Just one day at the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61) showed me that this year’s theme, ‘Women’s Economic Empowerment in the changing world of work’, may finally bring some well-deserved attention to the feminization of migration and the plight of women in domestic work. But – will this attention […]
Ethiopia has built more than 15,000 bio-digesters since 2009. They have changed the lives of women not only by providing clean energy, but also by freeing up their income to invest in profitable businesses. Women and girls play critical roles in supplying household fuels in countries like Ethiopia, where 95 per cent of households depend […]
Malawi has put a final legal nail on the coffin of child marriages by making a historic amendment to the Constitution to fully outlaw child marriage. The legal development followed more than fifteen years of undaunted advocacy that eventually resulted in Malawi’s President, Peter Mutharika, signing the Marriage and Family Relations Bill into law in 2015, raising […]
Harnessing Zimbabwe’s abundant renewable energy resources is key to helping the country support its development strategies and leapfrog towards low-carbon socio-economic progress. Energy is increasingly being recognised as a pre-requisite for human development: it’s surprising that it took the world so long a time to acknowledge this reality. Fortunately, it is now enshrined in the […]
Last week, the world celebrated the International Women’s Day. While tremendous gains have been made economically, socially and politically in the last decade for women, a lot more still needs to be done. Take for example the role of women in food production. Over the weekend, The New Vision newspaper, Uganda, highlighted a story noting […]
Drought and the climate changing patterns cannot be separated from food security. These are some of the factors that have given rise to the open source seeds initiative globally. With the changing rainfall partners, farmers will need access to a wide variety of climate-resilient seeds which many times are not always ‘free’. The Open Source […]
Within the first week of assuming office, US President Donald Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule. Simply, this policy prohibits any entity that receives US Government (USG) funding from carrying out any abortion-related activity, regardless of the source of funds. This Mexico City Policy is a partisan affair […]
On International Women’s Day 2017, Hivos celebrates the achievements of our programmes and partners in driving change for women and helping accelerate gender parity across the world. Together we are creating a gender inclusive green society, where women and men have equal access to – and control over – renewable energy and sufficient, nutritious and […]
Joy Mboya is the Executive Director of the GoDown Arts Centre, which is widely recognised as a hub providing artistic spaces for Kenyan artists and a range of programmes for local audiences in Nairobi, Kenya. She has wide experience in the Kenyan cultural sector, having served in various capacities within film, theatre, music and art. […]
51-year-old housewife Mumbi Kinyua calls herself an environmental conservationist. Representing farmers from her community at the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya, Mumbi has been able to capitalise on her position to champion the use of biogas in engendering good and sustainable agricultural practices. ‘’I am an empowered farmer who now calls herself an environmentalist. Biogas […]
Peninah calls herself a sex worker and women’s rights activist. As the Founder and Director of Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme (BHESP) she is amongst the change makers who have been championing for the rights of sex workers for close to 17 years now. ‘’I believe sex work is work. What inspires me every […]
She calls herself a shy, eccentric daydreamer who loves what she does in the artistic spaces. Liz Kilili is the ‘Chief Mechanic’ at the Creatives Garage. This is a hub that was born from a quest to engage in cultural activism and enable creatives to venture into social innovation. To date, her overall leadership has […]