Archives: Opinions

  • Bouquet of roses may cost more than salary of woman who grows them

    Bouquet of roses may cost more than salary of woman who grows them

    Happy Valentine’s Day! Pardon me, but I must interrupt the path of Cupid’s arrow to talk about something that will certainly be considered unsexy today; labour rights, women’s labour rights specifically. I know, us pesky activists and our high horses, right? Why can we not let a day of wanton consumerism couched as portrayals of…

  • Balancing rights and trade: a tale of hypocrisy

    Opinion by Jonathan Huseman, Hivos Advocacy Officer, and Jolien van der Vaart, Communications Officer.  Last month, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) published an in-depth investigation into corruption and abuse of power in Angola: the Luanda Leaks. News agencies around the world started breaking stories about the wealth of Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest…

  • Shifting power dynamics: a just transition to new food systems

    The human activity behind climate change has already caused the loss of 83 percent of all wild mammals and half of plants – so important for our sustenance and health. And our global food systems have contributed to this in no small part. Just the way we produce food creates around 30 percent of global greenhouse gas…

  • Will 2020 World Economic Forum deliver on combating climate change?

    For the first time, the world’s elites meeting this year at Davos have listed environmental issues as their top concerns about the next decade. The WEF’s annual Global Risks Report raises the alarm on increased extreme weather events, manmade environmental damage – including oil spills and contamination, major biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and failure of…

  • Changing our food systems is key to saving the Amazon

    How current consumption habits affect indigenous communities and the environment Now that the COP 25 UN climate summit has ended, we see an ever more urgent need to safeguard the Amazon as part of the global fight against climate change. And to support the indigenous communities who are on the frontlines of protecting the rainforest.…

  • Digital rights of vulnerable energy consumers at risk

    Efficiency and reduced costs versus privacy risks in developing countries Digitalization is transforming the energy sector in both developed and developing economies. Every year, new tools and processes are altering energy providers’ business models and creating completely new ones. This changes how energy providers interact with their customers and allows new players to enter the…

  • Climate change deniers violate human rights

    Whoever still thinks climate change is purely an environmental issue, threatening only nature, needs to think again. Climate change is also essentially a human issue because of its devastating effect on human life – and rights. It exacerbates existing inequalities, undermines democracy and threatens development at large. Likewise, by far the greatest burden will fall…

  • Creating an inclusive environment for diversity in the workplace

    By Levis Maina Nderitu * “I am proud to be gay.” These were the words of Apple CEO, Tim Cook, in a 2014 article he wrote for the Bloomberg BusinessWeek, making him the first and only Fortune 500 CEO to come out publicly about his sexuality. The announcement made headlines all over the world and…

  • Banks have a role to play in clean and open procurement

    Corruption scandals in Kenya have continued to emerge almost on a daily basis with the lingering looting of public funds. Every time Kenyans become accustomed to the constant news of their taxes ending up in the hands of a few; another graft scandal emerges. While the corruption chain in Kenya is intertwined with a narrative…

  • Smart procurement empowers women

    Procurement is one of the biggest opportunities for socio-economic transformation in a country. According to statistics by Chatham House, procurement budgets account for one fifth of the global gross domestic product (GDP). This statistic offers a glimpse to the magnitude of government spending in the public sector with procurement receiving the biggest allocation at 70…

  • Radical changes to the global food system needed to halt environmental destruction and prevent ecosystem collapse

    By Nout van der Vaart, Advocacy Officer Sustainable Food  One million. One million plant and animal species are potentially under threat of extinction because of human activities, especially thanks to our ever-expanding hunger for food and energy. This development is part of a wider trend. Since the 1900s, some 75 percent of plant genetic diversity…

  • Effective climate action requires coherence between adaptation and mitigation

    Basically everyone agrees that climate change is the biggest challenge of the coming decades. It is also widely recognized that vulnerable people in low- and middle-income countries will be hit hardest by its impact. The consequences have already affected their lives severely. Urgent action is therefore required. As I already laid out in this interview,…

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