Source: AllAfrica
Despite global gains in the number of children enrolled in school, many of the world's students fail to leave their educational experiences with the skills necessary for them to succeed in life and help their nations develop, United Nations officials said today.
"Something very important is at stake - the future," Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson declared in his opening remarks at the Global Education First Initiative (GEFI) high-level event held on the margins of the General Assembly in New York.
"Many countries have made major strides," Mr. Eliasson continued. "We must not let them down."
He pointed out, however, that with 58 million children still out of school worldwide and 250 million primary school-aged children in the world still unable to read, delegates were faced with some "uncomfortable facts."
"The world is now experiencing a global learning crisis," the Deputy Secretary-General stated, adding that there were "308 million reasons" to focus on improving access to quality education which is "a fundamental human right."
"Quality education is more than an entry point into the job market. It is the foundation for personal fulfilment, for gender equality, for social cohesion, for sustainable development, for economic growth, and for responsible global citizenship."
Launched in September 2012 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Initiative seeks to put every child in school, improve the quality of learning, and foster global citizenship.
In delivering the keynote address to the event, the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, echoed Mr. Eliasson, declaring that the international community had made "tremendous progress" on the issue of global education. She warned, however, that the world "should not be satisfied" with its successes and added that much remained to be achieved in terms of gender equality in education.
"When it comes to educating adolescent girls," said Ms. Obama, "the real challenge isn't about resources; it's about attitudes and beliefs."
Ms. Obama cited her own experiences, as a daughter and a mother, to illustrate the important role men can play in promoting the education of women. But, she added, encouraging gender quality was also key and she emphasized that "addressing gender-based violence must also be on the agenda."
The Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and co-organizer of the Initiative, Irina Bokova, similarly affirmed that the need for quality education was an "imperative," especially for girls and women.
Ms. Bokova noted that among the 58 million children out of school worldwide, girls and young women were still "hit hardest" and warned that the lack of education not only "threatens stability" but also "condemns entire generations to despair."
This message was echoed by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, who underscored the link between female education and the schoolgirls of Chibok, Nigeria, kidnapped by Boko Haram militants last April. The Nigerian schoolgirls, Mr. Brown said, were kidnapped for the sole reason that they sought an education and he urged the international community to resurrect its global efforts in supporting those girls still held in captivity.
In addition, Mr. Brown emphasized the importance of schooling in unlocking the future potential of children and noted the obstacles that still lay in the way of universal education for many children around the world.
"We cannot deliver universal education unless we end child marriage. We cannot deliver universal education unless we end child labour," Mr. Brown said.
"Education first is not a slogan, but a priority," he concluded. "Education first, education foremost, education forever."
Source: AllAfrica
A new report highlights strategies to end child marriage, a harmful practice that turns millions of young girls worldwide into child brides.
The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) launched the report in Washington and hosted a panel discussion that included international NGOs and humanitarian agencies.
The ICRW said the groups explored successful programs in Bangladesh, Egypt, Ethiopia and India that focused on empowering girls, preventing child marriage and mitigating its harmful effects among an estimated 15 million girls.
Violating human rights of girls
"That's 15 million girls whose human rights are violated when they are forced into marriage" says Ann Warner, a senior gender and youth specialist for ICRW. "Not only are those individualized girls' lives compromised-their health, their futures, their aspirations and their well-being-but that also has really profound implications for the health of their families, their future children and the communities."
Warner said they analyzed a few programs that work directly with the girls who are either at risk of being married as children, or who are already married.
The programs work with girls in group settings, providing them with a variety of information.
"What we found is that these kinds of activities for girls really do help them a lot," said Warner.
The success of these programs shows in the girls themselves. Warner pointed out that the information they receive helps them to see themselves as contributors to the welfare of their families and communities. The programs also help to change the perceptions of others in their communities about the benefits of letting girls grow up and make their own choices about learning and contributing to the community.
"The programs also introduce alternatives for girls such as going back to school or staying in school, or seeking economic opportunities like small income-generating activities, or doing savings and loans with their peers," explained Warner.
She also said that poverty plays a huge role in the choices girls and they families make regarding their lives.
"We know that parents everywhere want the best for their children. They want them to be educated and to be happy. But, in context where there are few alternatives for girls, extra support is often required to equip girls with this information, with new skills and with social support," Warner said.
This year's UN General Assembly included the issue of child marriage in events hosted by ICRW and their partners.
"Our goal is to make sure that ending child marriage is a priority in the next set of development goals that are being shaped right now," said Warner.
Source: Lusaka Voice
Minister of Community Development, Mother and Child Health, Emerine Kabanshi says Zambia remains committed to strengthening the her health systems so as to provide universal access to sexual and reproductive health services in order to save lives.
Source: Sogi News
Address by South Africa’s Minister for Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, MP, on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly on the commission on population and development on harnessing the demographic dividend and ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health in Africa, at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Source: Punch
Ahead of the 2015 general elections, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has developed a curriculum targeted at encouraging women at all levels to equip them to actively in the participation of women in politics and key gender-related positions.
Source: GhanaWeb
Despite progress that Africa has made in the past 20 years in the advancement of women, over 180,000 women on the continent still die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth each year.
Source: The Guardian
Those who design nutrition programmes can no longer ignore the evidence that success depends in part on women's power
Source: Reuters
Women must take a greater leadership role in fighting climate change because its effects fall hardest on women, the head of UN Women said this week.
Source: Voice of America
A new study by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) and Gallup on women and media in Africa says education and language skills play a big role in influencing which platform women access most frequently. And while daily TV usage for men and women is similar in most places, the same cannot be said for radio, mobile phones and the Internet.
Source: The New Times
Fifty police officers yesterday met at the Rwanda National Police (RNP) in Kacyiru to review implementation and achievements in fighting gender based violence and how better to deal with the existing challenges.
Source: Sahara Reporters
Months after his inability to visit murder sites in the troubled Southern Kaduna region of Kaduna state, Governor Mukhtar Yero finally surfaced in the 'killing field' today, while angry women protested, naked, against the governor's negligence and poor leadership.
Source: IGD
Young African Woman, Adeshola Komolafe, Represents Next Generation of African Leaders.
Source: Voice of America
More than half of all Ebola cases in West Africa have been adult women. But aid agencies say women are also the most affected by border closures and travel restrictions, as they carry out most of the commercial cross-border trade.
Source: The Guardian A landmark conference in Cairo 20 years ago that sought to put women's rights, empowerment and well-being at the centre of discussions about population growth and development has brought some change, but has not lived up to its promise, according to women's rights campaigners.
Source: BBC In many countries, it's typical for rural women to work hard from dawn to dusk, inside and outside the home, while men get plenty of time off to relax. That's how it is in Ivory Coast, so in the name of equality some men are getting sent back to school.
Source: Daily Nation More than 30 Kenyans from Nakuru County are stranded and starving in a transitional detention camp in Saudi Arabia where they had gone in search of employment.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation Critics of the international anti-violence bill argue it will impose Western values on other countries, will be costly to implement and excludes men and boys. Supporters say no, no and no.
Source: PeaceFM
Over the past thirteen years, the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has provided over US$18 million in grants to over 800 women’s organizations in 42 African countries, focusing on Women’s Human Rights, Economic Empowerment, governance, Reproductive Rights of women, HIV/AIDS, and lately Arts, Culture and Sports.
It all began in 2001 when three African women, Dr. Hilda Tadria from Uganda, Joana Foster, a Ghanaian international Lawyer, and Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, a Nigerian Journalist and a Social Entrepreneur, decided to set up a fund to support African women.
It is the first pan-African women’s grant maker on the continent. Currently headed by Theo Sowa, AWDF is a world respected grant making organization with its international head office in Accra.
Majority of African women have been found in agriculture, and trade, especially in the informal sector. In 1985, women's shares in African labor forces ranged from 17 per cent, in Mali, to 49 per cent in Mozambique and Tanzania (World Bank, 1989).
African women are guardians of their children's welfare, and are the household managers, providing food, water, health care, education, and family planning to an extent greater than elsewhere in the developing world. In the year 2000, while as the overall literacy rate for adult men in Africa stood at 70%, that of women was 49%. Girls education was sacrificed so that boys could go to school, and this deprived many from being educated.
Women equality and social justice needed to engage everyone’s attention. Since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, the dynamics of women issues has changed. According to the UN Women, globally, women earn on average between 10 and 30 per cent less than men in the same jobs, which reflects women’s undervalued contribution to the economy.
The emergence of AWDF on the African continent was therefore a deliberate attempt at responding to the unyielding inequality that was at the heart of culture and traditional practices.
It was to respond to a grass-root call by supporting grass-root women-centered programs aimed at correcting the intractable imbalance between women and men on the African continent, and to ensure that by supporting women, children would be protected and cared for. The AWDF’s grant making processes are uniquely focused, holistic and diverse which ensures that it addresses every part of women’s realities as of rights, livelihoods, health, and empowerment.
Over 60% of AWDF grantees report significant increases in income and skills development enabling women to enroll children in quality schools, provide nutritious meals for their families, and obtain affordable healthcare to protect loved ones.
Since its inception, the organization has supported a wide range of organizations, including Challenging Heights, ABANTU for Development, Ark Foundation, FIDA, WiLDAF, NetRight, the Domestic Violence Coalition, and the Gender Center. They have funded programs focused on women. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s Market Women’s Fund (SMWF) – Liberia, has received a total of over $130,000 for capacity-building, and has been supported to raise nearly two million US Dollars funding from other sources.
AWDF has also supported Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMwA), an international, pan-African, non-governmental development organisation for African women with its Head Office in Kampala, Uganda. As part of its programs, AMwA established the African Leadership Institute in 1996, as a contribution towards post-Beijing initiatives in Africa. The institute serves as a network for African women between the ages of 25-45 years for professional support, advice/information and sharing of expertise.
In recent past, the Standpoint, a female-oriented talk show which addresses everyday issues women and young ladies face in society, also received support from AWDF. The Standpoint, which has aired nearly six years now, has become a household name in the country and is watched by both male and female on television and online in other parts of the world. The program is appreciated for creating avenues to discuss “taboo topics,” enlightenment, educating and also restoring peace to a
lot of women and families.
In writing this article, I’m motivated and inspired by their enthusiasm and values, and their strategic approach to grant making, notwithstanding the challenges they face with brazing the trail.
Of course there are still some challenges in addressing women issues. About 70% of people living in poverty are women, most of them in rural areas. Of the estimated 800,000 people trafficked annually, 80% are female, 79% of whom are trafficked for sexual exploitation.
However opportunities exists to make further progress in advancing the cause of women. The Millennium Project of the Global Futures Studies and Research (GFSR) estimates that women control over 70% of global consumer spending, and therefore women strongly influence market preferences. Analysis shows a direct interdependence between countries’ Gender Gap Index and their Competitiveness Index scores and that Fortune 500 companies with more gender-balanced boards could outperform the others by as much as 50%.
In 1979 the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), often described as the international bill of rights for women. By 2004, 51 of the 53 AU member countries had ratified CEDAW. Africa has made significant progress in women empowerment, and gender-based violence. Most African countries have passed laws against domestic violence. Ghana passed the Domestic Violence Act in 2007, and made it offence punishable either by a fine or imprisonment or both. In Ghana’s case, domestic violence was defined to include physical abuse, emotional torture, economic deprivation, and rape, including sexual harassments.
The Women’s Manifesto (WMG) is 10 years this month. The Manifesto represents women’s concerns about insufficient attention given to critical issues affecting their well-being which include the under-representation of women in politics, policy and decision-making levels, and in public life in general. According to a release issued in Accra on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of WMG, the passage of some landmark legislations such as the Domestic Violence Act, Anti-Human Trafficking Act and the Persons with Disability Act had been made possible by the Manifesto.
The challenge lies in the sustenance in this progress made in supporting African women programs. Women’s empowerment has been one of the strongest drivers of social change. A lot has been achieved. But significant differences still remain for women’s rights and equality to be achieved. AWDF is an organization that does not spend money. They give the money they raise to other organizations to undertake projects. It is the pioneer women grant organization that needs Africa’s support, the support of both men and women. There is cause for hope, and there is a cause to support. Women’s rights are human rights!
Source: Bizcommunity
The African female consumer has long been mischaracterised and overlooked by marketers across the continent. But now, with women continuing to emerge as powerful decision-makers and consumers - they are changing the face of the African market.
Source: SACSIS
“All we are asking is that he pay back the money, why are we getting thrown out?” was the question that came from a parliamentary member of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who was identified in a Voice of America news report, as “Female EFF member” on 21 August, the day the EFF chanted “pay back the money”, to a humiliated and ill-looking Jacob Zuma. Right before Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, the EFF spokesperson started chanting, I hoped for a longer exchange between parliamentary speaker, Baleka Mbete, and the “Female EFF member”.