Scholarship applications for Women Deliver’s next global conference–May 28 to 30, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia– available for applicants under 30

Scholarship applications for Women Deliver’s next global conference–May 28 to 30, 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia–are now available for applicants under 30 (as of May 2013) here.

If you will be aged 30-years-old or older (as of May 2013), you will be offered a separate application that will be available on March 26th, 2012.

Deadline for all scholarships to be received is April 15, 2012 (12pm EST), with no exceptions.

The groundbreaking Women Deliver conferences in 2007 and 2010 were the largest of the decade to focus on the health and empowerment of girls and women. In 2010, we convened more than 3,400 people from 146 countries in Washington, DC, including 75 parliamentarians and government ministers, five UN agency heads, the UN Secretary-General and more than 250 global media outlets. Our third global conference will be even bigger and better, with more than 5,000 public and private sector participants expected from around the world. Our goal is to mobilize action to improve the health and well-being of girls and women everywhere.

In order to maximize participation from those traditionally under-represented, namely young people and those from the Global South, we will be offering full conference support to a select number of participants. This support includes conference registration, round-trip economy class airfare, hotel accommodations, and a fixed stipend for visa fees and other incidentals. Scholarship winners must:

- Attend the conference in its entirety.
- Be able to communicate in English, both orally and in writing. We will have translation available at plenary sessions, but this will not be - possible for all breakout sessions.
- Have regular access to email, as that will be our way of communicating with you about deadlines, registration, hotel and travel arrangements.
- Possess an interest in global development issues.
- Conduct themselves in a professional manner.

Please note:
- Your participation will require you to respond to our emails in a timely way. Failure to do so will result in your space being forfeit.
- We are only able to offer economy-class airfare from your point of origin to Kuala Lumpur and returning from Kuala Lumpur to your point of origin, and hotel accommodations during the length of the conference only. Any modifications or extensions will be at your own expense.
- For information on visa requirements, please click here.

De-fragmenting Africa- World Bank Report

A new report from the World Bank highlights wide-spread opportunities for African countries to trade goods, services and investments across borders.

KEY FINDINGS

• The African market remains highly fragmented; preventing enormous opportunities for cross-border trade from being exploited and in turn generating new jobs.
• Effective regional integration is more than simply removing tariffs—it is about addressing the barriers that undermine the daily operations of ordinary producers and traders of both goods and services.
• The incidence of barriers to regional trade fall most heavily, and disproportionately, on the poor and on women, and is preventing them from earning a living in activities where they have a comparative advantage—catering for smaller, local markets across the border.
• Action is required at both the supra-national and national levels. Regional communities can provide the framework for reform but responsibility for implementation lies with each member country.
• The donor community can help countries understand the political economy resistance that lies behind the fact that despite public pledges for integration, actual barriers to trade remain in place.

Full Report http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTAFRICA/Resources/Defrag_Afr_English_web_version.pdf

Read More Here http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/0,,contentMDK:23092452~pagePK:146736~piPK:226340~theSitePK:258644,00.html

Innovating Africa: Verone Mankou Creator of Africa's First Tablet Computer

Verone Mankou. 26 years old inventor from the Congo-Brazaville is the genius creator behind the Way-C tablet computer. The tablet is called the Way-C - "the light of the stars" in a dialect of northern Congo.

Currently you can only purchase the Way-C from Airtel Congo stores in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, a private mobile telephone company which is a subsidiary of the Indian group Bharti.
The Way-C will cost you US $299!

Read More Here VMK Official Website

Isn't it about time Africa started to manufacture its own ARV treatment for HIV/AIDS?

The UN has warned against the high dependency by African countries on external sources for HIV and Aids funding.The organisation’s agency mandated to tackle the disease, UNAids, described the continent’s over-reliance on donor aid as unsustainable.

"African governments invest less on HIV/Aids than expected. For the continent as a whole, about five per cent of health budgets are allocated to the scourge, despite its causing a median of more than seven per cent of the overall burden of disease across countries," stated part of a brief posted on the agency’s website early this week.

The brief, titled Aids Dependency Crisis: Sourcing African Solutions, reveals that two-thirds of all HIV and Aids expenditure in Africa comes from external sources.

International support for the disease in the continent dropped by 13 per cent between 2009 and 2010 from $8.7 billion to $7.6 billion (Sh667 billion to Sh583 billion).The cut in funding, the first time in its ten-year history, was attributed to the global economic crisis. About Sh900 billion will be needed annually by 2015 to prevent new HIV infections and scale up treatment in Africa. Additionally, Sh307 billion more than the current expenditure is needed to effectively fight the disease.

The agency also noted that procurement of anti-retroviral drugs was highly dependent on external funding. In 27 countries for which accurate data was available, 84 per cent of expenditure for ARV therapy originated from international sources.

In Kenya, where it is estimated that 1.5 million people are infected with HIV, development partners support 85 per cent of the HIV budget. Over 400,000 people are receiving ARVs while another 600,000 require the drugs but cannot access them.Among the measures mooted by UNAids to help reduce over-dependence on donor support is development of a common drug regulatory authority that would ensure access to quality, life-saving medicines.

"Investing in local manufacturing and simplifying market access to drugs across the continent will boost the economy, reduce costs and ultimately save lives and money,"

Read More Here http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000051305&cid=4&ttl=UN+wants+Africa+to+manufacture+its+own+ARVs

Image from Panos.org

Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist....

While you guys were busy arguing about the glass of water, I drank it!!!!


Sincerely,

The Opportunist

Dalumuzi Mhlanga- Leading Zimbabwe Youths

Dalumuzi Mhlanga is an undergraduate student at Harvard University and founder of Lead Us Today, a non-profit organization in Zimbabwe whose mission is to inspire, mobilize and empower young people to work together beyond socioeconomic barriers so that they can lead community development efforts. He did his high school at Mzingwane High School in Zimbabwe and later attended Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa in Swaziland. He is passionate about African history and how it has shaped the way in which countries on the continent approach a globalizing world. He hopes to continue working with young people and building their capacity to lead and make a difference as they Lead Us Today. In his free time, he enjoys chatting with people, laughing with people and dancing alone.

Read More Here http://www.forbes.com

http://www.leadustoday.com/

Kenya: Livestock Insurance - A Chance to Outsmart Drought?

By Jeff Haskins and Neil Palmer

...The fact that the food crisis in the Horn was the result of a livestock crisis has been well documented. The area is a major pastoralist zone. When vegetation for grazing began to dry-up and livestock started to die, the knock-on effects on farmer livelihoods became strikingly clear.

Some observers balk at the idea of a financial institution selling insurance to already cash-strapped smallholder farmers to protect them against the risk of drought. The 650 livestock keepers in Marsabit, who are delighted to be receiving their first payouts, might give critics pause.

Sake Dabasso Halake stands proudly in front of Equity Bank's Marsabit branch. She smiles, clutching an envelope filled with 16,000 Kenyan shillings that she just received. It was her insurance payout for the 10 cows she lost during the drought.

The Index-Based Livestock Insurance scheme is run by a consortium, including the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), its sister-organization, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia and a number of partners, including the UK Department for International Development. The initiative is an example of a market-based, climate-smart innovation that could gain much wider currency in Africa and beyond. It has completed its second year.

At a time when global attention for the worst drought in half a century has waned, nearly all of the farmers involved with the scheme were compensated. Researchers estimate that anywhere between 20-30 percent of livestock in Marsabit has been lost.

In a district where food aid makes up 15 percent of the economy, ILRI estimates that the trade in livestock is responsible for about 65 percent of the money coming into households. While the new insurance product won't be able to cover the total loss, it does offer participating farmers and herders an opportunity to recoup some of their losses.

The program uses information technology to operate. What triggers a payout is not how many livestock die, but whether satellite images confirm that forage availability in the region's range lands has dropped below a certain level. When this happens, farmers who took out insurance get paid. Using satellites to track forage cover gets around all kinds of problems, such as claims being made for animals that have died of disease or neglect, rather than drought.

The project highlights the increasingly important role of Kenyan scientists and private institutions in developing effective initiatives for Kenya and its people. Civil society organizations, including a people-to-people effort called Kenyans4Kenya that sprung up to collect food and money in response to the famine.

"Kenyans are stepping up for Kenya, not just in response to the region's humanitarian emergency like the Kenyans4Kenya campaign, but also in developing long-term solutions that manage risk and reduce vulnerability," said Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI.

Global research and innovation partnerships with Cornell University, the University of California-Davis, Syracuse University and other partners also played an important role.

"None of this would have been possible without new innovations in index-based insurance products that make it more efficient to insure livestock, predict their mortality, and deliver timely payouts to participating herders," said Smith.

"The global community is questioning the role of agricultural research in delivering real impact on the ground," he said. "Research can't do it alone. But this project is proof that public research combined with local knowledge and private sector partnerships can provide solutions to problems that were cast off long ago as too complex or too costly to address."

At a recent meeting in nearby Dirib Gombo village, where some of the farmers received their payouts, others were unconvinced about the insurance scheme. Inevitably, some were frustrated that they had taken out insurance in the year the scheme was launched, and despite losing animals, had received no payout because the forage threshold was never breached. They decided not to renew their policies -- and then the drought hit.

The experience of the insurance scheme shows that no one intervention addresses all problems. As successful as it has been for many who lost animals and livelihoods, others would have needed additional help.

Back in Ginda Village, the cruel irony is that even if farmer Haro Sora had taken out livestock insurance, he probably wouldn't have received a payout for many of the dead animals that were seen scattered around.

Already weakened by months of near-starvation, the animals were unable to endure the colder weather that followed the long-awaited return of the rains. They died from hypothermia, with green shoots springing up around them.

Jeff Haskins is director of the Nairobi office of Burness Communications, and Neil Palmer is with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture.

Read More Here http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201201100039.html

Orie Rogo Manduli --- Believing in One Self

Wherever I am, I am a LEADER. throw me in the DESERT, and I'll be leading the SAND. Yeah, throw me in the WATER and I'll be leading the FISH ...

Orie Rogo Manduli .

NEWSMAKERS: Focus on 'Iron Lady', Orie Rogo Manduli. Manduli: I've fought and won many battles. We crown Newsmakers for the year 2011 with the story of a woman who has continued to fascinate many, not only by her unique sense of style and fashion, but also by her outspoken character that has seen her politically wrestle it out with men for various leadership positions. A former model and rally driver, she has done what most women would consider taboo and what many men term as too aggressive, coming from a woman. But for a woman who at only 19 was a divorced mother of 3...she says she has no apologies to make, and hopes her story remains symbolic in the continued fight for gender equality. Here's Evelyn Wambui with tonight's Newsmaker, the one and only, Ambassador Orie Rogo Manduli.

GDP PREDICTIONS FOR 2012

Read More Here http://www.economist.com/

Mapping Liberia

Emerging Business Lab mapping project of Liberia capital city Monrovia is quite impressive.

The Monrovia Visitors Map is intended to assist residents and visitors to Monrovia, Congo Town and Paynesville in finding their way around the metropolitan area, and to better know and enjoy the services of the featured businesses and advertisers on the maps.

Read More Here: http://monroviavisitorsmap.com/

Rwanda has no cancer specialists

The country has no oncologist, even as Rwanda joins the world to mark the breast cancer awareness month. This is was revealed by the Minister of Health, Minister of Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, who however hastened to add that the country would hire one before the year ends. An oncologist is a specialised doctor trained in the management of cancer. “Besides that, we are also working on a strategic plan to train more health professionals like we have done for the other infectious diseases,” the minister said.

An official from the Ministry of Health, who preferred anonymity, said that there is an urgent need for the country to have cancer specialists. “There is urgent need for radiotherapy treatment because right now, patients are being referred to Mulago in Uganda or India. There is a very big gap in terms of medical personnel to cater for cancers,” he added. According to the Ministry of Health, breast cancer is on the rise in the country. This is attributed to dietary habits, lifestyle such as smoking, drinking alcohol and physical inactivity. The official noted that the ministry had devised strategies to reduce breast cancer such as the implementation of the cancer control activities, in accordance with the National Cancer Plan that will run from 2012 to 2016.

“There has been primary prevention by screening and auto–palpitation of the breasts as organised by MoH in various communities. Palliative care has also been strengthened whereby oncology courses have been incorporated in the curricula of nurses, lab technicians and doctors,” he said.

The Director of Kanombe Military Hospital, Lt. Col. Dr Ben Karenzi, revealed that his hospital is also working on modalities to address this glaring gap. “Currently there are no medics who are specialised in treating cancer. However, we hope to start offering radiotherapy cancer treatment in the near future and also get cancer medical specialists,” Karenzi said. Genetic factors such as females with a history of cancer are also some of the other attributes.

Environmental factors like exposure to radiation and hormonal factors in girls who start their periods at an early age of 12 years or younger, are also other causes of this cancer. Breast cancer comprises of 22.9 percent of all cancers worldwide among women. In 2008, it caused 458,503 deaths worldwide (13.7 percent of cancer deaths in women). According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), cancer is one of the leading causes of death, but that 30 percent of cancer deaths can be prevented with proper medication. According to the Dr. Binagwaho, there are no current statistics on breast cancer. The minister said that her ministry would have to first conduct a survey to ascertain the number of cases. Breast cancer is predominantly prevalent among women, though at a small rate, estimated at one percent; it can be found in men. In order to prevent this form of cancer, it is advisable to encourage routine self and clinical breast examination, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, and avoid smoking and drinking alcohol. Breastfeeding is also another preventive measure against breast cancer. The ministry official pointed out a few challenges such as little public awareness on cancer, generally, and breast cancer specifically being a big challenge. “Treatment is also limited, insufficient drugs and a reagent in the diagnosis .There is also no reliable data on cancer,” Karenzi added.

Read More Here http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14786&article=46447

President Kagame appears on Mindspeak show- Kigali, Rwanda

President Kagame appeared on Mindspeak show, hosted by Aly Khan Stachu, CEO of Rich Management. Aly Sanchu invited President Kagame to speak in his show via Twitter!!!!

Fatuma Noor -Telling Stories That Need To Be Told

Fatuma Noor is a 24 years old Kenyan journalist with Star newspaper and the 2011 CNN African Journalist of the Year. Noor won the award for her investigative three-part series on the Al-Shabaab. It was chosen from the 1407 entries from 42 nations across Africa. The series tells the story of the young men who give up their freedom abroad to return and fight for the Al-Shabaab in one of the world’s most dangerous places on earth – Somalia. Read the first part of Fatuma's award winning feature.

Fatuma Noor is also the recipient of the David Astor Journalism Awards, a UK-registered charity working to promote independent journalism in Africa. As winner of the award, Noor served as a David Astor Journalism Fellow in England and had the opportunity to hone her journalist skills at both the renowned Independent and Guardian newspapers.

USA Had Slums in 1949 ... Lessons for Africa

Kibera by Cristel Munster

A new study by Vanderbilt economist William J. Collins and Ph.D. candidate Katharine L. Shester looks at the long-term economic impact of the ambitious (and highly controversial) Housing Act of 1949, which used federal subsidies and the powers of eminent domain to “revitalize” American cities, i.e., to clear out the slums. By the time the program ended in 1974, 2,100 distinct urban renewal projects had been completed using grants that totaled about $53 billion (in 2009 dollars). In one of the rare papers to collect and analyze data related to the program, Collins and Shester come up with a positive picture of its effects – at least in some ways. The authors are clear that the ugliness involved with pushing people out of low-income housing was the reason the program was shut down, and that their results do not “imply that the dislocation costs for displaced residents and businesses were unimportant.”

A tin shed structure surrounds a locked pit latrine in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum. Communal pit latrines are the most common sanitation facility available to the residents of the low income settlement. Often shared by hundreds of people the pay-per-visit system of toilets in Kibera is a lucrative business for structure owners Flickr Photo

Cities that did the most slum-clearing or “urban renewal” had a higher increase in property values, income and population compared to non-participating cities. The results also show that these cities maintained roughly the same demographics, and did not push low-income residents out of cities, but rather redistributed the population.

Kibera photo from flickr

Read More Here http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/30/the-controversial-legacy-of-slum-clearance/

THE World University Rankings 2011-2012

The publication of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings has become one of the key annual events in the international higher education calendar. They are used by undergraduate and postgraduate students to help select degree courses, by academics to inform career decisions, by research teams to identify new collaborative partners, and by university managers to benchmark their performance and set strategic priorities. As nations across the globe focus on the establishment of world-class universities as essential elements of a dynamic economy, our rankings are increasingly employed as a tool for governments to set national policy.

Top African Universities 2011-2012

World Rank	Institution	Country / Region
103	University of Cape Town	South Africa
251-275	Stellenbosch University	South Africa
251-275	University of Witwatersrand	South Africa
301-350	Alexandria University	Egypt

THE World University Rankings 2011-2012

World Rank	Institution	Country / Region
1	California Institute of Technology	United States
2	Harvard University	United States
2	Stanford University	United States
4	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
5	Princeton University	United States
6	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
7	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States
8	Imperial College London	United Kingdom
9	University of Chicago	United States
10	University of California, Berkeley	United States

Read More Here http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/top-400.html

TV Commercials from the West on Africa

I recently came across a TV commercial for Bing search engine that had me raising my eyebrows.

Bing search engine advert on Krochet Kids International begins with this fellow saying after traveling to war torn Uganda they decided to engage and help folks through a crochet project. A noble cause indeed, though I cant help but wonder is Uganda a war torn country? I agree there is conflict in the northern parts of Uganda but would that mean the country is torn apart by war?

Bing: Krochet Kids from Nick Pezzillo on Vimeo.

Compare this commercial to this one by Google.

Food for thought!

Spreading Awarenes on the Horn of Africa Famine

(Click to enlarge)

Created by eLocal.com in partnership with The Washington Post

"I will be a hummingbird" - Wangari Maathai

Kenya: Leaders to Blame for Food Crisis

Photo credit Mongabay

By David Kigochi

It is a shameful and difficult moment for Kenyans as the world watches the images of people dying of hunger in some parts of the country. The apathy by the government is despicable as it has been clear that there was going to be a shortage of food. It is sad that the government has had to be jolted into action by individual Kenyans and corporates.

This is a reflection of an increasingly indifferent and inhumane leadership which lives on the great largesse and expense of tax payers whose resources they have failed to manage better.
The privileged few are busy creating a welfare state for themselves while the rest of the citizens wallow in poverty and hunger. The famine has not spared anyone irrespective of ethnicity, region or political enclaves. The areas ravaged by famine have MPs and ministers in the government. Their inaction borders on criminal negligence. They only give knee-jerk reactions when images of the dying invade their living rooms and appetites.

And if deaths are not reported to them, then no one surely could have starved to death!

Most Kenyans know what is needed to mitigate against drought and famine- water harvesting, sustainable land policy, efficient farming methods, resistant crops, forestation, banning useless imports, cheap credit, good storage facilities and irrigation.

Infrastructure is crucial. If there were accessible roads in these regions, food would be available to the drought struck regions and farmers would not be feeding their potato and cabbage crops to their livestock because they lack accessible roads to get their crop to market!

It smacks of criminal negligence for the government to admit its food distribution system is ineffective and the only response is to deploy the military and National Youth Services when people are dying. It appears that famine is big business. Famine is a cash-cow to well-heeled operatives in the corridors of power. There is big money in transport and logistics as administrators divert and sell famine relief supplies. Coincidentally, every famine is preceded by a season of plenty. Last year, for example, there was the glut that saw dairy processors empty thousands of litres of milk into trenches.

Less than eight months later, milk prices have risen from Sh21 to Sh30. Another bumper harvest in parts of Eastern went to waste due to poor storage. At the same time, the Government announced a measly price of Sh1,200 for a bag of maize due to glut. This price was considerably lower than the Sh2,500 being offered to farmers in neighbouring countries. Naturally, farmers found it only sensible to sell their produce to the more lucrative foreign markets, leaving the country struggling to replace the depleted strategic grain reserve.

We cannot talk of Vision 2030 as there can never be a vision for the dead. We need to get our priorities right. For decades we have been talking about food security and yet we continue with the same trend of talking and doing nothing.

We know the solutions to the problem-provide water for irrigation, educate farmers on modern agricultural practices, infrastructure to distribute food from surplus to deficit areas. For this to happen, we need proactive leadership one that is listening to the people. Kenyans are starving not because the land is infertile, but because there is total mix up of priorities. In the short term, the government can suspend the servicing of the Sh32 billion debt to the Central Bank of Kenya and divert the funds towards an aggressive programme to put up dams in drought prone zones, upscale irrigation projects, open up the road network in the famine ravaged zones to ensure access and supply of food in the affected areas.

Kigochi is the national convenor, Central for United Kenya Forum.

Read more here http://allafrica.com

So Long Wangari Maathai!!!

Wangari Muta Maathai
1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011
Kenyan environmental + political activist + custodian of Nature

First African woman to be awarded the Nobel prize for peace 2004
Founder of The Green Belt Movement

"MAMA EARTH" Wangari. You fought for green B4 it was cool. R.I.P"

Jamhuri Wear