Africa

Dr Myriam Sidibe is a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School and is on sabbatical leave from Unilever.
 
Jane Nelson directs the Center’s Corporate Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School.

By Dr Myriam Sidibe and Jane Nelson
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

Food is an increasingly hot topic, no matter if you are rich or poor. Malnutrition – including undernutrition, overweight and obesity – affects 1 in 3 people around the world.

When it comes to the link between health and nutrition, consumers in both developed and emerging economies are facing high social and economic costs of being malnourished. While governments must take the lead in tackling malnutrition, this situation presents untapped commercial opportunities to develop new products and market-based solutions to deliver more nutritious foods. As people and policymakers wise up to the importance of eating a varied and healthy diet, an increasing number of commercial enterprises are springing up to satisfy this growing demand. It is in this context that over 200 experts recently gathered at the Nutrition Africa Investment Forum in Nairobi. The forum offered a platform for fresh ideas to develop the food value chain and to mobilize private sector investment and innovation to enhance nutrition in Africa.

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are widely acknowledged as key to the economic development of Africa. This is just as true for their role in the nutritional development of the continent. SMEs, with more agile business models and capability for nimble strategy pivots, are essential in driving the innovation needed to stimulate greater variety in diets. As they look to expand operations in Africa, more established corporations must take note of this. The smart ones are already partnering with and investing in smaller, more innovative companies, transforming nutrition on the continent in the process. There is an essential role for both large and small companies in creating the change that is needed.

Multinationals and SMEs must expand their collaboration beyond food production, packaging and processing. The next step should be towards dramatically increasing consumer demand for more nutritious and sustainable foods, facilitating a shift in the entire food system. Big brands have the ability to make nutritious foods that are better for the planet and to increase demand and accessibility. Nutritious food products made by big brands that are classified as ‘processed’ can enable people all over the world to cook delicious, healthy meals in a short amount of time for a relatively small amount of money. This empowers household cooks to expand the variety of meals they create, which is good for the health of people and our planet.

Changing consumer tastes are critical to the direction our food system will evolve towards. Diversified diets improve human health and benefit the environment through varied production systems that encourage more sustainable use of resources and greater biodiversity. Global brands have the power to lead a movement to affect this change, through their billions of consumers. Knorr, for example, is in the homes of 2.8 billion people around the world. This presents a huge opportunity to impact diets globally. The brand has serious influence in agriculture too, buying over 333,000 tonnes of vegetables and herbs every year, much of this from thousands of smallholder farmers.

Locally, these brands can influence tastes to improve nutrition. Royco, for example, is the local brand of Knorr in Kenya. Having earned a reputation for enriching the flavour of meals, Royco now has the reach and credibility to change consumer behaviour around what people eat and how they cook. These are notoriously difficult habits to change.

Royco’s Green Food Steps behaviour change programme inspires household cooks to add green leafy vegetables alongside iron fortified cubes to common dishes, ensuring they still taste as good as before. The programme was launched in Nigeria, where one in two women of reproductive age suffer from anaemia. It has made a small change with a huge potential impact to get millions of households to adopt this simple behaviour to increase their iron intake. Partners including Christian Aid, Amref and Well Being Foundation have adopted the programme and the messages to impact more households in rural areas. To date, the programme has reached over 20 million people in Nigeria and aims to reach a further 20 million. In Kenya, the target is Five million.

An evaluation of this program conducted in collaboration with University of Gent, Belgium, and University of Ibadan, Nigeria, revealed that over 40 percent of participants changed their behaviour, adding leafy greens and iron fortified cubes to their dishes. This and similar initiatives can make a significant impact on the intake of iron and the overall nutritional value of staple meals. It offers a clear example of how a brand can use its reach and influence to change the way people cook and eat for the better, using marketing resources and know-how to improve public health.

The Green Food Steps programme is just one example of how big brands can change people’s relationships with food and create a positive impact on society and the environment. Bold players leading ambitious movements that improve how people eat and experience their food will shape the future of African nutrition. With this in mind, investors at the look-out for those organisations with the ambitions and commercial potential to create the systemic change that our continent is hungry for.

The Harvard Kennedy School recently published a report focused on unlocking greater commercial investment into value chains that can improve access to nutritious foods among low-income consumers in developing markets.

The post Big Brands Are Fuelling the Business of Nutrition appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Myriam Sidibe is a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School and is on sabbatical leave from Unilever.

 
Jane Nelson directs the Center’s Corporate Responsibility Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School.

The post Big Brands Are Fuelling the Business of Nutrition appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Women in the Democratic Republic of Congo work to reforest the Itombwe region as a part of WECAN/SAFECO program. Credit: Stany Nzabas

By Osprey Orielle Lake and Emily Arasim
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which arrived thunderously in October, concludes that we have only 12 years remaining to transform our energy systems and ways of living to limit the worst effects of climate change.

The IPCC report stands as the loudest clarion call yet from global climate scientists, stating that we must act immediately to keep global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C temperature rise, beyond which, by even half a degree, ecological and social consequences are catastrophically amplified.

As we look around the proverbial room for answers and solutions in this moment of intensified clarity and urgency, it is imperative that we turn to one of the main untold stories of the climate crisis – the story of women leading climate solutions.

Research including Project Drawdown, United Nations reports and programs, and many other studies, all confirm that one of the most important strategies for a sustainable and thriving future is upholding the rights, and supporting the education and leadership of women.

While women are central to solutions, they also are disproportionately impacted by the negative effects of global warming due to unequal gender norms, which marginalize women’s voices, and impact women’s economic opportunities, rights, bodies, education, and political power. From natural disasters, to food system stress, to water pollution – women experience the impacts of climate change first and worst.

Frontline women leaders during at WECAN International event at the UN Climate Talks. Credit: Emily Arasim/WECAN International

Additionally, when women advocate to protect the water, forests, land, seeds, climate, and future generations with which they are so intimately linked – they are increasingly experiencing violence and criminalization, including perverse gender-based violations.

Nevertheless, women fight on, and are at the forefront of some of the most innovative and transformational projects being undertaken around the world.

In Ecuador, Indigenous women lead movements to protect their communities and the Amazon rainforest from oil extraction.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, women participating in a Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network program are contributing to the reforestation of the Itombwe region as they restore the ecology of the rainforest community, provide for household uses, and protect the ancient old-growth forests.

In many parts of India, rural women are spearheading efforts to protect agriculture biodiversity, build food security, and steward water, soils, and community health.

Frontline women leaders and allies take action outside of the United Nations in New York following a WECAN event. Credit: Emily Arasim/WECAN International

Across North America, indigenous women are taking action at the forefront of the global movement for fossil fuel divestment – and these are just a few of the countless examples of what women are doing to change the current trajectory of the climate crisis.

In order to provide a window into the plethora of solutions that women are engaged in, the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network produced ‘Women Speak: Stories, Case Studies And Solutions From The Frontlines Of Climate Change’, an online research and story-telling database designed to shift the narrative on how we build equitable climate solutions.

‘Women Speak’ allows policy makers, journalists, activists, educators, students, and others, to explore thousands of stories by and about global women leaders working in areas such as forest and biodiversity protection; fossil fuel resistance efforts; ecologic agriculture; renewable energy; climate law and policy; education and grassroots movement building; and much more.

As the database illustrates, women have the social capital to work at the local and global level to create the restorative communities and economies that we need for a just transition with democratized, regenerative renewable energy for all.

However, even with all the studies and examples available, women’s climate leadership continues to be undervalued, underreported, and underfunded.

Given the short timeline for action identified by the IPCC report – we simply cannot afford to keep ignoring the direct connection between women and effective responses to climate change. To act on climate with justice and results means uplifting the voices of women – particularly of grassroots women, Indigenous women, and women of color – who have a long history and knowledge of living close to the land and of resistance efforts, and who are offering countless examples of successful community-led solutions.

If we are to truly address the multiple and interrelated crises we face, we also cannot afford to ignore the link between patriarchy, colonization, capitalism, and the historic and ongoing assault of the Earth and women.

Extractivism and exploitation of both women and the Earth are derived from the same ideology of domination and supremacy – and it is imperative that plans to address climate change take into account the root causes of the crisis.

Now is the time of women rising to protect and defend the Earth. Now is the time to vote women into office. Now is time to hear the voices of women and support their efforts.

Now is the time to act on the scientific and experience-based truth that women’s leadership is key to addressing climate change.

The post Women’s Climate Leadership More Vital Than Ever In Light Of Climate Change Report appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Osprey Orielle Lake is the founder and executive director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International and co-chair of International Advocacy for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. She is the author of the award-winning book Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature.

 
Emily Arasim has served as WECAN International's media and communications coordinator and project assistant since 2014. She is an avid photojournalist, writer and farmer from New Mexico.

The post Women’s Climate Leadership More Vital Than Ever In Light Of Climate Change Report appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Silas Adekunle, a Nigerian robotics engineer, says perseverance is key to his success.

Betty Sande is a former sex worker and HIV positive. She says she's used her condition to help others.

Leicester City's African stars past and present pay tribute to the club's owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha who died in a helicopter crash on Saturday.

By Thalif Deen
OTTAWA, Canada, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

Canada, which has been described as one of the world’s most progressive countries, has legitimized gay rights, vociferously advocated gender empowerment, offered strong support for abortion rights – and recently became the world’s first major economy to legalize recreational marijuana.

Canada’s Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau

Currently the fifth largest donor to the UN’s development agencies — and holding the Presidency of the G7 comprising the world’s leading industrialized nations– it is planning to run for a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council for 2021-22.

Host to the 7th International Parliamentarians’ Conference (ICPI) on population and development in Ottawa last week—and having hosted the first such meeting in 2002 – Canada has also launched a Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP).

Sandeep Prasad, executive director of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, says Canada is repositioning itself as a leader on gender equality, women’s rights and sexual and reproductive rights, which includes FIAP, and hosting the upcoming Women Deliver conference, scheduled to take place in Vancouver in 2019.

“For Canada’s commitment to be truly lasting, continued support is needed for the feminist and human rights advocates working with their decision-makers at all levels of government to establish and protect laws, policies and programs that safeguard these rights,” said Prasad.

Leading the fight for women’s rights, gender empowerment, and sexual and reproductive rights is Marie-Claude Bibeau, the Canadian Minister of International Development, who is also a strong advocate for increased development financing.

In an interview with IPS, she said international events like IPCI can be a strong catalyst for mobilizing people, ideas and resources.

“This is why the IPCI Conference is so important – – it provides a unique opportunity for parliamentarians from around the world to gather together to discuss their role in implementing the ICPD Programme of Action,” she said.

Canada, the minister assured, will continue to be a strong and vocal advocate for the achievement of the goals set by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), including universal sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

“I am proud to say that, since the launch of our Feminist International Assistance Policy, in June 2017, 93% of our humanitarian assistance includes a SRHR or Women’s empowerment component.”

“We are also very pleased to be hosting the Women Deliver Conference in 2019, which is not only a conference, but a movement to empower women and girls and build a better world,” she added.

Excerpts from the interview:

IPS: Canada is currently the 5th largest donor to the UN system. But with the US making drastic cuts — including a reduction of $300 million to UNRWA and $69 million to UNFPA — is there any possibility that Canada, along with other Western donors, would step in to fill this gap?

MINISTER BIBEAU: Canada is committed to providing humanitarian assistance and responding to the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable.

This is why I was proud to announce, on October 12, 2018, Canada’s support of up to $50 million over two years for Palestinian refugees through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

This new funding to UNRWA is urgently needed and will help improve the lives and protect the human dignity of millions of Palestinian refugees.

Canada is also a longstanding partner with the the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and among UNFPA’s top 10 bilateral donors. In 2017/18, Canada provided $142 million in International Assistance – helping further to cover UNFPA’s funding gap.

IPS: The developing countries — and specifically the 134 member Group of 77 in its ministerial declaration at the UN last month — complained of a downward trend in official development assistance (ODA) — with increased resources being diverted to refugee funding. Does this also apply to Canada, whose ODA of 0.26 to gross national income (GNI) is below the 0.7 commitment, which has been reached only by six Western donors, including Norway, Luxemburg, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and UK? When does Canada hope to reach the 0.7 target?

MINISTER BIBEAU: Our partners asked the Government of Canada for three things: funding, good policy and leadership; and this is what Canada is providing.

The budget 2018 announced $2 billion in new funds over five years to help implement the Feminist International Assistance Policy and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as well as $1.5 billion over five years starting in 2018-19 to help expand the impact of Canada’s international assistance.

Canada is also leading on good policy, which is not measured by the volume of ODA, but by the quality and effectiveness of its assistance and its contributions to policy innovation that can get better results for the poorest and most vulnerable.

Furthermore, as the historic investment in education for women and girls-in-crisis and conflict situations at the G7 leaders’ summit in Quebec demonstrates, Canada is creating momentum around various initiatives and leading other countries and partners to make significant investments, notably in girls and women’s education, in fragile, conflict and crisis contexts.

IPS: As the current G7 president, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presided over a summit in June this year which committed a hefty $3.8 billion Canadian dollars (CAD) to advance education for girls and women in the world’s battle zones. What would be the time span for disbursing these funds? Has it already got off the ground?

MINISTER BIBEAU: Canada was proud to lead the unveiling of a historic $3.8-billion investment in girls’ education at the G7 leaders’ summit in Quebec and to commit to an investment of $400 million over three years.

The announcement marked a fundamental shift toward improving access and reducing barriers to quality education around the world.

We are currently working with the other countries and organizations contributing to this $3.8-billion investment (the European Union, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the World Bank) to develop an accountability framework to track and report on it. Parameters such as time span, results and indicators will be included.

Together, we’ll make sure the voices of women and girls are included when decisions are made on education and employment.

The post Canada Takes a Lead Role Funding Reproductive Health, Women’s Rights & Sustainable Development appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The sprawling informal community of Lord Howe Settlement, in Solomon Islands’ capital city of Honiara, lies along the Mataniko River. The piped sewerage system in the capital does not extend to unplanned settlements as waste, especially untreated sewage, has become a dire threat to coastal waters and their fisheries. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Catherine Wilson
CANBERRA, Oct 29 2018 (IPS)

At the mouth of the Mataniko River, which winds its way through the vibrant coastal port town of Honiara to the sea, is the sprawling informal community of Lord Howe Settlement, which hugs the banks of the estuary and seafront. A walk from the nearby main road to the beach involves a meandering route through narrow alleys between crowded dwellings, homes to about 630 people, which are clustered among the trees and overhang the water.

An estimated 40 percent of Honiara’s population of about 67,000 live in at least 30 squatter settlements. Sanitation coverage is about 32 percent in the Solomon Islands and in this capital city the piped sewerage system, which does not extend to unplanned settlements, is dispersed into local waterways and along the coastline.

For centuries, coastal fishing has been central to the nutrition, food security and livelihoods of Pacific Islanders, as it will be in the twenty first century. But, as population growth in the region reaches 70 percent and cities and towns expand along island coastlines, waste, especially untreated sewage, has become a dire threat to coastal waters and their fisheries.

“Areas of high population density, such as cities and tourism areas, are associated with excess release of poorly treated wastewater onto reefs. Many coastal communities rely heavily on fishing for their subsistence and household income and endangering the lagoons and fishing areas will threaten their livelihoods,” is the personal view of Dr. Johann Poinapen, who also holds the position of director of the Institute of Applied Sciences at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

Subsistence fishing in near shore areas, typically of finfish, trochus, molluscs, clams, crabs and bêche-de-mer, accounts for 70 percent of all coastal catches in the Pacific Islands and 22 percent of the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Sewage waste pollutes the oceans

Sewage waste is a global issue, accounting for about 75 percent of pollution in the world’s oceans, and every Pacific Island state has identified it as a cause of environmental and health problems, ranging from marine ‘dead zones’ and the loss of reefs to outbreaks of seafood poisoning.

Critically its discharge in coastal areas leads to the loss of habitats for marine life, according to Associate Professor Monique Gagnon, an expert in ecotoxicology at the School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University in Western Australia.

“Effluent, or nutrient pollution, produces eutrophication and the growth of algae can change marine habitats, threatening local fish populations and encouraging invasive species,” Gagnon told IPS.

A semi-submerged graveyard on Togoru, Fiji. Sewage waste is a global issue, accounting for about 75 percent of pollution in the world’s oceans, and every Pacific Island state has identified it as a cause of environmental and health problems. Credit: Pascal Laureyn/IPS

Health and environmental issues

Human effluent generates the over-production of algae and cyanobacteria in waterways and the sea. Toxic algal blooms can infect all types of fish and shellfish and lead to the demise of coral reefs and their fish stocks. Sewage also depletes oxygen in aquatic ecosystems, leading to the condition of Hypoxia, which causes the death of fish through paralysis. And the consumption of fish contaminated by biotoxins can cause serious illnesses, such as paralytic shellfish poisoning and ciguatera.

A study of marine pollution in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in 2016 found that nine of ten ocean and lagoon sites surveyed were heavily polluted, particularly with disease carrying bacteria from human and animal waste.  In Samoa, the Ministry of Health has connected typhoid cases with seafood collected near shore which has been spoiled by effluent from coastal villages.

Acute problem of untreated sewage in urban areas

Lack of sewage treatment facilities and collection services for households in Pacific cities, together with mostly unimproved sanitation in rural areas, are leading to increasing amounts of effluent entering coastal waters or conveyed there from rivers and streams.

The problem is acute in urban areas where under-resourced civic services are struggling to cope with a high influx of people migrating from less developed rural areas. Urban centres are growing at a very high annual rate of 4.7 percent in the Solomon Islands, 3.5 percent in Vanuatu and 2.8 percent in Papua New Guinea.

The situation in Honiara in the Solomon Islands is typical of many other Melanesian towns and cities in the southwest Pacific.

“Upstream [of the Mataniko River] there are sewerage outlets which are coming directly into the river. Then, as you come down, you see these little houses on the riverbanks; these are toilets,” Josephine Teakeni, president of the local women’s civil society group, Vois Blong Mere, told IPS.

Lack of resources restricts improved sanitation

The Honiara City Council is involved in manufacturing affordable toilet hardware items, especially for people in settlements who are on low incomes, and provides a septic tank collection service. But lack of resources severely restricts their operations.

“We don’t have the capacity to do this for the whole city, but we can empty septic systems for anyone who can pay the fee of SB$400 (USD51),” George Titiulu in the Council’s Health and Environment Services told IPS.

He admits that there is an environmental problem.

“We have done some studies of the Mataniko River and there is a high level of E.coli in the water,” Titiulu elaborated.

The proportion of people in the Pacific Islands using improved sanitation rose by only 2 percent, from 29 percent to 31 percent, over the 25 year period from 1990 to 2015, reports the World Health Organization.  This leaves a shortfall of 6.9 million people who lack this basic service across the region.

In the Solomon Islands, as in other developing Pacific Island states, the obstacles to better progress include lack of basic infrastructure, expertise, technical capacity and reliable funding. The challenges are even greater to extend basic services into informal settlements because of complex customary land rights and insecure tenure for residents, as well as their frequent location in natural hazard and disaster prone areas, such as flood plains.

Subsistence fishing in near shore areas, typically of finfish, trochus, molluscs, clams, crabs and bêche-de-mer, accounts for 70 percent of all coastal catches in the Pacific Islands and 22 percent of the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

Significant economic losses expected if pollution is not addressed

Yet the issue will have to be tackled with experts predicting that habitat destruction, together with climate change and over-exploitation of marine resources, will drive a continuing decline in coastal fisheries in the coming decades. For Pacific Islanders, this could lead to significant economic losses, a rise in the cost of fish and diminishing food. The regional development organisation, the Pacific Community, predicts that within 15 years an additional 115,000 tonnes of fish will be needed to manage the food gap.

“Tackling sewage pollution in the Pacific Island region is not an easy feat,” Poinapen told IPS. His personal view is that all stakeholders, not just governments, must be involved in developing and implementing appropriate solutions, as well as educational, policy and legislative approaches.

But, to begin with, he believes that “one of the biggest gaps related to sewage pollution is the lack of baseline data to inform the stakeholders on the severity of the issue.”

“We know there is sewage pollution in many receiving waterbodies, but we do not know the extent of this pollution as we have not conducted a robust and systematic quantification of the various contaminants and their effects,” Poinapen emphasised.

• The first global Sustainable Blue Economy Conference will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from Nov. 26 to 28 and is being co-hosted with Canada and Japan. Over 4,000 participants from around the world are coming together to learn how to build a blue economy.

 

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Panel at the Safeguarding Conference in London. the Department for International Development (DFID) held a Safeguarding Summit which brought together 500 people to commit to prevent sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment in the international aid development sector. Credit: DFID/MichaelHughes

By Wambi Michael
KAMPALA, Oct 28 2018 (IPS)

How to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment in the aid sector is a question that has come to the forefront in the past year as allegations of sexual harassment and abuse have been made against both Oxfam and United Nations officials.

In July the U.N. announced that it received 70 new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse across all its entities and implementing partners, between the beginning of April to the end of June. In April, global charity Save the Children was accused of not investing allegations of sexual abuse by staff.

And in February, Oxfam workers were accused of hiding an investigation into hiring sex workers by staff in Haiti in 2011 and in Chad in 2006. Oxfam, a confederation of 20 NGOs, receives funding from both the United Kingdom government and it’s government department responsible for administering overseas aid, the Department for International Development (DFID). Save the Children also received funding from DFID.

This month DFID, working with Interpol and the Association of Chief Police Officers, held a Safeguarding Summit which brought together 500 people to commit to prevent sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment in the international aid development sector. The NGO side to the summit was controversially convened by Save the Children.

Ingvild Solvang, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Global Lead on Gender and Social Development attended the summit where practical steps aimed at making the humanitarian and development sectors safer and more accountable where agreed upon.

Around 500 high level representatives from the U.N., NGOs, private sector, academic and financing community attended.

“I was there to represent GGGI and to share GGGI’s experience on how we approach these important issues. These issues have been mostly focused on work in the humanitarian situation where the big power gaps between vulnerable and effected populations and agencies who are there to help create an environment that might foster exploitation and abuse,” Solvang tells IPS.

Excerpts from the interview follow:

Ingvild Solvang, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Global Lead on Gender and Social Development. Courtesy: Ingvild Solvang

Inter Press Service (IPS): From your previously experience, why was it important to ‘put people first’ as per the theme of the summit?

Ingvild Solvang (IS): I think particularly in the humanitarian sector where several reports over the last couple of decades have unearthed that actors have not been able to deal with this effectively, the learning is that this has caused tremendous suffering from the abuse itself, but also from people being re-traumatised as a result of organisations’ inadequate ways of handling the issues when reports are made.

GGGI has effective mechanisms to deal with violations in our Codes of Conduct, and that includes sexual harassment and exploitation. At the same time we know that we can always improve, and we need to continue to communicate about these issues to ensure that our standards are known, and that we hold ourselves to account.

A strength of GGGI’s approach to sexual harassment and exploitation is that the message comes from the highest level and works in synergy with a broad participatory approach internally as a part of an Organisational Culture Initiative to define of our core values.

One powerful statement that came out of the DFID summit was that it is important to articulate clearly what is acceptable behaviour, and to signal through dealing with “the smaller stuff” that the big things are unacceptable.

IPS: So what has been GGGI’s experience with sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse?

IS: Our policies for good governance and accountability include policies aimed at safeguarding people both in programme and operations. Though much focus around sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse (SHEA) is on the humanitarian sector, GGGI has worked from the start since we were founded as an international organisation six years ago to ensure that staff, interns, partners and communities that come in contact with our operations are safeguarded.

IPS: What is the importance of safeguarding? And what steps have been taken by GGGI to raise awareness of safeguarding issues?

IS: GGGI has from the start implemented staff codes of conduct and ways to handle complaints and grievances both internally and externally. GGGI’s whistleblower mechanism enables external parties to raise grievances and concerns. For internal issues we are working with an ombudsman, who is trained to mediate in staff related issues, including issues of SHEA.

GGGI’s human resources has recently established a team of Respectful Workplace Advisors at different levels and geographical locations of GGGI, who are trained to advise staff on how to seek solutions to problems they may face, including on SHEA. All new staff are required to take an online course on SHEA.

GGGI’s Projects are designed in alignment with the GGGI Environmental and Social Safeguards Rules, which align with international recognised standards.

IPS: You said you shared GGGI approach to safeguarding issues at the conference. Can you tell us what you shared with participants?

IS: Perhaps most innovative of GGGI’s approaches is GGGI’s Culture Initiative, which is a movement of staff across the organisation who are deliberately engaged in articulation of our core values and behaviours we want to promote in GGGI.

As a young organisation we believe we have a unique opportunity to deliberately shape culture. And the creation of a culture of respect and accountability is key to the tackling of SHEA. The issue of culture was frequently addressed also during the summit, that it is important to find a balance between hard policy and system and approaches to culture building.

Though GGGI didn’t formally present at the DFID summit…people I talked to were particularly interested in GGGI’s approaches to shaping the organisational culture through both formal and informal channels. While, I could learn a lot from more established organisations who willingly shared their SHEA policies for us to learn from. 

Q: Were there some learning points from the summit that can be incorporated into GGGI?

As a follow up from the summit, a GGGI working group for SHEA will meet to discuss follow up actions. For example, we will discuss the need for a separate SHEA Policy in addition to SHEA being defined in Staff Codes of Conduct. A separate policy will add additional strength to the signal that this is an important issue.

We will also align our staff training on SHEA with internal procedures to ensure that everyone is aware of how we define acceptable behaviours on the one hand, but of equal importance is the need to ensure that anyone in and around GGGI who experience sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse should know where to turn to for help and assistance.

This is what the summit was really about: ensuring that survivors of SHEA are at the centre of how organisations handle these issues. Another issue we are looking into is how to report on any such cases. A challenge is that personnel issues are confidential, so organisations struggle with how to effectively report. Other organisations have feared reputation issues. The summit highlighted the importance of reporting to show that issues are dealt with effectively and appropriately. This is not least important for people who have experienced harassment or exploitation to know they have been heard.

Q: What do you make of the outcomes from the conference?

IS: The Summit was a good opportunity for GGGI to reconfirm our commitment to the issue. It is important that the donor community represented by DFID takes such a clear stand and promises clear guidelines and support in building up effective safeguard mechanisms.

From here we at GGGI will continue to work to create a good place to work, to be a good partner, and to have transformational impact where we work. At GGGI we want to contribute so that #metoo and attention to this issue in the international development sector become game changers.

Related Articles

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The post Q&A: Creating a Safe Space for Survivors of Sexual Exploitation in the Aid Sector appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Wambi Michael speaks on INGVILD SOLVANG, Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Global Lead on Gender and Social Development on safeguarding staff against sexual harassment and exploitation.

The post Q&A: Creating a Safe Space for Survivors of Sexual Exploitation in the Aid Sector appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By WAM
DUBAI, Oct 28 2018 (WAM)

A smart, energy-saving lighting system has been installed by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority on a trial basis to ensure safety of pedestrians and other road users.

The pilot project switches on when it detects cyclists and pedestrians and is being operated by RTA and Philips Lighting at Jumeirah Corniche.

“The system uses specialised sensors that monitor the traffic movement on the road and controls the light intensity,” said Maitha bin Adai, Chief Executive Officer of the Traffic and Roads Agency.

“It communicates and sets the nearby lighting poles ready for the passage of road users. It, therefore, contributes to saving power and at the same time ensures a safe lighting level for pedestrians and road users.”

The system is expected to result in significant energy savings. Provisional readings point to a saving of up to 40 percent on LED lighting and up to 70-80 percent on conventional lighting.

In a related development, RTA employees visited the Outdoor Lighting Applications Center at Philips Lighting in Leon, France, in a bid to learn about the latest trends.

The visit was made as part of an MoU signed between RTA and Philips Lighting in May 2017 on building a strategic partnership in scientific research, said Bin Adai.

 

WAM/Hatem Mohamed

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Two marchers in Taiwan's annual LGBT Pride March in Taipei City affirm that "I am proud to be gay; I'm not a sex refugee!" United Nations independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity Victor Madrigal-Borloz exsaid levels of violence towards and the lack of recognition of gender identities, especially transgender people, stating that the situation is “disastrous.” Credit: Dennis Engbarth/IPS

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 2018 (IPS)

Transgender and gender-diverse people are facing unprecedented levels of violence and discrimination around the world and states must act to ensure they are not left behind, said a United Nations rights expert.

In a report presented to the U.N. General Assembly, U.N. Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity Victor Madrigal-Borloz expressed concern over the levels of violence towards and the lack of recognition of gender identities, especially transgender people, stating that the situation is “disastrous.”

“These persons are suffering levels of violence and discrimination that are offensive to human conscience,” he said during a press conference.

Madrigal-Borloz noted that 71 countries criminalise sexual orientation and gender identity diversity. Of them, some 20 countries criminalise certain activities of forms of gender identity.

Alongside persistent discrimination, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities continue to be subject to violence simply because of their identities.

In the United States, at least 22 transgender people have been killed so far in 2018, many of them women of colour.

Most recently, 31-year-old Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier was stabbed to death in Chicago. Her death puts this year on track to match, if not surpass, the 28 murders of transgender people in 2017.

Brazil has one of the world’s highest rates of LGBT-targeted violence as 2017 saw a record 445 reports of murders of LGBT Brazilians. Among them is Dandara dos Santos, a transgender woman who was tortured, beaten, and shot in northeastern Brazil.

Many fear that such violence will only get worse under the looming presidency of Jair Bolsonaro who has said homosexuality is “an affront to the family structure” and that it can be cured with violence.

“Clearly, criminalisation is creating a situation where persons are not only not protected, but actively persecuted on the basis of their gender identity,” Madrigal-Borloz said.

He also noted that LGBT communities are further marginalised as they are denied access to services such as education, health, and housing.

Approximately one in five transgender individuals have reported being homeless during their lifetime in the U.S., and an estimated 20-40 percent of homeless youth are LGBT.

Madrigal-Borloz said that this situation is partly attributed to the lack of legal recognition of gender identities.

“The measures adopted to ensure that there is conformity between their self identified gender and the legal recognition are of fundamental importance to prevent violence and discrimination,” he said.

According to a leaked memo obtained the New York Times, the Trump Administration is pushing federal agencies to narrow the definition of sex “on a biological basis” under Title IX—a civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex “any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

It could be enforced in a way that allows discrimination against transgender people in access to employment, health, school, and housing.

The U.N. delegation to the U.N. has also reportedly been seeking to remove references to “gender” in U.N. documents, another move signalling the government’s rollback of protections and recognition of transgender people.

Similar actions can be seen around the world, including in Hungary where prime minister Viktor Orban banned gender studies programs at universities.

“The government’s standpoint is that people are born either male or female, and we do not consider it acceptable for us to talk about socially constructed genders rather than biological sexes,” a spokesperson for the prime minister said.

However, the has been some progress, said Madrigal-Borloz, whose report highlighted some of the international community’s best practices on discrimination and violence against LGBT communities.

For instance, Uruguay, in recognition of diverse gender identities and the obstacles that transgender people face in exercising their rights under the law, implemented a program designed to help transgender people navigate the law as well as access social security programs and employment opportunities.

In New Zealand, people can choose to have their gender in their passport marked as male, female or a third category based solely on self-determined identity. This also applies to children under the age of 18.

“There is a historical recognition of the fact that a diversity of gender identities have been recognised in all cultures and traditions around the world and that the outlawing or stigmatising surrounding certain gender expressions have more the result of certain processes—in some cases colonial domination and in some cases normalisation based on certain conceptions of gender,” Madrigal-Borloz said.

“But I do believe that there is enough evidence that in longstanding cultural and societal tradition, gender diversity has played a role in all corners of the world,” he added, highlighting the need for the legal recognition of gender identity.

The U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also recently said that the organisation must “redouble” efforts to end violations against LGBT communities around the world.

“As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, let me underscore that the United Nations will never give up the fight until everyone can live free and equal in dignity and rights,” he said.

While the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), globally adopted in 2016, do not explicitly mention LGBT communities, they still highlight the need to include everyone without discrimination.

“There is a situation that requires immediate and prompt action of the state to actually make sure that these persons are not left behind in the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals,” Madrigal-Borloz said.

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