Region: East Africa
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Hivos East Africa at the Africa Development Bank civil society forum
By Caroline Wahome, Maimuna Kabatesi Hivos East Africa will take part in two side events discussing Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) at the second annual Civil Society Forum hosted by the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), in Abidjan, Ivory Coast as part of the Bank’s mandate to further engage with civil society. The event: Engaging Civil Society…
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Celebrating 15 Years Stop Child Labour
63,000 children out of work and into school! The Stop Child Labour coalition (coordinated by Hivos) and its 25 partner organizations are celebrating a milestone: 15 years of the coalition’s successful work. Fifteen years ago, the Stop Child Labour campaign launched with this credo: “school is the best place to work.” Basically, no child should…
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Workers in Rwanda set to enjoy a minimum wage
By Faith Muiruri Rwanda’s informal sector workers can now breathe easy following an amendment to the labour law that guarantees them a minimum wage. According to the Secretary General of Rwanda Workers Trade Union Federation, Biraboneye Africain, the new law will help harmonise salaries in the informal sector. Speaking during this year’s women@work campaign partners…
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There is no silver bullet to improve plight of flower farm workers
Kenya’s cut-flower industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. Exports have increased in volume and value from 10,946 tonnes in 1988 to 133,658 tonnes in 2016, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. But there are still many challenges for workers who make this happen. As the Women@Work campaign continues to shine the…
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We must have a budget that is inclusive and responsive!
Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) Mtandao On April 2, 2019, held a pre-National budget dialogue-stakeholders’ forum in Dar es salaam Tanzania. The forum which brought together more 70 participants from Government institutions, CSOs, higher learning institutions, academicians, individual activists, community animators and development partners was themed “Promoting a National Budget that is inclusive and responds…
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Seed Savers Network makes it easier to access seeds
How an Open Source Seed System in Kenya helps local farmers to register, produce and trade crops By Nout van der Vaart, Advocacy Officer Sustainable Food Last week, I visited the Seed Savers Network in Kenya. The organization helps small-scale farmers to identify, store and scale up the seeds of traditional crop varieties. This is…
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Coffee world: Are we talking too much and doing too little?
Reflections from the African Fine Coffees Association (AFCA) Conference Global and Regional coffee conferences like the just concluded Africa Fine Coffees Association (AFCA) Conference 2019 have an opportunity to address the key challenges facing the coffee sector, but do they? On 10-15 February 2019, thousands of delegates from multinational coffee organizations, traders, roasters, government and…
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Diet champions in Uganda strive to improve access to quality indigenous vegetable seeds and knowledge
For many years, indigenous and traditional food systems have provided rural communities in Uganda’s Gulu district with diverse, healthier, fresher and more nutritious foods. For the Acholi, indigenous vegetables with strong Acholi cultural attachments, such as cow peas, otigo diri (jute mallow), created a sustainable source of food and income. This thereby improved the…
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Feminism is not the opposite of patriarchy
By Jaimee Kokonya The Women@Work Campaign (W@W) held its annual partners meeting at the end of February in Kigali, Rwanda. When I was first asked to attend the week-long meeting, I was excited for many reasons. First, I had heard so much about this beautiful city with its tragic and brave history; second, I would…
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A paradigm shift is long overdue to the recurrent food crisis in Kenya
The World Bank in 2015 confirmed Kenya as a lower middle income country, a leap from the least developed countries cluster. This follows largely the changes in the size of the economy notably a 25 per cent domestic growth and the rise in the country’s Gross National Income per capita. While income based measures like…
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Why a brave Kenyan filmmaker was awarded by Hivos for her banned film
In Kenya, there is still a long way to go when it comes to gay acceptance and equal rights. Filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu made a special film about two girls who fall in love with each other: Rafiki. The film, which is banned in the country, won the Hivos Free to be me Award last week.…
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Brewing coffee and sowing equality in Tanzania’s Same District.
Tanzania is amongst the world’s top coffee producers. At 30,000-40,000 metric tonnes annually, the country is making its mark in brewing the world’s most favorite beverage. However the taste, flavor and aroma of this popular beverage is filled with twists and turns of inequality. For an avid coffee consumer, the thoughts around the true cost…
