Africa

Presidential candidate Tundu Lissu says the election was "marred by irregularities at all stages".

Credi: Omid Armin, Unsplash

By Yilmaz Akyüz
GENEVA, Oct 29 2020 (IPS)

The meltdown of the Turkish currency that began in 2018 has continued unabated with the decline reaching unprecedented proportions in recent days.  The causes of that turmoil including underlying financial fragilities and political shocks were discussed in a previous piece by this author.  Since then the economy has become even more vulnerable in these respects. 

Efforts to stabilize the currency resulted in large reserve losses and the lira has lost half of its value against the dollar in the past two years.  A matter of concern now is if this currency turmoil would eventually culminate in an external debt crisis and default.  

In previous crises in emerging economies currency and debt crises often came back to back.  Typically, an economy facing sudden stops in capital inflows and steep declines in its currency raised interest rates and deployed reserves in order to stabilize the currency, stay current on its external debt obligations and maintain an open capital account. 

Efforts to stabilize the currency resulted in large reserve losses and the lira has lost half of its value against the dollar in the past two years.  A matter of concern now is if this currency turmoil would eventually culminate in an external debt crisis and default

When reserves were exhausted, it ended up on the doorsteps of the IMF which provided some funding to enable the country to pay its debt to private creditors and avoid restrictions on capital outflows, and imposed austerity measures deemed to reduce external imbalances and generate confidence in international financial markets.  In most cases private external debt was socialised and the country’s external debt was rolled over at some penalty rates with the help of the IMF. 

So far, the Turkish case appears to depart significantly from this pattern.  Despite a steep and sustained drop in its currency and significant loss of reserves which are now well below the level of short-term debt, the country has avoided arrears on its debt payments and has in fact been able to continue borrowing in international markets, albeit at a relatively high cost.   What is going on?

There appear to be four factors that account for the sustained decline of the lira and loss of reserves. 

First, like most emerging economies that opened up its local markets to international investors in order to shift from debt to equity and from forex debt to local-currency debt in external financing, Turkey experienced a significant increase in foreign presence in its equity, debt and deposit markets, particularly during the rapid expansion of global liquidity and sharp drops in international interest rates brought about by quantitative easing and zero-bound policy rates in advanced economies in response to the global financial crisis in 2008. 

However, since 2018 there has been a rapid exit of foreign capital from local markets, notably from the debt market and this explains an important part of the decline in reserves and downward pressure on the currency.  Malaysia had experienced a similar exodus in 2015 which pushed the ringgit below the levels seen during the 1997 crisis. 

Second, the economy is highly dollarized both in credits and deposits.  A constant flight of the residents from the lira has been a major factor in its decline.  This seems to have taken place not so much as capital flight from the country as currency substitution within the Turkish banking system.   Forex deposits of residents as a proportion of total deposits have been on an upward trend since summer 2018, exceeding 50 per cent in recent months. 

A third factor is offshore speculation against the lira, notably in London, through derivative contracts very much like that against the Malaysian Ringgit in Singapore during the Asian crisis.  In Malaysia, the Mahathir government effectively shut down the offshore trading in Singapore.  

In Turkey in 2018 the authorities limited Turkish banks’ swap, spot and forward transactions with foreign investors to 50 percent of a bank’s equity, reducing it in several steps to 1 per cent in April 2020 before raising it to 10 per cent in September 2020. 

A fourth factor is payment of external debt by private corporations.  Alarmed by the sharp decline of the lira in 2018, many debtors in forex, notably financial institutions, started to deleverage, reducing their debt in an effort to avert losses due to sizeable exchange rate risks they were exposed to.  Between March 2018 and March 2020, private external debt fell by some $73 billion while the public sector continued to borrow, seeing its total external debt rise by $36 billion. 

Thus, the international financial markets have so far been willing to lend to Turkey in dollars but not in the lira even though the yields on lira bonds exceed those on sovereign (forex) bonds by a large margin.   There are two possible explanations for this. 

First, there is too much uncertainty about the future path of the lira, and the interest rate differentials between dollar and lira debt assets fail to cover the mounting exchange rate risk. 

Second, given the volatility of the present regime in Turkey, sovereign risk is much higher for lira bonds issued in domestic markets because they come under local jurisdiction.

The lira can fall much further in the period ahead if flight from it continues unabated, its decline fails to bring a sizeable improvement in the current account deficit, the private sector continues to deleverage and pay forex debt, the debt of insolvent companies hit by economic slowdown and the rise of the dollar is pushed onto the government and, finally, if the public sector cannot borrow abroad sufficiently to meet the foreign exchange needs created by all these factors.  

There is little scope for interest rate hikes to stabilize the lira not only because the government believes that high interest rates are the main cause of inflation and needs growth to restore credibility among its constituency, but also because under conditions of currency turmoil interest rate hikes may simply point to declining creditworthiness and greater default as shown by events in East Asia during the 1997 crisis. 

One counteracting factor could be a rush back of international capital, fire-sale FDI, to capture cheap Turkish assets resulting from hikes in the dollar and deflation in asset prices, as seen in several emerging market crises in the past.

If this currency turmoil will culminate in a debt crisis is difficult to tell.  Countries often default not because they are in debt but because they cannot borrow any more.  Whether or not Turkey will face a sovereign debt crisis will depend on the willingness of international financial markets to keep lending and this depends on their assessment of default risk. 

A high stock of debt and a continuous increase in foreign exchange needs make external borrowing more difficult and expensive, and this is also the case in Turkey.   However, it is quite difficult to predict at what point the country will be cut off from international financial markets.  These markets are often seen to pump in money for extended periods to countries widely seen to be on the verge of default.

There are a number of factors in Turkey’s favour in sustaining access to international finance.   First, it has a clean record in debt repayments ‒ the Republic never defaulted on its external obligations and even paid up the debt inherited from the Ottoman Empire.  Second, its debt is not seen as unsustainable, in need of reduction and relief, as in the case of Argentina.   Third, as noted by the World Bank in its Turkey Economic Monitor Report, its external debt profile remains favourable ‒ the average cost of the current debt stock is relatively low and the average maturity is long ‒ and its debt rollover rate is quite high.  Finally, although the risk margin and cost of new debt is very high, there is no obvious upward trend – today Turkey’s 5-year CDS rate is broadly the same as in September 2018. 

However, if the need for external financing does not diminish, this Ponzi-like process may well end up in a debt crisis.  On recent trends the external debt to GDP ratio can come to reach the 70-75 per cent range by 2023, well above that of Argentina on the eve of its recent restructuring initiative. 

Since the IMF option has been ruled out and the current government does not have many friends left among the major OECD countries that could come to help as in the past, in the event of a sudden stop in lending, debt moratorium and default cannot be avoided. 

This could come sooner as a result of political and geopolitical shocks triggering a reassessment of risks, especially since the economy is quite prone to such shocks under the current administration.  Of course, it is possible for the government to seek bilateral bailouts in return for economic and political concessions.  There is also the possibility of a change of government which would in all likelihood open the doors to the IMF and the West. 

There is no easy way out for Turkey after so many years of economic mismanagement and waste.  Until recently the economy enjoyed a debt-driven boom sucking in large amounts of imports financed by capital inflows. 

Investment has concentrated in areas with little foreign exchange earning prospects such as real estate and physical infrastructure ‒ roads, bridges, airports and hospitals.  Much of the latter capacity remains underutilised, entailing significant contingent liabilities for the government as a result of guarantees given to private constructers in dollars. 

The economy has been showing signs of premature de-industrialization that has pervaded many semi-industrialized economies in the past two decades.  Regrettably, while a genuine reform agenda should focus on how to reduce dependence on imports and foreign capital, the current debate in the country is largely concentrated on how to attract more capital.  

Yilmaz Akyüz is former Director, UNCTAD, and former Chief Economist, South Centre, Geneva

The post Crisis alla Turca II – From Currency Crisis to Debt Crisis? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: MONIKA DEUPALA.

By Karuna Onta
KATHMANDU, Oct 29 2020 (IPS)

Mohan and Sarita (name changed) studied together in the same school from Grade 6 onwards. They were friends initially, but fell in love and wished to be together, though underage.

Sarita’s parents did not approve of this relationship. They restricted her from going to school, and having any interaction with Mohan. Both then decided to quit school and elope, even though they knew marriage before age 20 was illegal.

Nepal’s policies assure that girls have opportunity for education, employment and exercise their rights. But increasing instances of elopement prove that most parents have failed.  But we need to bridge the gap between the law and the social norms

They crossed the border into India, to get married. But the parents of Sarita filed a police complaint against Mohan charging him with human trafficking, and rape of a minor.

After a year, Sarita and Mohan returned to the village with a baby. Mohan was detained and taken to court. By this time, Sarita’s own parents had forgiven her and accepted her child. They were also sympathetic towards Mohan.

Sarita’s father approached the police to withdraw his case, but it was not legally possible. Today, Mohan is serving out his sentence. His father-in-law regrets having filed a police case against him. He takes lunch for Mohan every day in jail.

This is not an isolated case. As per the Nepali law the age of consent is 18 years. Girls, in such instances, have been mostly sent back to their parent’s home and the boy, if under 18, is sent to a correction home.

As per the National Civil Code Act 2017, the legal age of marriage has been raised to 20 for both boys and girls so that young people can finish school, become independent and mature before they can make informed marriage choices.

However, there is a wide gap between the purpose of the law and practice, and social norms. This gap needs to be addressed for the law to be effectively implemented. In 2014, at the Global Girl Summit held in London the Minister of Women, Children and Senior Citizens made a pledge to end child marriage by 2030, a commitment reflected in the National Ending Child Marriage Strategy.

Marriage is viewed as a traditional and religious institution and is considered a ‘must’ for girls in Nepali society. Parents and members of the family are expected to be responsible for the marriages of their daughters and sisters.

The reasoning is ‘protection of girls’, ensuring a ‘secured future’ and a ‘better life’.  Girls are also seen as an economic burden on families, and the pressure of dowry has made this worse. Girls from a very young age are also socialised in such a manner that they see marriage as the only possible future.

 

Many girls feel a sense of security when married, and also perceive marriage as the beginning of their lives. Even among school girls one rarely finds a girl brave enough to declare that she may consider marriage only after school, or may not wish to marry at all.

The thinking of parents, family members and even the young girls are shaped by strong patriarchal mind-sets that view girls as objects to be married off to a ‘permanent home’. The result of all this. Our girls are not safe, and parents play a part in keeping it that way.

In reality, the expectations that the girls and their families have of marriage are not always met. With weak agency, low self-esteem, and less confidence, girls are unable to negotiate equal status in marriage.

The unequal power relationship between men and women always place young married girls as subordinates – they are expected to solve their married life challenges by themselves.

Parents mostly shrug their shoulders if married daughters land in trouble from in-laws. Girls are often left alone to fight their fight. Despite being aware of their rights, lack of economic independence, confidence to speak up for themselves and poor knowledge of sexual and reproductive health among the girls result in unwanted pregnancies, gender-based violence and, sometimes even rape.

Nepal has the third highest rate of child marriage in the region, after Bangladesh and India. The Nepal Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) 2016 showed that on average women marry four years earlier than men (17.9 years versus 21.7 years). And the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2019 revealed that nearly 14% of women 20-24 years had given birth before age 18.

But change is happening. As per the Demographic Health Survey of 2016, the proportion of young women age 15-19 who have never been married has increased from 56% percent to 73%, indicating a positive trend toward later marriage. However, the challenges for educated, economically independent girls and young women are equally tough and slightly different from those of the uneducated.

They have to deal with multitasking at home and work equally well, manage the expectations of joint family members, and if not met, deal with separation and divorce. Expectation of marriage, disapproval of living a self-governing, economically independent life without marriage is also not accepted with respect and appreciation by the society.

Local political leaders have been trying to reduce the legal age of marriage down to 16. Their argument is that marriage at the age of 20 years is too late, and to ‘keep’ the girl at home unmarried until then is not advisable.

The extreme social control of girl’s sexuality encourages early marriage and unsafe relationships. On one hand, the control of female sexuality is somehow supported by legal restriction of age for sexual relationship between girls and boys.

On the other hand, rapidly changing external context offers both boys and girls more opportunities for interaction through education platforms, or social media. In urban areas, it is increasingly common to see young girls and boys in friendship and sometimes also in relationships. Sooner or later, this trend will gradually expand to the rural areas also, posing serious challenge in implementing the law.

We urgently need a debate about the challenges of implementing the law and existing social norms around marriage and sexual activity between young people. We need to shift our thinking, mind-sets and beliefs to provide space and opportunity for girls to grow and make their own life choices.

Children should be exposed to untraditional gender norms, so they do not automatically adopt those of their parents’ generation. Girls and boys should learn about sexuality and reproductive rights in a way that empowers them to make safe and consensual choices.

Girls should be allowed dreams that go beyond marriage, and it should not be promoted as an ultimate destination for girls. The institutional features of marriage are accountable for 23% of married women experiencing domestic violence. We cannot make such high rates of failure the end destination for our girls.

Awareness alone will not be enough to break entrenched feudal and patriarchal mind-sets of both of men and women. Better education alone will not change these harmful practices. Sexuality of adolescent girls and boys needs to be better understood and accepted. Parents should support, not hinder, that journey.

Nepal’s policies assure that girls have opportunity for education, employment and exercise their rights. But increasing instances of elopement prove that most parents have failed.  But we need to bridge the gap between the law and the social norms.

Karuna Onta, PhD, is the Social Development Advisor at the British Embassy in  Kathmandu.

 

This story was originally published by The Nepali Times

The post Nepal Needs to Bridge the Gap Between Legal Provisions Against Child Marriage and Social Norms appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Mausoleum of Kwame Nkrumah, First President of Ghana (Accra). Credit: Greg Neate, Flickr

By Adebayo Olukoshi, Tetteh Hormeku-Ajei, Aishu Balaji and Anita Nayar
ACCRA, Ghana, Oct 29 2020 (IPS)

In 1965, Kwame Nkrumah described the paradox of neocolonialism in Africa, in which “the soil continue[s] to enrich, not Africans predominantly, but groups and individuals who operate to Africa’s impoverishment.” He captured what continues to be an essential feature of Africa’s political economy.

Enforced through neoliberalism in the contemporary period, many African states remain dependent on exporting primary commodities to enrich the global North, with their domestic policy constrained by unequal aid, trade, and investment regimes, and what is now, after almost four decades of structural adjustment, an almost permanent state of austerity.

Despite its manifest failures, neoliberalism continues to dominate policy making on the continent, bolstered by an ideological onslaught and a conditionality regime that has stifled any space to imagine and pursue alternatives. African governments in the immediate post-independence period challenged the neocolonial exploitation of the continent.

Whatever their ideological inclinations, governments saw the key task of their time as securing their political and economic agency by breaking out of their subordinate place in the global economic order and imagining a new one. In contrast with the contemporary externalization of policymaking, they responded creatively to the material interests of the majority of ordinary peoples.

The state sponsored and/or established industries; provided universal education to foster skills necessary for transforming the economy; built social infrastructure to ease reproductive labor; delinked from colonial currencies; made resources available for domestic producers and women through developmentalist central bank policies; worked to diversify revenue sources; and built regional solidarity.

The post-independence project was undermined and derailed by the active efforts of North governments including their former colonizers. They disrupted African governments through assassination attempts and coups, and opportunistically seized on the 1980s commodity crash that devastated African economies, compelling them to accept World Bank/International Monetary Fund (WB/IMF) loans conditional on liberalization, austerity, and privatization.

Four decades later, the ideological dominance of neoliberalism is profound. Spaces of progressive thought and learning have been fragmented, knowledge production has been monopolized by the free market logic, and tendentious mis-readings of the post-independence period as ideological, statist, and inefficient abound, facilitating a sense best summed up by the Thatcherite pronouncement that “there is no alternative.”

Recasting post-independence policies

Three widespread mis-readings of the post-independence period were wielded to push structural adjustment programs in the 1980s and continue to underpin the neoliberal hegemony in Africa.

Firstly, the WB/IMF and North governments cast post-independence leaders as excessively ideological in order to discredit the entire experience. In reality, however, while there was an ideological ferment, the range of policies adopted by African governments to assert economic sovereignty were similar across the ideological spectrum.

Capitalist oriented Kenya, socialist humanist Zambia, scientific socialist Ghana, Negritudist Senegal, and Houphouet-Boigny’s Côte d’Ivoire (then the Ivory Coast) constructed a central role for the state in post-colonial social and economic transformation, often driven by the collective ethos of meeting society’s needs in the absence of any significant local private capitalist class and the levels of investment necessary for transformation.

This often translated to the creation of state-owned enterprises and heavy investment in human capital; interventionist fiscal and monetary policies; and a uniform (if ultimately inconsistent) commitment to import substitution industrialization.

The false homogenization of the post-independence development project as a failure of ideology has allowed neoliberalism to be positioned as an ‘objective’ and ‘rational’ remedy to this period rather than an ideology itself, liable to contestation.

Secondly, the strong role of the state in post-independence development policy has been blamed for Africa’s development problems and used to justify the installation of the market as the solution, laying the basis for large-scale privatization and deregulation. In reality, however, all post-independence economies were largely market-oriented with key sectors dominated by foreign capital, serving as a continuation of colonial patterns.

Post-independence governments did, however, set out to regulate foreign capital through, for example, nationalizing strategic industries and capital controls. Ultimately, the failure to curtail the dominance of foreign capital, continued dependence on primary commodity export, and the vagaries of the global economic system worked to undermine the post-independence development project.

This reality has been obscured to scapegoat state intervention, justifying the further encroachment of foreign capital and continued integration into an unequal global economic order. Thandika Mkandawire and Charles Soludo outlined the hypocrisy of this narrative, noting that the post-independence project was not outside the dominant policy orientation globally.

Post-depression, Europe was being reconstructed through massive state-driven intervention, and the Marshall Plan led by the United States was far from a market driven exercise. As Ha-Joon Chang has noted, the delegitimization of the state as a development actor in Africa denied the continent the very policy instruments used by the North to develop.

Finally, the myth of weak and inefficient institutions in the post-independence period underpinned efforts to dismantle the state and its role in the economy and social provisioning.

This misrepresents what was a uniquely consistent policy period on the continent, in which there was stable tariff policy and taxation, and public development plans and budgets. Mkandawire and Soludo suggest neoliberal actors like the WB/IMF simply failed to understand the multiple roles of institutions in the post-independence period: rural post offices were also savings banks and meeting places for the community, the Cocoa Marketing Board in Ghana also raised money to fund education.

As such, when they were dismantled and replaced with standardized, monotasked institutions during structural adjustment, it ripped the social fabric that was integral to the post-independence agenda. For example, after the state-run Cocoa Marketing Board was dismantled, universities were forced to raise funds privately, and those donors over time reshaped and de-politicized the curriculum.

The resulting sense of dislocation, alienation, and commodification has undermined the deep efforts of post-independence governments to foster socio-economic inclusion.

The post-independence period had a range of limitations, critically related to the failure to adequately address gender imbalances, enable independent workers and peasants movements, or build strong decentralized systems of local governance.

However, when compared to the neoliberal era, there was inspiring clarity around the goal of structural transformation and a wealth of policy efforts aimed at transforming the neocolonial patterns that still grip the continent.

The questions post-independence governments asked, to which the policies were formulated as answers, were all but ignored by neoliberalism. It is, therefore, of value for Africans to go beyond the persistent narratives that serve to bolster neoliberalism, and reassert Africa’s experiences in this period as an anchor for development alternatives.

Republished from Africa is a Country under a creative commons license. This article comes out of Post-Colonialisms Today, a research and advocacy project of activist-intellectuals on the continent recapturing progressive thought and policies from early post-independence Africa to address contemporary development challenges. Sign up for PCT updates here.

 

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The post Reclaiming Africa’s Early Post-independence History appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Adebayo Olukoshi is Director for Africa and West Asia at International IDEA and on the advisory committee for Post-Colonialisms Today; Tetteh Hormeku-Ajei is Head of Programs at Third World Network-Africa and on the Post-Colonialisms Today Working Group; Aishu Balaji is a Coordinator at Regions Refocus and part of the Post-Colonialisms Today secretariat; and Anita Nayar is Director of Regions Refocus and part of the Post-Colonialisms Today secretariat.

The post Reclaiming Africa’s Early Post-independence History appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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A hotel in Xanxerê, in the western part of the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, took advantage of its rooftops to generate its own solar energy and save on electricity costs. Similar initiatives have taken place in other states of the country, such as the northeastern state of Paraíba, where solar power self-generation facilities are mushrooming in the capital, Sousa. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

By Mario Osava
RÍO DE JANEIRO, Oct 28 2020 (IPS)

“Showing solidarity is consuming the energy generated in your own municipality” – this is the motto of a project of distributed electricity generation in one of Brazil’s many poor neighbourhoods.

“Sertão (the word for the country’s semiarid hinterland) with solidarity” is how the director of the Brazilian Association of Distributed Generation (ABGD) in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, Walter Abreu, named the project. The organisation promotes solar energy in the north of that state, where 1.5 million of the state’s 2.7 million people live in poverty and half of these in extreme poverty.

If local governments were to decide to use solar panels to generate the electricity consumed by their offices and other facilities, this would represent significant savings in public spending and incomes comparable to a minimum wage (about 200 dollars per month) for 3,500 families, estimated Abreu in an interview with Solar TV, a channel that advocates the use of solar power.

Another estimate he provided is that increasing the proportion of solar energy in the national electricity grid to five percent could lift out of poverty two million people in Brazil’s semiarid Northeast, a region of 27 million people that experienced its longest drought between 2011 and 2018.

Distributed or decentralised generation is seen as an important means of giving a social boost to poor or energy-poor communities in different parts of this country, where 23.7 million people out of a total population of 212 million live in poverty.

The expansion of decentralised generation is part of a broader transition in several sectors, such as decarbonisation in response to requirements for combating climate change, the breakdown of monopolies and empowerment of consumers to become “prosumers” – both producers and consumers at the same time.

Carlos Evangelista, president of the Brazilian Association of Distributed Generation, explained to IPS that Brazil already has more than 400,000 “prosumer” plants for electricity from renewable sources, mainly solar. The growth and diversification of this type of generation is part of a global trend. CREDIT: Courtesy of ABGD

In this process, solar energy plays a leading role, “as the source that is growing the fastest and generating the most jobs,” Carlos Evangelista, president of ABGD, told IPS by phone from São Paulo.

In addition, 57 percent of these jobs in Brazil arise from the installation of the solar power systems, i.e., they are local, not distant or foreign, such as jobs involved in the manufacture and sales of the equipment, he pointed out.

The isolated solar energy systems in many communities in the Amazon rainforest, far from the electricity grid, produce perhaps the most outstanding effects.

They are used to pump water and to run refrigerators to preserve fish, the main local source of protein, other foods and exportable forest products, such as açaí, the fruit of a palm tree of the same name (Euterpe oleracea).

In general, scattered villages and hamlets in the jungle have diesel or gasoline generators, which only operate a few hours at night, due to the high cost of fuel and its scarcity. Fuel takes days to bring in by river boat.

ABGD, with support from the U.S.-based Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, promotes policies and projects together with more than sixty municipalities in the Amazon jungle in northern Brazil, with the aim of “mobilising resources for an economy that makes the transition from fossil fuels to renewables, and solar energy is one of the solutions,” said Evangelista.

“Four projects were completed in the Purus River basin,” with the installation of micro solar plants and the training of local technicians for the installation and maintenance of the equipment, the involvement of local leaders and the community, in order to “create a self-propelled economic ecosystem,” he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the activities of the two-year project, but ABGD’s new director of sustainability and social action, Lucia Abadia, announced for the near future the larger “Divine Light” project, which would create 150 community micro solar plants.

This housing complex for a thousand poor families in Juazeiro, in the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, was built at the beginning of the last decade with 9,144 solar panels to generate electricity for self-consumption and sell the surplus. In 2016, the monthly payment of about 18 dollars to each resident was suspended because the project did not meet all the requirements for distributed generation. CREDIT: Mario Osava/IPS

“The people in the Amazon need energy for their daily tasks and for starting businesses, producing, freezing and storing food, and thus living better while preserving the forests, without burning firewood,” she told IPS from Paulinia, 120 km from São Paulo.

Abadia “discovered” solar energy in her previous business activity, construction, when she was looking for solutions to develop “smart neighborhoods”, where she wanted to incorporate energy alternatives.

She then joined a solar system installation company which led her to ABGD, where she became director of sustainability, an unremunerated volunteer position.

In the Amazon, there are still 990,000 Brazilians without electricity, including indigenous people on reservations, riverbank dwellers, small farmers and people who live in environmental conservation areas, according to a study by the non-governmental Institute of Energy and Environment, in São Paulo.

In order to mobilise municipal authorities, the private sector and community leaders, ABGD is preparing a manual on public policies for the Amazon, which details the potential of distributed generation to bolster the local economy by generating jobs and social improvements.

Evangelista said: “We want to bring information to the local governments, about national and state public policies with which authorities in the interior are sometimes unfamiliar, such as the possibility of stimulating local energy generation with measures like tax reduction.”

It’s a process of transition, of a change in mentality that requires planning and takes time, he said. Many apparently well-designed projects have failed in the Amazon because they did not take into account local specificities, he added.

Lucia Abadia, director of sustainability in the Brazilian Association of Distributed Generation and executive director of Yellow Energía Solar, aims to promote 150 micro solar plants in remote communities in the Amazon rainforest, to improve the quality of life for local residents and boost local development. CREDIT: Courtesy of ABGD

There are also embedded interests, such as the fuel business.

“I received death threats for going against the diesel fuel distribution chain,” said Evangelista, an engineer whose interest in distributed generation was awakened when he had to secure power for telecommunication antennas while working for a transnational company.

In 2015 he founded ABGD with the participation of 14 companies from the power industry, involved in various services, production or sources. Today there are more than 800 associates.

The government also took a new stance on the energy exclusion experienced by many communities in the Amazon. In February, it launched the “More Light for the Amazon” programme, but with a limited goal of bringing solar energy to 70,000 families (a total of some 300,000 people).

But decentralised electricity generation as a factor in local social and economic development is also a concern in the Northeast, another poor region of Brazil.

“The Northeast concentrates 65 percent of the installed capacity of centralised solar energy, but only 18 percent of distributed generation,” said Daniel Lima, president of the Northeast Association of Solar Energy (Anesolar), founded in August, and director of the solar energy company RDSol.

“The state of Minas Gerais installed more power in solar distributed generation than the nine states of the Northeast,” he noted.

The difference lies in the tax exemption that Minas Gerais has been offering for the past five years, an initiative only followed by the state of Rio de Janeiro, starting in July of this year. Anesolar will demand that the governments of the Northeastern states adopt a similar measure.

Centralised generation, generally on solar farms, grew a great deal because of the low price of land in the Northeast, compared to other regions, Lima explained. The difficulty that consumers run into with regard to finding financing is another barrier to their becoming “prosumers”, he added.

Even so, there are cases of successful projects, such as that of the Cabedelo School of Medicine, in the state of Paraíba, which took advantage of its parking lot with 300 parking spaces and covered it with solar panels. The energy generated allowed it to save 90 percent of its electrical expenses – about 11,000 dollars per month.

The major incentive for people to become prosumers is the unsustainable increase in the price of electricity, which for more than a decade has been rising more than inflation, the result of subsidies to various sectors and activities whose cost is charged to energy consumers, Lima said by telephone from a town in Alagoas, a neighbouring state where he has been living during the COVID-19 crisis.

There is still very little distributed generation in Brazil, but it is growing rapidly. It rose twofold from one to two gigawatts between June and December 2019 and reached three GW in May 2020, according to the Energy Research Company, a planning body under the Ministry of Mines and Energy.

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Students at the Santo Markus I Elementary School in East Jakarta, Indonesia, learn how to plant medicinal herbs as part of their green programme. Courtesy Ruben Kharisma

By Kanis Dursin
JAKARTA, Oct 28 2020 (IPS)

In West Jakarta, Indonesia, teachers at the private Santo Kristoforus High School are so environmentally conscious they make other schools seem a little bit green when it comes to environmental education.

“We integrate environmental issues into science, especially natural science subjects. At school we teach them to conserve water and electricity. And since we don’t have a designated area for students to grow and learn about plants, we organise field trips to botanical gardens in the capital Jakarta and surrounding towns,” teacher Senobius Santi told IPS.

Santo Markus I, a private elementary school in East Jakarta, Indonesia, also has  a green vision. Since it opened in 2006, the science and homeroom teachers have been integrating environmental issues into their classes and designing extracurricular activities aimed at teaching students to care for the environment.

“We usually ask our students to bring medicinal herbs to be planted in what we call family garden under the guidance of their teachers. We homeroom teachers meet every two months to evaluate the programme,” teacher Ruben Kharisma told IPS.

He explained that the school’s green programme is not limited to planting medicinal herbs.

“We also teach our students environmental cleanliness, including disposing of trash at designated bins and keeping a roaster of students cleaning classrooms after school hours.”

Both schools could be candidates for the country’s Adiwiyata award, which is given to elementary, junior high, and senior high schools that have integrated environmental issues into their education system, including extracurricular activities.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry introduced the award in 2006, with the aim to develop environmentally-conscious school that are able to participate and contribute to efforts for conservation and sustainable development. The award has four indicators that include; an environment-based school policy, an environment-based curriculum, participatory environmental activities, and environmentally-friendly supporting facilities.

Indonesia has been listed among the world’s biggest polluters, producing a total of 2.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2015. In 2016, the country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions went down to 1.46 million metric tons and fell down further to 1.15 million metric tons in 2017, according to Indonesia’s Statistics Agency. 

Land-use change and forestry contributed at least 65.5 percent of GHG emissions, followed by the energy sector at 22.6 percent, and agriculture at 7.4 percent. 

A 2018 study by Greenpeace and AirVisual IQ showed that Jakarta ranked first in Southeast Asia for the worst air quality and that Jakarta, along with Hanoi, was one of Southeast Asia’s two-most polluted cities.

In 2009, the country pledged in its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Climate Agreement to reduce GHG emissions by 29 percent below the business as usual level by 2030, and by 41 percent with international support.

But Prof. Arief Rachman, Executive Chairman of the Indonesian National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and Ministry of Education and Culture official, said the Adiwiyata campaign would help government efforts to reduce the country’s GHG emissions.

“Indeed, the green campaign would not bring immediate results, but we are on the right track. We have to cultivate environmental awareness among the country’s young generations if we want to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,” Rahman told IPS.

“We have around 51 million students from the elementary to senior high school level and 2.7 million teachers, it takes time to mobilise all of them. But I believe we are on the right track. We have to educate our young students to care for the environment and cultivate a nature-loving culture and environment in the school compound,” Rachman said.

According to Rachman, the Adiwiyata programme focuses on climate change education and accommodates UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development criteria of “student participation, community involvement, varied learning methods, local excellence-based learning, and proactive actions”.

“The Adiwiyata programme is built on two basic principles of participation and sustainability. Participation means school communities are actively involved in school management from planning, implementation, and evaluation based on their role and responsibility, while sustainability means all school activities should be well planned continuously and comprehensively,” he said in a recent regional webinar hosted by UNESCO Jakarta Office.

Asri Tresnawati, an official from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, told IPS that between 2006 until 2019, the ministry has given national green awards to 3,477 schools.

However, this year the green award was scrapped due to the on-going coronavirus pandemic that has killed 13,612 people out of 400,483 confirmed cases in the country, according to Johns Hopkins. 

Experts expect the coronavirus pandemic will reduce Indonesia’s 2020 emissions by between two to six percent compared to 2019, mainly due to a decrease in household consumption, a slowdown in investments, and a fall in coal and palm oil exports. 

Ananto K. Seta, Education for Sustainable Development Coordinator at the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO, said the current COVID-19 pandemic presented a challenge for education. According to Seta, over 50 million students in Indonesia are temporarily out of school due to COVID-19. 

“The biggest challenges that students face while learning at home is the lack of internet access and electronic devices, lack of teachers’ ability to deliver (online) the education curriculum, and lack of parents’ ability to accompany their children for learning at home,” he told a recent webinar.

The green programmes run by Santo Markus I and Santo Kristoforus High School are obviously hard to continue in their entirety with pupils learning from home.

But Tresnawati, from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, told IPS the COVID-19 pandemic was a learning opportunity about the strong relation between human health and environmental sustainability.

“When the environment is destroyed or contaminated, new diseases will appear. The COVID-19 pandemic also wakes us up to the reality that we have to take care of the environment just as we take care of ourselves,” Tresnawati said.

But until schools reopen, students will have to learn this lesson from home.

The post Cultivating an Eco-friendly Culture in Indonesia’s Schools appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Confederation of African Football president Ahmad has been found to have breached Fifa's codes of ethics, BBC Sport Africa understands.

By Hans Friederich
GOZO, Malta, Oct 28 2020 (IPS-Partners)

SUNx Malta, a not-for-profit organization, based in Malta is advancing and enabling “Climate Friendly Travel” which is tourism and travel that is Low-Carbon and linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and follows the Paris Agreement 1.5 degree trajectory.

Hans Friederich

Together with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the 2019 Global Climate Action State of the Sector Report produced by SUN Malta noted the limited engagement of travel & tourism stakeholders in the global climate discussions, although the sector is responsible for 10% of global GDP.

While there are many hopeful statements, there is not much substance in many of the ambitions of the sector. To fill this gap, SUNx Malta brought together a think tank of international experts in travel and tourism in early 2020 to discuss how best to effect transformation to climate friendly travel. My report on the meeting can be accessed here:https://hansfriederich.wordpress.com/2020/03/03/the-existential-climate-crisis-requires-even-more-urgent-action-by-the-entire-global-travel-tourism-sector-than-has-been-generally-recognized-to-date/.

The findings of the report embraced a wide range of issues, one of the identified priorities being education of the next generation of travel and tourism practitioners. As a response, SUNx Malta has started an international Climate Friendly Travel Graduate Diploma with the Institute for Tourism Studies (ITS) in Malta. The 2020/2021 course is delivered through the internet, in the face of the COVID 19 travel restrictions. It is hoped that in the coming years students will be on site in the ITS Campus on the island of Gozo, Malta. Most of the current students come from Small Island States and from the African continent. It is expected that they will return to their current employers and become trainers in their own right. This will eventually create a world-wide group of 100,000 Travel and Tourism Climate Champions by 2030.

SUNx Malta has also created a global Registry for 2050 Climate Neutral and Sustainability Ambitions to be the travel & tourism entry point into the United Nations Climate Action Portal. The idea of a climate reduction ambitions registry for Nations was built into the 2015 Paris Agreement and this was extended to non-state actors like regions, cities and companies. After we realized the limited engagement of travel & tourism stakeholders, we reached agreement with the Climate Change Convention to create a discreet travel and tourism climate change ambitions registry. The Climate Friendly Travel Registry was launched on 25 September during the climate week that formed part of the 2020 United Nations General Assembly programme. With effect from 1 October 2020, I have the honor of being the Registrar of this new Registry.

As a catalyst, the Registry will be open to all travel & tourism companies and communities, whether or not they have created a 2050 Carbon Neutral Ambition yet. It will cover transport, hospitality, travel service and infrastructure providers – from the smallest to the largest.

Registrants who are still developing their carbon reduction strategy will have two years to benefit from on-line knowledge and support systems. Those who have already embarked on a 2050 Plan will be able to readily incorporate those details in the Registry, with little or no extra work. They can cross-reference any other mainstream carbon reduction initiative they are already involved with, as the SUNx MaltaRegistry is complementary to such other initiatives.

As the new Registrar, I think there are four very compelling reasons for a tourism company or community to register their carbon reduction ambitions:

Responsively: Everyone should make efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. The potential customers of the company are increasingly doing this and they are expecting it from the company as well. Recording the plans on the Registry is a way to show the good intentions;
Economically: Reducing the carbon footprint will reduce operational costs, as daily CO2 emissions are typically a result from electricity use. In addition, registration can be used for branding and advertising purposes.
Politically: All countries are preparing their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to the Climate Change Convention, and the private sector has been asked to contribute. Our register is the only official registry for tourism and travel that is recognized by the Convention;
Strategically: Some countries are already preparing national legislation to enforce climate action, and this will eventually become law throughout the world. Registering your ambitions now will put you in a stronger position to have a full plan when it becomes a legal obligation;

I hope that many small and large tourism and travel companies and communities will sign up to show their commitment to climate action, and to highlight their particular ambitions.

For more information about the Registry, go to: https://climatefriendly.travel/
More information about the Diploma course is available here: https://its.edu.mt/courses-admission/32-courses-admission/468-diploma-in-climate-friendly-travel.html
A report of the launch is available here: https://travelcommunication.net/featured/sunx-malta-launches-climate-friendly-travel-registry/.

The author is a member of the Board of SUNx Malta

The post Climate Friendly Travel and Tourism appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Fourteen Raja Casablanca players have tested positive for Coronavirus ahead of their second leg semi-final clash with Egyptian giants Zamalek.

Groups linked to the Trump administration have poured at least $270m into activities globally. Graphic: Paul Hamilton/openDemocracy

By Claire Provost and Nandini Archer
LONDON, Oct 28 2020 (IPS)

US Christian right groups, many with close links to the Trump administration, have spent at least $280m in ‘dark money’ fuelling campaigns against the rights of women and LGBTIQ people across five continents, openDemocracy can reveal today.

Organisations led by some of Donald Trump’s most vocal allies and supporters have spent increasing amounts of money globally to influence foreign laws, policies and public opinion in order “to stir a backlash” against sexual and reproductive rights.

Today openDemocracy has released the first-ever dataset detailing the global scale of this spending. Human rights advocates and transparency campaigners from around the world have called it “alarming”, and a “wake-up call” for democracies.

None of the Christian right groups we studied reveals who its donors are, or discloses details of how exactly it spends its money overseas.

“This is a form of interference in our political and judicial system which is as harmful to human rights as Russian meddling in democratic elections,” said Neil Datta, head of the European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (EPF), which includes dozens of MEPs and national MPs from across Europe.

Organisations led by some of Donald Trump’s most vocal allies and supporters have spent increasing amounts of money globally to influence foreign laws, policies and public opinion in order “to stir a backlash” against sexual and reproductive rights

Irene Donadio at the International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network (IPPF EN) said there has been a clear increase in campaigns against reproductive and sexual rights across the region, and described the scale of the funding revealed by openDemocracy today as “staggering”.

She added: “It is outrageous that groups that are playing with women’s lives and safety are allowed to operate in the darkness. They should be forced to comply with the basic principles of transparency and accountability.”

 

Trump-linked dark money

Each of the US groups openDemocracy examined is registered as a tax-exempt non-profit and as such is barred from participating in partisan political activity.

However, several of them, including the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) – which is run by Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow – have vocally supported Trump’s administration and his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Last year, openDemocracy uncovered how a dozen US Christian right ‘fundamentalist’ groups, many with links to the Trump administration and to Steve Bannon, had poured at least $50 million of dark money into Europe over a decade.

openDemocracy’s latest dataset is the most comprehensive yet, following examination of thousands of pages of financial records since 2007 from 28 US groups. According to this data, these organisations spent more money in Europe (almost $90 million) than anywhere else outside the US, followed by Africa and Asia.

This European spending has been led mainly by two groups that focus their fights on the courts. One of these is the ACLJ organisation headed by Trump’s personal lawyer Jay Sekulow who, along with Rudy Giuliani, will be coordinating any legal challenges brought by Trump to the result of the US election on 3 November.

Another half-dozen ACLJ lawyers were also part of Trump’s defence team in impeachment proceedings earlier this year.

The ACLJ’s European branch (the ECLJ) has intervened in two cases to defend Italy’s position against gay marriage. It has also intervened in at least seven cases involving Poland, including at the European Court of Human Rights, to defend that country’s conservative policies including against divorce and abortion.

Last week, Poland’s constitutional court voted to restrict access to abortion in cases of fatal foetal anomalies. Sekulow’s group submitted arguments in favour of the new restrictions.

A second US conservative legal group involved in such cases is Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Based in a small town in Arizona, it is also closely linked to the Trump administration through former staffers and frequent meetings.

ADF went to the US Supreme Court last year to defend non-profit donor secrecy. The case is still ongoing. Its few known funders include the family foundations of Trump’s education secretary Betsy DeVos, which are also major Republican party donors.

 

Financial secrecy

The full extent of US religious right funding for global activities is hidden, given that many Christian conservative organisations are registered as church organisations that do not have to disclose any of this information.

For some groups in openDemocracy’s data – notably the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association – US financial filings are only available for a small number of years. This group re-registered as an association of churches in 2015.

Sekulow has come under scrutiny over his financial practices since the 1980s when he was a tax lawyer specialised in creating tax shelters for Atlanta’s elite.

Earlier this year, the Associated Press revealed that Sekulow’s groups, including the ACLJ, had paid more than $65 million in charitable funds to Sekulow, his family members and corporations they own, fuelling a well-documented opulent lifestyle including expensive cars and high-end real estate.

In 2018 alone, the ACLJ spent $6 million on legal services provided by the CLA Group, a for-profit law firm in which Sekulow holds a 50% stake. This is the same firm that is understood to be contracted by Trump. It only has a mailbox address, however, and Sekulow is believed to do his work for Trump from the ACLJ’s offices.

American Institute of Philanthropy president Daniel Borochoff has said: “Regulators should investigate whether or not charitable resources, such as office, labor, equipment, etc, are being wrongly utilised to benefit Sekulow’s for-profit law firm.”

The US website Charity Navigator, which rates non-profits, has attached an orange “moderate concern” label to its entry for the ACLJ because of “atypical financial reporting issues”. These include millions of dollars that the ACLJ has paid over the years to Sekulow’s for-profit legal firm.

 

Global outcry

Several of these US Christian right groups have also been linked to COVID-19 misinformation. The anti-abortion Population Research Institute (PRI), for example, is led by an ultra-conservative activist who claims COVID-19 was man-made in a Chinese lab, and also sits on an anti-China lobby group with Steve Bannon.

Another group, Family Watch International (FWI), has been training African politicians, religious and civil society leaders for years to oppose comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and LGBT rights across the African continent.

UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima, from Uganda, told openDemocracy that “CSE is an integral part of the right to education and to health. It is not optional. It is not negotiable.”

South African gender rights group The Other Foundation also said that it has witnessed how US religious right funding has been used to “stir a backlash to the pursuits for freedom, dignity and equality of LGBTIQ people”.

It said, “the government has a duty to frown upon and act against any agenda that undermines its country’s constitution”, which in South Africa forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Alejandra Cárdenas, director of global legal strategies at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said openDemocracy’s findings “prove a manipulation we’ve been seeing for years by the US Christian right in Latin America and Africa, meant to break the social fabric and human rights protections that popular movements fought for”.

The EPF’s Neil Datta said: “As Europeans, we cannot sit back and watch what’s happening in the US with distance, thinking that the erosion of democratic norms and human rights cannot happen here. The same US Christian groups pushing for this in the US are now spending millions in Europe trying to achieve the same over here.”

Croatian MP Bojan Glavasevic, a member of EPF’s executive committee, said openDemocracy’s revelations show “that action needs to be taken by member states to ensure full protection of EU citizens against predatory organisations. This isn’t a question of ideology. This is a question of security, the health of our citizens and transparency”.

“It’s time for the world to wake up. Do not stumble into our mistakes and do not think it could not happen where you live,” said Quinn Mckew, director of Article 19 (an NGO focused on freedom on expression and information), about the rising influence of dark money in US politics. She attributed this to “a long-standing process to erode accountability and transparency”.

“It was inevitable that these individuals, powering these organisations, would seek to internationalise their influence,” she added. Action is now needed to increase “financial transparency, shining light on these groups’ sources of funding”.

“It is the duty of governments to ensure that women’s rights are not eroded through misinformation and ideologically motivated campaigns,” said Melissa Upreti, member of the UN working group on tackling discrimination against women. “There are real-life and often dangerous consequences for women as a result.”

Neither the ACLJ, PRI or FWI responded to openDemocracy requests for comment.

ADF did not answer openDemocracy’s questions about its spending, but said that it is “among the largest and most effective legal advocacy organisations dedicated to protecting the religious freedom and free speech rights of all Americans”.

 

This story was originally published by openDemocracy

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Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga's This Mournable Body is on the Booker Prize 2020 shortlist.

Data Community's Response to Covid-10. Credit: UNWDF Secretariat, UN Statistics Division

By Francesca Perucci
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 2020 (IPS)

The world is currently counting more than 42 million confirmed cases of the COVID-19 and over 1 million deaths since the start of the pandemic.1

The first quarter of 2020 saw a loss equivalent to 155 million full-time jobs in the global economy, a number that increased to 495 million jobs in the second quarter, with lower- and middle-income countries hardest hit.2

The pandemic is pushing an additional 71 to 100 million people into extreme poverty and, in only a brief period of time, has reversed years of progress on poverty, hunger, health care and education, disrupting efforts to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.3

While the virus has impacted everyone, it has affected the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people the most.

The pandemic has also demonstrated that timely, reliable and disaggregated data is a critical tool for governments to contain the pandemic and mitigate its impacts.

In addition, data on the social and economic impact have been essential to develop support programmes to reach those in need and start planning for a recovery that leads to a safer, more equal, inclusive and sustainable world for all.

Data and statistics are more urgently needed than ever before. While many countries are finding innovative ways to better data, statistical operations have been significantly disrupted by the pandemic.

According to a survey conducted in May 2020, 96 per cent of national statistical offices partially or fully stopped face-to-face data collection at the height of the pandemic.4

Francesca Perucci, UN Statistics Division. Credit: IISD/EBN | Kiara Worth

Approximately 150 censuses are expected to be conducted in 2020-2021 alone, a historical record. Yet, to address the urgent issues brought by the pandemic, some countries have diverted their census funding to national emergency funding.5

Seventy-seven out of 155 countries monitored for Covid-19 do not have adequate poverty data, although there have been clear improvements in the last decade.6

Behind these numbers there is a tremendous human cost. Despite an increasing awareness of the importance of data for evidence–based policymaking and development, data gaps remain significant in most countries, particularly in the ones with fewer resources.

In addition, the lack of sound disaggregated data for vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities, older persons, indigenous peoples, migrants and others, exacerbates their vulnerabilities by masking the extent of deprivation and disparities and making them invisible when designing policies and critical measures.

The 2030 Agenda, with the principle of “leaving no-one behind” at its heart, underlines the need for new approaches and tools to respond to an unprecedented demand for high quality, timely and disaggregated data.

The UN World Data Forum

The UN World Data Forum was established as a response to the increased data demands of the 2030 agenda and as a space for different data communities to come together and find the best data solutions leveraging new technology, innovation, private sector and civil society’s contributions and wider users’ engagement.

The first and second World Data Forums in Cape Town and Dubai resulted in the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data and the Dubai Declaration.

These two forums addressed the new approaches required to the production and use of data and statistics not only by official statistical systems, but across broader data ecosystems where players from academia, civil society and the private sector play an increasingly important role.

This year, the UN World Data Forum, initially to take place in Bern, Switzerland, was held on a virtual platform because of the pandemic.

The virtual event allowed for a very broad and inclusive participation, with over 10,000 participants from 180 countries to showcase their answers to the challenges posted by the COVID-19 crisis, share their latest experiences and innovations, and renew the call for intensified efforts and political commitments to meet the data demands of the COVID-19 crisis and for delivering on the sustainable development Goals (SDGs) while also addressing trust in data, privacy and governance.

The programme of the Forum included three high-level plenaries on leaving no one behind, on data use and on trust in data. Together and under one virtual roof, the forum launched the Global Data Community’s response to COVID 19 – Data for a changing world.

This is a call for increased support for data use during COVID-19, focusing on the immediate needs related to the pandemic and for increased political and financial support for data throughout the COVID 19 pandemic and beyond.

Showcased in 70 live-streamed, 30 pre-recorded sessions and 20 virtual exhibit spaces, many innovative solutions to the data challenges of the 2030 Agenda were proposed and partnerships were formed, including:

• Lessons learned in using data to track and mitigate the impact of COVID-19, at the global, national and local level;
• Better ways to communicate data and statistics;
• Use of maps and spatial data to improve the lives of communities;
• Lessons learned from the use of AI algorithms;
• Challenges in balancing data use and data protection;
• How to secure more funding for data.

The next World Data Forum is scheduled to take place from 3 to 6 October 2021 in Bern, Switzerland, hosted by the Federal Statistical Office and the United Nations.

What next?

The Covid-19 pandemic has sadly confirmed that without timely, trusted, disaggregated data there cannot be an adequate response to the many challenges of dealing with the crisis and ensuring a sustainable, inclusive and better future for all.

Clearly, the time is now to recognize that we need data for a changing world. The time is now to accelerate action on the implementation of the Cape Town Global Action Plan and the Dubai declaration to respond more effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic and to put us back on track towards the achievement of the SDGs and to build stronger and more agile and resilient statistical and data systems to respond to future disasters.

World leaders need to recognize that increased investments are more urgently needed than ever to address the data gap and to close the digital divide and data inequality across the world.

To ensure the political commitment and donor support necessary to prioritize data and statistics, it is critical that the data community is able to demonstrate the impact and value of data.

The UN World Data Forum will continue to strive towards these objectives. It will also remain the space for knowledge sharing and launching new initiatives and collaborations for the integration of new data sources into official statistical systems and for promoting users’ engagement and a better use of data for policy and decision-making.

1 WHO Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Dashboard
2 ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work. Sixth edition
3 United Nations, The Sustainable Development Goals, Report 2020
4 United Nations Statistics Division, COVID-19 widens gulf of global data inequality, while national statistical offices step up to meet new data demands, 5 June 2020. https://covid-19-response.unstatshub.org/statistical-programmes/covid19-nso-survey/
5 PARIS21 Partner Report on Support to Statistics 2020
6 The World Bank

 

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Excerpt:

Francesca Perucci is Chief, Development Data and Outreach Branch at the United Nations

The post Global Data Community’s Response to COVID-19 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Protesters hold up their placards in front of the Lagos State House. Credit: TobiJamesCandids/Wikimedia Commons.

By Ifeanyi Nsofor
ABUJA, Oct 28 2020 (IPS)

On October 20, 2020, young Nigerians who were protesting against police brutality were shot by men in Nigerian military uniforms. Unarmed, peaceful citizens were massacred at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, southwest Nigeria.

The Governor of Lagos state, Jide Sanwo-Olu earlier in the day had announced a 24-hour curfew to curb violence that erupted following the #EndSARS Campaign. SARS is Special Anti-Robbery Squad, established in 1984 to combat armed robbery which was rife then. However, SARS has been on a killing spree of young Nigerians. Protesters are demanding for the disbanding of SARS, prosecution of indicted officers and total reform of the Nigerian Police Force.

I do not know how long this campaign against police brutality will last. However, one thing I am sure of is the mental health consequences of the pre-meditated massacre of young Nigerians at the Lekki Toll Gate will be with us for a long time

Governor Sanwo-Olu’s announcement for curfew to begin at 4pm was made at 11:49am on the same day. This meant that a city of more than 20 million people was somehow supposed to magically beat the notorious Lagos traffic, get off the streets and be at home within 4 hours. I do not live in Lagos. However, I am aware of the confusion that arose as residents scampered home. My sister-in-law drove through the Lagos traffic from Apapa to Ojuelegba to make sure she was home for her three daughters aged 7 years and below.

There were complaints on social media about the short time available for people to get home before the curfew began. Human rights advocates urged residents to do everything possible to obey the directives. However, it is understandable that not all would be able to. Some peaceful protesters stayed back to continue pushing their message of disbanding SARS, at the Lekki Toll Gate, Lagos.

I followed the protest over Twitter while preparing dinner for my wife and daughters. My wife was tracking it too, and soon she called to me in tears that these peaceful protesters were being shot. Coincidentally, one of Nigeria’s celebrity Disc Jockeys (DJ Switch) was a protester at Lekki Toll Gate and live streamed the shooting.

When I viewed it, it was pure chaos hearing the sounds of multiple gunshots and the screams. It was like a war zone. It was also pitch dark because lights were off at the usually well-lit area. Sadly, these young protesters assumed they would be safe if they sat on the ground while singing Nigeria’s national anthem and waving Nigeria’s flag. It was a fatal assumption.

This experience has negatively affected my mental health. I am completely overwhelmed with feelings of helplessness and apathy. I could not sleep that night. I kept turning and tossing. I was edgy and jumpy for days. For instance, not long after daybreak, I heard loud sounds and I thought they were gunshots. It turned out to be sounds made by masons at a construction site next to my house. A week later, I am still trying to make sense of this massacre.

I am not alone in my reaction to the horrible events. Indeed, there is fear and apprehension in the land. All over social media, Nigerians are sharing how depressed they are by this massacre:

Nigerian public health physician, Dr. Chijioke Kaduru tweeted:

For someone who is used to being angry, and channeling that anger, today feels very different. It’s anger. Heartbreak. A sense of helplessness. And for the first time, doubt. This is 2020.

For someone who is used to being angry, and channeling that anger, today feels very different. It’s anger. Heart break. A sense of helplessness. And for the first time, doubt.

This is 2020.

— Chijioke Kaduru, MD (@cj_kaduru) October 21, 2020

In response to his tweet, my friend and laboratory scientist Celestina Obiekea responded:

Today, I can’t even channel any anger… I’m just numb… and when I think my heart can’t break any more than it has already, it breaks all over again.

For someone who is used to being angry, and channeling that anger, today feels very different. It’s anger. Heart break. A sense of helplessness. And for the first time, doubt.

This is 2020.

— Chijioke Kaduru, MD (@cj_kaduru) October 21, 2020

With such strong emotions, Nigerians are searching for answers and mental health support. I am not surprised that Nigeria’s top mental health advocacy organization, Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) is inundated by calls and have now extended their usual service hours.

With these increased requests for mental health therapy by Nigerians, my friend and MANI founder, Dr. Victor Ugo sent out this this message for international mental health support volunteers. 

Reaching out for help to all my friends in the international #mentalhealth community. We’ve just had the most overwhelming day since Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) started providing crisis support services in Nigeria, way beyond what we experienced during the months of #COVID19 lockdown. We are very much overwhelmed and need your help. If you have Mental Health and Psychosocial Support experience and can provide remote support, please fill this form. If you aren’t able to help, please do share across your networks.

The mental health services provided by MANI are very important in a country like Nigeria with poor knowledge of mental health and inadequate human resources for mental health. In 2019, EpiAFRIC and Africa Polling Institute conducted the mental health in Nigeria survey that found most people know little about it or how to help.

For instance, 54% say it is caused by evil spirits, and when someone has a mental health illness, 18% say they will take the person to a prayer house. For a country of about 200 million people, Nigeria has only 250 psychiatrists, according to the Association of Psychiatrists of Nigeria. This means that approximately one psychiatrist provides mental health services to 800,000 Nigerians.

Nigerians currently feel like sheep under attack without a shepherd. President Buhari made a national broadcast without acknowledging the massacre at Lekki Toll Gate. Initially, the Lagos State Governor had alluded that those responsible were forces beyond his control. However, at a recent interview, he mentioned that it was indeed the Nigerian military that is responsible for the massacre.

I do not know how long this campaign against police brutality will last. However, one thing I am sure of is the mental health consequences of the pre-meditated massacre of young Nigerians at the Lekki Toll Gate will be with us for a long time.

 

Dr. Ifeanyi M. Nsofor, is a medical doctor, a graduate of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the CEO of EpiAFRIC and Director of Policy and Advocacy at Nigeria Health Watch. He is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity at George Washington University, a Senior New Voices Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a 2006 International Ford Fellow. 

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South Africa Rugby is investigating after a player died at a tournament - despite the amateur game still being suspended in the country because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A guest at a dinner the president attended later tested positive for coronavirus.

The charity will also stop using images of starving people or ill children in its fundraising show.