Source: Diginomica
Nowhere is the old adage ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ more true than in Africa, that most misunderstood of continents.
Source: New Times
If women’s rights in Africa were to be measured by the number of laws and policies so far initiated towards that specific goal, then African women would be the most liberated human beings walking the face of the earth!
Source: EIN News
“My brothers and sisters I am an African woman.
I have lighter than usual hair and skin and very beautiful bright eyes. You continue to believe that my body can heal you from HIV/AIDS and bring wealth to you. That’s a fallacy! My body belongs to me and please let me enjoy a life free from fear of being hunted down to satisfy your unfounded beliefs and crimes. I am just like you and if you let me be I will continue to contribute to the prosperity of my continent in all respects.
SOURCE:allAfrica
There is renewed hope for Flora Julius, her life will never be the same after she attended a special training on entrepreneurship. She can now make batik (tie and dye), soap and detergents.
The 20-year-old is a resident of Nkende village in Tarime District, Mara Region. She is one of the 60 young women who benefited from four-days training held at a hotel in Tarime town recently.
"We have learnt many things including making batik, tie and dye and soap. We are now ready to go to business" Ms Julius remarked shortly after the training. Her similar words were echoed by several other participants interviewed by this news paper.
The training was organised recently by Children's Dignity Forum (CDF), a local Non-Governmental Organization under an ambitious project called Mobilising Action to Safeguard the Rights of Girls in Tanzania phase two.
Good news is that besides the training, the beneficiaries will be provided with small loans ready to embark on batik and soap making business, thanks to whoever is supporting the initiative.
"The participants will be given interest-free small loans to help establish income generating groups, " CDF Project Manager at Tarime Office Ms Kambibi Kamugisha said.
The beneficiaries of the project, according to Ms Kambibi are victims of FGM, child marriage, teenage pregnancies as well as those living in difficult conditions. It targets young women aged between 18 and 24 from five wards of Tarime district namely Matongo, Susuni, Mwema, Manga and Nkende.
The project, Ms Kambibi said is jointly implemented by CDF and FORWARD UK under the sponsorship of Comic Relief and Sigrid Rausing Trust, also from UK. Apart from engaging in income generating activities, the participants promised to stand firm in backing the on-going campaigns designed to stop FGM and child marriage in their villages .
"We are very grateful to the organisers of the training and we will also continue to educate girls to stop FGM and child marriage" said Elizabeth Joseph, another beneficiary. The training was provided by experts from Mara Regional Small Industry Development Organization (SIDO).
Mara Regional Manager Mrs Frida Mungulu commended the new initiative by CDF to provide the young women with loans and urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the opportunity to improve their living standard.
"I congratulate you (participants) for turning up to participate in this training and I thank CDF for coming up with the idea of small loans.
We now expect to see many batik and soap industries here" the SIDO regional boss said. In addition to batik, tie and dye and soaps making, the participants were further equipped with business recording and marketing skills.
Mrs Mungulu urged the young women to make good use of the opportunity in transforming their lives. "This is a great opportunity, work hard and become role models. We (SIDO) will be your guardian and we will give you full cooperation" she said.
She also observed since that the project beneficiaries are youth they stand to benefit from other opportunities provided by other development stakeholders including the government if they will set a good example in running their projects.
"Our desire is to see changes in the community. Use the available opportunities to improve your living standards", Mr Kabuje said. He said CDF is doing a commendable job that supplements on-going efforts made by the fifth phase government to improve living conditions of people.
He expressed optimism that the project will help to inspire development of women in one of the districts rated as having an alarming rate of Gender Based Violence (GBV) acts.
In a bid to create more business opportunities for women, authorities in Tarime have opened a gender desk at the Tanzania/ Kenyan Sirari border to enable women conduct crossborder business smoothly.
"Tarime should be a business opportunity and aim to enable women operate at the border without obstacles" the official said. He also called for zero tolerance against FGM acts in the district.
FGM is said to be the source of child marriage and school drop-outs among school girls. The harmful cut is illegal according to the laws of the country.
Source: The Guardian
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Jummai Aisha Alhassan, has decried the continuous discrimination against women in the political circle, saying the trend was impacting negatively on Nigeria’s nascent democracy.
Source: The New Times
Legislators have called on the Government to scale up campaigns at the grassroots level to educate young people about the dangers of human trafficking and protect them from modern-day slavery such as prostitution, drug dealing, and forced labour.
Source: The Monitor
Kampala — Despite the major strides women have gained in leadership, their representation in media is still wanting, says a report by Uganda Media Women Association (UMWA).
Source: The Daily Vox
The Soul City Institute held a panel discussion on sexual violence and women's voices on Wednesday morning at their offices in Johannesburg.
Source: The New Times
The Commonwealth has launched the first ever resource in East Africa to provide legal bench-marks on dealing with cases of violence against women.
Source: Front Page Africa
Madina, Grand Cape Mount County- A six month pilot project intended to empower rural women who were greatly affected by the deadly Ebola virus disease has ended in Western Liberia.
Source: The Observer
Margaret Mutetere has seven children. From her stature, one can tell that parenting woes are wearing her down.
Source: Ventures Africa
The first lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, aka FLOTUS, arrived on the African continent three days ago with her mother and daughters, Malia and Sasha. Their trip includes stops in Liberia and Morocco, with the objectives of addressing issues that affect the girl child – under education, forced marriage, poverty and violence.
Source: The Guardian
Global population hit 7.3 billion midway through 2015, an increase of 2 billion since 1990. It will continue to climb steadily, according to forecasters, reaching 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100.
Source: Mareeg
U.S. first lady Michelle Obama visited a leadership camp for girls Monday in Liberia, part of an effort to promote girls’ education in Africa.
Source: Huffington Post
MARRAKESH, Morocco, June 28 (Reuters) - U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, her mother and daughters Sasha and Malia were joined by Meryl Streep in Morocco‘s Marrakesh on Tuesday on a six-day tour to try to promote girls’ education.
Source: The Commonwealth
The Commonwealth will launch the first ever resource in East Africa to provide legal benchmarks on dealing with cases of violence against women.
Source: The Point
A three-day West Africa Food Security Network (WAFSN) Regional planning meeting recently ended at the Lemon Creek Hotel in Bijilo.
Held on theme: “promoting regional partnership to strengthen food sovereignty and sustainability,” the three-day forum was hosted by the National Alliance for Food Security (NAFS), and the International Food Security Network (IFSN). It brought participants from the IFSN international secretariat, Senegal, Ghana, Burkina Faso and The Gambia.
Source: The Africa Report
Growing women underrepresentation in governing boards of Ghana's oil and gas sector has sparked concern over worsening gender disparity after several policies failed to sufficiently protect women's rights and inclusion.
Source: Daily Observer
In today’s edition of Observer Archives we bring a position that the current Vice President Isatou Njie Saidy took when she was the Executive Secretary of Women’s Bureau on March 2nd 1994.
Source: Ventures Africa
According to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), almost 70 million children, mostly in Africa, may die before 2030 and some 750 million women will have been married as children before that time. This prediction is due to millions of children’s lives that are blighted, for no other reason than the country, the community, the gender or the circumstances into which they are born.