pay attention to stories like Rosemary’s. We need less rhetoric and a greater focus on women’s rights and actions to help them thrive and bring their communities out of poverty. Without this, the gendered injustice of climate change and the silent crisis for women and girls will only get worse.
Source: Institute for Security Studies
In central Mali, local communities have entered into peace agreements with terrorist groups to regain a sense of calm. Residents in the area have been grappling with a vicious cycle of violence linked to the armed insurgency since 2015.
Source: allAfrica
Sharm el-Sheikh — Women activists say their voices have been absent or have gone unheard at previous climate summits. So they are taking action and looking to assume the lead on climate action and participation in decision-making processes.
Source: TheStar
Women’s rights groups are now calling on President William Ruto to recall his appointees to various public offices and produce a new, more inclusive list. They said all his appointments to public offices have failed to adhere to the constitutional mandate of two-thirds gender representation.
In a joint statement, the Center for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW), FIDA, Amnesty, CRAWN Trust, among others, they asked that the president keep his commitment to the women of Kenya, “In view of the fact that the appointments made so far to Cabinet Secretary, Principle Secretary and National Police Service are in blatant violation of the constitution, he should submit a new list that caters to gender, youth, persons with disabilities and even ethnic inclusion,” they said.
They said they were concerned by parliament’s inaction over the appointments.“Parliament conducted a vetting process for a cabinet that does not meet the constitutional threshold of two-thirds.” They said they were equally concerned that the 13th Parliament had not set out a roadmap to implement the two-thirds gender rule at the assembly. The groups called on parliament to fast-track the enactment of a two-thirds gender rule framework to make it much more impactful.
“We remind parliament of existing court orders on the matter, including the Chief Justice Emeritus Maraga advisory opinion of 2020,” they said. The public has raised questions over President Ruto's cabinet and State department appointments which have all failed to meet the gender threshold. There have also been questions of regional balance in his appointments.
Source:allAfrica
Malawi's first female Speaker of Parliament, Right Honourable Catherine Gotani Hara is among 2022 100 Most Influential African Women, joining the likes of Sahle-Work Zewde and Samia Suluhu Hassan -- presidents of Ethiopia and Tanzania respectively.
The 2022 100 Most Influential African Women is the 4th edition which is selected by Avance Media, Africa's leading PR & rating firm and this year's list is made up of prominent women who represent African women breaking the bias across the world.
The 2022 list includes two Presidents, five Vice-presidents, five Prime Ministers, Ministers, regional CEOs and founders of both profit and none-profit organisations.
The Vice-presidents are Jessica Alupo; Jewel Taylor; Mariam Chabi Talata; Mutale Nalumango; Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior -- from Uganda, Liberia, Benin, Zambia and South Sudan respectively.
The list also includes deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina J. Mohammed; deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr Monique Nsanzabaganwa and also Vanessa Nakate, Elizabeth Wathuti and Bogolo Kenewendo -- who are leading various climate action initiatives across the world, marking the introduction of a Climate Change category to the list.
With a record of 36 African countries represented on the list, Nigeria leads with 18 representatives, followed by Kenya (10), Ghana (7), Senegal, (6) and Tanzania (5) and Malawi's Gotani Hara.
Profiles of the 100 honourees have been published on 100women
In June this year, Gotani Hara -- the first-ever female Speaker of the National Assembly since independence in 1964 -- was elected as executive chairperson of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association-African Region.
She was elected during the Association's 52nd Conference held in Freetown -- the capital city of Sierra Leone. The African Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association comprises of the 63 national and subnational legislatures -- governed by a coordinating and executive committees made up of representatives from across the region.
There is also a regional representatives committee which reports to the executive.
The CPA's Mission is to promote and protect the interests and perspectives of Africa Regional Parliaments and countries, into the Commonwealth and beyond, and to promote gender equality, emancipation of women, and respect for human rights, freedoms, democracy and good governance.
.avancemedia.org which quotes Avance Media managing director, Prince Akpah as saying the 4th edition list features women from a record of 36 African countries and represents women who are changing the perception of women breaking barriers in their career, business and life pursuits.
In June this year, Gotani Hara -- the first-ever female Speaker of the National Assembly since independence in 1964 -- was elected as executive chairperson of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association-African Region.
She was elected during the Association's 52nd Conference held in Freetown -- the capital city of Sierra Leone. The African Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association comprises of the 63 national and subnational legislatures -- governed by a coordinating and executive committees made up of representatives from across the region.
There is also a regional representatives committee which reports to the executive.
The CPA's Mission is to promote and protect the interests and perspectives of Africa Regional Parliaments and countries, into the Commonwealth and beyond, and to promote gender equality, emancipation of women, and respect for human rights, freedoms, democracy and good governance.
Gotani Hara, who has been the Speaker since June 2019, took over from Justin B. Muturi, MP and Speaker of Kenya's National Assembly.
She is an alumnus of Kamuzu Academy from where she went on to attain a Bachelor of Arts in political science at Chancellor College where she started her political career when ran the affairs of the University of Malawi's wing of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).
From 1998 to 2000, she completed professional postgraduate training in International Development and Project Planning and Management in Brighton, UK where she also worked as programme officer for the UK's Department of International Development -- the first Malawian to be recruited to that level in which she was responsible for the sustainable livelihood projects for both Malawi and Mozambique.
She was then elected as MP for a Mzimba North East in 2009 representing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) through which she was appointed Deputy Minister of Transport & Public Infrastructure; Deputy Minister for Gender and the Minister for Health in Joyce Banda administration.
She has represented Malawi's Head of State at a number of international events, and was the chairperson of Malawi's delegation to the Climate Change Summit in Brazil. She has also been a Board member of Northern Region Water Board.
After the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika in 2012, she publicly declared that it unconstitutional for members in the ruling politburo to take over the presidency.
She took a break from politics from 2014 to 2019, where she was re-elected on MCP ticket and went on to be elected Speaker with 97 votes to 93 over former deputy speaker, Esther Mcheka Chilenje.
Source: TheIrishTimes
Less than a fortnight before Kenya’s August general election, popular band Sauti Sol released a song called Girls on Top. Its video showed photographs of women activists, athletes, musicians and politicians including Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, former US first lady Michelle Obama and former Liberian president and Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
“What a man can do, a woman can do times two,” the lyrics went. “Woman you run my world and I’m counting… on you.” This was just one sign of the enthusiastic support behind a push for women in one of east Africa’s most stable democracies to hold more political positions. The election even saw a woman vice-presidential candidate running for a major party for the first time.
Though Martha Karua, the running mate of presidential candidate Raila Odinga, was not ultimately voted in, the overall results were hailed as progressive in terms of women representation — even if the numbers still sound low. Women were elected to fill 29 of the 290 seats — up from 23 in 2017. Seven women county governors were elected, up from three in 2017, and none in 2013. Three women senators were also voted into power. These came along with 47 women’s representatives: roles reserved for women which are sometimes seen a stepping stone to other positions.
Sirleaf, the former Liberian president, joined those celebrating the development. She tweeted: “It was inspiring to see women strongly represented in the Kenya elections and notably the progress made since 2013 when 980 women candidates were cleared to run. In 2017, this rose to 1,358. In 2022, it reached 1,768. I hope this is a sign that we are moving towards gender parity.”
But newly elected women politicians say they still face significant challenges: particularly the lack of legal limits on campaign spending, which makes it not only difficult to participate in politics, but hard for them to perform well once they get into power.
Drive about 160km out of Nairobi, into Kenya’s Rift Valley region, and you will reach Nakuru. The county, which has a population of just over two million, is now led for the first time by a woman governor and senator, while women also make up five out of its 11 members of parliament. Kenyan lawyer Susan Kihika unseated incumbent male governor Lee Kinyanjui, while businesswoman Tabitha Karanja took over Kihika’s former senate seat. Nakuru is one of two of Kenya’s 47 counties with women in the top two political positions, Machakos being the other.
In the county’s capital city, also called Nakuru, reactions were mixed.
“This is what we’ve been fighting for,” said Ruth Aura, dean of the faculty of law in Egerton University. Aura is also a former chair of the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya. “For me the [important] tribe is the women tribe, nothing else. And I’m very impressed with what Nakuru has done.”
“They get encouraged,” said Salome Ngugi (42), a supermarket worker who gestured towards her two young daughters. “Since [the new politicians are] women at least they’ll make changes to get women in business, girls in school. They weren’t recognised in the past, the boy child was prioritised. With women in power that can change.”
“I don’t like them. To them it’s just a job, they’re not interested in us,” said a women security guard doing a shift nearby. She did not want to be named.
“In Nakuru it’s a big mess, because women are not doing well in leadership,” said a 38-year-old woman, who also did not want to be named. “Yes, it’s a plus because of gender, women can fight for these positions and win, but when it comes to delivery I don’t think it’s going to work.” She believed that the women elected were successful because of their political party, rather than their policies and track records. “If [governor] Susan [Kihika] doesn’t deliver, they will say women are useless, they will say go back to where you came from… So I just pray that she delivers.”
Lucy Njambi, a 50-year-old who sells drinks at a stall across the road from Nakuru’s county assembly, said women there continue to face a lot of challenges. “Women don’t have capital for business. Men control more so women have less power.”
Despite this year’s gains, Kenya is still notably short of implementing a “gender principle” embedded in the 2010 constitution, which requires the state to make sure that no more than two-thirds of appointed and elected bodies are made up of the same gender. Women’s rights activists complain that the Kenyan government is not taking adequate steps to fulfil this. “We’ve been trying to get the legislation [implemented],” Aura said, “but women are already doing it on their own. Sometimes we don’t need the laws.”
At a quiet hotel in another part of Nakuru city, a group of newly elected local politicians were meeting to eat chicken and chips and discuss the steps forward.
One was Isabella Makori, a 41-year-old who also farms potatoes, tomatoes and maize. She was one of eight women elected to the county assembly — up from five in the previous election; there are 55 seats in total. Makori raised about five million Kenyan shillings (€40,000) for her campaign: a mix of savings, donations and fundraising. “It is expensive, my dear,” she said.
With her was Leah Wambui Ng’ang’a (38), another county assembly member. Ng’ang’a’s campaign slogan was “mama kazi” — women and work. She said the biggest problems she faced were “propaganda and money”.
Ng’ang’a is a mother of four children. She recalls men candidates publicly saying she wouldn’t have the time to serve the community. Any campaign costs a minimum of one million Kenyan shillings, she said — which can include cash to hand out to potential voters, a common practice in Kenya. “It was so stressful,” added Ng’ang’a, who would like to become governor one day. She fundraised from “friends and well-wishers”.
Grace Mwathi, a 53-year-old elected county assembly member, said women candidates suffer from a “lack of money, finances, security”.
“Women, I think we suffer from being depressed by men. When we want to do something they slash us down, they don’t want us to be like them because they say they are the head and they should remain the head,” she said. “When you become a politician and you are a woman people think you are a prostitute, [that] your husband does not give you permission to vie… all of those things.”
Mwathi’s campaign slogan was: “Mama na matendo” — a woman of action.
Despite the challenges, she says Kenyan women are unstoppable now. “Today our ladies are going to school and they’re competing with the men,” Mwathi said. “When you educate a girl you educate the whole nation. When a woman is in power you bring home, [whereas] a man takes out. So we are going to bring home what is needed.”
Steve Biko, a lawyer at Odhiambo and Odhiambo Advocates, counts Nakuru’s newly elected woman governor as one of his clients.
He said women political candidates can face abuses including a demand for sexual favours; arguments about which locales they can contest in and whether that changes when they get married; and slander saying they cannot serve if they have children.
But the main problem is “resource allocation”, he explained, during an interview in his office in Nakuru city centre. “Our society is generally patrilineal in Africa. Therefore, it denies women a chance to be closer to resources… Inevitably, therefore, [women’s] movement to other sectors of the nation and their participation there becomes limited by virtue of the limitations and resources they have. That closes them out of the political space.”
“If [women] lack resources it makes it difficult for them to campaign,” he continued. “Campaigning is expensive. We don’t have laws regulating campaign spending in this country. So it means the men who have more resources are likely to campaign better and faster and reach more [people] than the women.”
A 2021 study found that while, in most cases, women candidates spend as much or more as men on campaigning, they do not achieve the same levels of success. Drawing on a survey of 300 political aspirants, it found that, on average, a senator’s seat cost 35.5 million Kenyan shillings (€290,000) to compete for in 2017; an MP’s seat was 18.2 million; a women’s representative seat cost 22.8 million; and a county assembly seat cost on average 3.1 million.
Bringing in a law regulating campaign spending would “open the space for women”, Biko said.
“When you have no regulation, it means it’s a jungle — whoever has the most will take charge. And that gives men a higher chance to play dirty.”
When Kenya’s new president, William Ruto, appointed cabinet ministers in September, he failed to meet his own promise that 50 per cent of appointments would be women. Out of 22 ministers, only seven were women, with another two women advisers and a woman secretary also appointed.
But many members of his own party, the United Democratic Alliance, were still enthusiastic about what they see as progress.
Wanjiku Muhia, an elected MP for the Kipipiri constituency in Mount Kenya, was the only women candidate among 12 contenders for her seat.
“It is very hard financially, emotionally, physically, because we worked very late hours. We don’t have as much money as men, because in our culture, we don’t have properties to sell and put the money towards the campaign. But through God and convincing the people, many women have made it in this election especially,” she said.
“The voters believed more in women, hence they gave us a chance… [In] the first election after the 2010 constitution we started with zero women as governors. Then the next election we had three governors. This election… we have seven governors. This is a show that we are moving… It is an assurance that in the future anything is possible.”
“What a man can do, a woman can do times two,” the lyrics went. “Woman you run my world and I’m counting… on you.” This was just one sign of the enthusiastic support behind a push for women in one of east Africa’s most stable democracies to hold more political positions. The election even saw a woman vice-presidential candidate running for a major party for the first time.
Though Martha Karua, the running mate of presidential candidate Raila Odinga, was not ultimately voted in, the overall results were hailed as progressive in terms of women representation — even if the numbers still sound low. Women were elected to fill 29 of the 290 seats — up from 23 in 2017. Seven women county governors were elected, up from three in 2017, and none in 2013. Three women senators were also voted into power. These came along with 47 women’s representatives: roles reserved for women which are sometimes seen a stepping stone to other positions.
Sirleaf, the former Liberian president, joined those celebrating the development. She tweeted: “It was inspiring to see women strongly represented in the Kenya elections and notably the progress made since 2013 when 980 women candidates were cleared to run. In 2017, this rose to 1,358. In 2022, it reached 1,768. I hope this is a sign that we are moving towards gender parity.”
But newly elected women politicians say they still face significant challenges: particularly the lack of legal limits on campaign spending, which makes it not only difficult to participate in politics, but hard for them to perform well once they get into power.
Drive about 160km out of Nairobi, into Kenya’s Rift Valley region, and you will reach Nakuru. The county, which has a population of just over two million, is now led for the first time by a woman governor and senator, while women also make up five out of its 11 members of parliament. Kenyan lawyer Susan Kihika unseated incumbent male governor Lee Kinyanjui, while businesswoman Tabitha Karanja took over Kihika’s former senate seat. Nakuru is one of two of Kenya’s 47 counties with women in the top two political positions, Machakos being the other.
In the county’s capital city, also called Nakuru, reactions were mixed.
“This is what we’ve been fighting for,” said Ruth Aura, dean of the faculty of law in Egerton University. Aura is also a former chair of the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya. “For me the [important] tribe is the women tribe, nothing else. And I’m very impressed with what Nakuru has done.”
“They get encouraged,” said Salome Ngugi (42), a supermarket worker who gestured towards her two young daughters. “Since [the new politicians are] women at least they’ll make changes to get women in business, girls in school. They weren’t recognised in the past, the boy child was prioritised. With women in power that can change.”
“I don’t like them. To them it’s just a job, they’re not interested in us,” said a women security guard doing a shift nearby. She did not want to be named.
“In Nakuru it’s a big mess, because women are not doing well in leadership,” said a 38-year-old woman, who also did not want to be named. “Yes, it’s a plus because of gender, women can fight for these positions and win, but when it comes to delivery I don’t think it’s going to work.” She believed that the women elected were successful because of their political party, rather than their policies and track records. “If [governor] Susan [Kihika] doesn’t deliver, they will say women are useless, they will say go back to where you came from… So I just pray that she delivers.”
Lucy Njambi, a 50-year-old who sells drinks at a stall across the road from Nakuru’s county assembly, said women there continue to face a lot of challenges. “Women don’t have capital for business. Men control more so women have less power.”
Despite this year’s gains, Kenya is still notably short of implementing a “gender principle” embedded in the 2010 constitution, which requires the state to make sure that no more than two-thirds of appointed and elected bodies are made up of the same gender. Women’s rights activists complain that the Kenyan government is not taking adequate steps to fulfil this. “We’ve been trying to get the legislation [implemented],” Aura said, “but women are already doing it on their own. Sometimes we don’t need the laws.”
At a quiet hotel in another part of Nakuru city, a group of newly elected local politicians were meeting to eat chicken and chips and discuss the steps forward.
One was Isabella Makori, a 41-year-old who also farms potatoes, tomatoes and maize. She was one of eight women elected to the county assembly — up from five in the previous election; there are 55 seats in total. Makori raised about five million Kenyan shillings (€40,000) for her campaign: a mix of savings, donations and fundraising. “It is expensive, my dear,” she said.
With her was Leah Wambui Ng’ang’a (38), another county assembly member. Ng’ang’a’s campaign slogan was “mama kazi” — women and work. She said the biggest problems she faced were “propaganda and money”.
Ng’ang’a is a mother of four children. She recalls men candidates publicly saying she wouldn’t have the time to serve the community. Any campaign costs a minimum of one million Kenyan shillings, she said — which can include cash to hand out to potential voters, a common practice in Kenya. “It was so stressful,” added Ng’ang’a, who would like to become governor one day. She fundraised from “friends and well-wishers”.
Grace Mwathi, a 53-year-old elected county assembly member, said women candidates suffer from a “lack of money, finances, security”.
“Women, I think we suffer from being depressed by men. When we want to do something they slash us down, they don’t want us to be like them because they say they are the head and they should remain the head,” she said. “When you become a politician and you are a woman people think you are a prostitute, [that] your husband does not give you permission to vie… all of those things.”
Mwathi’s campaign slogan was: “Mama na matendo” — a woman of action.
Despite the challenges, she says Kenyan women are unstoppable now. “Today our ladies are going to school and they’re competing with the men,” Mwathi said. “When you educate a girl you educate the whole nation. When a woman is in power you bring home, [whereas] a man takes out. So we are going to bring home what is needed.”
Steve Biko, a lawyer at Odhiambo and Odhiambo Advocates, counts Nakuru’s newly elected woman governor as one of his clients.
He said women political candidates can face abuses including a demand for sexual favours; arguments about which locales they can contest in and whether that changes when they get married; and slander saying they cannot serve if they have children.
But the main problem is “resource allocation”, he explained, during an interview in his office in Nakuru city centre. “Our society is generally patrilineal in Africa. Therefore, it denies women a chance to be closer to resources… Inevitably, therefore, [women’s] movement to other sectors of the nation and their participation there becomes limited by virtue of the limitations and resources they have. That closes them out of the political space.”
“If [women] lack resources it makes it difficult for them to campaign,” he continued. “Campaigning is expensive. We don’t have laws regulating campaign spending in this country. So it means the men who have more resources are likely to campaign better and faster and reach more [people] than the women.”
A 2021 study found that while, in most cases, women candidates spend as much or more as men on campaigning, they do not achieve the same levels of success. Drawing on a survey of 300 political aspirants, it found that, on average, a senator’s seat cost 35.5 million Kenyan shillings (€290,000) to compete for in 2017; an MP’s seat was 18.2 million; a women’s representative seat cost 22.8 million; and a county assembly seat cost on average 3.1 million.
Bringing in a law regulating campaign spending would “open the space for women”, Biko said.
“When you have no regulation, it means it’s a jungle — whoever has the most will take charge. And that gives men a higher chance to play dirty.”
When Kenya’s new president, William Ruto, appointed cabinet ministers in September, he failed to meet his own promise that 50 per cent of appointments would be women. Out of 22 ministers, only seven were women, with another two women advisers and a woman secretary also appointed.
But many members of his own party, the United Democratic Alliance, were still enthusiastic about what they see as progress.
Wanjiku Muhia, an elected MP for the Kipipiri constituency in Mount Kenya, was the only women candidate among 12 contenders for her seat.
“It is very hard financially, emotionally, physically, because we worked very late hours. We don’t have as much money as men, because in our culture, we don’t have properties to sell and put the money towards the campaign. But through God and convincing the people, many women have made it in this election especially,” she said.
“The voters believed more in women, hence they gave us a chance… [In] the first election after the 2010 constitution we started with zero women as governors. Then the next election we had three governors. This election… we have seven governors. This is a show that we are moving… It is an assurance that in the future anything is possible.”
Source: Angop
Luanda — Angola's ruling MPLA party's vice president Luísa Damião defended permanent and constructive dialogue on the implementation of the local government and urged women to actively participate in the process.
Source: Daily News
MEMBERS of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) from African countries who met in Dar es Salaam last week have made over ten resolutions, targeting to increase the number of women in member parliaments.
Source: allAfrica
YWDE Strategy is to outline measures for the enhancement of youth and women development and empowerment through the use of ICTs. The YWDE Strategy-2024 is covering the period 2021 - 2024. The unprecedented changes in ICTs are having profound impacts on the lives of the youth and women.
Source: allAfrica
Saoudé is inspiring women to challenge gender norms and become financially independent
Source: allAfrica
Madrid — Make no mistake. Violence against women has been perpetuated, specially when it comes to those who have already been deprived of their basic human rights, as it is the case of rural women in over two-thirds of the world.
Source: AfricaBusiness
The African Development Bank Group’s (www.AfDB.org) Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative is launching its second call for proposals for the Women Entrepreneurship Enablers program, targeting women’s business associations, incubators, accelerators, women-led cooperatives, and civil society organizations that promote the development of women entrepreneurs on the continent.
AFAWA is offering grants of up to $250,000 to organizations helping prepare African women-led businesses to drive the continent’s economies.
The program supports projects that enhance the viability and sustainability of formal women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and enables them to access financing opportunities to grow their businesses.
Successful proposals will demonstrate innovative approaches to building a supportive ecosystem for women’s entrepreneurship, aimed at improving access to finance for women SMEs. Enablers are expected to develop a comprehensive and sustainable capacity-building program to enable access to finance in partnership with financial institutions.
Applicants from all 54 African countries are welcomed, and organizations in the Sahel region and North Africa are strongly encouraged to submit a proposal. Eligible organizations may request one-time funding of between $100,000 and $250,000, which will be provided through the Bank’s Gender Equality Trust Fund.
“Our first call for Women Entrepreneurship Enablers proposals drew nearly a thousand applications from organizations doing some groundbreaking work to equip women with the tools to expand their businesses,” said Malado Kaba, the Bank’s Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society
“Today, we are excited to pursue this initiative by bringing in a second cohort and funding the development of their capacity building activities allowing women entrepreneurs to obtain significant financing and scale,” she said.
“Entrepreneurship enablers play an important role in bolstering the skills of women to establish ‘bankable’ SMEs. However, the enablers themselves often face challenges, such as viable long-term growth plans and lack of financing, which reduce their reach, impact, and sustainability” said Esther Dassanou, AFAWA’s Manager.
A partnership between the PepsiCo Foundation - the philanthropic arm of one of the world's leading food and beverage companies, and CARE - a global humanitarian organisation, has improved the food and nutrition security of thousands of poor, rural households in Kyenjojo and Kyegegwa districts in Uganda.
Source:NewsMedical
Women in sub-Saharan Africa continue to have an elevated risk of death following childbirth long after the 42-day postpartum limit the WHO uses to define pregnancy-related deaths, a new analysis shows.
Researchers analyzed data from 12 sub-Saharan African countries to examine whether the 42-day definition accurately captures deaths following childbirth.
The analysis found that while the risk of death fell substantially throughout the 42-day postpartum period (relative to a comparison period of 12-17 months postpartum) the risk of death was still estimated to be 20% higher from 42 days to four months following childbirth. This has major policy implications for the improvement of maternal health in sub-Saharan Africa and other low- and middle-income countries.
The team included researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at LSHTM and the Kenya Medical Research Institute-Center for Global Health Research. The research is published in The Lancet Global Health.
It's vital that we have up-to-date evidence and action to make childbirth safer for every woman. To measure pregnancy-related deaths, there must be a time limit on the definition but it is concerning that the risk of death remains 20% higher from 42 days until around four months after childbirth. In light of this, we are calling for the WHO to extend the 42-day postpartum limit currently used in the definition of pregnancy-related deaths. Our results also suggest that national and international guidelines for postpartum care should include visits beyond 42 days for women who experience chronic morbidity."
Ursula Gazeley, Lead Author, LSHTM
Dr Momodou Jasseh, author from MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM, said: "This demonstration of an increased risk of death for mothers beyond 42 days postpartum in Sub-Saharan Africa suggests that the true burden of pregnancy-related mortality may be substantially underestimated in the region. Unless concerned governments commit to enhancing health management information systems that generate the requisite data on maternal outcomes after 42-days postpartum, the real burden will remain elusive."
Dr Sammy Khagayi, author from the Kenya Medical Research Institute, said: "Despite the reduction in mortality around childbirth for both mothers and babies in areas with limited resources like Western Kenya, it is vital to go a step further to provide quality care for the mothers beyond the recommended postpartum period. Ante- and post-partum pregnancy monitoring would go a long way in reducing late maternal deaths. This will be achieved if we invest in data collection platforms to monitor and track women from pregnancy to 6 months postpartum."
This large, multi-country study analyzed almost 30 years' worth of data from 1991-2020, from 30 Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems (HDSS), across 12 African countries. In total 647,104 births and 1,967 deaths within one year of giving birth were recorded in the HDSS.
This analysis was based on deaths after childbirth from any cause. To plan interventions and prevent deaths, the authors call for urgent further investigation on the causes of death after 42 days postpartum in low- and middle-income settings.
Limitations of the research include that HDSS data do not always include pregnancy reports and so the analysis did not include pregnancy-related deaths before childbirth, which is likely to underestimate maternal risk.
The research was funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council.
Source:africanews
Moroccan women demonstrated outside parliament in the capital, Rabat, yesterday calling for abortion to be legalised.
The protest on International Safe Abortion Day came weeks after a teenage girl, Meriem, died in a village in the centre of the country following a clandestine termination.
Abortion is illegal in Morocco and is punishable by up to five years in prison, except in cases when the woman's health is in danger.
As the activists honoured the teenager with posters saying ‘We are all Meriem’, they urged lawmakers to make the termination of pregnancy a legal option for women.
‘There are many who die every month, every year for the same reason, because of clandestine abortions, and they are not listened to, not even considered. They’re not honoured, as today we honour Meriem and those who died like her,’ said activist Sarah Benmoussa.
She added that they were also trying to create a stable and healthy environment for all other women who might find themselves in the same situation, with an unwanted pregnancy.
Having a child, the women said, must be a choice. ‘We're here today because our voices matter,’ said Khaoula, a 23-year-old journalism student, ‘Every human being should be able to control their own body.’
Call for law to change
Faced with hundreds of clandestine abortions performed daily, in 2015 the Moroccan government debated the need to review the legislation.
An official commission recommended that the termination of pregnancies be legalised in special circumstances, but no reforms followed, despite lobbying by women's rights activists.
‘We renew this call today,’ said Fouzia Yassine from Spring of Dignity, a coalition of Moroccan feminist associations, ‘Lawmakers bear responsibility for this situation and for the violence and hardships the women endure.’
Concerns following US ruling
The recent United States Supreme Court decision to strip women of the right to have an abortion has raised concerns globally, with many asking if the same could one day happen in their country.
It is estimated that tens of thousand of women die each year from complications resulting from unsafe practices to terminate a pregnancy.
Across the world yesterday, women and men took to the streets to highlight the need for abortion to be an inalienable women’s right.
Source: NNNNews
Burundian First Lady Angeline Ndayishimiye said the health and nutrition of women, newborns, infants and adolescents in Africa remained a concern in Africa.
Ndayishimiye made the remarks in the Burundian commercial capital Bujumbura, at the launch of a three-day high-level forum of women leaders.
The Burundian first lady, thanked foreign delegates that came to support her in the third edition of the high-level forum of women leaders on health and nutrition in Burundi.
They include the First Lady of Nigeria, Aisha Buhari, the former First Lady of Tanzania, Salma Kikwete, as well as delegates from the First Ladies of Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Nigeria.
Ndayishimiye who is also chairperson of the Office of the First Lady for Development in Burundi (OPDD-Burundi) said currently in Africa, maternal, neonatal and child deaths are still high beyond targets set by Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“This situation is costly,” she said.
She indicated that her organisation (OPDD-Burundi) will spare no effort to support the Burundian government to address health and nutrition of women and children in the country.
She took the opportunity to invite her fellow first ladies of African countries “to act in the same direction”.
On his part, Mohamed Fall theUNICEFRegional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, pointed out that the forum is held in Bujumbura at a time when the health care and nutrition systems in the region are facing great challenges.
"These include vaccination coverage against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough in children under five, which declined between 2019 and 2021, leaving many children without any protection against preventable diseases.
Damien Mama, the United Nations resident coordinator in Burundi, congratulated Burundi for the progress already made in terms of improving the health of women and newborns.
He explained that Burundi has reduced maternal mortality from 500 to 334 per 100,000 live births as well as infant mortality from 59 to 47 per 1000 live births.
While officially launching the forum, Burundian Vice-President Prosper Bazombanza highly commended the forum aimed at improving the health and nutrition of the population
Burundian First Lady Angeline Ndayishimiye said the health and nutrition of women, newborns, infants and adolescents in Africa remained a concern in Africa.
Ndayishimiye made the remarks in the Burundian commercial capital Bujumbura, at the launch of a three-day high-level forum of women leaders.
Source: BusinessGhana
mHub was launched in 2014 in Lilongwe, Malawi with a working space in Blantyre, Lusaka, Zambia. It aims at equipping the youth with professional skills by leveraging technology to find solutions to problems affecting development. The youth and women receive training on digital skills and software development. The centre also has a coding and robotics club for children and develops technology solutions for clients.
In 7 years, mHub has facilitated over 1 million USD in financing to emerging entrepreneurs creating more than 950 jobs and impacting over 5,000 people in diverse value chains. mHub also runs the Women’s Economic Empowerment Program. The program seeks to support women entrepreneurs in six districts with financing, branding, business development, and mentorship with funding from UN Women. mHub’s ambition is to become the leading ICT think tank in Malawi and the region.
Rachel Sibande holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College. She also gained a master’s degree in information science theory, coding, and cryptography from Mzuzu University in 2007 and a Ph.D. from Rhodes University in 2020.
In 2016, Rachel became Malawi’s Ambassador of the Next Einstein Forum Initiative which promotes Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In 2017, she became one of 14 youths who were honored by Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi at Egypt`s first World Youth Forum (WYF) for her innovation. Rachel joined Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) at United Nations Foundation in September 2017 as Program Director of Data for Development, supporting health and food security projects in African countries.
She also founded Earth Energy, a company that focuses on generating electricity from maize cobs. The initiative seeks to establish rural microgrids that can lead to a sustainable livelihood.
In 2016, Rachel led as an ICT expert in the Zambian general elections. Also in 2019, she played an important role in Malawi’s general elections by creating a monitoring system called 'Maso Athu'(Our Eyes). Since 2020, she has been a senior director at Country outreach (Africa) for the United Nations Foundation, with the mission of supporting African countries in their digital transformation.
Due to her commitment to the development of ICT in Malawi, Rachel Sibande was ranked by Forbes among the 30 most promising African entrepreneurs under 30 years old in 2016. She also received the « Women of Vision Award » from the Anita Borg Institute.
Source: allAfrica
Leaders of 150 women groups engaging in the fish sector have vowed to practice legal methods in catching products to reverse the trend of fish deficit which is causing economic challenges to millions of people who depend on it for their daily livelihood.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) announced the year 2022 to be International year of Artisanal Fishing and Aquaculture (IAFA) so as to encourage the small sector in fishing to grow and expand volume of their contribution.
According to research done by Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries in 2020, ccurrently fish production is around 422,859.78 metric tons a year, with around 95 percent of fish sourced from small-scale fisheries and the remaining 5 percent from large-scale commercial fishing, therefore putting more efforts to lift the sector.
The sector employs more than 4.5 million Tanzanians who engage in earning their livelihood from fish and related fish products.
Small scale fishing is conducted by a big number of fishermen in the world, including Tanzania, which means it is a self-employed job and provides direct food, nutrition security and other multiplier effect to the community.
Decision made by FAO to raise the sector involves discussion to mobilize the group of small fishers and women who account for 90 percent so that they can be aware of their involvement in the sector.
Therefore, on that perspective women who have a big role in the fishing sector in Tanzania have formed a platform known as Tanzania Women Fish Workers Association (TAWFA) to strengthen their foundation from district, regional, zone and national level to coordinate their activities.
Recently in Mwanza City, leaders of 150 groups of women from 15 districts with more than 3000 members met to discuss ways of empowering small women groups to perform their business in an enabling environment.
They said there is continued decrease of fish products in Lake Victoria due to several reasons, including use of illegal fishing nets and overfishing practice.
Women who are processors of fish are a channel between fishers and consumers therefore the project helps them to strengthen working capability in the sector after post-harvest to have quality nutrition which is the foundation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Chief Fishing Officer from the Ministry of Livestock and Fishing Mr Tumaini Chambua said that after realization that now there is shortage of fish stock, the government initiated a fishing master plan to address the challenge.
"The government wants all groups in the society to be engaged in the sector, and I urge you women to join in groups so as to safeguard fish resources which are threatened by the use of illegal nets, overfishing and other bad practices" said Mr Chambua.
He said that participation of different people in all activities involving fishing would bring positive results in the sector. That is why the presence of the initiative to involve women to brainstorm on how to practice sustainable fishing in Lake Victoria has a variety of benefits.
Director of Environment Management and Economic Development (EMEDO) in Mwanza City, Ms Editrudith Lukanga said that the network of women through their leaders of TAWFA adheres to the voluntary international guideline to support the small scale fisheries sector.
She said that half of the people engaging in fishing and processing fish products are women who are still in bondage of poverty, therefore the presence of proper mechanisms to help them attain development by considering sustainability of catching products would have positive impact in the society.
Ms Lukanga said that there is contribution of small scale fishing in getting proper food nutrients and in reduction of poverty in the society, therefore having discussions will manage to impart education to the sector and hence overcome poverty.
Mwanza City Mayor, Mr Sima Constantine praised the initiative of meeting to brainstorm some challenges that
emerged so that the group of women will manage to bring revolution to the fishing sector in Tanzania.
He said that the government appreciates the steps taken to empower groups of women in the society because when you educate women in the society you have created a positive move to the whole community.
Now the trumpet has been blown for International Artisanal Fishing and Aquaculture to stand up so that their contribution can grow, be seen, be heard and realized since for a long time their contribution was not recognized properly by development stakeholders.
The project is intended to support the visibility, recognition and enhancement of the already important role of small scale fisheries to contribute to global and national efforts towards the eradication of hunger and poverty in the society.
Mr Emmanuel Bulayi, Director of the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, recently held discussions on how best to make the sector become stronger since it has a big number of players and contributes to the economy.
He said some challenges will be listed and get solution for improvement while also the groups will get technical support and financial assistance to enable them perform their business properly while focus is on sustainable development of fish.
Mr Bulayi added that the nation is blessed for having a big percentage of Lake Victoria with 51 percent, Indian Ocean, Lake Tanganyika, Lake Nyasa and several rivers which makes the area to have big resources of fish products, therefore having proper planning is the best solution for sustainable fishing.
Challenges facing the fish industry are unfavorable environmental and socio-economic conditions, unavailability of fish feed, illegal fishing, declining fish stocks, limited financial resources, poor fishing facilities, lack of relevant technological skills and manpower.
Stakeholders during the event said that community should abandon fishing practices which causes harm to generation of fish like using of harmful poison, small nets and catfish traps.
On his side, Assistant Representative of FAO Tanzania, Mr Charles Tulayi said that in support of this initiative they have injected 195 million dollars in Tanzania to facilitate the programme.
He said that FAO is interested to see the small fisheries sector manages to be stable and dynamic because it employs many individual Tanzanians.
"Financial and technical support will be extended to groups of small fishermen in Tanzania because the sector has many people, therefore by supporting them the fishing sector will grow" said Mr Tulayi.
He said since small fishing contributes more on output of fish product, improving the sector can help the country to attain development, increase nutrition and employment opportunities.
Source: allAfrica
THE East Africa and South region peace and security committees have been urged to come up with a national action plan of policies and laws that will involve women in peace and security issues.
Source: TheStar
Female Genital Mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is considered as one of the most invasive forms of Gender-based violence.
In Kenya, the harmful practice was made illegal with the promulgation of the 2010 constitution but some communities still hold fast to the craft.