Source: UNFPA East and Southern Africa
To make a difference in the lives of youth, government funding and multi-sectoral action are required to implement the nation's commitments to sexual and reproductive health, said First Vice President, Riek Machar. He was speaking at a high-level meeting on commitments made by South Sudan at the Nairobi Summit on the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 2019.
Source: ESI Africa
Eucharia Idoko knows the value of light through a solar power initiative by Solar Sister in Nigeria. The nonprofit works with women in Nigeria and Tanzania.
Source: The New Humanitarian
As the price of sanitary products skyrockets amidst Lebanon’s prolonged economic crash, a cohort of young women have taken it upon themselves to fight the country’s growing problem of period poverty. In doing so, they’ve also stirred up a conversation about eco-friendly alternatives, and challenged long-held cultural norms.
Source: UNFPA East and Southern Africa
Opinion editorial by Dr. Bannet Ndyanabanji, Regional Director, UNFPA East and Southern Africa
The South of Madagascar, known as the Grand Sud, faces its most acute drought in 40 years amid ongoing sandstorms, a locust invasion and the COVID-19 pandemic. In the grip of a climate-induced crisis, entire communities are being plunged into extreme poverty and hunger. Inevitably, women and girls are the hardest hit. UNFPA and partners are scaling up the response to the crisis but more needs to be done, and quickly, to avert further deterioration of the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls.
SOURCE: Thomson Reuters Foundation
In the 30 years that Josephine Muthoni has lived in Nairobi's Mukuru slum, she has never had a steady supply of clean water.
SOURCE: New Republic
More child bearing women and girls prefer home delivery over going to health facilities for safe delivery, stakeholders in the health sector have said. And this is largely due to fear of contracting the Covid-19 virus, they added.
Source: Nyasa Times
A youth initiative operating under the banner 10+ Her Period Her Pride on Tuesday donated reusable sanitary pads and tablets of soap to 58 primary and secondary school-going girls in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Chiseka as one way of promoting menstrual hygiene.
Source: Daily News Tanzania
PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has appointed Dr Stergomena Tax to be the Minister for Defence and National Service. She becomes the first woman to hold the title since the country's independence.
Source: NEW ERA
In its quest to assist women and youth in agriculture, Agribank disbursed loans to the value of N$43 million towards women, while another N$38.7 million benefited the youth, as clients under 40 years of age, during the 2020/21 financial year.
Source: AFRICANEWS
Taboos on menstrual cycles among girls have hampered their educational growth in Mozambique.
Most of the girls especially from humble backgrounds are unable to fully attend their classes due to the fact that the personal hygiene effects are expensive and at times not available in various rural stores and health facilities.
Source: UN Women Africa
This year, after decades of lobbying and advocacy, the women’s movement in Uganda has reason to celebrate – they successfully ushered the passage of amendments to two outdated laws through Parliament.
Source: FPA
MONROVIA – The Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding (CEMESP) on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, conducted intensive training for female bloggers and journalists on ‘Women’s Rights Online Issues’ in Liberia.
Source: Liberian News Agency (LINA)
Monrovia — The West African Network of Young Women Leaders, which goes by the acronym ROAJELF, has expressed concern about the peace and security of women and children amidst Guinea's "concerning" political development, and wants the international community to act faster to ensure the safety of the vulnerable population.
Source: LINA
In order to cut the increase in rape cases, Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor has urged the UN system in Liberia to use the US$26 million that it has for the fight against sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the various communities.
Source: UN Women
Empowering women to increase their participation in the blue economy value chain is particularly critical in Tanzania where the industry provides livelihoods and contributes to food security and nutrition to a vast majority of the population. The negative impact of COVID-19 on business operations has raised the need to support women who depend on the blue economy to keep their businesses afloat. Through the Generation Equality Forum priorities, Tanzania has committed to leverage digital technologies expanding competitive production and trading by women in the blue economy and the broader agriculture sector.
Source: The New Times
President Paul Kagame has called on all stakeholders in the justice sector to pull their efforts and find a lasting solution to the rising crimes related to Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in the country.
He said this on Monday September 6, during the ceremony to launch the 2021/2021 judicial year that was held at parliament.
Source: Daily News Tanzania
At least 30 young women and men from Tanzania and Kenya have been trained on how to use digital storytelling to combat cross border child marriages and Female Genital mutilation (FGM) acts.
Source: SA News
More than 120 000 cases of gender-based violence were recorded by the government-run Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Command Centre in the first three weeks of the national lockdown.
This was revealed by the Gauteng Social Development MEC, Morakane Mosupyoe, during a webinar on GBV and femicide hosted by the department on Saturday.
Mosupyoe said a similar call centre in Pretoria was receiving up to 1 000 calls a day from women and children who were confined to abusive homes seeking urgent help.
Warning: Some readers may find parts of this article upsetting
John can barely remember a time when having sex with his wife did not end with her in tears.
It was just too painful because she had undergone female genital mutilation (FGM).
"Anytime I go to Martha, she recoils, curling like a child. She cries, begging me to leave her alone. She doesn't want to have sex any more," the 40-year-old says.
John and Martha come from Kenya's Marakwet community in western Kenya.
Although FGM is illegal in Kenya, girls in their community often undergo FGM between the ages of 12 and 17, as a rite of passage in preparation for marriage.
Martha was cut when she was 15.
Source: The New Dawn
Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor has called on the family, community, Liberia National Police, and the Judiciary to desist from encouraging a compromise of rape and sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) cases across the country, adding that children need protection.