Source: allAfrica
Journalists can play a crucial role in helping to shift traditional attitudes within societies where the cruel practice of female genital mutilation is an everyday reality.
The jihadists stoning women to death in Mali and taking hostages in Algeria are harbingers of much worse to come. Osama bin Laden may be dead, but Al Qaeda in Africa now threatens an area twice the size of Germany.
Source: IRIN
The recent execution in Somalia of a soldier convicted of rape and the detention of a journalist investigating sexual assault have given the traditionally taboo issue of gender-based violence an usual degree of prominence.
Even the president has weighed in. Speaking from Washington, DC, where he met with US President Barack Obama on 17 January, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said that his government would not intervene in the case of the journalist, despite pressure from numerous organizations, including Human Rights Watch, and senior UN officials.
Source: United States Embassy Pretoria
In a response to the high rate of AIDS deaths and pediatric HIV in Southern and Eastern Africa, the United States Government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and mothers2mothers (m2m) launched a five-year regional partnership today at an event in Manzini, Swaziland.
Source: allAfrica
A three-day symposium on gender issues that impact the 1986 constitutional reviewing process got underway in Monrovia yesterday with women groups calling for the preservation of certain basic rights in the Constitution seeking equal participation in political governance.
Source: allAfrica
Women living with HIV/AIDS have established a soap-making project in Katutura, where they produce a whole range of soap products, including mahangu soap to support themselves and their families.
source:brussels
Education of women could be one of the most important driving forces for sustainable agriculture in Africa, a new study from Gothenburg University in Sweden shows.
The new research shows that more years of education a woman has, the more likely it is that her household will use sustainable farming practices
Source: openDemocracy
Human rights instruments have enabled women’s movements to access a normative and analytic framework for fighting discrimination, and rights discourses have been deployed to legitimise women’s demands for social and economic rights, political representation and well-being. Maxine Molyneux spoke to Deniz Kandiyoti about the new trends and threats to women’s rights and UN frameworks.
Source: Ventureburn
The clamour for innovation in the African society today is loud. In the era where there is a lot happening in ICT, innovation and entrepreneurship, why are there still very few women involved in these areas? Past research reports and workshops have openly addressed female participation issues and the need to build more capacity of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics); to give them a chance to contribute to the growth of the economy.
Source: Un Women
In response to the Secretary-General’s call to move towards a paperless UN system and reduce the organization’s costs and carbon footprint, UN Women went Paper-Smart at its Executive Board session from 28-30 November, 2012 – and the initiative is now being replicated during the First Regular Session of the UN Women Executive Board, 23-24 January, 2013.
Source: Huffington Post
I am often asked about sustainability - it has become a 'buzz' word in the international development sector and rightly so. Our donors and partners want to know how we at Tostan ensure that the learnings from our program continue to be built upon, years after our program has been implemented.
Source: IRIN
Improved maternal healthcare and better family planning programmes have led to a sharp decrease in the Republic of Congo’s maternal mortality rate over the past decade.
The rate declined from 781 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2005 to 426 deaths per 100,000 live births at the end of 2012, according to a demographic and health survey conducted with the support of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).