Region: Southern Africa
-
Youth leading urban food system transformation at the World Urban Forum
By Diego Orellana, Global Urban Futures Project Manager Urban food systems face immense challenges: they both consume over 70 percent of the world’s food and significantly contribute to environmental degradation. Among the 1.7 billion food-insecure people globally, many reside in urban and peri-urban areas. They also struggle with inequality, climate change, and malnutrition. Tackling these…
-
How to address climate change’s vicious circles in Southern Africa
By Tanja Lubbers, regional director of Hivos Southern Africa Hivos’ Executive Board has asked me to briefly reprise my role as regional director in Southern Africa as we are rethinking our work in the region. I was regional director of Hivos Southern Africa from 2013 to 2020, and it wasn’t hard to agree to go…
-
Transforming the lives of women and girls with HIV in Mozambique
The Hixikanwe Association in Maputo is a non-governmental community-based organization founded in 2006 by women living with HIV. It is now at the forefront of empowering women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Mozambique. With a vision of enabling people living with HIV to lead full, healthy lives free from discrimination, Hixikanwe has grown into…
-
Women Entrepreneurship Day: empowering and inspiring futures
This week, we join the global community in celebrating Women Entrepreneurship Day, a day dedicated to recognizing and empowering women who are turning their dreams into successful businesses. In our ongoing commitment to support women entrepreneurs through the S(HE) Matters project, this year we highlight the journeys of two remarkable women whose lives were transformed…
-
A way out of period poverty for rural women in Zimbabwe
To observe this year’s International Day of Rural Women, our S(HE) Matters project hosted a sanitary pad-making workshop for 40 farm workers in Mazowe District, Zimbabwe, in partnership with the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) facilitated by Pad Up Zimbabwe. Besides helping reduce period poverty, the workshop aimed at improving menstrual…
-
Young women and girls leading an inclusive feminist movement in Mozambique
In the city of Maputo, Mozambique, a powerful movement is taking root – driven by the vision of young women and girls who are ready to defend their rights and lead inclusive feminist movements to combat gender-based violence (GBV). Behind this transformation is the Mais Junt@s (We’re More Together) project, an initiative implemented by AESMO…
-
Improving youth access to SRHR services in East and Southern Africa
This October, our Regional Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Fund program hosted a three-day event to share ideas on improving SRHR service provision for young people. In attendance were partners, government representatives, civil society organizations and young people from Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Working with the program’s partners Restless Development (Zimbabwe)…
-
Working with journalists to improve environmental and health reporting
The power of the media to set an agenda, share information and be an educational tool is vital in Hivos’ work. Breaking down technical aspects of our programs into everyday language that anyone understands is critical for stakeholder engagement and the impact we want to achieve. Three of our programs in Zambia recently organized a…
-
Finding solutions to Zambia’s food insecurity with Healthy Food Africa
In the late ‘90s, an agricultural resettlement scheme was established in Zambia’s Chongwe District as a response to the country’s economic crisis. Kanakantapa Ward in Chongwe has since become home to many small-scale farmers who sell their produce to consumers in the capital city Lusaka, some 55 kilometers away. Kanakantapa has been a focus area…
-
Lupane State University partners with Urban Futures and youths to fight climate change
In a bid to address the urgent challenges of climate change and foster local innovations, Lupane State University (LSU) has teamed up with several youth empowerment organizations, including Hivos’ Urban Futures program, to equip young people with the skills needed to become climate change champions. This initiative, which reflects a growing global emphasis on sustainable…
-
Planting seeds of change at the Urban Futures meeting in Zambia
Urban food systems are increasingly recognized as critical to sustainable development, climate resilience, and social equity. At the heart of this transformation is our Urban Futures program, which held its first post-inception meeting in Zambia earlier this year. Participants from Latin America, Southern Africa, and Indonesia gathered for more than just dialogue. It was about…
-
Women in Leadership summit in Zimbabwe: a show of strength
By Rutendo Singadi, Communications Assistant, Hub SAF It’s a welcome sight to see a group of women united by a shared vision to uplift one another and serve as a voice for those who cannot speak out. The recent two-day High-Level Women in Leadership Summit in Zimbabwe was both a significant vote of confidence in…
