Africa

It is imperative to identify symptoms when they are present and provide timely care. Asking routine questions at primary care visits is an effective way to achieve this. Credit: Unsplash /Melanie Wasser.

By Ifeanyi Nsofor
ABUJA, Feb 9 2023 (IPS)

Patients who visit public clinics in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, are asked mental health questions to detect signs of stress and depression early. The process starts with a basic checklist, with patients referred to a nurse, doctor, or specialist. Asking these questions at primary care not only can identify issues early on, but it also helps decrease the stigma often associated with mental health while maintaining anonymity.

This initiative is praiseworthy and should be replicated in all health facilities – both public and private. To ensure continuum of care, mental health services should also be provided in communities.

Globally, there are millions of unmet needs for mental health care. Globally, more than 970 million people are living with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depressive disorders the most common. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 50% of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental disorder at some point in their lifetime.

Globally, more than 970 million people are living with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depressive disorders the most common. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, more than 50% of Americans will be diagnosed with a mental disorder at some point in their lifetime

Without a doubt mental health is important. However, just like physical health, it fluctuates. In an episode of my public health advocacy project, ‘Public Health for Everyone’, Victor Ugo – global mental health advocate and founder of Nigeria’s leading mental health not-for-profit, Mentally Aware Initiative said, “mental health is a continuum – sometimes we experience good mental health and other times, bad mental health”.

Therefore, it is imperative to identify symptoms when they are present and provide timely care. Asking routine questions at primary care visits is an effective way to achieve this.

Sadly, poor perception and stigma associated with mental health vary. For instance, the 2018 mental health in Nigeria survey, which I co-led, revealed shocking results. More than 5,300 respondents were interviewed in all 774 local councils across the country.

Seventy percent of Nigerians believe mental health disease is, “When someone starts running around naked”; and 54% said “possession by evil spirits as a cause of mental health disease”.

Furthermore, 18% said they will take someone with mental health disease to a prayer house for deliverance; traditional medicine healer (8%); locking up the person (4%) and beating the disease out of the person (2%). These shocking results underpin how difficult it can be to change behaviors to improve mental health.

As mental health is a continuum, so should mental health care. It is important to provide care not just at medical facilities but at community levels too. Community members may not be aware that primary care facilities provide mental health care but people they know in the community reach out to them.

Other reasons that community efforts are important include the reality that in many regions, health facilities may be far away from where people live or there may be unattainable costs associated with accessing care at health facilities. These are two examples of successful community-based mental health care services.

First is the Fellowship Bench, which began in Zimbabwe and was founded by Psychiatrist and Aspen Institute Senior New Voices Fellow Dixon Chibanda. Dixon lost a 26 year old patient to suicide because her family could not afford the $15 bus fare from her village to his clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe, for a follow-up visit.

It was a turning point for him, and this sad experience birthed The Friendship Bench. The Fellowship Bench deploys grandmothers, an ever-present human resource in communities, to provide mental healthcare. Grandmothers are trained on evidence-based talk therapy delivered on a park bench. In 2006, the first group of grandmothers went to work.

Chibanda believes that depression is treatable and suicide preventable. However, in low- and middle-income countries, there are not enough psychiatrists. Consequently, 90% of those needing mental health care do not get it, he said in his TED Talk. Therefore, innovative solutions such as The Friendship Bench are necessary to bridge the mental health care gap by providing care right in communities where people live.

Another effort is Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI). It provides virtual mental health care to a large community by disseminating mental health information to its more than 180,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

MANI reaches more than 3 million people (mostly young people) monthly through these social media platforms. MANI’s services are needed in a country of more than 200 million people with less than 250 psychiatrists. This translates to one psychiatrist servicing one million Nigerians. MANI provided mental health care during Nigeria’s 2020 EndSARS campaign against police brutality. Young people protested police brutality but were still brutalized and killed during the protest. Many people needed mental health care and MANI was there to provide it by offering calls.

One of the major challenges to providing mental health is the cost. More funding is required to support and scale more community-based mental health interventions. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced nearly $35 million in funding opportunities to strengthen and expand community mental health services and suicide prevention programs for America’s children and young adults.

In Europe, there is a €3,355,000 grant for large-scale implementation of community-based mental health care for people with severe and enduring mental ill health. In Nigeria, the TY Danjuma Foundation recently awarded a grant to Jela’s Development Initiatives to train 200 teachers about basic mental healthcare and create awareness for effective curriculum delivery.

Jela’s Development Initiatives also hosts ‘unburden’ – a group therapy session supervised by a mental health expert, which enables participants to speak about issues affecting their mental health within a safe and confidential space. These kinds of funds are important and need to continue regularly.

Providing mental health services at primary care and community levels can help millions of people. Supporting these efforts is the equitable thing to do.

 

Dr. Ifeanyi M. Nsofor, MBBS, MCommH (Liverpool) is Senior New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute, Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at George Washington University, 2006 Ford Foundation International Fellow

 

Amira Bouraoui, banned from leaving Algeria, makes it to France via Tunisia sparking a diplomatic row.

As Zimbabweans head to the polls once again, civil and religious organisations have called for tolerance in the run-up to the elections. Credit: Commonwealth

By Ignatius Banda
BULAWAYO, Feb 9 2023 (IPS)

With political violence escalating in Zimbabwe, national elections slated for later this year face questions about whether the polls will meet free and fair international benchmarks.

Zimbabwe’s elections have routinely met scrutiny largely because of what critics say is state-sponsored violence and the intimidation of opposition political parties.

Recent weeks have seen violent attacks on opposition political supporters by suspected members of the ruling.

Zimbabwe African People’s Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) despite regular calls by President Emmerson Mnangagwa for peaceful political engagement among rival party supporters.

The main opposition, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), says its supporters have been brutalized by ruling party activists, with analysts noting that political violence is compromising the country’s stated commitment to holding free and fair elections.

In the aftermath of political violence recorded on a widely shared video last month where opposition party supporters were attacked, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) issued a statement raising concerns about the implications of such attacks on the credibility of the polls.

“As the nation heads towards the harmonized elections, we urge all political players to desist from the use of violence. The people’s fundamental rights should be respected at all times. There is no citizen who should be intimidated or coerced, and worse still, be beaten to make a choice,” the Catholic bishops said in a statement last month.

“As a nation, we have in the past seen a lot of violence around elections; let this election be different. The people of this country dream and yearn for a free, credible and fair election,” the bishops added.

Last year, another video circulated showing women wearing opposition party regalia being stripped of their T-shirts, with the recent incident adding to concerns about the country’s willingness to shun politically motivated violence.

“It’s not the casting of ballots that ascertains free and fair elections; it’s the environment we create before, during and after elections. It is, therefore, incumbent on the government, political parties, and all institutions that we create a level playing field,” the bishops said.

These concerns come when the country’s elections are being closely watched both locally and internationally as the country’s human rights and press freedom record are already under scrutiny as the two are seen having a bearing on democratic processes.

“We call for zero tolerance to violence. The culture of violence speaks against the moral fabric of our society. To curb nurturing such a culture, we call upon the government through its various institutions to bring the perpetrators of violence to justice and may the victims of that violence be protected,” the Catholic bishops said.

Local rights groups have also added their concerns about peaceful polls, with the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) saying it is engaging the country’s political parties to ensure zero tolerance for violence.

But the recent violence recorded on video could mean little traction towards addressing those concerns.

“We have been meeting with political actors, all the major political parties, to try and promote peace towards these watershed elections,” said Reverend Wilfred Dimingu, Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches.

“Our efforts are to rebuild our electoral processes so that we do not have an election that has contested results because of political violence,” Dimingu told IPS.

Civil society groups say the coming elections are already facing a credibility crisis because of the political violence, which appears to have escalated since last year as political campaigns for the 2023 elections went into full swing.

“The recent incidents of political violence, which have escalated since 2022 when the CCC was formed, can only point to a disputed election that will fail the credibility test and ultimately lead to yet another legitimacy crisis,” said Blessing Vava, national director of Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe, a local rights group.

However, the role of the country’s security arms, such as the police, has also been brought into question as identified perpetrators of political violence are yet to be brought before the courts of law.

“There is an increasing collusion between the ruling Zanu PF and the state security forces, who have been on hand to clamp down on civil society and opposition activities, while Zanu PF has continued to abuse its incumbency by continuing with its activities unabated and with full support and cooperation of state security agencies,” Vava told IPS.

Local human rights researchers note that there is little to boost the confidence of a free election amid what they see as “organised violence,” said Tony Reeler, senior researcher at the Research Advocacy Unit in the capital city Harare.

“In none of our policy dialogues, including the prospect of serious violence, do any of the discussants believe that a bona fide election is possible,” Reeler told IPS, referring to public discussions organised by his organisation and held regularly ahead of the elections.

To ensure credibility, Vava says international observers must be allowed into the country ahead of the much-anticipated elections.

“Regional and international organisations should be involved in monitoring the elections to ensure that they are free and fair, and that the rights of all citizens are respected,” Vava told IPS.

For now, it remains to be seen if political violence will ease amid calls by the country’s president, religious leaders and civic organisations for peaceful political campaigns to ensure undisputed election results.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By David Ferrari, Sudip Ranjan Basu and Kimberly Roseberry
BANGKOK, Thailand, Feb 9 2023 (IPS)

The last three years have seen the Pacific impacted negatively due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism industry, a key source of national revenue and jobs creation, received a severe blow due to closure of borders and reduced travel.

In April 2020, a major cyclone caused widespread destruction in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga. In early 2022, a volcanic eruption in Tonga further caused significant damage to domestic physical infrastructure.

Adding to these existing pressures, the food, fuel and finance crises have had a crippling impact on national economies throughout the Pacific. The vulnerabilities to both manmade and natural disasters are all but obvious. There is a need for an acceleration of transformative energy policy actions and ambitions.

Growing costs of fuel imports

A glance at the data shows that most Pacific countries – particularly the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – remain highly dependent on imported petroleum fuels and are expected to do so for many years.

Outside of Australia and New Zealand, oil makes up about 80 per cent of the Pacific’s total energy supply, of which 52 per cent is used for transport, 37 per cent for electricity generation and 12 per cent for other applications such as process heating. Renewable energy accounts for only 17 per cent of the total energy supply.

Fuel imports cost the region US$6 billion annually, or around 5 to 15 per cent of GDP for each economy. This is an enormous economic burden. With its vast natural resources, a history and culture of independence and subsistence together with its low energy intensity, the Pacific subregion offers great advantages for energy transition leadership. So, there are solutions to alleviate this cost.

ESCAP’s new report – Pacific Perspectives 2022: Accelerating Climate Action – makes the case for a rapid transition of the Pacific’s energy sector away from fossil fuel imports and to increase access to modern energy services to deliver Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) in harmony with global climate goals.

This strengthens the case for alleviating reliance on imported fossil fuels. A move to locally generated renewable energy sources is supported by both the economic gains and the energy security benefits.

Advancing the implementation of SDG 7

It is widely recognized that the Pacific is not on track to deliver universal access to clean cooking fuels and technology by 2030. In fact, this target may present one of the largest hurdles to achieving SDG 7.

However, experts have recognized that energy access is best achieved through utilization of solar energy, and for many of those who remain without electricity across the Pacific, the best access solution will be the installation of stand-alone solar home systems.

Experts now suggest moving beyond minimum levels of electricity access and employing metrics such as multi-tier frameworks or the “modern energy minimum” of consumption of at least 1,000 kWh per year as a better indicator of access.

On the other hand, the rates of access to clean cooking fuels and technologies are amongst the lowest in the world as depicted in the chart below. In 2020, almost 10 million people across the Pacific lacked access to clean cooking, the bulk of whom (8.1 million people) were in Papua New Guinea. Furthermore, the rate of access to clean cooking in many countries is stagnating and, in some cases, even declining.

Figure 1: Proportion of population with access to clean cooking fuels and technologies (Data source: World Health Organization, via the Asia Pacific Energy Portal. Data was unavailable for New Caledonia, Northern Mariana Is., American Samoa, French Polynesia and Guam.)

Focusing on solution-oriented energy transition policies

A wide range of policy interventions and intergovernmental mechanisms are available to support policymakers to address the issues of over-reliance on fossil fuels and the lack of access to modern energy.

Firstly, renewable energy offers some very low hanging fruit. As imported petroleum accounts for about 72 per cent of the electricity supply and almost 100 per cent of transport energy; renewable sources can in many situations deliver clean energy at a lower cost. Developing infrastructure to support the shift to electric vehicles offers an opportunity to channel renewable energy into the transport sector.

Secondly, the business case for energy efficiency is strong and brings with it the potential[1] to reduce energy demand across multiple sectors. However, a large proportion of these opportunities remain unfulfilled.

Finally, policymakers should collaborate through existing Pacific regional initiatives to support the scaling-up of local capability and capacity through coordinated training and knowledge transfer in the area of energy transition.

Readers will find further details and policy recommendations in the report which is now available on the ESCAP website.

By putting people at the center of policymaking, the ESCAP Commission remains the most agile and vibrant anchor to accelerate energy transition and promote regional solidarity.

[1] While it raises some complex questions, researchers have analysed the relationship between energy efficiency and demand response in various situations and determined that a high degree of complementarity is possible.

David Ferrari is ESCAP Consultant, Sudip Ranjan Basu is Deputy Head and Senior Economic Affairs Officer and Kimberly Roseberry is Economic Affairs Officer

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Kidnapping gangs have spread terror across Nigeria - how will this affect this month's elections?

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Hydrogen (H2) is an essential component of today’s energy and industrial systems. Credit: Shutterstock.

By Adalberto Castañeda Vidal
NEW YORK, Feb 8 2023 (IPS)

Latin America has the potential to become the world’s dominant exporter of hydrocarbon. According to the IEA, Latin America could produce 25 percent of the 12 Million tons (Mt) of low-carbon hydrogen exports expected by 2030.

The region is definitely taking this opportunity seriously. Over the past years, 11 countries in the region have published national hydrogen strategies. While this is an excellent policy signal, it might not be enough to win the race against other regions.

For the region to realize its hydrogen exporting potential, I would argue that governments should move from broad national roadmaps to a more tailored and assertive hub development strategy.

This is because the first movers are going to be the ones securing the offtake contracts and attracting investments. Following are some considerations and proposals to promote low-hydrogen hubs across the region to turn Latin America into a hydrogen success story.

 

Hydrogen’s potential in Latin America

Hydrogen (H2) is an essential component of today’s energy and industrial systems. Around 90 million tons (Mt) of H2 are produced and used yearly from natural gas and coal, emitting 9-23 kg CO2/kg H2.

Chemicals, refineries, and steel production dominate today’s demand. Recent technological developments that allow the production of low-carbon hydrogen, position it as an alternative to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors. In optimistic scenarios, hydrogen’s global demand can reach 115 Mt by 2030 and 528 Mt by 2050.

The two most prominent low-carbon hydrogen types are:

1. Green hydrogen, produced through water electrolysis paired with 100% renewable electricity, emits (0 CO2/kg H2).
2. Blue hydrogen, produced from fossil fuels combined with carbon capture and sequestration technologies (CCS), emits 1-3 kg CO2/ kg H2.

 

The global hydrogen generation market was valued at USD 129.85 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 6.4% from 2022 to 2030. New value chains will be needed to support this upscaling, including installing electrolyzer manufacturing plants in the region, which could create thousands of high-quality jobs.

Latin America has a competitive advantage in the global hydrogen race as it has one of the most abundant endowments of solar and wind resources which are key for the production of green hydrogen.

From 2014 to 2023, it was the most competitive region in terms of cost of production for both solar and wind. Furthermore, fossil fuel producers in the region can build on their existing knowledge and infrastructure to develop the value chains to capture and store CO2 from existing hydrogen production facilities.

 

Reasons for a hydrogen-hub strategy for Latin America

Some examples of planned hydrogen hubs already exist in Chile and Brazil. However, most hydrogen strategies in the region present broad national targets that lack demarcation and definition of particular incentives directed at the most strategic locations.

Latin America has a competitive advantage in the global hydrogen race as it has one of the most abundant endowments of solar and wind resources which are key for the production of green hydrogen

A hub is a specific geographic location with resources that provide a competitive advantage for developing the hydrogen supply chain. This pathway could facilitate cooperation between public and private stakeholders and community engagement. It also may provide increased visibility to attract first movers.

In this regard, hydrogen hubs are industrial areas with a competitive advantage in developing multiple projects for hydrogen production, distribution, utilization, and export. These hubs also have the presence of potential off-takers and existing infrastructure, which could be repurposed as the base for the hydrogen supply chain.

Hydrogen hubs can also be defined in opposition to its alternative, which is developing stand-alone individual projects. The lack of success of CCS projects over the past decade provide a good example of how stand-alone models face significant technical and commercial risks that can lead to inconsistent policy support and investments.

According to a study by the University of California, 80 percent of CCS projects ended in failure in the US. The projects failed due to a lack of off-takers, poor plant siting, and little support from local coalitions. These conditions impacted the project’s credibility of revenues and continued incentives support, which weakened their financial footing.

It is crucial to learn from these examples to mitigate such risks, considering particular vulnerabilities in Latin America that are hard to control, such as higher capital costs and exchange rate risks.

 

A hydrogen hub approach as a way to mitigate investments risks

While hydrogen’s potential is huge in the energy transition, as of the end of 2021, investments were still $863 billion short. This is when competition with other regions comes into play. Latin American economies must show more ambitious strategies to generate new opportunities and attract that capital. The key to facilitating the allocation of capital is to mitigate risks with strong market signals and the development of key infrastructure.

The benefits of a more focused hydrogen hubs promotion strategy can be divided into three parts: risk reductions, optimization of resource allocation, and securing policy and social support.

First, hubs can help mitigate market risks by building redundancy of supply and demand. This prevents risks associated with allocating production and demand to individual projects. Furthermore, it can help distribute technical risks among more players for the construction of key infrastructure projects, such as transmission lines, pipelines, and geological storage.

Second, according to experiences obtained from other clean energy projects, hubs are more efficient for optimizing planning and operation. Sole point-to-point projects run the risk of tailoring the technical decisions to the specific needs of one producer and one off-taker. However, with a hub approach, big market players cooperate and can involve smaller players, hence providing more opportunities to take advantage of economies of scale.

Lastly, stakeholders need to generate community acceptance and ensure the support of local authorities. Research from the Inter-American Development Bank found that of 200 conflict-affected infrastructure projects, 36 were canceled, 162 faced delays, and 116 faced cost overruns.

Therefore, community engagement cannot be regarded as a secondary requirement. A transparent hub proposal regarding its benefits, costs, and transition plans for communities and workers could help garner local support and, therefore, ensure consistent policy and social backing.

While clean hydrogen hubs can help reduce risks, optimize resource allocation, and garner local support, key decisions must be made by several actors with different goals. This creates a risk of delaying the projects or failing to reach agreements to get to final investment decisions. In this regard, it is important to consider lessons learned from failures and successes in other regions.

For instance, Europe is at the forefront of clean hydrogen development with a top-down and stakeholder-based approach. Lessons on the role of both national and local authorities in the pioneer hubs in Teesside and Rotterdam need to be taken into consideration.

On the other hand, while the US started following the source-to-sink model for CCUS, in 2021, it experienced a shift towards developing hydrogen hubs, which were revitalized with the recently approved Inflation Reduction Act.

 

Lessons from Chile’s hydrogen hub experience

In Latin America, Chile provides an excellent example of how to map and market hydrogen hubs at a global scale. In 2020, the Ministry of Energy published its National Green Hydrogen Strategy, outlining national priorities and targets. While the national strategy provided insights for three regions, in 2022, the government published a new report that identified two potential hydrogen hubs in Antofagasta (Atacama desert) and Magallanes. Both regions have well-defined projects and are working to attract investments and secure long-term offtake contracts with international partners.

To reproduce this strategy, the first hypothesis governments need to prove is the availability of natural resources, renewable resources for the development of green hydrogen or suitable geological storage, for blue hydrogen. The regions must ideally have the presence of relevant industries with experience in similar sectors, such as natural gas producers or renewable developers, as well as potential off-takers.

Then the government needs to devise a plan for incentives, such as tax deductions, accelerated depreciation, and customs exemptions, among others. On top of that, policy accelerators need to be implemented to allow faster deployment of technology, such as specialized land tenders and fast-track licensing and permitting.

Companies with international experience can work closely with local governments and federal agencies to ensure regulations do not hinder projects’ development.

Parallelly, hub participants need to engage with local communities. Plans must be outlined diligently to conduct consultations and provide attractive compensation when needed. A poor implementation of this requirement can create a bad reputation for key stakeholders and the industry as a whole.

These efforts can be conducted with international organizations and development banks, which could later provide initial investments to make projects bankable. Governments can also help further mitigate risks through grants, availability-based payments, and credit enhancement tools. Government support is also crucial to secure offtake contracts through signing Memorandums of Understanding or dedicating offices to deploy what some call “hydrogen diplomacy.”

While some international and regional examples show the benefits of following a hub-centered strategy, Latin American countries must face crucial challenges to make it work. First, the recent leftist turn in the region may pose some uncertainties about market-aligned policies.

With so much risk and lower margins, governments must prove they can attract and lay appropriate foundations for private investments.

On the other hand, with the broader land requirements for hydrogen projects, companies must show their commitment to building local support and respecting communities and regulations. A clean energy business cannot be developed with old dirty tactics. The potential for the region is evident. Will Latin America be able to work in teams and win this race?

 

Adalberto Castañeda Vidal is a second-year student of the Master of Public Administration at Columbia University – School of International and Public Affairs concentrating in Energy. He worked as a research assistant for the Center on Global and Energy Policy, where he participated in research projects about hydrogen and natural gas. He is originally from Tabasco, Mexico, and holds a bachelor’s in International Relations from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

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Energy-efficient solar systems in the UN Compound in Timor-Leste are helping cut down costs and reduce CO2 emissions. Credit: UN

By Ahmed Saleem
DILI, Timor-Leste, Feb 8 2023 (IPS)

Access to energy remains a concerning challenge for many in Timor-Leste. The centralised nature of the local electricity supply chain has traditionally kept consumers reliant on the national grid to overcome chronic energy shortages.

While more than 200,000 households have access to electricity, the distribution network is in poor condition, with excessive voltage drops and persistent service outages. The cost of electricity is also higher than in neighbouring countries, and Timor-Leste has been slow to transition from expensive diesel generation to renewables.

With the new UN reforms, the United Nations in Timor-Leste, under the leadership of the Resident Coordinator (RCO) has now started lighting the way with its solar-powered grid which has begun to give maximum dividends.

A powerful 300 kWp photovoltaic system is producing 400,000 kWh of clean electricity annually, filling critical gaps in energy supply. “It covers 75 per cent of the daytime electricity consumption of the entire UN House, which hosts 14 UN agencies in Dili and has reduced reliance on fossil fuels and generators, leading to 286.000 kg of CO2 emission saved every year,” said Project Coordinator Ulderico Ze Machado.

It took almost a year – from feasibility to completion – to see the solar panel installed at the UN Timor-Leste compound. Credit: RCO Timor-Leste

This move comes with the UN’s revised Business Operations Strategy (BOS) that guides strategic planning, management, monitoring, and reporting of the UN Country Team’s joint support.

The Operations Management Team started weighing the feasibility and working on a cost-efficient alternative energy solution in 2016-2017 when Timor-Leste was facing high electricity costs and increased CO2 emissions.

“In Timor-Leste, our road to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development starts at home. Our solar energy system can be a model for other UN Country Offices to show how we can jointly, sustainably and effectively tackle greenhouse emissions while reducing operational costs, and scale up support across the United Nations System”.

“Greening our business operations can help maximise efficiency, improve productivity, and in turn support the transition of the country to a more sustainable energy future,” noted UN Timor-Leste Resident Coordinator Funmi Balogun.

The project has already substantially reduced electricity costs, which were 40% of the entire Common Premises budget. “We now save USD 90,000 annually on electricity bills and diesel costs with the hope that a 100 per cent return on the investment will be materialised within six to seven years,” added Ulderico Ze Machado.

In line with the UN’s commitment to the ‘Smart UN Facilities and the Sustainable Development Goals’, this solar project shows how a UN Common premises can work in action, and how the the United Nations Sustainable Development Coordination Framework can be coherently implemented in countries.

The infographic outlines the impact of the solar panel operations in the UN Timor-Leste compound. Credit: RCO Timor-Leste

“A project like this goes beyond providing energy. It showcases a value addition to the Government, partners, and stakeholders as to how such initiatives can help create other socio-economic benefits, including employment, greener environment, cheaper energy, and sustainable lifestyles.

So, the more we implement such projects, the more we empower our communities and bring impact.

The project also evidences the skillset and expertise to support the country to transition to a more sustainable energy future and supporting the deployment of renewable energy technologies,” said UNDP Resident Representative Munkhtuya Altangerel, who is also chair of the UN Operations Management Team.

Based on this successful experience, the UN Operations Management Team is now working on upscaling the project and making the UN House, a 100 per cent solar-energy-run compound.

Ahmed Saleem is Communications Officer, Resident Coordinator’s Office, Timor-Leste. Editorial support by UNDCO.

For more information on the UN’s work in Timor-Leste, please visit  Timorleste.un.org

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Pope Francis with a child on his shoulders - graffiti in Rome

“The Roman curia suffers from spiritual Alzheimer [and] existential schizophrenia; this is the disease of those who live a double life, the fruit of that hypocrisy typical of the mediocre and of a progressive spiritual emptiness which no doctorates or academic titles can fill. […] When appearances, the colour of our clothes and our titles of honour become the primary object in life, [it] leads us to be men and woman of deceit. […] Be careful around those who are rigid. Be careful around Christians – be they laity, priests, bishops – who present themselves as so ‘perfect’. Be careful. There’s no Spirit of God there. They lack the spirit of liberty [..] We are all sinners. But may the Lord not let us be hypocrites. Hypocrites don't know the meaning of forgiveness, joy and the love of God.”
                                                                                                                                                Pope Francis I

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb 8 2023 (IPS)

When the Pope Emeritus Benedict XIV/Ratzinger died on the last day of 2022 it did not cause much of a stir in the global newsfeed. Maybe a sign that religion has ceased to play a decisive role in modern society Nevertheless, religious hierarchies are still highly influential, not least for the world’s 1, 4 billion baptized Catholics, and a pope’s policies have a bearing not only on morals, but also on political and economic issues. By contrast, there are more Muslims in the world, 1.9 billion, though adherents are not so centrally controlled and supervised as Catholics and hierarchies do not have a comparable influence on global affairs.

When Benedict abdicated in 2013 he retained his papal name, continued to wear the white, papal cassock, adopted the title Pope Emeritus and moved into a monastery in the Vatican Gardens. It must have been a somewhat cumbersome presence for a new, more radical pope, particularly since Benedict became a symbol of traditional values and served as an inspiration for critics of the current papacy.

By the end of his reign, John Paul II was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and Cardinal Ratzinger was in effect running the Vatican and when he was elected Pope in 2005, his closest runner-up was Cardinal Bergoglio from Buenos Aires. What would have happened if Borgoglio, who eventually became Francis I, had been elected? Would he have been able to more effectively deal with clerical sexual abuse and Vatican corruption?

When Joseph Ratzinger became pope, he had for 27 years served John Paul II by heading the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), investigating and condemning birth control, acceptance of homosexuals, “gender theory” and Liberation Theology, a theological approach with a specific concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed people.

Under Cardinal Ratzinger the CDF generally overlooked an often shady economic cooperation financing Pope John Paul II’s successful battle against Communism, while covering up clerical sexual abuse and marginalizing “progressive” priests. Several Latin American liberation theologians agreed that John Paul II in several ways was an asset to the Church, though he mistreated clerics who actually believed in Jesus’s declaration that he was chosen to “bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” John Paul II and his “watchdog” Joseph Ratzinger were considered to have “armoured fists hidden in silk gloves.”

Ratzinger censured and silenced a number of leading “liberal” priests, like the Latin American Liberation theologian Leonardo Boff and the American Charles Curran, who supported same sex marriages. Both were defrocked. Under Ratzinger’s CDF rule, several clerics were excommunicated for allowing abortions, like the American nun Margaret McBride, and the ordination of women priests, among them the Argentinian priest Rómulo Braschi and the French priest Roy Bourgeois.

Ratzinger/Benedict wrote 66 books, in which a common theme was Truth, which according to him was “self-sacrificing love”, guided by principles promulgated by the Pope and implemented by the Curia, the administrative body of the Vatican:

“Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labelled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting one be tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine, seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.”

A strict adherence to Catholic Doctrine meant bringing the Church back to what Benedict XVI considered as its proper roots. If this alienated some believers, so be it. Numerous times he stated that the Church might well be healthier if it was smaller. A point of view opposed to the one expressed by Francis I:

“Changes need to be made […] Law cannot be kept in a refrigerator. Law accompanies life, and life goes on. Like morals, it is being perfected. Both the Church and society have made important changes over time on issues as slavery and the possession of atomic weapons, moral life is also progressing along the same line. Human thought and development grows and consolidates with the passage of time. Human understanding changes over time, and human consciousness deepens.”

Benedict XVI allowed the issue of human sexuality to overshadow support to environmentalism and human rights. He wanted to “purify the Church” in accordance with rules laid down in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published in 1992 and written under direction of the then Cardinal Ratzinger. The Catechism might be considered as a counterweight to “relativistic theories seeking to justify religious pluralism, while supporting decline in general moral standards.”

Pope Benedict endeavoured to reintegrate hard-core traditionalists back into the fold, maintaining and strengthening traditional qualms related to sexual conduct and abortion. He declared that modern society had diminished “the morality of sexual love to a matter of personal sentiments, feelings, [and] customs. […], isolating it from its procreative purposes.” Accordingly, “homosexual acts” were in the Catechism described as “violating natural law” and could “under no circumstances be approved.”

Papal condemnation of homosexuality may seem somewhat strange considering that it is generally estimated that the percentage of gay Catholic priests might be 30 – 60, suggesting more homosexual men (active and non-active) within the Catholic priesthood than within society at large.

In 2019, Frédéric Martel’s In the Closet of the Vatican sent shock waves through the Catholic world. Based on years of interviews and collaboration with a vast array of researchers, priests and prostitutes, Martel described the double life of priests and the hypocrisy of homophobic cardinals and bishops living with their young “assistants”. He pinpointed members of the Catholic hierarchy as “closet gays”, revealed how “de-anonymised” data from homosexual dating apps (like Grindl) listed clergy users, described exclusive homosexual coteries within the Vatican, networks of prostitutes serving priests, as well as the anguish of homosexual priests trying to come to terms with their homosexual inclinations.

According to Martel, celibacy is a main reason for homosexuality among Catholic priesthood. For a homosexual youngster a respected male community might serve as a safe haven within a homophobic society.

By burdening homosexuality with guilt, covering up sexual abuse and opaque finances the Vatican has not supported what Benedict proclaimed, namely protect and preach the Truth. Behind the majority of cases of sexual abuse there are priests and bishops who protected aggressors because of their own homosexuality and out of fear that it might be revealed in the event of a scandal. The culture of secrecy needed to maintain silence about the prevalence of homosexuality in the Church, which allowed sexual abuse to be hidden and predators to act without punishment.

Cardinal Robert Sarah stated that “Western homosexual and abortion ideologies” are of “demonic origin” and compared them to “Nazism and Islamic terrorism.” Such opinions did in 2020 not hinder Pope Emeritus Benedict from writing a book together with Sarah – From the Depths of Our Hearts: Priesthood, Celibacy and the Crisis of the Catholic Church. Among injunctions against abortion, safe sex, and women clergy, celibacy was fervently defended as not only “a mere precept of ecclesiastical law, but as a sharing in Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross and his identity as Bridegroom of the Church.” This in contrast to Francis I, who declared:

“It is time that the Church moves away from questions that divide believers and concentrate on the real issues: the poor, migrants, poverty. We can’t only insist on questions bound up with abortion, homosexual marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. It is not possible … It isn’t necessary to go on talking about it all the time.”

The current pope is not condoning abortion, though does not elevate it above the fight against poverty, climate change and the rights of migrants, which he proclaims to be “pro-life” issues in their own right. In 2021, Francis I stated that “same-sex civil unions are good and helpful to many.” He is of the opinion that Catholic priests ought to be celibate, but adds that this rule is not an unchangeable dogma and “the door is always open” to change. Francis propagates that women ought to be ordained as deacons; allowed to do priestly tasks, except giving absolution, anointing the sick, and celebrate mass and he has recruited women to several crucial administrative positions within the Vatican. Furthermore, he ordered all dioceses to report sexual abuse of minors to the Vatican, while notifying governmental law enforcement to allow for comprehensive investigations and perpetrators being judged by common – and not by canon law.

Just hours after Benedict’s funeral on 5 January Georg Gänswein’s memoir Nothing but the Truth — My Life Beside Benedict XVI, was distributed to the press. Gänswein, who was Benedict’s faithful companion and personal secretary, writes that for the Pope Emeritus the Doctrine of the Faith was the fundament of the Church, while Francis is more inclined to highlight “pastoral care”, i.e. guidance and support focusing on a person’s welfare, social and emotional needs, rather than purely educational ones.

In 2013, Gänswein entered in the service of Benedict XIV. He was professor in Canon Law, fluent in four languages, an able tennis player, excellent downhill skier and had a pilot’s licence. He was also an outspoken conservative and often critical of Francis I.

Shortly before his abdication, Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Gänswein archbishop and made him Prefect of the Papal Household, deciding who could have an audience with Pope Francis I, while he at the same time was responsible for Benedict’s daily schedule, communications, and private and personal audiences. The Italian edition of the magazine Vanity Fair presented Gänswein on its cover, declaring “being handsome is not a sin” and calling him “the Georg Clooney of the Vatican”. Six years before Donatella Versace used Gänswein as inspiration for her fashion show Priest Chic.

There was an air of vanity and conservatism surrounding the acolytes of Benedict. Gänswein writes that working with both popes, the active one and the ”Emeritus” was a great challenge, not only in terms of work but in terms of style. Benedict XIV was a pope of aesthetics recognising that in a debased world there remain things of beauty, embodied in a Mozart sonata, a Latin mass, an altarpiece, an embroidered cape, or the cut of a cassock. The male-oriented lifestyle magazine Esquire included Pope Benedict in a “best-dressed men list”. Gänswein states that when Pope Francis in 2022 restricted the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass “I believe it broke Pope Benedict’s heart”.

Pope Francis is now 86, not much time remains for him as sovereign of the Catholic Church. Hopefully he will be able to change the Curia by staffing it with people who share his ambition to reform the Church by navigating away from doctrinal rigidity, vanity and seclusion towards inclusion, tolerance, human rights, poverty eradication and environmentalism.

Main sources: Gänswein, Georg (2023) Nient’altro che la verità. La mia vita al fianco di Benedetto XVI. Segrate: Piemme. Martel, Frédéric (2019) In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy. London: Bloomsbury.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A Togolese and Nigerian survivors say the situation, following the earthquake in Turkey, was apocalyptic.

Young people from small towns are now able to work close to home thanks to co-working spaces that opened up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Rina Mukherji/IPS

By Rina Mukherji
PUNE, INDIA, Feb 8 2023 (IPS)

While a 2017 study by the Confederation of Indian Industry Jones Lang LaSalle India and WeWork noted the potential in India’s co-working segment, it took COVID-19 for people to transition to co-working spaces close to home.

The study, Future of Work – The Co-working Revolution, which saw the potential market size of the co-working segment standing at 12-16 million, anticipated 400 million USD in investments by 2018, triggering a 40-50 percent growth in 2017 itself.

This was to be driven by India’s emerging start-ups (given that India is currently the world’s largest start-up hub) and India’s freelance workforce (with India having the 2nd largest freelancer workforce in the world, more than 15 million professionals).

In 2020, India was hit by the pandemic. Owing to a forced lockdown in operations, many companies faced heavy losses. On resumption, they had to operate at 50 percent capacity (as per government directives), which meant curtailment in operations. Layoffs and salary cuts were invoked to survive. Barring manufacturing operations, the attendance of many employees was deemed unnecessary in the office. This ushered in the work-from-home culture.

Salary cuts, and work-from-home options, saw many employees move out of expensive metropolitan centres and return home to smaller towns and cities. Some who faced layoffs and salary cuts opted to launch start-ups. This gave further impetus to the demand for commercial spaces in small towns and Tier-2 or Tier-3 cities for co-working spaces.

Over the last few decades, small-town India has seen professional education pick up in a big way, with several reputed engineering and management institutions nurturing brilliant students. However, conservative values continue to rule here, unlike cosmopolitan metropolitan centres. Since many youngsters are first-generation professionals and belong to rural families of modest means, moving to a metropolitan city can be a big financial strain for a fresher. Internships, too, are difficult to come by for a student straight out of college.

As a result, many remain confined to low-paid jobs in their towns and end up frustrated in the long run.

This is where the pandemic has helped.

Take the case of the pilgrim city of Tirunelveli in the state of Tamil Nadu at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula. Adjoining the port town of Tuticorin, it has many engineering, management and science colleges. Tirunelveli is close to Nagercoil town in Kanyakumari district, which is the southernmost district of the Indian mainland and boasts a high rate of literacy. Yet, students from these parts have always had to move to either Chennai or Bangalore for a suitable job or internship.

Ronaldsen Solomon of Virudhunagar, though, has been lucky. A final-year student of Engineering studying at Francis Xavier College in Tirunelveli, he has landed an internship with an IT infrastructure company with local offices in a co-working space.

“I am acquiring hands-on experience, even as I attend college lectures for my degree,” he tells me of his job at 3i Infotech.

For Jenima Hyrun of Chermahadevi town in Tirunelveli district, landing a job was an uphill task, despite her Computer Science degree, owing to opposition from her conservative Muslim family.

“I had a job offer from Chennai. But although my father has always encouraged me, my aunts and others would not allow it. Being part of a joint family, living alone in a metropolitan city was unthinkable for me.”

When 3i Infotech acquired dedicated premises under Mikro Grafeio, Hyrun’s prayers for a suitable opening were answered. She easily traverses the short distance to work from her home using public transport.

When Vijay Roshan acquired his Bachelor of Computer Applications degree from MDT Hindu College in Tirunelveli, his faltering English made him unsure of himself. As a farmer’s son, he felt uncertain about moving to a metropolitan city either. However, when the same IT infrastructure company launched its office through a dedicated space, Roshan was immediately recruited as a promising fresher.

For those who would rather not travel a long distance to work, low-cost rentals are not too difficult to come by in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

Take the case of college-mates Vignesh M and Ashwin S.C from Thiruvananthapuram in the adjoining state of Kerala, who completed their degrees at the Nurul Islam Institute of Higher Education. Taking up lodgings in Tirunelveli is far cheaper than if they had moved to metropolitan centres like Bangalore or Chennai.

“We pay Rs 1500 per head, sharing a room among three colleagues in a nearby home. The place is only a 15-minute walk from our workplace, saving commuting time and money,” Ashwin says.

The same is true of Shiny Evangeline and Abarnadevi from the neighbouring district of Nagercoil (in Tamil Nadu), Tamilselvi of Thenkasi, and Sahanya Wilson of Kanyakumari. This ensures a better take-home salary for these freshers, who would have needed to spend upwards of Rs 10,000 for a co-living space in a metropolitan city. Shared rentals also nurture better camaraderie among colleagues, which is essential for better project teamwork.

When blue chip companies move into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, it can mean a lot for specially-abled persons like V Saumya, who has battled many odds to emerge as a Human Resources Head today. Victim of an accident as an infant, Saumya had to fall back on help from her parents all through her school and college years, fighting despite her physical disability to complete her Master’s in Business Administration. Proximity to her workplace in Tirunelveli has helped her secure a job, and she too works for 3i Infotech and is appreciative of the facilities at Mikro Grafeio.

“For the first time, I was greeted by a disabled-friendly toilet that I could use.”

The world has opened up for Saumya, who now looks forward to travelling far and wide, even as she travels up and down to work on her motorised wheelchair.

Although Mikro Grafeio intends to develop co-working spaces for individual use in small towns eventually, it currently confines itself to operating dedicated areas for companies. Chief Growth Officer Sundar Rajan tells IPS, “We are still exploring the market; in small towns, the concept is yet to catch up. However, Mikro Grafeio operates co-working spaces within cafes and breweries in cities like Coimbatore, Pondicherry and Bangalore and has Memoranda of Understanding in place with Café Coffee Day in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.”

It has several clients, 3i Infotech, CIT Services, Sotheby’s International Realty, and others that are slated to follow suit.

Indiqube has followed a similar pattern by handing over dedicated spaces and co-working offices. According to Indiqube Co-Founder Rishi Das, 85 percent of their clientele have dedicated spaces, while 15 per cent belong to the co-working segment.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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