Africa

Credit: Food Tank

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14 2019 (IPS)

When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a global appeal for “zero hunger” on World Food Day last month, he provided some grim statistics rich in irony: more than 820 million people do not have enough to eat, he said, while two billion people are overweight or obese.

“It is unacceptable that hunger is on the rise at a time when the world wastes more than one billion tonnes of food every year.”
Still, the United Nations is hoping for the eradication of extreme hunger by 2030 as part of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

How realistic is this? And can Artificial Intelligence (AI), touted as the new panacea for some of the world’s ills, help facilitate increased agricultural crops and farm output?

In a New York Times article titled “Harvesting Corn, Wheat and a Profit” October 13, Tim Gray points out that as the world’s population rises, from the current 7.6 billion to nearly 10 billion in 2050, the United Nations has estimated that 70 percent more food will be needed by then, but it will have to be produced on just five percent of arable land.

But AI, meanwhile, is on the move with farmers operating self-guided tractors guided by GPS navigation systems, drones being used to monitor crops, AI being employed in irrigation and robots likely to take cow hands’ jobs.

Asked if there is a role for AI in agriculture, Sonja Vermeulen, Director of Programs, CGIAR System Organization, told IPS: “Absolutely. CGIAR’s role in this is creating and scaling up affordable AI and big data solutions – so they are relevant and accessible to a wide diversity of farmers regardless of gender, culture, wealth or literacy.

For example, CGIAR (described as a global partnership that unites international organizations engaged in research for a food-secured future and formerly known as the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research ) won former UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon’s innovation prize for work using big data to better predict rice harvests from weather patterns so farmers can match planting places and times (and save a lot of money), she said.

Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank, described as a think tank for food, told IPS while AI, Big Data, and other technologies can hold a lot of potential for farmers of all sizes, they are not a silver bullet for solving hunger.”

“The question we need to ask with all technologies is what problem are they trying to solve and who will they help?”

Unfortunately, she said, many high-tech innovations are not helping farmers who need it the most—the world’s small and medium sized farmers who produce much of the food on the globe.

Those farmers need to be part of the research and development of new technologies so that they actually solve the challenges those farmers face, she added.

And there needs to be an emphasis on combining “high” and “low” tech innovations and making sure that farmers indigenous and traditional knowledge is respected, said Nierenberg.

An article titled “Artificial Intelligence: What AI Can do for Smallholder Farmers” in the Food Tank website, says “Imagine one hundred years ago if farmers had access to huge volumes of information about the soil profile of their land, the varieties of crops they were growing, and even the fluctuations of their local climate?. This kind of information could have prevented an environmental crisis like the Dust Bowl of the 1920s in the American Midwest. But even ten years ago, the idea that farmers could have access to this kind of information was unrealistic.”

For the team behind the CGIAR Platform for Big Data in Agriculture, farming is the next frontier for using artificial intelligence (AI) to efficiently solve complex problems. The team—which includes biologists, agronomists, nutritionists, and policy analysts working with data scientists—is using Big Data tools to create AI systems that can predict the potential outcomes of future scenarios for farmers.

By leveraging massive amounts of data and using innovative computational analysis, the CGIAR Platform is working to help farmers increase their efficiency and reduce the risks that are inherent in farming, according to the article.

Asked for her comments, Ruth Richardson, Executive Director, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, told IPS: “When it comes to the future of food in the climate emergency, we need to go beyond just looking to “technology” as a silver bullet solution. Instead, we need to broaden the discussion to be about wider food system transformation and interrogate whether technology is the end or a means to an end?”

After all, she said, some farmers operate using advanced technology but many globally are still reliant on small scale operations and tools. It’s important to also note that technology and innovation, more broadly, are important tools to achieve sustainable food systems but technology itself – especially the access to it — is not neutral.

Richardson pointed out that one of the biggest challenges related to technology is related to governance.

“A concentration of power and highly unequal power relations are a deep problem in today’s broken food system so we need to ensure that technology and its implementation is managed in a way that promotes equity and environmental sustainability. Any developments need to be assessed holistically with a focus on risks and trade-offs,” she declared.

Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director at the San Francisco-based Oakland Institute, told IPS today nearly 800 million people are hungry and this number is expected to grow, despite grand declarations by the governments at UN summits.

“But we already produce enough food to feed at least 10 billion people (the current population is around 7.6 billion). It is therefore essential to understand the true causes of hunger—when there is no shortage of food.”

Focus on technology driven industrial agricultural system as a solution to hunger, has created a food system that is upside down and backwards. Denying family farmers their basic rights to land, seeds, markets, and food sovereignty has rendered food producers hungry, argued Mittal.

Take the case of India – primarily an agrarian economy with 60% of its population employed in agriculture. India is world’s 14th largest agricultural, fishery, and forestry product exporter – in 2018, India accrued a $14.6 billion trade surplus of agricultural, fishery, and forestry goods.

And yet, she pointed out, farmer suicides continue to dominate newspaper headlines nationally while the country is home to the largest number of hungry people in the world. In 2017 Global Hunger Index, India ranked 100 out of 119 ranked countries.

The last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report focused on climate change and land, makes it clear that fixing our food system is imperative. Industrial food production has led to increased greenhouse gas emissions; monopoly of a few corporations over seeds to chemical inputs; monoculture production which threatens biodiversity globally; and more.

“This has made our agricultural system both a major driver of climate change—and majorly vulnerable to its effects.”.

“Instead of seeing artificial intelligence as the next silver bullet solution to hunger, we need a food system that respects and protects the intelligence of family farmers, traditional knowledge and agroecological principles of farming,” declared Mittal..

The post Will Artificial Intelligence Help Resolve the Food Crisis? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

ICPD25 Youth delegates: Michele Simon (left) and Botho Mahlunge. Credit: Joyce Chimbi / IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 14 2019 (IPS)

Every day in developing countries it is estimated that 20,000 girls under the age of 18 give birth. This amounts to 7.3 million births a year.

Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are still the leading cause of death among adolescent girls, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) statistics.

Let us be heard

Born long after the Cairo Promise, the 18-year-old Michelle Simon and the 19-year-old Botho Mahlunge both youth representatives from Botswana, lament that years later a world where girls can enrol and stay in school is far from the lived reality for millions of adolescents across the globe.

“When I was 13 years old I started to see the connection between girls getting pregnant and dropping out of school. “These girls were very bright but when they left school they never returned.

I started to talk about preventing these pregnancies at that young age,” Simon tells IPS.

Simon says that 25 years after the promise, “it is very sad because those who should be protecting us have failed us. Parents cannot even close the gap between them and their adolescent”.

She argues that parents have abdicated their responsibility to the education system and the entire society. “But where is the parent’s responsibility towards adolescent health?” she asks.

Simon says that in this era of technology and information, adolescent health should not be the problem area that it is. “We cannot hide behind culture and say that ours is a conservative society.

Culture should reflect problems

“Culture evolves and it must so that it can reflect the problems we are facing,” she says.

Mahlunge says that failure to educate our young people on sexuality “is the reason so many girls are getting pregnant and infected with HIV.”

She says the continued exclusion of young people in rural areas from sexual and reproductive health and rights discussion is also to blame for the prevailing state of affairs.

“Young people in rural areas are completely vulnerable. They are so far removed from the little information and services available to young people in urban areas,” Mahlunge observes.

We need sexual health education

Denis Otundo from the Network for Adolescent and Youth of Africa says that the ICPD25 conference has a lot in store to offer adolescents.

He notes that the stigma attached to providing adolescents with comprehensive sexuality education in many African countries is unfounded.

“This Summit is very clear on what needs to be done. As early as at the age of 15 years, adolescents should start receiving information on sexuality. The focus is to provide the right information, at the right time so that adolescents can make the right decisions,” he says.

Otundo says that this information includes life skills “on how to say no to sex because this is part of promoting adolescent health. It is also about training them on identifying all forms of violence, teaching them about available channels to report violence, and how to report”.

Experts at UNFPA argue that if laws support access to adolescent sexual and reproductive health rights, this could delay early sexual debut because such rights encourage and enable young people to make sound decisions.

He says that when young people lack access to proper information, they turn to fellow adolescents for information.

Invest in young people says the Asian Population and Development Association

Dr Osamu Kusumoto from the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) says that the capacity of countries to accelerate and achieve ICPD25 commitments is dependent on the extent to which countries invest in their young people.

“Unplanned pregnancies are a big problem in developing countries. When you have a large population of young people pregnant while they should be in school, this is a problem for the economy too,” he says.

In Kenya alone, UNFPA statistics show that many young girls are likely to have repeated pregnancies.

As many as one in five girls give birth before the age of 18 years, even worse, as a majority of then will get married. Girls between 15 to 19 years are particularly at risk of acquiring HIV.

Kusumoto says that interventions must address young people’s most pressing problems. In this way, they can stay in school and acquire the skills needed to participate in the economy.

Young people are the heart of this Summit

“Adolescents are at the heart of the Summit. All the commitments that have been made, in one way or another, touch on adolescents,” says Otundo.

He says that adolescents are the most affected by sexual and gender-based violence, and harmful practices including female genital mutilation and child marriages.

Among the private sector partners who have committed funds to deliver the Cairo promise include Plan International who will allocate $500 million to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and adolescents by 2025.

“I speak out about unwanted pregnancies and violence against young people. I also speak out about the need to stay in school because I believe this is what we need to accelerate the promise made to us even before we were born,” Simon says.

Botho encourages young people wherever they may be “to engage and to dialogue. If you see an opportunity to hold government accountable, do not hold back.”

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South Africa's rugby world champions strip to their pants to raise awareness of testicular cancer.

Credit: UN photo, Mark Garten

By Andreas Bummel, Lysa John and Bruno Kaufmann
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14 2019 (IPS)

Next year the United Nations will commemorate its 75th anniversary. The General Assembly determined that all the UN’s activities in 2020 shall be guided by the theme “The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”.

In January the Secretariat plans1 to launch “the biggest-ever global conversation” on the role of global cooperation and to build a “global vision of 2045.”

The UN Charter begins with the words: “We the Peoples”. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights clearly states in article 21.1. that everyone has the right to take part in the government of their country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

Thus, it should not come as a surprise that this right to participation will now also extend to the forthcoming “global conversation”, as the UN has stated that anybody who wishes to, will be able to join.

At the same time, this is a bold statement in times of deep divides on not just the role of the UN but even more so about the role of citizens and civil society in shaping its affairs. It was only after contentious debates among member states, for instance, that a minor role for civil society was included in the formal resolution on UN75 adopted earlier this year.

The problem is well known.

Fifteen years ago, the Cardoso panel on the relations between the UN and civil society established by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan outlined2 the democratic deficit of global governance in clear terms.

They argued among other things that the UN should help “strengthen democracy for the twenty-first century” by emphasizing participatory democracy and deeper accountability of institutions to the global public.

Unfortunately, most member states had no appetite to look into this further. Despite all efforts to include non-state actors, the UN’s democratic deficit remains critical and undermines the world organization’s credibility.

The alternative People’s Assembly that was held in parallel to the UN’s summit on the Sustainable Development Goals in September in New York concluded3 that the “world is on fire” not least due to a dramatic “crisis of accountability and governance” that extends to the UN.

As well-intentioned it may be, the UN’s global PR campaign that will be rolled out in the course of next year on the occasion of the 75th anniversary will not be able to alleviate the problem unless it leads to tangible institutional change.

From our point of view the UN is an indispensable centre for global deliberation, collaboration and action. The role of the UN as conscience keeper and upholder of universal norms and values remains steadfast.

However, the notion of multilateralism needs to evolve beyond purely intergovernmental engagement and open up to avenues for public and civil society participation. In itself this is a challenging task when “civic space” remains constrained for large swathes of the globe’s population.4

A commitment to multilateralism at present should acknowledge more than ever that the UN’s success depends on strong partnerships with major groups and stakeholders across the world.

As the Earth Summit 2012 stated, sustainable development requires their meaningful involvement and active participation in processes that contribute to decision-making, planning and implementation of policies and programmes at all levels.

A global civic participation campaign5 launched today by a broad alliance of citizens’ initiatives, civil society groups and networks from across the world, jointly coordinated by Democracy Without Borders, Democracy International and CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, calls on the UN and its member states to go a step further.

The UN we need and the UN we want welcomes and seeks the input of “We the Peoples” in whose name it was established 75 years ago. Yet, there is no formal and well-structured UN instrument that enables individual citizens to influence the world organization’s work and this has to change.

A global organization that wishes to leave no one behind – as member states pledged when they adopted the Agenda 2030 – needs to include everyone.

In fact, the General Assembly has repeatedly stated the “right to equitable participation of all, without any discrimination, in domestic and global decision-making”. Informal consultations and public relations exercises to polish the UN’s image are not enough. The UN needs to lead by example through innovations in participation.

Our campaign calls for the creation of a World Citizens’ Initiative on the occasion of the UN’s 75th anniversary. This new and innovative instrument will enable global citizens to submit proposals to the General Assembly or the Security Council if they manage to collect sufficient support from fellow citizens across the world within a specified time.

Similar participatory mechanisms already exist in many cities, regions and countries worldwide. A powerful example is the European Citizens’ Initiative, the first transnational tool of modern direct democracy. It helps to understand how a World Citizens’ Initiative could function.

Certainly, many technical details need to be discussed and political will mobilized. Still, we emphasize that a World Citizens’ Initiative is feasible and that the UN and member states will be able to overcome all challenges if they are actually interested in the participation of “We the Peoples.”

We are convinced that the UN, member states, civil society and global citizens alike will benefit from the direct link a World Citizens’ Initiative will establish, and that its creation will represent an important step forward for the UN.

Clearly, a World Citizens’ Initiative is a proposal that is complementary to other important efforts such as the inclusion of major groups and civil society in the UN’s work or the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly.

The World Citizens’ Initiative is a proposal that is in line with the concept of people-centered multilateral cooperation in a spirit of global citizenship and it is in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, among others6 . It may be a key element in the long-sought revitalization of the General Assembly.

We urge the UN and member states to study the proposal and to launch open and inclusive preparations for the creation of a UN World Citizens’ Initiative. Civil society groups and individual citizens are invited to join the campaign and help us build the necessary political momentum and public pressure for transformation.

1 https://www.un.org/en/un75
2 P. 9: https://undocs.org/A/58/817
3 https://gcap.global/news/peoples-assembly-declaration/
4 https://monitor.civicus.org/
5 https://www.worldcitizensinitiative.org/
6 https://www.idea.int/publications/catalogue/global-passport-modern-direct-democracy

The post The UN at 75: Time to Give Citizens a Voice appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Andreas Bummel is Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders. Lysa John is Secretary-General of CIVICUS. Bruno Kaufmann is co-president of the Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy and board member of Democracy International.

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A protest against the welcoming of Mohammad bin Salman at Downing Street, last year. Rights organisations have started an online petition against the involvement of bin Salman’s Misk Foundation with the United Nations Educational Scientific And Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Youth Forum being held in Paris next week. Courtesy: Alisdare Hickson/CC by 2.0

By James Reinl
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 14 2019 (IPS)

The United Nations faces renewed criticism over its partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Misk Foundation amid revelations that the charity is headed by the mastermind of a recent Twitter spying operation.

An online petition against the tie-up has received some 6,000 signatures, with organisers saying the U.N.’s cultural agency, UNESCO, should “have nothing to do” with Misk, the private charity of Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohamed bin Salman. 

The campaign comes days before Misk takes part in the Nov. 18-19 UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris, and days after revelations that Misk official Bader al-Asaker led a Saudi effort to gather private details about dissidents via their Twitter accounts.

“Thousands of people are urging UNESCO to cut ties with Misk, a fake Saudi charity that’s really a front for spying run by the Saudi dictator as he tries to track and kill critics,” Sunjeev Bery, director of campaign group Freedom Forward, which organised the petition, told IPS.

“It’s time for the world to wake up and realise that you cannot dance with a brutal despot without becoming implicated in their public relations efforts. The Saudi dictatorship uses its international affiliations to hide the violence it deploys to silence opponents.”

Bery says Misk is used by the powerful crown prince as “propaganda” to divert attention away from Riyadh’s spying operations, a crackdown on critics and the “mass slaughter” during its military operations in neighbouring Yemen.

UNESCO has worked with Misk since 2015 in a deal worth $5 million to the Paris-based U.N. agency. Misk promotes young entrepreneurship at glitzy gatherings in New York, Paris and elsewhere, featuring such speakers as soccer legend Thierry Henry.

UNESCO spokesman Alexander Schischlik said the agency and Misk have co-hosted several events in recent years, and that Misk had helped select a candidate to take part in this month’s forum at UNESCO headquarters.

“It is our role and obligation to work with all member states within our mandate,” Schischlik told IPS. 

“We will continue to do so. Saudi Arabia has been a valuable partner in many issues, including heritage protection, and culture.”

Critics of the tie-up point to revelations this month that Misk’s secretary-general, al-Asaker, ran a Saudi effort to track down dissidents using Twitter, and claims last year linking him to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Last week, the United States Department of Justice charged three men of spying for Saudi by digging up private user data of suspected dissidents and passing it to Riyadh in exchange for cash and luxury wristwatches.

A 24-page FBI complaint accuses two former Twitter employees and an individual who previously worked for the Saudi royal family as being part of a spy ring that tapped private data from thousands of accounts.

The document does not name Asaker or the crown prince, but references to “Foreign Official-1” and “Royal Family Member-1” have been identified as Asaker and prince bin Salman, who is the kingdom’s de facto ruler and is better known as MbS. 

Asaker runs MbS’ private office and heads Misk, which promotes entrepreneurship in Saudi, where high unemployment rates and a demographic bulge of youngsters raise tough questions for an economy that seeks to wean itself off oil.

The complaint describes Asaker cultivating Twitter employees and paying them hundreds of thousands of dollars to discover the email addresses and other private details related to Twitter accounts that had criticised the kingdom.

It was not the first time that Asaker made headlines. Last year, Turkish pro-government daily Yeni Safak reported that the head of Saudi hit squad that killed dissident journalist Khashoggi phoned Asaker four times as the gruesome operation was carried out.

Transcripts of the calls were never published, and it remains unclear whether Asaker was involved. Saudi officials initially denied links to Khashoggi’s murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, but later described a “rogue operation” that did not involve MbS.

The CIA has concluded that the prince ordered the hit, according to reports. Saudi officials point to a trial in Saudi of alleged plotters, in which Asaker is not a defendant, but which has been widely criticised for lacking in transparency.

The U.N. has faced repeated blowback over its ties with Misk. In September, the U.N.’s youth envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake, pulled out of an event she was co-hosting with Misk at the last minute amid controversy over Khashoggi’s murder.

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Three young West Africans stole from their families to fund a trek to Europe, now they have to face the consequences.

Pascal Siakam might have been a priest. Or a footballer. The path that led him to the NBA is not what you would call conventional.

MARTIN KARADZHOV, Global Youth Commitee speaking at ICPD25. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi / IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 13 2019 (IPS)

Governments across the world must ban all state-implemented harmful practices against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) community delegates at the ICPD25 tells IPS.

Adding his voice in bridging the gap of Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) among the youth, Martin Karadzhov, chair for Global Youth Steering Committee, told delegates at a youth event themed “our bodies, our lives, our world”, at the 25thInternational Conference on Population Development (ICDP25).

LGBTQI young people remain voiceless

Although there are 1.8 billion youths between the ages of 10 and 24 years, they continue to be marginalised when it comes to SRHR issues. Karadzhov said LGBTQI youth in many countries were subjected to harmful practices including pressure on them to convert, a practice with no scientific basis which is also unethical and, in most instances, a torture. “Justice for one is justice for all,” he said.

He urged governments to repeal discriminatory laws against the LGBTQI community, adding that they were denied access to Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) services on the basis of their sexuality. “Our human rights are not controversial,” said Karadzhov.

Young people often only a statistic

Echoing his sentiments was Mavis Naa Korley Aryee, a youth programme national radio host at Curious Minds. She said although there are 1. 8 billion reasons why young people should be involved in decision-making process, they are only mentioned as statistics.“Being part of a minority should not be a reason for discrimination,” said Aryee.

Young people speak out at Nairobi Summit. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi / IPS

She advocated for access to SRH services to be made available to all young people, adding that they have a right to make choices about their bodies. She was, however, encouraged by the way the global youth had stood up to be counted despite the challenges they face. Aryeenoted that the youth contributed to the development agenda leading to ICPD25, adding that the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also about them.

“We have then numbers. No one will ignore 1.8 billion reasons. The more we collaborate, the more we advance our agenda,” she said.

Fighting for a seat a the table

The global youth is fighting for a seat on the decision-making table where Marco Tsaradia, a Member of Parliament from Madagascar, said young people are told: “things have always been done like this”. He said the youth are keen to bring about new ideas because they are talented and innovative. However, he complained that the existing decision-making structure prevented them from achieving this objective.

It gets worse if young persons with disabilities want to enter the table because, said Leslie Tikolitikoca from the Fiji Disabled Peoples Federation, they tend to be “judged on their disabilities rather than their abilities”. For example, he said, instead of providing services to those who are unable to hear or see, those in power would rather make decisions on their behalf instead of helping them to contribute to the discussion.

“How are we going to ensure that we leave no one behind if we don’t involve all young people?” he wondered.

EU commits funding

Following the youth’s proposed solutions to their SRHR, Henriette Geiger, from the directorate of people and peace at the European Union Commission, said it was time to act. She said the EU has proposed that governments should consider reducing the voting age to 16 years.

Young people at ICPD25 youth session. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi / IPS

“That would make a huge impact in decision-making on youth policy,” she said, adding that the EU was funding key initiatives to change public perceptions about the LGBTQI community by using film.

Although she said the EU was involved in many SRHR programmes in Africa, she further pledged €29 million towards SRHR programmes for the youth, urging organisations to take advantage of this initiative.

Not all doom and gloom

During the opening address of the ICPD25, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) executive director, Natalia Kanem, told delegates “good progress is not good enough”, insisting that the promises made to girls, women and everyone should be kept.

Kanem paid special tribute to the youth, for bringing new ideas and resources to make rights and choices a reality.

“To the youth, you’re inspiring in pushing us to go further Thank you,” said Kanem.

It is not all sad and gloomy for the youth, said Ahmed Alhendawi, the secretary-general of the World Organisation of the Scouts Movement. The fact that the youth have formed themselves into a global youth movement should be celebrated because that is how they are going to win the fight to be part of decision-making processes.

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The group stage of qualifying for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations has begun.

Teruhiko Mashiko, Japan Parliamentary Federation for Population

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 13 2019 (IPS)

The Japan Parliamentary Federation for Population represented by Mr Teruhiko Mashiko and its secretariat, the Asian Population and Development Association (APDA) has made a clear and concrete commitment to endorse the ICPD25 agenda. Mashiko tells IPS that Japan, as should every country driven by the well-being of its population, should create the best possible conditions to achieve the ICPD25 agenda.

Interview by Joyce Chimbi at the ICPD25 in Nairobi, Kenya

Q. What lessons are there for developing countries from Japan to accelerate the achievement of sustainable development?

A. The focus of the ICPD25 debate should be focused on how sexual and reproductive health and rights parallel to other development concerns such as food security and women empowerment. Gender equality and freedom for women to make their choices freely is a priority for Japan.

Q. Why are the twin issues of population and development so critical for Africa and for developing countries across the globe?

A. Population is a global issue for both developed and developing even for countries like Japan. This is despite Japan being the first country to achieve a successful demographic transition. Population and development issues are very important for us even though we are already enjoying demographic dividends.

Q. How did Japan achieve this very important demographic transition?

A. Post Cairo, many of the countries which are considered to be developed today prioritized population issues as a key development agenda. Africa must now focus on managing its population so that every pregnancy is wanted. Today, the continent has high unmet needs for family planning and unplanned pregnancies, especially among young people.

Investing in children and young people is critical for sustainable growth in Africa. Importantly, designing special sexual and reproductive health and rights services will prevent early and unplanned pregnancies among Africa’s young. Consequently, they will stay in school and acquire important skills to contribute to building the economy.

Q. High youth unemployment rates prevail across Africa, what lessons can Africa learn from Japan?

A. Economic development is critical because, without a healthy economy, job creation becomes an impossibility. Africa will need to address itself to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and develop sound economic policies.

This will require an in-depth analysis of the challenges facing each country respectively. Matching these needs to specially tailored economically sound policies is very important. An economically active society will accelerate the fulfilment of the ICPD25 agenda.

Q. Why is it so critical for parliamentarians to be involved in developing commitments around the ICPD25 agenda?

A. Parliamentarians are the backbone of legislation in every country. They are key in developing legislation that is progressive and that speaks to the needs of its people. Africa, for instance, will need sound legislation that responds to each country’s most pressing needs including food security, women empowerment, job creation and social security. Without this critical role, populations cannot be managed and provided with what they need to lead fulfilled lives.

Policy direction and planning is the role of parliament after which the government steps in to implement. It is a very clear and complementary relationship that will become even more critical as countries accelerate the ICPD Programme of Action (Poa).

Q. What happens when progressive laws remain unimplemented?

A. Political stability and the quality of politics itself will become increasingly critical for Africa and other developing countries. Democracy and political goodwill is the cornerstone on which Cairo promise will be delivered.

Educating old and new parliamentarians on the need to develop a legislative framework that speaks to the ICPD25 agenda is very important. It is through such initiatives that countries will be able to accelerate and achieve their targets as discussed at this Summit.

Q. How important is consensus around ICPD25 commitments for priority countries where many of the population and development challenges prevail?

A. Consensus on the inter-relationship between population growth and economic development is very important. The overwhelming consensus among stakeholders including governments, political leaders and the people they serve will ensure that these commitments are flagged as critical areas of sustainable development. This will ensure that resources will be mobilized to facilitate their achievement.

Q. How important is political transparency and accountability?

A. Political transparency and accountability must be encouraged at all levels of political representation. In their absence, people will lose trust in the leaders they have in place to represent them. We need more and more self-less politicians, state men and women.

Leaders must feel disturbed by the discomfort of their people. Having only a few of this kind of leaders will derail progress. People’s opinions, desires and aspirations must pass through parliament. Consequently, very country’s legislative framework must be the true reflection of these needs, aspirations and desires. It is the people that should decide what is most needed.

However, it is not all about politics, the goodwill of the people is also very important. Dialogue and inclusivity around these commitments must be encouraged and dissenting voices heard.

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A second Ebola vaccine is to be offered to thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jeffrey Jordan/ President of the Population Reference Bureau with ICPD25 participants. Credit: Joyce Chimbi / IPS

By Joyce Chimbi
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 13 2019 (IPS)

One in five women globally lives with a disability even as they have same needs and interests as women without disabilities, their access to sexual and reproductive health services and rights remains severely limited.

Delegates representing people living with disabilities at the ICPD25 Conference painted a grim picture of barriers and challenges they face.

“We are perceived to be asexual and therefore offering us reproductive health information is considered wasteful,” says Josephta Mukobe, principal secretary of the Kenya’s Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Motherhood remains taboo for differently abled women

Mukobe says motherhood for them is taboo, and that a pregnant woman with a disability is a phenomenon to be pitied, even ridiculed by society.

“We cannot enjoy pregnancy because people look at us and wonder what poor beast this is with a disability. They are even shocked that you even have sexual organs,” she expounds, and adds: “We desire love and active and healthy sexual life to raise a family.”

Under international law and multilateral agreements, governments have a responsibility to ensure equal respect, protection and access to sexual and reproductive health, as well as rights for people with disabilities. But this is policy – and a long way to practice.

Fighting Exclusions

Veronica Njuhi, chairperson of Women Challenged to Challenge, a movement that ensures women with disability develop a capacity to overcome barriers and discrimination, speaks of how she was continually excluded from training on HIV/Aids.

“My employer never included me in any training on HIV/Aids even though it was offered to all employees. When I confronted him, he was very shocked because he did not think I needed training on HIV/Aids,” she says.

Raising awareness

According to the Population and Reference Bureau, the ratio of people living with disabilities accounts for one in seven globally. Critically, 80 percent of them are living in developing countries where sexual and reproductive health and rights interventions are not only limited, but are most wanted.

Veronica Njuhi I’m conversation with ICPD25 participant. Credit: Joyce Chimbi / IPS

Raising awareness and strengthening protection for the rights of the one billion people with disability around the world has never been more urgent.

Girls and women are particularly vulnerable, and are more likely to experience violence. Young people with disabilities, under the age of 18, are especially vulnerable as they are nearly four times more likely than youth without disabilities, to be abused.

“When people with a disability overcome barriers, it is a representation of what is possible. The world is about all of us, no one should be left behind,” says Jeffrey Jordan, president of the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), told IPS.

Jordan argues that the ICPD25 commitment cannot be achieved when one in seven people in the world are left out of deliberations.

Reaching out to the most vulnerable

“As we strengthen sexual and reproductive health and rights globally, it is crucial that we reach out to the most vulnerable communities,” he says.

Given that they are the least likely to be educated about their sexual and reproductive health and rights, people with a disability are predisposed to greater risk of exploitation, unplanned pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections.

“Sex is a private issue which we would also like to explore in private. This is not always possible because if we do not speak out, we will continue to be ignored,” Mukobe says.

She says that interventions must be tailored to suit their special needs, and that they need to be informed on what does not work for them. “A female condom cannot be used among those of us whose legs are crooked. A blind person cannot read without using braille to figure out if a male condom has expired because expiry dates are not written on the condoms,” she adds.

For women with a hearing impairment, the scenario is dire. When seeking health services, they often need to be accompanied by a person who understands sign language. Njuhi says this person is not always available.

“We are pushing for change and now public hospitals in Kenya have at least one person who can understand sign language,” she says.

“A person who is not deaf can easily be treated for a sexually transmitted infection in private. But those who are deaf are humiliated and shamed because they need someone who understands sign language,” Mukobe explains.

Njuhi further reveals that because of existing communication barriers, women with a hearing impairment have for a long time received the injectable even when it was not their primary or preferred contraceptive option.

“The health providers who did not want to struggle explaining various methods, their benefits and side effects, have found the injectable easy to administer. A woman will just be told to return after three months for their follow up dose,” Njuhi reveals.

We will not be silenced

Njuhi further notes the attitude that most health providers have towards pregnant women with disability has contributed to many of them delivering at home without a skilled attendant.

“Just because a woman with disability is pregnant does not mean she was raped. She deserves all the services that will help her travel the safe motherhood route without judgement,” Njuhi advises.

Mukobe decries the state of many health facilities, particularly public sector hospitals, for being extremely unfriendly to those with a disability. She says that beds are often not adjustable, adding on to the list of the many barriers they have to overcome.

Against this backdrop, delegates from this vulnerable community like Njuhi have vowed to take their rightfully place at ICPD25 “because it is not a global conference without us.”

The post Women with Disabilities Speak out Against Exclusion at ICPD25 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

18-year-old Leon Manyisa from Eswatini tells BBC Africa about doing trials for Real Madrid.

CAR and Malawi are the first two sides to to register wins in the group stage of 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.

Former Nigeria international Dickson Etuhu is found guilty of attempted match-fixing by an appeals court in Sweden.

Another deal signed on second day of the Africa Investment Forum 2019

By African Development Bank
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov 13 2019 (IPS-Partners)

The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and Thelo DB on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg. The agreement will give both parties an opportunity to develop, finance and operate railway projects across Africa.

Thelo and Afreximbank have agreed to collaborate to modernise the continent’s railways, thereby promoting trade, investment, and economic and skills development. Both see the urgent need for efficient and effective transportation and logistics on the continent, particularly in the freight railway sector.

African governments have long been discussing the importance of the regional integration of infrastructure projects as one of the ways to both free and speed up the movement of goods in order to stimulate intra-Africa trade.

Afreximbank President Prof. Benedict Oramah said the two companies were committed to supporting trade on the continent. “That includes creating capacity to deliver to the markets. With Thelo DB’s capacity to deliver and operate railway mobility systems and Afreximbank’s ability to finance projects, we have an incredibly strong team,” said Oramah

Thelo DB is looking at projects in Southern, East and West Africa, which the company believes are home to corridors that transcend country borders.

The MOU is part of the realisation that the African Continental Free Trade Agreement will face challenges without the logistical capacity to move goods.

“The MOU solves a very important part of the puzzle for us, which is, when we’re doing these big capital projects, how do we finance them? Rather than building our own expertise as Thelo DB, working in an integrated manner with Afreximbank magically gives us a solution to that challenge. So we can now sit down with our clients and say not only do we bring technical capacity of a global standard, we bring you unbelievable capital mobilisation in the MOU we signed this morning,” said Ronald Ntuli, Thelo Group Chairman.

Thelo DB is an incorporated partnership between the African industrial group, and leading European railway conglomerate, Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting. Thelo DB brings unmatched capacity to the continent’s railway sector. Some of its expertise include construction supervision, rolling stock leasing capabilities, rehabilitation of existing infrastructure and transferring skills through training and development programmes.

Afreximbank is a multilateral African trade finance institution, with the mandate to facilitate, promote and develop intra- and extra-African trade.

Last year’s inaugural Africa Investment Forum “Market Days” secured record levels of investment interest in deals worth billions of dollars in just 3 days.

Investors, project sponsors and government representatives discussed 63 projects valued at $46.9 billion involving seven sectors in 24 countries. Investment interest worth $38.7billion was secured for 49 projects.

AIF 2019 hopes to better that figure between November 11 and 13.

Media contact: Gershwin Wanneburg, Communication and External Relations Department, African Development Bank, email: g.wanneburg@afdb.org

The post Africa Investment Forum 2019: MOU brings good news for Africa’s rail networks appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Another deal signed on second day of the Africa Investment Forum 2019

The post Africa Investment Forum 2019: MOU brings good news for Africa’s rail networks appeared first on Inter Press Service.

South Sudanese refugee, Priscilla Nyamal

By Crystal Orderson
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 13 2019 (IPS)

Young women and girls are still subjected to a range of harmful practices and violence, including early marriage. Every year, an estimated 12 million girls get married before the age of 18.

In an IPS exclusive from the ICPD25 summit one young brave woman from South Sudan tells us her story of how she had to fight her family and community from becoming a child bride. With the help of the UNFPA in Kenya, Priscilla Nyamal is now advocating for young girls and wants the world to know that child marriage should stop. Priscilla shares her story to IPS.

The post Forced Child Marriage Must Be Stopped Says South Sudanese Child Activist appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Nov 13 2019 (IPS)

Almost nine decades ago, newly elected US President Franklin Roosevelt introduced the New Deal in 1933 in response to the Great Depression. The New Deal consisted of a number of mutually supportive initiatives, of which the most prominent were: a public works programme financed by budget deficits; a new social contract to improve living standards for all working families, including creation of the US social security system; and financial regulation to protect citizens’ assets and channel financial resources into productive investments.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The New Deal was effectively a fiscal stimulus for recovery, employment, development and environment goals. The Citizens Conservation Corps (CCC) created two million jobs in environmental projects for young Americans aged 18-25 years when the US population was 125 million.

The best known public works project was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), an integrated regional development programme for an underdeveloped region. It built infrastructure to generate hydroelectric energy to sustain industrial and agricultural growth in the US Southwest.

Thus, the New Deal helped ensure US economic recovery, but also successfully addressed unsustainable practices that had caused widespread ecological, social and economic crises in environmentally fragile regions, and helped usher in a new era of economic growth and expanding prosperity, especially in poorer regions.

Sustainable development crises
Today, the world is in protracted economic slowdown. This crisis needs a similarly bold response, as the United Nations urged following the 2008-2009 financial crisis. But its New Deal was to be more global and sustainable. Public works programmes should move countries to more sustainable development pathways to achieve the United Nations 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

First, it has to involve international solidarity, following decades of globalization, and inequalities among and within countries. Second, it has to be sustainable — economically, socially and ecologically. We face profound environmental crises, with global warming the greatest new threat with unprecedented ramifications.

Anis Chowdhury

While much attention has recently focused on climate change, sustainability is also threatened by air and water pollution, natural resource degradation, loss of forests and biodiversity, as well as socio-political instability due to growing inequalities, repression and resistance.

A new New Deal
A New Deal for our times should have key elements similar to Roosevelt’s, namely public works programmes and measures to encourage productive investments for output and job recovery, social protection and prudent financial regulation.

Most developing countries are vulnerable to the global financial system. While varied, they are generally less resilient and more susceptible to market volatility, often forced to pursue pro-cyclical macroeconomic policies, exacerbating economic instability and undermining long-term growth.

This New Deal should support counter-cyclical responses in three main ways. First, national stimulus packages in both developed and developing countries to revive and ‘green’ national economies. Second, international policy coordination to ensure that developed countries’ stimulus packages not only create good jobs in the North, but also have strong developmental impacts in the South.

Third, greater financial support for developing countries, as long promised, especially for development and climate change. The North should also enable the South to more effectively mobilize domestic resources, especially through taxation, and stemming illicit outflows of funds.

Setbacks
In light of the slowing world economy, and dim prospects for imminent recovery, resources are needed to strengthen social protection to contain poverty and hunger. Hundreds of millions in developing countries are at risk due to lower incomes, declining export earnings and other challenges.

A strong fiscal response should make long-term investments to accelerate ecologically sustainable and socially inclusive growth. Front-loading massive, multilaterally cross-subsidised public investments in developing countries in renewable energy and sustainable smallholder food agriculture should induce complementary private investments as spontaneous market forces alone will not generate the investments needed.

The Global Green New Deal (GGND) should include mutually beneficial collaborative initiatives between governments of rich and poor countries. Reforms of the international financial and trading systems should support sustainable development for all.

There was a glimmer of hope for such a bold coordinated multilateral initiative at the 2009 London Summit of G20, but cooperation and progress have been disappointing since, e.g., little meaningful progress on its Global Jobs Pact. With the mid-2010 G20 Toronto Summit U-turn, fiscal austerity became the new normal.

Meanwhile, creeping protectionism all around set recovery back further. Growing precariousness and declining living standards, blamed on imports and immigrants, have fuelled the ethno-populist backlash against Others, with multilateralism as collateral damage.

Global Green New Deal urgent
The urgency of an ambitious GGND has risen as most countries drift further off track in achieving Agenda 2030. After almost a decade of stagnation, countries must prioritize recovery, but not at the expense of others. Stimulus packages must lay the foundation for sustainable development.

Policy coordination among major economies should minimize adverse spill-over effects, especially on developing countries, which have become more vulnerable than ever, after decades of economic liberalization and globalization. Socially useful public works could contribute to climate adaptation and mitigation, and improve public goods provision.

To be sure, many other complementary interventions are needed. But such investments and government spending require significantly improved public finances. While revenue generation requires greater national incomes, tax collection can be greatly enhanced through fairer international tax cooperation.

Clearly, the agenda for a new New Deal requires not only bold new national developmental initiatives, but also far better and more equitable multilateral cooperation, through improvement of the inclusive multilateral United Nations system.

The post A New Deal for Sustainable Development appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Sierra Leone striker Kei Kamara retires from international football ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.