Source: East African Business Week
A total of 87 women entrepreneurs based in Temeke, one of the Dar es Salaam capital city's municipals have received interest-free loans worth Tsh5m ($3,084) through Vodacom Foundation's M-Pesa Women Empowerment Initiative (MWEI).
Source: VibeGhana
“Your wife has produced her own picture again” is the way family members in certain ethnic groups in the country break the news to husbands whose wives give birth to baby girls during their absence.
In the clan of this writer the birth of a son is greeted with happiness. Comments like: “A warrior has come”, “The family tree has sprouted” and “The village builder has come,” are often made by the clan head.
Source: The Guardian
Last week, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood issued a strongly-worded statement unabashedly rejecting the draft UN declaration calling for an end to all forms of violence against women. It claims that the declaration contravenes Egypt's "cultural specificity" and would lead to "the complete disintegration of society" if ratified. Needless to say, the statement has fuelled the anger of Egyptians, especially women.
Source: Huffington Post
With seven out of 10 women a target of sexual abuse, one would think it would be simple to adopt a program to combat violence. In the end a U.N. conference did that despite incendiary objections from the Muslim Brotherhood.
Source: The New Vision
The day of reckoning has come round yet again. On behalf of the world, the United Nations has set up a process for thinking about the next big thing to succeed the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due to end two years.
Source: Center for Reproductive Rights
New York, Ny — On the last day of its 57th session last week, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and 131 countries agreed to adopt a plan to combat violence against women and girls, urging all countries "to strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and girls and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition, and religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination."
Source: East African Business Week
The World Bank has released Ush8b ($3.2) to fund the gender innovation laboratory that is supposed to provide solutions for Africa's families especially the women.
Source: Daily Observer
The West African Agricultural Productive Programme (WAAPP) on Wednesday donated fertilizer and vegetable seeds to women of Abuko community, who are actively engaged in horticultural gardening.
Source: Guardian Global Development Network
Female university students are mobilising to change a culture where academic success is often dependent on sexual favours
During her first few days at the University of Liberia, a male student asked Famata Adrekis if she was taking the "Sex 101" class. "I said: 'What do you mean?' I was shocked," says the fourth-year sociology student.
Source: The Star
Public health officials in Taita Taveta have warned of a rise in HIV/Aids. The Taita National Aids Control Council coordinator, Dominick Kitandu, said people aged between 15 and 45 are the most affected.
Source: The Daily Observer (Banjul)
A total number of 267 women that make up the 11th batch of the President's infertility treatment programme were Friday discharged by the Gambian leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, after a weeklong treatment in Kanilai. The discharge ceremony was held at State House in Banjul.
Source: UN News Centre
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said that Michelle Bachelet had informed him of her intention to step down as head of the United Nations entity mandated to promote gender equality.
Source: The Observer
More than eight Ugandans thought to be victims of human traffickers have been unearthed in South Sudan, triggering a wide police investigation.
Ugandan security is investigating the circumstances under which eight people, including five juveniles, were trafficked to the South Sudan capital, Juba. The victims were rescued by concerned Ugandans in Juba last month and handed over to authorities in Kampala.
Source: The Observer
"Respect All Regardless of Sexual Orientation" her placard read.
She was preparing to participate in a peaceful march to launch the awareness week for the Fifth Annual Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Peace organised by the Refugee Law Project (RLP).
The light-skinned 34-year-old Congolese refugee ran away from her home country in September 2001 to find peace in Uganda.
While there are no bullets flying past her daily, Uganda has not offered much of a peaceful life.
Source: Times of Zambia
FIRST Lady Christine Kaseba is committed to supporting the advancement of women empowerment.Dr Kaseba called on Government to create a conducive environment that would make women's initiatives flourish.
Source: Times of Zambia
THE Government has donated nine hammer mills and assorted poultry equipment worth KR180,000 to nine Women Clubs in Mwense District in Luapula Province, to enable them embark on income generating activities to reduce poverty.
Source: Abt Associates (Cambridge, MA)
BETHESDA, MD — Providing life-long antiretroviral treatment to HIV-infected pregnant women not only prevents HIV infections in infants, but also improves the 10-year survival rate in mothers, saving more than 250,000 maternal life years and reducing the likelihood that children born to these mothers will become orphans, a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE found.