Region: East Africa
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Food citizenship: innovative partnerships for healthy food systems
By Frank Mechielsen, Sustainable Food program manager Food is high on the political agenda. The need to make food systems more resilient to external shocks like climate change and Covid-19 is now well acknowledged among states and other actors. Green, healthy, and inclusive food systems should become the new normal. But to make this happen…
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Resilience during COVID-19 at JP Cuttings flower farm
Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 disease in Uganda in March 2020, the management of JP Cuttings flower farm, in Uganda, initiated immediate measures aimed at ensuring that the health and safety of the employees is guaranteed. According to Ms Hamid Janat, the Human Resource Officer at JP Cuttings, the farm immediately acquired basic items,…
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How Tanzanian flower farms ensured workers were protected during COVID-19
When the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Tanzania on March 16, 2020, stakeholders in the flower industry, immediately started to think about how to cushion the workers and the businesses from effects of the pandemic. Three major flower farms namely; Dekker Bruins Tanzania, Fides and Mount Meru Flowers not only focused on how…
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To address food insecurity in Uganda post COVID-19 the government must act now
In the wake of COVID-19, food insecurity in Uganda is drastically increasing. Food Rights Alliance and Twaweza East Africa call on the Uganda government to take specific and urgent action to address the growing threats to food security following the pandemic. In Uganda, as in many countries across the world, COVID-19 has challenged communities and the…
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Addressing dietary challenges in Gulu, Uganda
Four years ago Janet Achiro would only dream of having a decent meal. Achiro a resident of Bardege Division in Gulu is among the scores who have been leading dejected lives after the three decade war that ravaged northern Uganda. Gulu has for over three decades been a hotbed for rebellion and insurgency by the…
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Forces of Art: How art shapes our societies
Hivos, The Prince Claus Fund, and the European Cultural Foundation (ECF) are proud to announce the launch of Forces of Art – Perspectives from a Changing World. This publication is the result of a major global research project we initiated jointly to investigate the transformative force of art and culture on the lives of people…
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New paper calls for a green and inclusive Covid-19 recovery
By Nout van der Vaart, Hivos Advocacy Officer Sustainable Food The world is facing ever more challenges as the United Nations celebrates its 75th anniversary this week. Presidents and heads of states must now attend the annual General Assembly digitally. But this is a tiny inconvenience compared to the ways Covid-19 has impacted the world…
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Hivos and fellow organizations call for bold action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss
“The rapid loss of nature, ecosystems and biodiversity is not only threatening our environment but also health, diets, development, social equity and human rights.”– WWF & Civil Society Call to Action Hivos stands firmly behind this statement, which encapsulates a broad civil society call to action urging heads of state and government to set nature,…
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Patriarchy is an enemy of selfhood
By Ruth Kimani and Sally Akinyi Women’s selfhood has been historically controlled and even outrightly denied by law, customary practice, and cultural stereotypes. Selfhood – a state where a woman repositions herself outside traditional gender and cultural norms – is emerging as a feminist perspective on the right to “self”. Identified either as inferior versions…
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Open contracting can make the fight against Covid-19 in Kenya more effective
Hivos welcomes the swift reaction of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta following the exposé of alleged abuse of funds meant to buy medical supplies for the Covid-19 pandemic. During Kenya’s Covid-19 Virtual Conference held this Monday, the President stated, “I also hereby direct that the Ministry of Health, within the next 30 days, must come up…
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Agriculture and climate change
Shifting weather patterns threaten food production. From the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in the earth’s atmosphere to the rising sea levels. greenhouse gases have caused the earth’s climatic system to retain more energy resulting in extreme weather there by increasing wildfires. They also contribute to air pollution which in turn…
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African storytelling featured at international film festivals
African Space Makers and Apes in Space make their big debut African storytelling is re-emerging as a form of creative expression as it embraces modern techniques to celebrate culture, freedom, food, fashion, bustling African cities and the diversity of African people. A new generation of African creatives is going against the norm and freely expressing…
