The first-ever national survivor’s conference held in Dili, Timor Leste, on 11-12 August 2016 was attended by more than 200 people, including survivors from 12 municipalities, government officials, INGOs, local NGOs, foreign embassies and the media. Biranchi Upadhyaya, the Director of Hivos Southeast Asia, opened the conference, followed by an address by the Social and […]
Since 2015, Hivos Southern Africa has been supporting Her Zimbabwe to augment its capacity to create and share content on gender and rights issues in alternative and engaging formats. Creating more media spaces to access information and share opinions through high-quality, independent journalism is important to Hivos. Freedom of speech is the main measure of […]
A community newspaper titled, “Harare News,” has been at the forefront of providing community-based news reporting in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. The free, monthly community newspaper and online media hub cover places, people and events that are important to the citizens of Harare. Informed citizens are crucial, but information is worthless if it is biased, […]
Corruption in Zimbabwe has become endemic within its political, private and civil sectors. According to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2015, Zimbabwe is ranked at 150 out of 168 countries. Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money […]
By the end of July 2016, the National Biodigester Programme (NBP) in Cambodia had built 25,115 biodigesters with 130,500 direct beneficiaries in its 14 target provinces. To celebrate the successful programme’s accomplishment, the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) hosted a 25,000 Biodigesters Celebration presided over by H.E Veng Sakhon, Minister of Agriculture, […]
In June, Hivos Southern Africa in partnership with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Malawi launched the Cultural Fund of Malawi (CFM) aimed at contributing to a dynamic, free and diverse cultural sector for improved living standards, economic growth and poverty reduction in Malawi. The CFM, which has a total budget of Euro 481,313, will run […]
The high age of consent on average 16-18 years for adolescents and youth to access sexual reproductive health services (SRHS) has proven a barrier to timely interventions in countries across Sub- Saharan Africa. Although a high age of consent is meant to protect adolescents, the data and evidence shows that vulnerability of adolescents and youth to […]
The Zambia Elections Information Centre (ZEIC), a project co-funded by Hivos Southern Africa and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), has been monitoring the electoral process in Zambia. The overall goal of the project is to facilitate effective information management for a credible, peaceful, free and fair 2016 general election in Zambia, taking place […]
What happens when people from the private sector, academia, journalism and activism join forces to pitch ideas for solving a social problem? Although we cannot claim that they always find an answer, what we do know is that these encounters, called “civic laboratories”, address a collective need to change society for the better. This month, […]
Household air pollution caused by using firewood and charcoal for cooking is a silent but pervasive killer. Inhaling harmful particles causes premature deaths and serious illnesses, such as lung cancer and child pneumonia. The WHO estimates that this results in 4.3 million premature deaths annually, mainly in low and middle-income countries. Now, thanks to a […]
A new study by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) reveals a lack of citizen participation in the budgeting process by the Bulawayo City Council. The study, “A Social Surgery of the Budget Making Process at Local Government Level: Bulawayo City Council in Perspective,” shows that citizens are not involved in the stages of budget […]
Hivos Southern Africa has partnered with the Embassy of Norway to launch the Cultural Fund of Malawi aimed at stimulating the arts and culture sector in Malawi. The launch of the Euro 481,313 cultural fund, which has already attracted many actors in Malawi’s cultural sector, marks the beginning of a new era in the funding […]