Trending
- Will Tanzania’s new truck assembly plant revive old coal mines?
- Communications Authority of Kenya needs $820M for digital superhighway goals
- Youth Unemployment in Kenya: The Role of Vocational Training
- New $900,000 initiative aims to boost sustainable trade in Tanzania
- Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) pride in its African roots
- AIM Global Foundation pushes for stronger Gulf-Africa trade partnerships
- Investment opportunities in South Sudan’s emerging gold industry
- Family planning drive in Kenya gets 450,000 self-injectable contraceptive doses from UK
Africa
- In Africa, a staggering 1.2 billion people lack access to clean cooking facilities.
- Lack of clean cooking facilities is one of the main causes of deforestation in Africa.
- AfDB funding is a major step along the road to saving the lives of 600,000 mainly women and children each year.
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has pledged $2 billion over the next decade towards clean cooking initiatives in Africa, marking a huge stride in the effort to save the lives of 600,000 people, predominantly women and children, each year. This commitment aims to address the health hazards associated with traditional cooking methods that rely on charcoal, wood, and biomass, which contribute to severe respiratory illnesses and environmental degradation.
At a summit on Clean Cooking in Africa, held in Paris, AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina announced that the Bank would allocate 20 per cent of its energy project financing to promoting …
- Across Africa, gender inequality in marriage, divorce, custody, and property rights is perpetuated by sex discrimination embedded in both legal systems and customary laws.
- Discriminatory family laws have profound impacts, increasing the risk of sexual and gender-based violence for women and girls.
- Laws in Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, and Tanzania still allow child marriage.
Discrimination against women and girls remains widespread in family laws across Africa, according to new research by Equality Now. An analysis of 20 African countries reveals that gender inequality in marriage, divorce, custody, and property rights is perpetuated by sex discrimination embedded in both legal systems and customary laws. Despite some significant legal reforms, progress has been slow, inconsistent, and hindered by setbacks, lack of political will, and weak implementation.
The report, “Gender Inequality in Family Laws in Africa: An Overview of Key Trends in Select Countries,” highlights how overlapping and …
- Kenya’s Green Jobs Potential will be key in preserving the country’s natural heritage and combating the challenges posed by climate change.
- PS Labour and Skills Development Shadrack Mwadime warned that the transition to green economy has far reaching implications for the world of work
- Green jobs are becoming a crucial driver of sustainable development in Kenya,
Stakeholders in the environment conservation sectors are deliberating on ways to unlock Kenya’s potential as a global hub for digital work and green jobs. The government, jointly with Jacob’s Ladder Africa, International Labour Organisation, United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Children’s Fund, are in talks in Nairobi to align government priorities with the demands of the green job market.
Kenya National Green Jobs and Skills Development Workshop, brings together stakeholders from government, academia, private sector, finance, and youth-led groups to address the critical need for green jobs and skills development in …
KCB Group PLC has completed the acquisition of Banque Populaire du Rwanda Plc (BPR) from Atlas Mara Mauritius Limited and Arise B.V, days after announcing the doubling of its net profit in the six months to June 2021.
According to the Kenya-based regional bank, the acquisition follows the securing of the requisite regulatory approvals in Kenya, and Rwanda in what makes KCB Group the majority shareholder in BPR, Rwanda’s second-biggest bank, with effect from August 25, 2021.
KCB Group CEO and MD Joshua Oigara said that the completion of the transaction in Rwanda will give the Group a stronger edge in deepening the ongoing Group strategy to scale regional presence.
He added that combined history of BPR and KCB will take the Group to greater heights, and would give them a stronger edge to play a bigger role in driving the financial inclusion and economic empowerment agenda in the East …
Kenya’s ministry of health has stepped up its efforts to fight the global pandemic by increasing the number of available vaccines in the country.
The country recently received more than 800,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 as the government pushes the campaign to get more people vaccinated.
The current target is to vaccinate at least 10 million people by December this year.
Is this achievable?
Going by an analysis by AMREF, the country plans to vaccinate 40 per cent of its population by the end of 2022. This translates to about 20 million people from a total population of 49 million.
The government has also revised its vaccine deployment plans. This has been made possible by the availability of multiple vaccines in the country.
The health ministry now plans to vaccinate at least 150,000 people each day before the end of September.
According to Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache, the
“Before the Forest and Farm Facility Programme (FFF) reached out to us, I faced many challenges in marketing the avocado produce from my farm,” says Paul Mitei, a farmer from Kiptoben Village, Nakuru County, Kenya.
Paul says he wanted to know more about how the avocado and tomato value chains worked, and the proper inputs that are critical to avocado cultivation and meeting market demands.
Paul is married with 3 children and has a 5-acre farm where his family tends to avocado trees. He says he started to grow avocadoes because other farmers in his community were growing them, but at that time he had poor crop management skills which led to low fruit yields, no profit and a lot of frustration. .
To improve his knowledge and capacity on the avocado value chain, he joined the Nakuru Small Holder Fruit Producers Association (NASFPA) with the hopes of higher sales …
Africa’s healthcare sector is on the verge of digital transformation.
This is according to a policy paper that indicates that while governments are accelerating formal digital health strategies, 41 out of 54 African countries have a digital health strategy in place.
Vodacom’s e-health policy paper also finds that consumers are dramatically increasing their engagement with digital health services via their smartphones. Official data forecasts that by 2025, smartphone reach in sub-Saharan Africa will increase by almost 70 percent.
The policy paper indicates that as a result of increased smartphone reach, informal use of digital healthcare solutions has increased, with 41 percent of internet users across Africa regularly using their mobile phones to search for health information.
Overall, the policy paper notes that there has been an exponential rise in the number of people engaging with digital health services through their smartphones, creating vast potential for countries to deliver access to …
In Kenya, businesses are condemning the high cost of doing business, amidst the economic challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, business owners have expressed concern on the current focus on politics without practical solutions to bring local businesses back on the recovery track
The Association’s Chairman, Mucai Kunyiha, raised concerns on the severity of the additional taxes imposed on businesses in addition to inflation adjustment on specific rates of duty.
“It is becoming more expensive to operate in Kenya due to the introduction of taxes, fees, levies and charges,” he said.
Kunyiha pointed out the Crop (Nuts and Oil Crops) Regulations 2020 which introduced new fees and levies as a measure to control thirteen (13) scheduled crops.
“Through the 2021 Finance Act, the government has introduced excise tax on raw materials and 16 percent VAT on the supply of some products, effectively increasing …
Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) says it has surpassed a crucial stage in the ongoing USD 6.2 million geothermal drilling contracts in Ethiopia.
According to the firm’s Managing Director and CEO Rebecca Miano, a team of KenGen engineers have so far crossed the 450 meters of drilling depth of the first of eight geothermal wells for the state-owned electricity producer, Ethiopia Electric Power Company which commenced in May this year.
“The first 450 meters is the most difficult phase of the entire geothermal well drilling process which can go upto a depth of 3,000 meters,” Miano said.
“This particular one is being done under peculiar circumstances including unforeseen delays occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic,” she added.
The CEO added that they will be drilling at a rate of about 50 meters per day going forward and therefore expect to complete the remaining part on schedule in about two months.…
