Africa

Photos courtesy of Frank Darko and Education in Ghana. Source: YaleGlobal Online.

Ghanaian Inventor Eases Children's Access to Schools Across Rivers

By Devendra Kamarajan

ACCRA (IDN) – A young inventor, Frank Darko, has designed a water cycle to help Ghanaian children living in villages throughout the Volta region reach schools. Currently, they must swim or wade through at least one river every day to get to the nearest school. This is particularly dangerous during the rainy season, three months a year.

Frank Darko, a 27-year-old Ghanaian man, was moved to action in 2017, after seeing a documentary and news reports about the children’s plight, reports Raluca Besliu in YaleGlobal. He invented a water bicycle to help children and others living in river regions to cross bodies of water.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 December 2018

IFAD President Gilbert Houngbo being interviewed by IDN-INPS Southern Africa correspondent Jeffrey Moyo in Harare, Zimbabwe, on December 3, 2018.

UN Specialised Agency IFAD Joins 79-nation ACP to Rescue African Agriculture

IDN interviews IFAD President Gilbert Houngbo

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – Smallholder rural farmers in Zimbabwe are set to benefit from international funding intended to improve access to inputs, irrigation and the adoption of smart farming practices in the face of predicted El Nino-induced drought.

On the first visit to Zimbabwe of a president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) at the beginning of December, it was made known that the Rome-based specialised agency of the United Nations is making 51 million dollars available for development of the agricultural sector in remote areas of the country.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 December 2018

Leaders Pledge to Boost Blue Economy, Protect Water Bodies

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – The Kenyan capital was literally painted ‘blue’ for the first-ever global conference on the blue economy attended by over 18,000 participants from 180 countries.

Running from November 26 to 28, the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference ended with various countries signing commitments to ensure that humanity benefits from the blue economy – or the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs.

Participants discussed a host of topics around the issue of sustainable use of oceans, seas and inland water bodies, and a joint communiqué issued by leaders undertook to utilise their countries' water resources for the benefit of their people.

: Justus Wanzala; SUSTAINABILITY; Oceans, seas and marine resources; 05 December 2018

Photo: Deputy Executive Secretary Giovanie Biha of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Credit: Encomium Magazine.

Africa Should Focus on Young People – Say Experts

By Ronald Joshua

KIGALI (IDN) – Africa’s “easy decade” of accelerated economic growth is coming to an end, and only accelerated job creation and integration will ensure sustainable growth and development across the continent, Prof. Paul Collier, one of the world’s most influential development economists has warned.

A Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford, Collier was delivering a keynote address at the African Economic Conference 2018, hosted by the African Development Bank, the Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kigali, Rwanda.

: Ronald Joshua; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 December 2018

Photo: Seyni Nafo (left), spokesman of the African delegation to the COP24, with Amina J. Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, at a meeting in 2016. Credit: World Bank

Africa Seeks Commitments to Fight Climate Threat at COP24

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Seyni Nafo, spokesman of the African delegation at the UN Climate Change Conference COP24 taking place in Katowice in southern Poland from December 2-14 is not one to mince words about the serious climate threat now facing the African continent.

"We are the most vulnerable, we are the least responsible but we will suffer the most," the Malian-born Nafo summed up in an interview with Germany’s international broadcaster DW. The African continent is already experiencing the effects of climate change. In many places drought, torrential rainfall or flooding are regular occurrences.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 December 2018

Photo: Global Citizens help fulfill Mandela’s Vision of ending extreme poverty by taking 5.6M Actions. Credit: Global Citizen

Muggings Mar Mandela Centenary Concert in South Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – A massive turnout of die-hard fans of superstars Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z filled every available square inch of the Johannesburg FNB stadium for the closing night of the Global Citizen Festival organized to honor the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nelson Mandela and raise $1 billion to address poverty, food security, global health and other social issues.

Beyonce and Jay-Z were the headline act for the sold-out closing affair that featured a 90-minute performance with the popular superstars that included a rendition of her 2008 single “Halo” accompanied by a South African choir.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 December 2018

Photo: Oilrig in the sea. Source: Public Domain

New Scrutiny of Nigerian Billions Swiped in Massive Fraud

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – It’s been called one of the biggest corruption cases in corporate history which has escaped the attention of much of the media and few have even heard about it.

In the drama, playing out in an Italian court, two middlemen have been convicted for their role in the scheme involving one of Africa’s most promising oil fields and its sale – allegedly engineered by oil giants Italian-owned Eni and Royal Dutch Shell – that deprived the people of Nigeria of an estimated $6 billion in future revenues.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 November 2018

Photo: The picture shows two women from Lesotho trafficked in South Africa. Credit: Sunday Times.

ACP Fights Human Trafficking, Migrant Smuggling in Africa

By Jeffrey Moyo

BEITBRIDGE (ACP-IDN) – At the age of 39, Ndikonyaga Muleya hailing from Beitbridge, Zimbabwe’s border town with South Africa, has found illegal crossing into South Africa convenient.

Over the years he became experienced crossing into the neighboring country looking for casual jobs in Musina, also a South African border town with Zimbabwe, which he now frequents as an illegal transporter of undocumented Zimbabweans itching to cross into South Africa fleeing from this country’s mounting economic woes.

“I earn money from transporting people through unmanned crossing points into South Africa. I was also helped before when I started crossing to SA,” Muleya told IDN.

: Jeffrey Moyo; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 28 November 2018

Photo: Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi, addressing the conference. Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

Women Medics Pitch for Effective Role in Decision Making on Health Issues

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is crucial in attainment of not only health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) but also all SDGs.

Participants in the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) Regional Conference 2018, that was held in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, from November 11-15, noted that achieving UHC can aid in tackling the growing disease burden and extreme poverty in Afrcan countries and other poor nations.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 November 2018

Photo: Ambassador Hans-Peter Jugel, Germany’s deputy envoy to the United Nations in Geneva, and UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General Isabelle Durant signed the official funding document on 22 November 2018.

Germany Backs UNCTAD to Help Africa Implement Continental Trade Deal

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN | GENEVA (IDN) – Eight months after the launch of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), the first pan-African agreement of its kind, Germany has donated 1.6 million euros to UNCTAD, to help the UN's trade and development body work with African partners to implement the landmark continental pact on cross-border commerce.

"This is a big new step forward in the economic development of Africa," said Ambassador Hans-Peter Jugel, Germany’s deputy envoy to the United Nations in Geneva, adding that the African Union had sought UNCTAD's support to meet the aims of the AfCFTA.