By Saira Ortega, Hivos Latin America Program Manager, and Gabriela Melgar, Regional Communication Officer Bernardo Arévalo took office as Guatemala’s new president in the early hours of Monday, January 15, 2024. This followed months of judicial machinations by his political opponents to block him from office after his vow to clamp down on corruption. This, […]
Last November and December, Hivos Southern Africa’s women’s empowerment team sprinted toward the 2023 finish line in culmination of our women’s rights advocacy efforts for the year. Through initiatives with our partners – like observing the UN’s #16DaysofActivism campaign and Human Rights Day, among others – we reaffirmed our mission to empower marginalized women, girls […]
Strengthening media is one of the key ways through which we can push for societal change. Media can increase citizen engagement by exposing people to factual information and ideas for change. This, in turn, allows people to drive and shape the political system and their own development. Hivos believes freedom of expression – which media […]
Based in Tunis, Adel Azouni has been passionate about social and environmental activism since the 2011 Tunisian revolution. In 2022, UNDP Climate included him among their five young leaders from the Arab world who give us hope for tackling climate change. Recently, he was nominated by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability to be an […]
By Luckmore Jalasi, Global Capacity Strengthening Officer, Free to be Me It’s 9 AM on a hot summer day in Lusaka, Zambia, and Simalumba, a pro bono lawyer, is visiting a client named Suzyo who has been incarcerated for over a year without trial. Suzyo is being held under Namibia’s colonial-era sodomy laws. Suspecting him, […]
Last November, Cairo hosted the second edition of the Venture Capital Summit, a pivotal event in Egypt. The summit’s goal is to enhance Egypt’s standing as a regional hub for venture capital and a gateway for investments into Africa and the Middle East, fostering collaboration between foreign investors and regional VC funds. This year’s edition […]
This November in The Hague, a vibrant community dedicated to positive change celebrated LEAD II’s closure at an event that brought together program partners to share achievements and lessons learned. The first phase of Local Employment for Development in Africa (LEAD) was initiated in 2015 by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Its aim was […]
With two new projects, launched during COP 28, Hivos will work together with two specific groups that are disproportionally affected by the climate crisis: girls and Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon.
Climatechange is one of the greatest health challenges of our time. It destabilizes health systems, deepens inequities and threatens the lives, health, and wellbeing of communities around the world.
For long, climate change response processes and strategies in Kenya have not included active, targeted participation and/or contribution of Indigenous people, local communities, and fisher folks. However, this all changed when Marsabit County launched its first community-led and -centered climate change action plan in Loiyangalani, home to the El Molo community. The Action Plan (2023-2027) […]
A bill currently under parliamentary review in Ghana is set to “protect” family values. However, its real objective is to criminalize same-sex relations and identifying as LGBTIQ+, prohibit advocacy for LGBTIQ+ rights, allyship, donor support, and ban transgender healthcare. Adisa Musah (he/him) is our Free to be Me program’s Community of Action (CoA) facilitator in […]
Last September’s African Climate Summit, where African leaders gathered to decide on collective positions ahead of COP28 in Dubai, proved a disappointment in several important ways. The summit’s declaration just made a cursory mention of women, youth and Indigenous communities, while ignoring the elephants in the room – oil and gas – where most new […]