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 […]
“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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
August 12 is the designated International Youth Day, particularly serving as the annual celebration of the role of the youth highlighting their initiatives, voices and action. In Tanzania as with many places in the world, the youth were able to celebrate by sharing various messages on social media and other platforms, participating in workshops as […]
Across East Africa, a repressive tide against freedom of expression continues to rise through punitive laws being passed by the day. On 5 June 2020, the Kenya government printer published the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2020 which includes proposed changes to the Film and Stage Plays Act 1962 (Cap 222) to give the Kenya […]
Press Release Nairobi, 11 August 2020-Statistics from the UN indicate that at least 200 million girls and women alive today have had their genitals mutilated – suffering one of the most inhumane acts of gender-based violence in the world. Reverend Timothy Njoya, a retired Minister of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa and a leading […]
Therese Nyirarugo lived with a man who sexually and verbally abused her; but she didn’t want to tell anybody about it. Maybe he would one day ‘change’, she thought. Then she conceived his baby. He chased her away and denied paternity of the child. Haguruka sued him on her behalf. The court ordered that the […]
Stephanie Muchai: a passionate champion of open government July 28, 2020 Stephanie Muchai is Hivos’ current East Africa lead for the global Open Up Contracting program. Open contracting aims to support governments to procure and deliver public goods and services for citizens efficiently and transparently. She works directly with local, national and regional partners towards more open […]
‘Transparency and openness of governments helps people to trust that institutions will deliver for them.’ These are the words of the late Bob Collymore when he reflected on the sources of distrust between citizens and their governments in 2017. He went on to say that indeed, majority of the world has lost trust in […]