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BY JOY MAKENAH
What is Agenda 2063 and Why should African Youth care about it? Well, it is the future of Africa’s self reliance and as COVID19 has shown us, global supply chains can and will be broken down and compromised. This is why Africa needs to be self-reliant, peaceful and continuously growing. Here’s all you need to know:
African women’s restricted access to quality education, knowledge and resources is preventing them from gaining leadership positions on the continent, says Kafui Adjamagbo-Johnson, a veteran West African women’s rights activist. Another problem is that women—especially rural women—are allowed only limited control over finances, means of production and land. Consequently the pace of women’s empowerment remains slow, Ms. Adjamagbo-Johnson says.In an interview with Africa Renewal, Ms. Adjamagbo-Johnson reflected on decades of women’s political leadership, gender activism and professional engagement in Togo, her home country, and West Africa in general.
As ride-hailing apps proliferate the globe, the year-old An Nisa Taxi in Kenya is one of the standouts in Africa. Developed by 33-year-old Mehnaz Sarwar, An Nisa is run by women and serves female passengers and children exclusively. Ms. Sarwar sought to overcome two obstacles: limited job opportunities for women in a male-dominated industry and the reluctance of women to hail taxis, because physical abuse from drivers—including sexual abuse—is known to take place.
Bogolo Kenewendo describes herself as having been “an ordinary Botswana child with an ordinary upbringing.”Ms. Kenewendo, poised and focused beyond her years, is being modest. At 32 she is Botswana’s youngest minister, in charge of investment, trade and industry. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, specializing in macroeconomic policy, public debt management, export development and other trade-related fields.
Government staffer Souhayata Haidara enjoys talking about her life in a patriarchal society. Her career is a triumph of patience and perseverance, she tells Africa Renewal with a smile and a wink. Ms. Haidara, currently the Special Adviser to Mali’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, says she was lucky not to be married off at age 14 like some of her peers. Her father resisted pressure from suitors and relatives and insisted that the teenager be allowed to complete high school before getting married.
In the fight for gender equality, women around the world have advanced in small and large ways. Yet for women in Africa, progress is measured in micro steps, and the struggle has a long way to go. The good news is that women’s rep-resentation in political decision making has been on the rise globally. The not-so-good news is that the increase has been stubbornly slow, barely 1% in 2018 compared with the previous year. In 2018 the number of women ministers world-wide reached an all-time high at 20.7% (812 out of 3922).
40 years ago in 1979, the right of women and girls to participate in sports was affirmed. A balanced world is envisioned as a better world, for women, men, children, and youth. Balance being where and when opposing forces combine. It is truly an instinctive picture of collaboration. To come together with every intention to bring balance to the way we approach women and youth empowerment means to accept that there have been mistakes and to embrace future challenges as synergies and possibilities. In the sport for development and peace sector, groundbreaking initiatives have been set in motion to empower women and girls, with recent ones such as the 'One Win Leads to Another' project by UN Women.
As citizens safeguard their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) ahead of 2019 general elections, it will prove a litmus-test for Nigeria's democratic process. Increased awareness for PVCs was never heard before than now since the return of democracy in 1999. It is evident that bad politicians are voted into public spaces or offices by good people who refuse to vote.
