Africa

In Ethiopia, a nine-year-old child carries jerry cans filled with water to her home, four kilometers away from the borehole. Credit: UNICEF/Ayene

By Dr Joshua Castellino
LONDON, Aug 17 2020 (IPS)

The murder of Haacaaluu Hundeessaa, an icon of the Oromo people in Ethiopia was a tragic loss for all who struggle for rights in systems that fail to accommodate them.

Suspicions around motivations for this murder and the swiftness of his burial in his village, rather than with a state funeral in the capital Addis Ababa in keeping with his status, enraged a community already in shock.

What happened next is disputed, interpreted and misinterpreted. The discernible facts state that violence broke out, over 200 people were killed and the government responded with mass arrests and an internet shut down, both ostensibly to curb further spread of violence.

Accounts of the violence showed “disturbing hallmark signs of ethnic cleansing”, as my organisation, Minority Rights Group International (MRG), wrote in a statement. We were particularly concerned about the dissemination of hate and incitement to violence targeting local minority communities. Many now fear the current lull may be the proverbial calm before a storm.

The situation bears the features of a society that could spiral into even more widespread violence unless concerted actions are taken to restore confidence. A critical step will be to seek an inter-community dialogue involving all those voices of moderation who are present right across Ethiopia’s incredibly diverse communities.

I am convinced that those who seek a peaceful resolution to the current ongoing tensions represent the true majority of Ethiopians, regardless of their backgrounds.

Modern Ethiopia only recently emerged from a long period of authoritarianism that created a hostile human rights climate. Its popular young Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, elected in 2018, was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace ‘for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea’.

He promised a vision of an inclusive Ethiopia and had already been awarded the 2018 Gender Award plaque for his role in promoting gender equality. Of Oromo ethnicity, he has gained widespread national support and has been feted as bringing positive change to Ethiopia.

Modernising Ethiopia requires vision, skill, empathy, political capital, and a determination to place Ethiopia on a world stage to contribute and benefit from global trade. A significant change is needed to ensure that rights flowed to all, and that the traditional dominance of certain ethnic groups, indicative of the choice of national language of the State, could give way to a pluralistic democracy based on common heritage, not ethnic lineage.

The Oromo, constituting an estimated thirty four percent of Ethiopia’s population while the largest ethnic group, suffered decades of exclusion and forced assimilation. This decimated their pastoralist lifestyle, further threatened in recent years by proposals to extend the capital Addis Ababa into traditional Oromo pastoral land.

The history of oppression gave rise to the Oromo Liberation Front in the 1970s which operated as a militarized group, even aligning with the Eritrean struggle for independence. Despite this history, the Oromo backed the candidacy of the current Prime Minister hoping he could uplift and modernise Ethiopia creating a country with rights for all.

The ethno-linguistic make up of Ethiopia is worth reflecting on. According to Minority Rights Group’s World Directory on Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, the population (102.37 million, 2017 census) consists a federation of ethnic, linguistic, religious, and regional minorities.

The census listed over 90 distinct ethnic groups, speaking over 80 languages, with the greatest diversity in the south-west, with Amharic (a Semitic language), Oromo, Tigrinya and Somali spoken by two-thirds of the population.

About 43.5 per cent of the population is Orthodox Christian, 33.9 per cent are Muslim with the remainder Protestant, Roman Catholic or followers of traditional religions.

Negotiating this terrain and seeking an optimal future for Ethiopia is a delicate task. There are legitimate political questions ahead, including the potential impact of altering the federal state and how that could undermine ethnic groups that do not feel represented in national politics.

A history of violence and oppression may also need to be factored in, as well as seeking accountability for the years of authoritarianism. Ethiopian society is divided on these tough political questions, which only Ethiopians can answer and decide a way forward.

Arriving at a consensus and clear plan is key to the country’s future stability, but such a discussion can only take place if the ambience of hate is not stoked.

There has been a tendency globally in recent years for anger and discontent to dominate the political, leading to name-calling, fuelling of hate and perpetration of violence. Recent history shows how such an ambience privileges strident voices and extremists, silencing the calm, intelligent moderate voices who need to find a way of configuring a peaceful path to prosperity.

The only way to preserve Ethiopia’s heritage and global contributions lies in celebrating its diversity and fostering a unity that makes Ethiopia much greater than the sum of its parts.

In the days, weeks and months – if elections are cancelled due to coronavirus – the international community must support the voices of moderation, to create an ambience where the force of argument rather than the argument of force dominates.

It is vital to guard against signs that authoritarianism may be returning to the country’s governance, and to urge social media companies to act responsibly to safeguard against hate speech or other comments that inflame tensions.

Writing in the 1950s after a period of intense hatred, a scholar emphasized the importance of ‘beating swords into ploughshares’. Today words are wielded as swords, and when uttered passionately and disseminated to angry mobs, they create lasting damage. Beating anger into empathy is the urgent need of the hour.

The rewards are great: in the short-term prevention of violence, in the long term, the collective awakening of a country with incredible potential to take up its place on the world stage.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

The post Beating Anger into Empathy: the Need of the Hour in Ethiopia appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Joshua Castellino is Executive Director at Minority Rights Group International and Professor of Law at Middlesex University.

The post Beating Anger into Empathy: the Need of the Hour in Ethiopia appeared first on Inter Press Service.

They have millions of followers, but Egypt's social media stars are paying a heavy price.

Credit: United Nations

By Shubha Nagesh
DEHRADUN, India, Aug 17 2020 (IPS)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) at-least 15% of the population globally has some form or other of a disability- considered the world’s largest minority population and one that any of us can join at any point in our lives. It therefore makes so much sense for each one of us to invest towards inclusion, so everyone has the right to live their life to their full potential and contribute meaningfully to society. This article seeks to highlight the updates from the disability world in the past four months, particularly the last month, both globally and in India.

As we continue to learn to cope with a global emergency of unprecedented scale, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) celebrated its 30th anniversary, since it was signed into law on July 26 1990. Considered to be the most important civil rights act since 1960, the ADA is essentially the law that prohibits discrimination against disabled people.  The act hoped to give people with disabilities equal opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic sufficiency.

The ADA generation comprises of young people who ‘came of age’ under the ADA- young people who are willing to relate with, acknowledge and not just accept the disability, but in fact take pride in it.

Their spark to make their own lives better is warming others to do the same, thereby creating a whole generation of people who now approach life with a rights-based perspective- a much needed magnification of the spectrum of disability justice.

Somehow this flicker has to warm up beyond America, particularly in middle and low income countries, which in fact is home to the majority of people with disabilities.

The right attitude also allows for the health care provider to view the person first and the disability later, enabling the person’s right to assessment, intervention, treatment, rehabilitation, or inclusion

The inequities faced by them has been made more than evident in the face of the pandemic, as they seem to be dying more than ever, are denied treatment rightfully theirs, and continue to be discriminated against by not just health systems, but others too, all of which influence their chances at life and death.

In India, two events took place in recent times that impacted people with disabilities- in July, the government of India proposed amendments to the Rights of Persons with Disability Act (RPDA) 2016, to decriminalise minor offences, in as many as 19 legislations.

This proposal to negate and water down the Act was met with huge resistance from disability advocates and activists across the country, who insisted that doing the same would adversely affect people with disabilities in India. The solidarity and the strength with which the community came together to resist these lame changes in the name of “easing business” by the Government, succeeded in cancellation of the amendments.

Also in July, the Supreme Court delivered a significant decision that people with disabilities are socially backward and therefore qualify for the same benefits and relaxations as candidates from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, both in education and employment.

The Delhi High Court has reiterated that as per Census 2011, illiteracy rate among people with disabilities was almost 51% in India and despite the quota for disabled rising from 3-5%, employment rates and retention rates continue to be abysmally low. Hopefully with this new decision when put to full effect could elevate people with disabilities, particularly their education and employment potential.

As someone who has worked with children with developmental disabilities for almost ten years now, based on what we have seen and what we hear from parents, families and the older children, while there are an array of barriers that prevent inclusion into society, perhaps the most difficult one to overcome is the attitudinal barrier or the mindset of the larger society that chooses discrimination over diversity and its acceptance.

This challenge is large, escalates other barriers, has multiple origins like hate, ignorance, fear, lack of understanding etc, needs to be addressed from multiple levels and dimensions, and will take years to come through.

As a medical doctor, the one aspect I would like to focus on is training for medical professionals on disability; for all cadres of health workers and early on in the curriculum, for its impact on the individual, their family and society at large is significant.

This education, if provided the right way, could be life changing in understanding disability and impairment, provide equitable and timely intervention and address people with disabilities with dignity and respect.

If young doctors, particularly those in rural and peri-urban contexts understood disability and referred children for early intervention as soon as they picked up red flags in development, it could improve quality of life for children significantly and save the families and the health systems considerable investments in rehabilitation.

It could support families to access healthcare more often and thereby have positive health outcomes, leading to overall improvement in the health of the population.

Further, the right attitudes could also facilitate reduction of other barriers, including physical barriers like infrastructure, health communication could become more accessible and inter sectoral coordination between different departments could facilitate more one stop solutions for people with disabilities.

The right attitude also allows for the health care provider to view the person first and the disability later, enabling the person’s right to assessment, intervention, treatment, rehabilitation, or inclusion. But above all this, people with disabilities could be  treated with equal opportunities for access, treatment, medical benefits and therefore improve opportunities for education and/or employment, all of which would eventually contribute to the progress of society.

If this isn’t worth fighting for, what is?
It’s time to rethink disability, embrace it and handle it with love.
Love recognises no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope- Maya Angelou

The post The Battle over Barriers for People with Disabilities appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr Shubha Nagesh is a medical doctor and works with the Latika Roy Foundation

The post The Battle over Barriers for People with Disabilities appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Photo by Natasha Connell on Unsplash

By External Source
Aug 17 2020 (IPS)

People have searched for sex differences in human brains since at least the 19th century, when scientist Samuel George Morton poured seeds and lead shot into human skulls to measure their volumes. Gustave Le Bon found men’s brains are usually larger than women’s, which prompted Alexander Bains and George Romanes to argue this size difference makes men smarter. But John Stuart Mill pointed out, by this criterion, elephants and whales should be smarter than people.

So focus shifted to the relative sizes of brain regions. Phrenologists suggested the part of the cerebrum above the eyes, called the frontal lobe, is most important for intelligence and is proportionally larger in men, while the parietal lobe, just behind the frontal lobe, is proportionally larger in women. Later, neuroanatomists argued instead the parietal lobe is more important for intelligence and men’s are actually larger.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, researchers looked for distinctively female or male characteristics in smaller brain subdivisions. As a behavioral neurobiologist and author, I think this search is misguided because human brains are so varied.

 

Anatomical brain differences

The largest and most consistent brain sex difference has been found in the hypothalamus, a small structure that regulates reproductive physiology and behavior. At least one hypothalamic subdivision is larger in male rodents and humans.

But the goal for many researchers was to identify brain causes of supposed sex differences in thinking – not just reproductive physiology – and so attention turned to the large human cerebrum, which is responsible for intelligence.

Within the cerebrum, no region has received more attention in both race and sex difference research than the corpus callosum, a thick band of nerve fibers that carries signals between the two cerebral hemispheres.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, some researchers found the whole corpus callosum is proportionally larger in women on average while others found only certain parts are bigger. This difference drew popular attention and was suggested to cause cognitive sex differences.

But smaller brains have a proportionally larger corpus callosum regardless of the owner’s sex, and studies of this structure’s size differences have been inconsistent. The story is similar for other cerebral measures, which is why trying to explain supposed cognitive sex differences through brain anatomy has not been very fruitful.

 

Female and male traits typically overlap

Even when a brain region shows a sex difference on average, there is typically considerable overlap between the male and female distributions. If a trait’s measurement is in the overlapping region, one cannot predict the person’s sex with confidence. For example, think about height. I am 5’7″. Does that tell you my sex? And brain regions typically show much smaller average sex differences than height does.

Neuroscientist Daphna Joel and her colleagues examined MRIs of over 1,400 brains, measuring the 10 human brain regions with the largest average sex differences. They assessed whether each measurement in each person was toward the female end of the spectrum, toward the male end or intermediate. They found that only 3% to 6% of people were consistently “female” or “male” for all structures. Everyone else was a mosaic.

 

Prenatal hormones

When brain sex differences do occur, what causes them?

A 1959 study first demonstrated that an injection of testosterone into a pregnant rodent causes her female offspring to display male sexual behaviors as adults. The authors inferred that prenatal testosterone (normally secreted by the fetal testes) permanently “organizes” the brain. Many later studies showed this to be essentially correct, though oversimplified for nonhumans.

Researchers cannot ethically alter human prenatal hormone levels, so they rely on “accidental experiments” in which prenatal hormone levels or responses to them were unusual, such as with intersex people. But hormonal and environmental effects are entangled in these studies, and findings of brain sex differences have been inconsistent, leaving scientists without clear conclusions for humans.

 

Genes cause some brain sex differences

While prenatal hormones probably cause most brain sex differences in nonhumans, there are some cases where the cause is directly genetic.

This was dramatically shown by a zebra finch with a strange anomaly – it was male on its right side and female on its left. A singing-related brain structure was enlarged (as in typical males) only on the right, though the two sides experienced the same hormonal environment. Thus, its brain asymmetry was not caused by hormones, but by genes directly. Since then, direct effects of genes on brain sex differences have also been found in mice.

 

Learning changes the brain

Many people assume human brain sex differences are innate, but this assumption is misguided.

Humans learn quickly in childhood and continue learning – alas, more slowly – as adults. From remembering facts or conversations to improving musical or athletic skills, learning alters connections between nerve cells called synapses. These changes are numerous and frequent but typically microscopic – less than one hundredth of the width of a human hair.

Studies of an unusual profession, however, show learning can change adult brains dramatically. London taxi drivers are required to memorize “the Knowledge” – the complex routes, roads and landmarks of their city. Researchers discovered this learning physically altered a driver’s hippocampus, a brain region critical for navigation. London taxi drivers’ posterior hippocampi were found to be larger than nondrivers by millimeters – more than 1,000 times the size of synapses.

So it’s not realistic to assume any human brain sex differences are innate. They may also result from learning. People live in a fundamentally gendered culture, in which parenting, education, expectations and opportunities differ based on sex, from birth through adulthood, which inevitably changes the brain.

Ultimately, any sex differences in brain structures are most likely due to a complex and interacting combination of genes, hormones and learning.

Ari Berkowitz, Presidential Professor of Biology; Director, Cellular & Behavioral Neurobiology Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The post Brain Scientists Haven’t Been Able to Find Major Differences Between Women’s and Men’s Brains, Despite Over a Century of Searching appeared first on Inter Press Service.

These young refugees cycle round the camp in South Sudan to provide trusted information on Covid-19.

By Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury
Aug 17 2020 (IPS-Partners)

Sri Lanka is a country endowed with abundant natural beauty. The serenity of its geographical bounties matched the peaceful nature of its polity in the aftermath of the passage of power to local political leaders with the withdrawal of the British from the island in 1948. Its Constitution was crafted by some of the brightest legal minds of the British Commonwealth. The nation seemed well on the path to prosperity and progress. So much so, that once Lee Kuan Yew looked upon that country as a model for Singapore, with its commonly shared experience, to emulate.

Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury

Then tragedy struck. The bane of South Asia in the post-colonial era has been the inability of diverse communities to co-exist. Alas, Sri Lanka was no exception. The majority Sinhalese Buddhists became locked in a bitter civil war with Hindu Tamil separatists. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President from 2005-2015, and now Prime minister, crushed the rebellion with an iron hand. He was aided by his younger brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, then Defence Secretary, now, President. During that process the brothers tended to turn a Nelson’s blind eye to human rights. The people, thereafter, experimented with change by bringing into office Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe. He amended the constitution rendering the Prime minister more powerful than the President. But his governance was perceived as a dismal failure. Last year the Easter Sunday attack by Islamist militants led to much death and destruction.

With a sense of wary exasperation, the Sri Lankans turned once again to the Rajapaksa brothers. In November 2019, this time, Gotabaya, the younger Rajapaksa won the Presidential polls. He had spoken at my think tank, ISAS in Singapore, on a couple of occasions, and I was fairly familiar with his ideas. During a visit to Sri Lana for a Sri Lankan Military Seminar, I was able to sense the rise of the popularity of the Rajapaksas. Gotabaya, upon winning the Presidency in the November polls, immediately appointed his elder brother, the former President, Mahinda, as the Prime Minister. It was, albeit in a minority government as the Parliamentary elections were yet to be held, and the Rajapaksa popularity wave was not yet reflected in the membership numbers in that House. With some delay due to COVID-19, which incidentally the Rajapasas handled well, with 2839 cases and only 11 deaths , giving them a further electoral boost. Parliamentary elections were held on the 5th of August. Predictably the Rajapaksa Party, Sri Lanka Pradujana Peramuna (SLPP), swept the polls, winning 145 of the 225 Parliamentary seats.

Now only 5 more members supporting would give the SLPP the “super majority” of two-third of the total numbers to carry out any amendments they have in mind. For starters, one would be the restoration of the old powers of the President, a stated aspiration of Gotabaya. Then, as per his promises, other measures would be implemented to make the country economically and militarily secure. Such majority would now be easy to come by. Several other political parties are said to be eager to offer their support to enjoy some privileges of participating in what will naturally be a very powerful government.

There is one lurking danger, however. The elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa has always enjoyed being the one calling the shots. Indeed, during his previous ten year rule the ideological basis of governance was a set of concepts entitled Mahihda Chinta, literally translatable as ‘Thoughts of Mahinda’, reminiscent of Mao’s ‘Red Book’ or the ‘Green Book’ of Libya’s Moammer Gaddafi. That could be seen as perilously close to an admiration for a personality cult of his own. So, are there any potentials of future differences between the two brothers, now that the planned reforms, to be passed by the “super majority” Parliament and Prime Minister would accord greater powers to the President? A possibility, but an unlikely one, given, at least as of now, the proximity of the siblings, not just Mahinda and Gotabaya, but others, who are also in the political power-core. It is more likely that the ideas of all the siblings will fuse into an over-arching “Rajapaksa Chinta’, the ‘Thoughts of the Rajapaksas’.

The massive return of the Rajapaksas will have significant implications for global and regional politics. South Asia and the Indian Ocean region is currently witnessing a highly sharpened Sino-Indian rivalry. This is also being played out in all the neighbouring countries of India, except for in Pakistan, where the Chinese sway is paramount. In the past, India, had been supportive of the Hindu Tamil minority in international fora which had caused the Rajapaksas to turn towards China. Mahinda actually blamed India for his electoral defeat in 2015. The predilections of the Bharatiya Janata Party government of Narendra Modi in India for Hindutva could exacerbate problems of relationship with Sri Lanka as well, as in the case with other countries in the region.

China, long India’s rival for Sri Lanka’s attentions, had funded the Humbantota port project in the Rajapaksa hometown, which did create a debt-issue, that might, however, be re-examined under the new circumstances. Thereafter China provided US $1,4 billion for the Colombo port-city project, which is expected to hugely help transform the Sri Lankan economy. Actually, now that the Rajapaksa will have untrammeled power to decide as they choose, they could be rationally look to China’s vast financial capabilities for the fruition of their aspiration to turn Colombo into a global financial hub.

On the other hand, the India -Japan collaborative East Container Terminal project, signed during the previous Sirisena government seems about to come a cropper, faced with massive problems and major strikes. The Rajapaksas have been left unimpressed with regards to its tardy progress. Nonetheless, Narendra Modi of India won the race to be the first of the two competing rivals to reach the Rajapaksas in offering congratulations on the electoral victory. But it is unsure what role such an optical triumph will play in determining the ultimate policies of the victorious Rajapakesa brothers which are likely to be shaped by deeper reflections on the perceived national self-interest of their country.

This story was originally published by Dhaka Courier.

The post Sri Lankan Parliamentary Polls: The Return of the Rajapaksa Raj appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Family farming is a “critical sector” for Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC), with approximately 16.5 million farm holdings across the region. Credit: Mario Osava/IPS

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 17 2020 (IPS)

With limited transport options to carry their goods to the market, lack of protective gear, and limited financial resources, family farmers across Latin America are facing grave consequences as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a survey carried out by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) with 118 family farming specialists — defined as professionals with high levels of knowledge in the agricultural sector in general and family agriculture in particular — across 29 countries, many of the respondents said they were already facing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Family farming is a “critical sector” for Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC), according to the IICA report, with approximately 16.5 million farm holdings across the region.

Mario Léon, manager of IICA’s Territorial Development and Family Agriculture Programme, at the headquarters in San José, Costa Rica, told IPS that 80 percent of LAC’s production units are family farming units, with 56 percent of them being in South America and 35 percent in Mexico and Central America. These holdings account for between 30 to 40 percent of the agricultural GDP of the region. Given the pervasive fear among customers of contracting the coronavirus, it’s farmers who are suffering: with difficulty in  selling their products and being able to carry them to the market.

“However, it is possible that the most dangerous food shortages may occur in those regions and countries that are net food importers, particularly among the most vulnerable sectors of the population (the poor and indigent),” Léon told IPS.

Full excerpt of the interview below:

Inter Press Service (IPS): Throughout the survey, it consistently appears that “restrictions on travel and movement” is a key factor affecting the family farmers. What role does traveling and commuting play in business for them?

Mario Léon (ML): Many LAC regions with FF communities are far removed from urban centres and have an inadequate road network, which creates logistical costs and increases the prices at which goods are ultimately sold. When transportation is restricted, they cannot receive production inputs or even those food products that may not always be produced or available in rural communities, such as noodles, sugar, oils, cleaning or personal care items, medicine, etc. If production inputs do not reach communities, agricultural activities cannot continue. Similarly, during the harvest, if transportation is restricted, products cannot be distributed and since storage, silos and refrigeration facilities are not always available, the produce is wasted. This is partially due to a lack of organisation and the inability to access proper transportation for distribution.

IPS: How has the restriction of movement affected family farming?

ML: Measures taken to curtail the pandemic, such as restricted movement, has affected family farming in various ways. On the demand side, it has caused the temporary closure of outlets and services, including food stores, which has led to a contraction in the food demand, which in turn has forced prices downward and has made it difficult for some producers to place their products on the market. Consumers have also reduced their visits to traditional markets, out of fear of contracting the virus.

On the supply side, given that family farming  production activities are not usually labour intensive and that most of its production processes have always been done without the need for close physical contact, the effect of the pandemic on this aspect is thought to have been minimal, for now. The limitations it faces, therefore, relate more to services to transport agricultural products to markets and the restrictions on vehicular movement in the countries.

IPS: Is the current crisis affecting any marginalised groups within family farming differently: such as women or indigenous communities? 

Yes. Women play a leading role not only in the home but also in the production and selling of food. They are the ones normally involved in short circuit trade and in the selling of products, allowing the family to generate an income. They manage the household and complement the efforts of the production unit. In many countries, women are responsible for horticulture production, the growing of medicinal plants and the rearing of small animals.

Women are also involved in processing family farming  production, via small scale agro-industry. When sales outlets are temporarily closed or restricted, this limits their options and affects them directly. The situation is more complex in indigenous communities. Distance, the lack of communication media or outlets to sell their craftwork is aggravated by social confinement and makes their situation worse.

IPS: In what ways do you believe these groups have been affected?

ML: Although the survey did not conduct an in-depth assessment of how these marginalised groups have been affected, one would expect that they have and perhaps more, given that the demand for food has been decreasing, creating increased competition among producers to access markets. Producers who are more equipped and have more linkages to trade channels have been able to access markets, causing marginalised groups to be displaced and their income to be reduced. Social distancing measures have also exacerbated the effects of the pandemic on marginalised groups that, even before the crisis, had limited access to production services and markets, which is a situation that has now been further aggravated by their limited digital education. This has affected their capacity to promote their business undertakings during the pandemic.

IPS: The survey report says, “There has also been a decline in available drivers and transport operators, arising from restrictions imposed as preventive measures or through fear of the risks associated with transmitting and contracting the virus.” Do family farmers often rely on outsourced drivers and transport operators to take their produce to markets? 

ML: Local markets, including collection and supply centres as well as retail markets, are the primary destination for family farming products in Latin America. Most producer organisations are of an informal nature and lack any kind of legal status; therefore, they are unable to enter into commitments relating, among other things, to the purchase of vehicles to transport their products to markets. As a result, their market access is dependent on intermediaries, namely transporters who collect products and then transport them to sales centres, reducing profit margins for producers. Some family farmers do have their own transport services, either because they form part of an association or, in just a few cases, because they are able to generate enough income to purchase their own vehicles; however, the vast majority of farmers rely on intermediaries. Quarantine measures have reduced the availability of transport services. Additionally, due to a lack of sanitary protocols, entire crews of truckers at several companies have fallen ill with the virus, which has hindered the transportation of products.

IPS: The survey says, “this relationship between producers and intermediaries was most affected in zones in which associative enterprises had been weakened the most, thereby limiting the negotiating power of family farmers.” What factors lead to this reduced negotiating power for them?

ML: Because marketing processes via producer organisations have come to a standstill, farmers have undertaken individual efforts to sell their products at the prices offered by intermediaries. Collective marketing has been affected by reduced product volumes and the absence of contracts and/or agreements that foster social cohesion within producer organisations, which were already weak.

Related Articles

• Family Farming Wages a Difficult Battle in Argentina
• Latin America in Search of Sustainable Food Systems

The post Q&A: Family Farming in Latin America & the Caribbean Hard Hit by COVID-19 Restrictions appeared first on Inter Press Service.

In an exclusive interview with BBC Sport, the UK's first Muslim female referee discusses learning English, how she handles discrimination and her career goals.

Troops battle al-Shabab militants who stormed the Elite Hotel in the capital, Mogadishu.

A government minister accuses the Church leaders of joining groups seeking "to manufacture crises".

Aerial footage shows the remains of the MV Wakashio, which broke up on Saturday.

The MV Wakashio, which spilled more than 1,000 tonnes of fuel oil off Mauritius, has split apart.

Coronavirus has inspired Africans to create a wide range of inventions to help fight the pandemic.

Thousands of people have been forced out of their homes by rising water levels in two Kenyan lakes.

South Africa's president says infections have peaked, as he seeks to revive the country's economy.

Prosecutors seize buildings run by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, alleging corruption.

By Folake Olayinka
Aug 15 2020 (IPS)

In 1918, the Spanish Flu, a deadly influenza caused by the H1N1 virus, decimated the world. Over the course of four successive waves, it infected 500 million people, about a third of the world’s population at the time, resulting in 50 million deaths.

More recently between 2014 and mid-2016 , the Ebola virus epidemic was the most widespread outbreak of Ebola virus disease in history—causing devastating  loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the West Africa region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. These outbreaks, as well as SARS and MERS, each have provided lessons on how to better handle future pandemics.

The biggest takeaway for COVID-19? We need effective leadership and an intersectional response.

For years, scientists and thought leaders have warned about the need for preparedness against a potential pandemic. Five years ago, Bill Gates in his TED talk ‘The next outbreak? We’re not ready’, drew attention to a potential epidemic from a corona-like virus.  In an interview in 2019, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci shared similar sentiments.

In a sense, a pandemic like COVID-19 was anticipated and yet it still took the world largely by surprise. When it came, it changed everything, as we knew it would. It also exposed deep underlying disparities and inequities fueling poor health outcomes. In the absence of a vaccine, health professionals and public health leaders explored the range of interventions and tools they could deploy against the virus from simple infection control measures to hospital-based intensive care.

Although the focus continues to be minimizing the death toll while urgently working towards a vaccine, it is important to reflect and learn from the past months. What did leaders do well and what did they not do well, while not fully understanding the disease and how can we use these lessons right now and in the future?

Rapidly changing information led to a complex cycle of responses but at the center of this conversation is the recognition that the intersection between public health leadership and political leadership holds the key to getting ahead of the disease.

With the unprecedented spread of the pandemic, varying transmission rates at country levels, cross border spread, and a lack of a cure or vaccines, both political and public health leaders have had to chart new pathways in order to limit the catastrophic impact of the virus.

Another critical question is what type of leadership is needed to get through such an unprecedented crisis? New Zealand presents an effective leadership model not only through their rapid and aggressive response, but also a strong adaptive leadership in that complex intersection of politics, health and economics.

 

Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-fourth session, 24 September 2019. UN Photo/Cia Pak

Without a doubt, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern provided effective political leadership in eliminating COVID-19 as declared on June 8, 2020 about 11 weeks after the first case. It can be argued that by basing decisions on science and prioritizing health outcomes, the leadership of New Zealand set a high bar for other leaders to overcome COVID-19.

The early lockdown measures were stringent and fast and certainly affected the amount of income from tourism usually seen at this time of the year in the short term. This approach was necessary to achieve longer term objectives of restoring the health and economy.

Going into the lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement in March 14, 2020, “we must fight by going hard and going early.’’ This leadership strategy was certainly effective by any standards. Jacinda Ardern not only successfully eliminated COVID-19 within eleven weeks; she also balanced her leadership with empathy.

She demonstrated purposeful, empathic leadership based on science and public health. This aligns with the leadership approach put forward by Former President of Liberia, H.E Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, who led her country to recovery after fourteen years of civil war.

“To me, there is no contradiction between being an empathetic leader and being a strong leader.” A lot can be learned about effective leadership from these women leaders in times of crisis.

Here are five critical things that leaders need to do to get ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic:

1. Use the scientific evidence and data regularly to innovate, adapt tools and approaches to contain disease, reduce severity of illness and prevent deaths
2. Listen and respond to people’s concerns, needs with empathy; communicate consistently clearly and factually through trusted voices and ensure access to accurate information at all levels
3. Collaborate and coordinate actions across sectors at global, country and subnational levels, with communities and relevant stakeholders. This will create greater efficiency and avoid wasting resources
4. Adapt approaches based on emerging issues, draw lessons fast and apply relevant learning using talent and technology
5. Rapidly determine high-risk populations, those suffering the greatest burden and address systemic inequities that perpetuate spread of the disease.

 

To be sure, this pandemic has brought the political, health and economic leadership of countries into a complex intersection and leaders have had to grapple with taking the right decisions.

There are a number of considerations that inform the type of decision-making, resources, and interventions that must be prioritized to prevent deaths, stop the spread of the diseases, protect vulnerable populations, and keep the economies running. But COVID-19 anywhere is a threat everywhere and to overcome it, the world will need coordinated and effective leadership.

Only a healthy nation can grow an economy. Effective leadership, particularly in a time of crisis, is the key to restoring economic balance.

There is still a ways to go for many regions and countries in combating COVID-19, but I am sure that leadership modeled after Jacinda Ardern and the critical actions above will go a long way in halting the pandemic where they are applied. With the right leadership at all levels, we can have a better and more resilient post pandemic world.

 

Dr. Folake Olayinka is a global health leader and a senior advisor with JSI in Arlington Virginia. She has particular interest in immunization, maternal and child health, infectious diseases and leadership. She is an Aspen Fellow. Follow her on Twitter @joflakes

The post Leading in Time of COVID: A True Test of Leadership appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Some of Nigeria's most vulnerable people are struggling to follow Covid-19 safety measures.

The BBC Focus on Africa programme has played a dramatic role in covering the continent over the last 60 years.

Egypt has faced criticism for testing frontline healthcare workers for coronavirus using antibody tests.