Artisanal Miners Face Onerous Obstacles to Become Legal

Greed, poverty, irresponsible legal mining giants which exploited and then abandoned South Africa's mines, together with the government's failure to enforce regulations on the mining giants to rehabilitate mines before closing them, have created fertile ground for a thriving illegal artisanal mining sector called Zama Zama, many of them run by criminal syndicates.

Burkina Faso Home to Almost Half of Closed Schools in Central & West Africa

Over a million children in Burkina Faso are currently affected by school closures with 6,134 academic institutions shut as of February 2023, an increase of over 40 per cent since the end of the last school year.

Cash Transfers, Poverty Alleviation Assists with Mental Health – Study

Poverty alleviation policies, especially cash transfers, will not only improve the poor condition of the beneficiaries but can also play a role in strengthening the psychological health of people as well as improve the mental health of those living in poverty in low- and middle-income countries (LMICS), including Africa, a new study has said.

Why Gender Transformative Leadership is Key to Ending TB– for Good

Despite being both curable and preventable, the TB pandemic is a global health crisis and a leading cause of death worldwide. COVID-19 brought into sharp focus how women bear the brunt of pandemics. In 2021, over three million women and girls fell ill with TB, resulting in 450,000 needless deaths.

Kenyan Entrepreneur Using Organic Microbes to Unlock Hidden Nutrients in Dairy Feeds

Using naturally occurring microbes, a Kenyan entrepreneur has developed a molasses-based supplement that pre-ferments animal feeds to unlock all the necessary nutrients that would otherwise find a way out of the animal through cow dung, and dairy farmers have fallen in love with the product.

BRAC International Signs MoU with Rwanda to Empower People in Extreme Poverty

Last week, BRAC International signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Rwanda under the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) to support efforts to empower people in extreme poverty to develop sustainable livelihoods and break the poverty trap long term. This is part of the Government’s broader efforts to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030.

Belief in Witchcraft Costing Lives of Elderly Women in Malawi

In December last year, a video clip went viral of two elderly women surrounded by a charged-up crowd and engulfed in a cloud of dust as they filled up a grave in a village in the Mzimba district in northern Malawi.

Managing Water Sustainably Is Key To the Future of Food and Agriculture

In contrast to its strategic role as an essential resource to help achieve community development and poverty alleviation globally, groundwater has remained a poorly understood and managed resource.

‘Stone-Age’ Donkey-Drawn Carts Ply Zimbabwe’s Abandoned Remote Routes

From the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway in Zimbabwe at a spot popularly known as Turn-P, the road passing through Neshuro Township has been degraded, disused, and derelict for over two decades, with buses avoiding the route. Now donkey-drawn carts that operate alongside jalopy vehicles have become the new alternative for remote travellers around Mwenezi villages.

Terrorism & its Impacts on Water Access in the Sahel

Burkina Faso’s interim President Captain Ibrahim Traoré spoke late last year of the conflicts that are now blighting his country and much of his region. He described the situation in Burkina Faso as predictable given the endemic weaknesses in governance that he believes have led to the economic abandonment of many young people, particularly outside of urban areas.

Solar Powered Freezer Improving Immunization Coverage in Hard-to-Reach Rural Villages

Up until 2019, nurses in three health facilities located in the semi-arid south-eastern Kenya region of Makueni County struggled to bring critical health services closer to a hard-to-reach population scattered across three remote, far-flung villages.

Next Ebola Outbreak ‘Not a Matter of If, but When’

It is two months since the World Health Organization declared Uganda free of the most recent Sudan ebolavirus, which killed 55 people. Uganda employed public health measures to end the outbreak. In the absence of vaccines and therapeutics, the threat of the next outbreak looms.

International Women’s Day, 2023
Digital Inclusion is Vital for Strengthening Women’s Rights in Africa

The internet has a pivotal role to play in empowering women and girls across Africa, but preexisting forms of gender discrimination and marginalization are underpinning a widening digital gender divide.

International Women’s Day, 2023
First Ever Women Council of Elders Making In-roads in North Eastern Kenya

Low literacy levels, a high prevalence of outlawed Female Genital Mutilation, early marriages, forced marriages, low contraceptive usage, multiple births, as well as high maternal, infant and child deaths, define the life of a woman in Kenya’s vast North Eastern region.

Our AIDS Response Must Acknowledge and Bridge Gendered Digital Inequalities

Recent crises have pushed the gender inequality gap even wider and new technology has brought new threats to women’s autonomy and safety. This year’s International Women's Day celebrated under the theme “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” is an opportunity to strengthen efforts to uplift and empower women and girls’ digital participation to ultimately improve their lives.

Forget ChatGPT: The Greatest Tech Breakthrough Would Be Getting Cell Phones to Rural Women

While 100 million people worldwide are using the AI chatbot ChatGPT to get ahead on homework and try out for top jobs at Google, more than 370 million women in developing countries lack the services of a simple cell phone.

Nigeria’s Unbanked, Poor Get Reprieve After Court Rules Naira Deadline Unconstitutional

Nigerians confronted by hardships over the scarcity of the newly redesigned naira notes in conjunction with the country's cashless policy introduced by the apex bank have had a last-minute reprieve from a policy that had disrupted their lives and exacerbated hunger.

Most African Govts (3 in 4) Spend More on Arms, Less on Farms

The data is shocking: three-quarters of African Governments have already reduced their agricultural budgets while paying almost double that on arms.

The Dynamics of Violent Extremism in sub-Saharan Africa

There is no better environment for the expansion of violent extremist groups than a vacuum in state authority. It provides ideal conditions for these groups to prey on existing and historical grievances, fill the void with promises of financial support, access to services and attention for marginalized, neglected communities.

Research Uncovers Cheaper Diagnostic Tools For Chronic Hepatitis B in Africa

Researchers have found that cheaper and more accessible blood testing methods can improve the care of patients with chronic hepatitis B in Africa.

Rising Food Prices, Ongoing Energy Crisis Place South Africa at Risk

South Africa’s almost record level food price inflation, load shedding, rising energy costs, and further fuel and interest rate hike forecast have eroded workers’ disposable incomes and further disadvantaging the poor – leaving analysts predicting that the country was at heightened risk, including civil unrest.