Innovative Financial Services Transform Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Africa

Smallholder agricultural enterprises in Africa face a lot of challenges getting loans from financial institutions like banks due to the stringent requirements they can hardly fulfil. Investor confidence is usually lacking, given the risks involved in this sector of the economy.

African, Asian Parliamentarians Debate How People-Centered Policies Aid Development of Women, Youth

Asian and African parliamentarians have committed to accelerate the implementation of a people-centered development agenda as the African continent continues to face rapid demographic change with several challenges, such as youth unemployment and gender inequities.

Mauritius Begins to Correct a Historic Wrong Towards LGBTQI+ People

In response to lawsuits brought by LGBTQI+ activists, the Mauritius Supreme Court has issued two landmark judgments striking down the criminalisation of consensual sex between adult men as unconstitutional. Its reasoning turned upside down the argument used by anti-rights forces to attack LGBTQI+ activists in many African countries: it acknowledged that criminalisation is the foreign import rather than gay sex, and a relic of colonialism it’s high time to shake off.

Uganda: When Climate Justice Becomes Climate Justice Denied

On December 4, 2019, landslides in the Bududa region of Uganda killed 20. The landslides occurred after heavy rains, and a Red Cross report estimated that 96 households were affected, with 49 houses destroyed. It displaced many, while others continued to live in high-risk areas that could "slide at any moment."

Climate Change Turns African Rivers into Epicentres of Conflict

Almost all major river basins in Africa have become the epicentres for conflicts over the last 20 years, and agricultural yields on the continent could drop by up to 50 percent in the coming years owing to the drying up of 'traditional' water sources, thanks in part to effects climate change and degradation of the environment, the inaugural edition of the State of Africa's Environment Report 2023 released in Nairobi finds.

To Attain the SDGs, We Must End Female Genital Mutilation

The tips of our fingers have densely packed nerve endings. That is why a miniscule paper cut activates our pain receptors and causes stubborn pain for a day or two. Now consider that a clitoris has over 10,000 nerve endings. It is the human female’s most sensitive erogenous zone, explaining the sexual pleasure it elicits at the slightest touch. A paper cut on your clitoris would be agonizing yet does not compare to the pain of female genital mutilation – or FGM.

Seniors Thriving Through Plastic Waste in Zimbabwe

They do not have a pension nor financial support from families or relatives, but they have themselves. Now they have become collectors of plastic waste, which they turn into products as they battle for survival - earning money from the growing plastic pollution in Zimbabwe.

Egypt Sacrifices Part of UNESCO Site for Road Development

The Egyptian government is clearing a vast area in Historic Cairo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to make way for new main roads and flyover bridges, which it says will improve traffic flow in the sprawling, congested megacity. The developments are being pitched as part of an effort to modernize Egypt and connect the heart of the capital with a new administrative one being built 45km (28 miles) to the east.

Women hold the Key to Success of Pastoralism in Africa

Women in pastoralist areas of East Africa are critical to the health of livestock in their communities, holding the key to effective animal vaccination campaigns meant to protect herds against deadly diseases. They are, therefore, an important part of any vaccination strategies designed to guard the animals against killer outbreaks and need to be involved in such efforts for them to be successful.

Seize Opportunity to End Last Major Mercury Device

As the Minamata Convention on Mercury’s fifth Conference of the Parties (COP5) approaches, momentum builds to adopt the Africa Region’s proposed amendment to phase out dental amalgam – a cavity filling material that is approximately 50% mercury.

Turning Trash into Education: Lagos Children Benefit from Plastic Waste School

Ijora Badia, a slum in Lagos, was swimming in plastic waste. Now children pay their school fees in plastic bottles, and these are used to build classrooms.

To End Child Marriage in Southern & East Africa, Governments Need to Strengthen Laws & Implementation

Almost one third (32%) of women aged 20 to 24 in Eastern and Southern Africa - around 50 million – were married before 18 years old. To address this pervasive problem, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum has adopted the SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage and Protecting Children Already in Marriage, a legal framework providing a comprehensive, integrated approach to ending child marriage and protecting children already married.

Faced with Crushing Debts, World’s Poorest Nations to Slash Public Spending by Over 229 Billion Dollars

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are returning to Africa, for the first time in decades, with the “same old failed message”. “Cut your spending, sack public service workers, and pay your debts-- despite the huge human costs,” says Oxfam International’s interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar, following the release of new Oxfam report.

Debt-Pushing as Financial Inclusion

Ajay Banga was anointed World Bank president for promoting financial inclusion. Thanks to its success and interest rate hikes, more poor people are drowning in debt as consumer prices rise.

Small Islands with Big Aspirations

Everyone knows that small island states are on the frontline of global warming. Rising sea levels, acidification destroying fisheries and coral reefs, and changing patterns of rainfall are just some of the challenges. Some low-lying islands have already been lost to the ocean.

Informal Workers Key to Successful Waste Management in Africa

With the African continent recycling less than 11 percent of its waste, COP28 provided leaders on the African continent to consider integrated waste systems that include informal waste workers.

The Human Cost of a Green Energy Transition Without Safeguards

The world is moving away from fossil fuels towards so-called “green” energies as a solution to the climate crisis, which has increased the demand for strategic minerals such as cobalt, copper and lithium.

Innovative Business Models, Critical for African Governments to Unlock Carbon Markets

With current efforts to boost Africa's carbon credit production by 2030, experts believe the commitments will require Governments to switch from a voluntary to a compliance market by generating renewable energy for a portion of national and regional electricity supplies.

Nigerian Women Challenge ‘Colonialist’ Patriarchy

Bukes Saliu wakes up very early every workday to beat the gruesome Lagos traffic to head to a job quite unusual for a woman to engage in Nigeria. She is a forklift operator in one of the busy depots in the coastal city, a task traditionally meant for men in the West African country.

Zimbabwe’s Food Security Ambitions in El Niño’s Crosshairs

Zimbabwe is riding a wave of food security assurances after what officials said was last year’s bumper grain harvest, but recent El Niño forecasts could test the country’s agriculture production ambitions.

African Coups and Resource Rights

When the heads of state of all United Nations members spoke in front of the UN General Assembly last week, a number of African leaders were not able to attend, having been removed from office in military-led coups.