For the first time ever, a play about energy-related issues was put on in Zimbabwe at Harare’s Theatre in the Park, where some 100 spectators gathered to watch “Look No Further.” The play tells the story of an old woman who is reluctant to embrace new technology because it is against her tradition and culture. […]
Man to woman the evening of March 8: “Your day is over, time to go back to the kitchen”. *laughter* It’s easy to assume that this type of sexist humour just comes out of typical male cafés in Lebanon. But this joke was used by seasoned Lebanese television host Marcel Ghanem in a tweet to […]
I was part of an inspiring half-day session named 100 Days of Learning, organised by the Age of Wonderland program on Valentine’s Day. An initiative to foster social innovation by facilitating co-creation between creatives in Africa, Latin America and Asia and the Netherlands. The event was organized by Guavay Tanzania, and held at Buni-COSTECH, Dar […]
Call for Concept Notes for the Community Media Fund in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa The role of media and journalism is not confined to news organisations, broadcasting companies or governments—within Africa, a large and growing community media sector is linked to enterprises, civil society, educational institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that focus on issues […]
The Zimbabwean government is currently finalizing the ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which it signed last year. The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. At a Conference of the Parties (COP) 22 Feedback Meeting […]
Hivos Southern Africa has urged civil society organizations (CSOs) to integrate social media into their communications matrix as this provides a valuable opportunity for them to reach their communications goals and new audiences more efficiently. While media polarisation in Zimbabwe has been a contentious issue over the years, so many gains have been brought by […]
The city of Valencia hosted the 3rd Internet Freedom Festival from 5-10 March 2017. The festival brought together a diverse group of over 1200 people from 114 countries to discuss issues related to privacy, anonymity, access to information and policy and advocacy for Internet freedom. Internet Freedom in Africa was widely discussed with the issues […]
Lea la versión en español de este blog acá. It’s three in the morning, when most people are asleep and haven’t even started thinking about the chores of the day, let alone water, a resource many of us take for granted. But not doña Ángela*. She is already up and making her way to Matagalpa, […]
‘’Farmers, too, have a voice in food security.’’ This comment represents some of the conversations during an open source seeds forum in Nakuru County on 15 to 17 March 2017 convened by Hivos East Africa, Bioversity International, Genetic Resources Research Institute and Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management – Africa. The forum drew participation from […]
The heavy focus on technical aspects of renewable energy projects tends to overlook the vital gender aspects that can make or break the uptake of projects. In many cases, energy projects are treated as gender neutral based on the assumption that energy bottlenecks and solutions impact men and women in similar ways. The failure to […]
Looking back on my overwhelming first time attending a Council of the Parties (COP) at COP22 in Marrakech last November, it was filled with so many meetings, side panels, negotiations and networking opportunities that it was easy to overlook the real people affected by lack of access to energy. Acronyms were flying all over the place, […]
You can almost see nothing inside the Manyatta (a home, often temporary of the Maasai/Samburu people). The window and only ventilation is the size of two adult hands. There is fire burning probably to keep the place lit up and warm given it is a rainy day. Even with the choking darkness one cannot fail […]