Every week, RuralReporters.com collate reports on development issues in rural Africa and its environs.

This report includes some of our top picks from recent must-read research, interviews, blogs, and in-depth articles, carefully selected to help you keep up with global issues.

Here are some of the updates you may have missed from the previous week:

Pattern of poverty in Northern Ghana changing – UNDP Study

A new study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows that the pattern of poverty in Northern Ghana is changing positively.

The report however suggested that more effort is needed to transform the zone for the country to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 1 which aims to eradicate poverty in all its forms everywhere.

Titled: “Bridging the Poverty Gap and Fostering Socio-Economic Transformation for All”, the report explores development challenges and opportunities in Northern Ghana and offers suggestions for poverty eradication in the zone. This was contained in a press statement issued by the UNDP ahead of the launch of the report in Tamale on Friday, August 17, 2018.

Southern Africa: Rural Namibia Most Unhygienic in SADC

Namibia is rated the worst in hygiene in southern Africa, with 75% of the rural population still practising open defecation.

This was revealed in a study compiled by WaterAid, an international organisation that strives to improve access to safe water and sanitation in the world’s developing countries.

The study report, dated 18 June 2018, looked at the state of hygiene across southern Africa, and focused on hygienic practices, enabling environments and institutional arrangements “for the promotion of hygiene behavioural change and key policy and programme bottlenecks for the prioritisation of hygiene” in the region.

Governor want rural roads construction devolved

Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has asked the national government to transfer rural roads to the counties. Speaking in Malanga village in Malava on Saturday, Mr Oparanya said counties had the capacity to handle more functions.

“The national government has continued to hold on to the very important role of roads infrastructure as residents continue to suffer at the grassroots. Counties should be allowed to build and manage rural roads,” he said.

Restoring land in Africa an opportunity for women’s rights, says president of women’s forest network

“I am now glad that we are talking about rural women in international conferences; when we started, no one paid us much attention. I am happy that tenure has become a great issue eliciting discourse and I am pleased with the progress. We can achieve more with our rural women in Africa because we really have the challenge of how to help women secure rights to land and forests. This will improve not only their lives but also entire families and communities and join the fight against poverty and climate change. As you know, land issues are cultural and it is not very easy to change the culture.” – Cècile Njebet is the founder of the African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests(REFACOF).

Insurance Inclusion Policy for 40 million adults in Rural Nigeria

Just after the unveiling of a three-tiered recapitalisation plan for the industry, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) explained that it has already mapped out development strategies that would accommodate about 40.1 million adults in the rural areas that are excluded from any form of financial services across the country.

The development portends a huge opportunity for the sector, especially, as it would move the industry towards the N16 trillion total asset base target for year 2020, if actualized. But this could only be realisable if the industry’s potentials are well harnessed alongside the plan.

“Such target mandates industry stakeholders to harness all potentials that were hitherto lying fallow. There are still many risks that are yet to be insured. Insurance practitioners have not been able to flood the market with enough risk covers and this is a major reason researchers described the Nigerian insurance sector as grossly untapped, with less than one per cent of Nigerian housewives having insurance cover, even though the industry had been in existence for close to a century,” NAICOM chief, Mohammed Kari, said.

Liberia: USAID–FRAMP Project Makes Service Accessible For Rural Dwellers

The Deputy Director, USAID Office of Economic Growth, Rasheena Reid, says the entity support to the rehabilitation of farm–to–market roads has improved road condition in most parts of Liberia. Reid said the improvement is in the four counties where the Feeder Roads Alternative and Maintenance Program is being implemented.

The USAID Deputy Director, Office of Economic Growth, said the availability of such services and opportunities are difficult to sustain without a good quality, well-maintained rural road network.

“It used to take 8—12 hour to travel from Gbarnga-Voinjama, but with the improvement of the road under the project the travel time has been reduced to about 4 hours,” Reid explained.

Ireland: Fianna Fáil proposes signage warning of cyclists on rural roads

In its newly published Cycle Policy 2018, Fianna Fáil has proposed new signage on rural roads warning drivers about the possibilities of cyclists.

The policy document states: “While many of our rural roads nationally have warning signage for drivers for livestock and wild animals such as deer, there is little or no similar signage warning motorists of cyclists.”

It stated that the general area of signage and cycling was long overdue a review and overhaul.