Region: East Africa
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We Link, We Learn – We Lead! Empowering young women and girls
Read our reflections on a week-long event that brought young women and girls from across the globe together to share lessons, experiences and innovative approaches to advocate for sexual reproductive health and rights, or #SRHR.
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What needs to happen at the 38th Green Climate Fund meeting in Kigali
By Collins Otieno (Voices for Just Climate Action) The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the largest multi-lateral finance instrument created under the 2015 Paris Agreement. It is a unique global fund that invests in low-emission and climate-resilient projects to help Global South countries adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. This week, the 38th…
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Celebrating the work of journalists in East Africa
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…
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Hivos launches two new climate projects
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.
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Kenya’s Marsabit County launches Climate Change Action Plan
For long, climate change response strategies in Kenya have not included targeted contribution of Indigenous people, local communities, and fisher folks. However, this changed when Marsabit County launched its first community-led climate change action plan.
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Fighting for a better future for the LGBTIQ+ community in Ghana
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…
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Open letter to African leaders: protect African peoples’ interests at COP28
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…
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Fighting homophobia in Kenyan churches
In Kenya, many churches disapprove of sexual and gender diversity. Feminists in Kenya is a movement that, with support from our Voice program, helps LGBTIQ+ people convince religious leaders to stand up for their rights.
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Empowering the present and future through meaningful and inclusive youth engagement
To ensure adequate sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care and services for all, it is crucial that healthcare workers address the needs of all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or sex characteristics. The Initiative for Gender Equality and Sexual Reproductive Health (IGE-SRH) in Nigeria, a partner in our Free to…
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Kenya’s Supreme Court ruling in favor of LGBTIQ+ rights group a triumph for justice, human rights, and inclusivity
By Saida Ali and Moses Okinyi We applaud the Kenyan Supreme Court’s bold and groundbreaking decision upholding the rights to association for LGBTIQ+ persons. On Tuesday 12, September 2023, the Court dismissed a challenge to its earlier ruling allowing the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission to register as a Non-Governmental Organization. For people…
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Hivos at Africa Climate Week
By Hugo Schiffers from the Voices for Just Climate Action team The first Africa Climate Week took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 4 to 8 September. It ran parallel to the African Climate Summit, where African leaders gathered to hammer out collective positions ahead of the COP28 climate conference in Dubai. Hivos East Africa director…
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Largest wind farm in Africa does not benefit local community
This is one of the documentaries Hivos produced for Africa Climate Week, held from 4 to 8 September in Nairobi. We showed it to the media to illustrate how large-scale energy projects – often backed by foreign investors – do not always benefit local communities where they are built. The film tells how the…
