APO News from Africa:
Around 400 people in two communities near Waterloo benefit from DFID funded WASH interventions:
Around 400 people from the communities of Masantigie and Malunka near Waterloo in Western Area rural are benefiting from improved health care services as a result of an upgrade to the water supply and sanitation facilities in their peripheral health care unit (PHU) as part of the President’s Recovery Priorities, through funding by UK aid from the British people.
These 400 people in Waterloo are part of more than 150,000 people in Sierra Leone who are set to benefit from improved water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) under the rural DFID WASH project launched by the Government of Sierra Leone with UNICEF, and funded by UK aid. To date, the construction of 147 out of 175 (84 per cent) sanitation facilities has been completed at PHUs. A total of 58 health care facilities out of 70 earmarked have already been provided with boreholes.
The integrated ‘WASH in PHU’ project is also aimed at improving medical waste management to promote infection and prevention control and reduce hospital infections. To do this, a solar powered water well, toilet, bathroom and laundry have been built at the Masantigie PHU, where Finda Komba works as the MCH Aide in charge: “In addition to the WASH facilities, they even constructed ash and placenta pits for us and these are making our work easier and effective and more patients are coming to the clinic,” she said.
Michael Sami, a project officer at Living Waters International, an NGO that partnered with UNICEF to implement the work in Western Area, said: “Before, patients used to walk about three to four miles to the clinics in neighbouring communities because there were no WASH facilities at the clinic at Masantigie.”
Neighbouring Malunka community has benefited from a bore hole for the first time. The Headman of the community, Sulaiman Sankoh, was highly appreciative of this intervention. “Before, we used to go to the stream to fetch water but now we have water right in the middle of our community; our children are no longer late for school,” said Headman Sankoh. “We also received hygiene education including handwashing with soap as well as health benefits of drinking safe water.”
In line with the President’s Recovery Priorities, the project will see the improvement of vital sanitation and hygiene practices – like use of hygienic toilets and handwashing with soap – in rural communities across eleven target districts. A total of 504 water points will be constructed / rehabilitated in schools, communities and health facilities with UK aid funding. The goal is to reduce the numbers of deaths and illnesses, such as cholera, caused by poor water and hygiene.
Distributed by APO on behalf of UNICEF Sierra Leone.
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
The African Union Foundation (AUF), the institution charged with promoting domestic resource mobilisation for African development has received a donation of 300 head of cattle from H.E. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
The donation was pledged by President Mugabe during his tenure as the AU Chairperson during the 25th AU Summit, held in Johannesburg, South Africa and proceeds from the auction will be used to raise funds to support the initiatives of the AUF.
The 300 cattle will be auctioned in a series of events that will take place nationwide throughout the month of May. The first two auction took place last week, in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city and Gweru – in the midlands – which were transformed into a hive of activity as they hosted the auctions.
Speaking during the auctions, Mr. Dumisani Mngadi, the AUF Chief Operations Officer expressed gratitude to Zimbabweans for this gesture. “With a population of over 1 billion people, Africa needs to take a lead in financing its own developmental programmes.”
Mr. Mngadi further said that, “To develop and realise the vision set out in Agenda 2063, Africans need to finance their own programmes. Institutions like the AU cannot rely heavily on funding from countries outside our continent as the model is not sustainable. We need to be innovative and come up with African solutions to our African challenges. When making the pledge, H.E. President Mugabe reminded us that Africans are cattle people, and that we measure our prosperity by the herd of our cattle. This donation speaks to Africans being innovative and coming up with African solutions to our African challenges. It also explores creative alternative sources of funding. “
Mr. Mngadi added that the proceeds from the auctions will fund the AUF youth and women empowerment programmes such as the project to “Eradicate the hand-held hoe” as a way of transforming subsistence agriculture on the continent through mechanization to ensure that women farmers have higher yields and the African Youth Innovation Project that was unveiled at the African Economic Platform held in Mauritius. In March 2017.
Mr. Mngadi called on other African nations to follow in the Zimbabwean example to resource the AU Foundation.
Leading the auctions on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Simbarashe S. Mumbengegwi, said Zimbabwean farmers supported the president’s gesture and offered to volunteer cattle from their ranches on behalf of the president.
“President Mugabe takes our (AU) organisation’s interests very seriously and they are very close to his heart. He has always been a strong voice in Africans financing their own organisation and would say ‘whoever pays the piper chooses the tune’. Therefore, as long as outsiders finance our institutions they will dictate the agenda. This donation to the AU Foundation is an indication of how seriously he takes self-financing, said Hon.Mr. Mumbengegwi.
The proceeds that will be generated from the auctions will be presented during the upcoming AU Summit, scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July 2017.
Distributed by APO on behalf of African Union Commission (AUC).
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
Didier Burkhalter meets Sudanese foreign minister in Bern:
On 16 May 2017 Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter received Ibrahim Ghandour, the Sudanese foreign minister, in Bern. It is the first time since 2005 that a meeting at ministerial level has taken place between the two countries. The meeting covered recent developments in Sudan, the country's role in the region and opportunities for dialogue and cooperation to enable progress in the areas of political reform, human rights promotion and compliance, the management of migration and the protection of migrants.
For years, Switzerland has been delivering humanitarian aid in Darfur and other areas of unrest. It was also active in the process leading up to the ceasefire (Nuba Mountains Ceasefire Agreement), which was negotiated and signed in Switzerland on 19 January 2002. This was the starting point for further negotiations leading to the conclusion of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the government of the Republic of Sudan. Mr Burkhalter said that Switzerland intended to pursue this engagement within a strategy which focuses primarily on food security and the protection of migrants.
During the meeting Mr Burkhalter and Mr Ghandour covered a broad range of topics of bilateral interest. They discussed existing and future cooperation with Switzerland, including humanitarian aid, managing migration and protecting displaced persons, archaeology in collaboration with Swiss universities, and the state reforms needed to increase decentralisation. Mr Burkhalter discussed with his counterpart the need to make progress in these areas and on human rights, and raised the possibility of closer future cooperation at the multilateral level.
Regarding the migration situation, Sudan is an important country of origin, transit and destination for migrants from the Horn of Africa and beyond. It is part of international initiatives which Switzerland supports to fight human trafficking and ensure better protection for refugees in the region. The meeting also provided the opportunity to thank the government of Sudan for having opened an additional corridor to allow humanitarian access to people in South Sudan facing a serious food crisis, and to request access to those in need of humanitarian relief in the regions of Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
The ministers ended their meeting with a discussion of the economic reforms under way in Sudan and the ongoing World Trade Organization accession process. There is scope to expand trade relations between the two countries given Sudan's rich natural resources and vast agricultural potential. Switzerland considers it important to have an expanded dialogue with Sudan now that a permanent lifting of the United States' sanctions on the country has become a possibility.
Distributed by APO on behalf of The Federal Council, Switzerland.
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
