Rural Reporters http://ruralreporters.com covering underreported issues in rural communities... Thu, 17 Oct 2019 11:01:23 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.15 68399035 If you eat, then you must own and use a toilet http://ruralreporters.com/if-you-eat-then-you-must-own-and-use-a-toilet/ Thu, 17 Oct 2019 22:53:37 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7164 By Temple Oraeki

A visit to some of the public schools in the suburbs of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory revealed the decadence and stark reality of children without access to a toilet. In most of the schools visited, the unsafe structure that served as the toilet was either under lock because there is no water to maintain it or abandoned due to its dilapidated status. 

Some of the students who were interviewed on where they relieve themselves if pressed during school hours reluctantly pointed to a nearby open field or bush. Upon further inquiry about their knowledge of the dangers of open defecation, most of them responded that they are aware of the dangers but have no other choice. 

To trigger the children on the link between access to food and toilet, 13-year old Hadiza, when asked what will be her fate if she is only allowed to eat when she has access to a toilet. 

“I’ll die of starvation because, in my school, we cannot use the toilet because it is always locked and there’s no roof or water to flush,” She responded with an awkward gaze.

Hadiza’s response is not different from that of millions of school children in Nigeria, where 52 per cent of the schools lack basic toilet facilities that hygienically separate human excreta from human contact. These school children left with limited choice, make nearby bushes, uncompleted buildings and farmlands, their place of convenience to answer nature’s call. 

This is applicable in other community spaces like health centres, motor parks, markets, religious and event centres across Nigeria.  

Hunger created by lack of toilets

Why does hunger persist in a world of plenty? In a world where enough food is produced to feed everyone on the planet, why do 821 million people still face chronic undernourishment? If food production is not the issue, what then can we do to end global hunger? 

The answers to these questions might be less elusive if we pay more attention to how the lack of access to the toilet is contributing to global hunger.

On World Food Day, people around the world promote awareness and take action for those who suffer from hunger and declare their commitment to eradicate global hunger. 

Food, just like water, is invaluable and life-sustaining. It brings people together. But have we given a thought to what happens when we eat or feed people but there is no access to a convenience to answer nature’s call? What happens when our children use their playground as a toilet because there is no toilet at home?  

Open defecation comes with many risks and negative impacts, amongst which is its contribution to global hunger. This inextricable link between open defecation and hunger is common but rarely recognized. Families living in areas where open defecation is widely practiced, usually face a high incidence of water-borne diseases, especially amongst the children. These outbreaks of water-borne diseases eat deep into the nutritional health and pockets of families. The little income they have is spent on medical bills. For such families, hunger and starvation is always a close ally. 

Children living in areas without toilets and with high open defecation practices are often undernourished because they are exposed to bacterial brew. According to Jean Humphrey, a professor of human nutrition at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the bodies of these children divert energy and nutrients away from growth and brain development to prioritize infection-fighting survival. “When this happens during the first two years of life, children become stunted. What’s particularly disturbing is that the lost height and intelligence are permanent.” 

How do we get 47 million Nigerians to stop open defecation?

The practice of open defecation has been a menace and a clog in the wheel of development in Nigeria. It hampers economic growth and also infringes on people’s privacy and dignity. Almost one in five Nigerians – around 40 million people – defecates in open areas. A figure which places Nigeria as the Open Defecation Capital of Africa and only ranked second globally, behind India, as the country with the highest number of people practicing open defecation. This unsavoury and demeaning reality prompted the government to declare a state-of-emergency in Nigeria’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, in November 2018. 

While the Nigeria sanitation status should be of deep concern to decision-makers, it amounts to a full-blown crisis for those directly affected, which according to former UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson called their plight ‘a silent disaster’ that reflects the extreme poverty and huge inequalities in the world today. 

To address this sanitation crisis, the Federal Government of Nigeria has taken some bold steps; one of which is the recent introduction of the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign. The campaign is aimed at coordinating interventions to end open defecation in Nigeria by 2025. The robust citizen-led campaign is multisectoral and can only be effectively implemented through a concerted effort of all key stakeholders in the WASH Sector. 

The political will shown by the federal government in tackling the sanitation crisis is just a launchpad to galvanize further actions. 

Recognizing the need for synergy and grassroots engagement, UNICEF as a key development partner in the Clean Nigeria campaign has been coordinating dialogue meetings and workshops with other key stakeholders (Media, CSOs and private sector) that will drive the Campaign. On the other hand, Hope Spring Water Charity Foundation, a youth-led non-governmental organization has been engaging the academia and youths in communities to lead the campaign to end open defecation in Nigeria.

The private sector, research institutions, and academia have key roles to play in ending open defecation in Nigeria. Corporate Social Responsibility projects of organizations should be targeted towards the provision of toilets, while relevant research institutions and academia are charged with innovations in low-cost sanitation technologies. 

The sanitation value chain offers huge investment and job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths and aspiring entrepreneurs.  Multisectoral collaborations amongst key stakeholders can help harness these opportunities.

In some communities where open defecation is a cultural practice, there is a need for massive triggering and sensitization that will spark behavioural change amongst such community members. Enhanced collaborations between CSOs, development partners, government and private sector organizations are needed to drive this behavioural change campaign. 

The Community-Led Total Sanitation, which has been instrumental in achieving ODF in 13 out of the 774 LGAs needs to be strengthened by incorporating Sanitation Marketing as part of its implementation process. 

In terms of financing, there is a need for more engagement of microfinance banks or the provision of subsidies for sanitation technologies. The informal sanitation workers should be reintegrated into a formal scheme, that would enable them to easily access loans. On the other hand, the unbanked population can be trained on a savings scheme, such as the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) scheme, to enable them to purchase toilets for their homes. 

We can end hunger in Nigeria and achieve the Zero hunger targets of the SDGs when every Nigerian has access to and use toilets. If you eat, then you must own and use a toilet. We eat to stay alive but without toilets, how do we survive?

About the author

Temple Oraeki is the Nigeria Country Representative of Hope Spring Water Charity Foundation.

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Rural Women as Catalysts to Promote Safe Hygiene and End Open Defecation in Nigeria http://ruralreporters.com/rural-women-as-catalysts-to-promote-safe-hygiene-and-end-open-defecation-in-nigeria/ Wed, 16 Oct 2019 00:29:25 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7158 By Jonathan Ekhator, WASH Specialist

As the sun sets behind the hills of Oke Aladie village, one of the first communities certified as open defecation free (ODF) in Nigeria, Simbiat Afolabi rises from her sitting position to address a group of women gathered for hygiene promotion sessions. 

Afolabi is one of the volunteer hygiene promoters trained by the Local Government Area (LGA) Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Department to promote safe hygiene behavior in communities. 

As a volunteer, her goal is to ensure that the members of her community embrace safe hygiene practices as the norm.

“I don’t want us to go back to the times when we use to defecate in the open and don’t care about washing our hands after using the toilet or before cooking and eating,” Afolabi said.  

Although her community has been declared open defecation free, efforts are still being put into ensuring that they maintain their ODF status. The WASH unit facilitators, with support from UNICEF provide trainings on safe hygiene practices such as proper handwashing at critical times.

In Nigeria, about 50 per cent of the population live in rural areas. But this group of people are disproportionately served and have less access to WASH services than their counterparts in the urban areas. 

According to the 2018 WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH-NORM) conducted by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and National Bureau of Statistics with support from UNICEF, only 26 per cent of the rural population in Nigeria have access to basic water and sanitation services compared to 45 per cent in urban areas and 30 per cent of rural population practice open defecation compared to 11 per cent in urban areas. Thus, those living in rural areas are about two times less likely to access basic water and sanitation services and are three times more likely to defecate in the open than those in urban areas. If Nigeria is to end open defecation by 2025 and meet the SDGs on water and sanitation by 2030, attention must be given to improving access to WASH services in rural communities.

With the adoption of the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign by the government in May 2019, the momentum to revitalize the WASH sector is growing. UNICEF, through the support of the European Union, DFID and DGIS, is supporting many rural communities to tackle issues related to open defection and poor sanitation and hygiene practices. Through the Community-Led Total Sanitation with Sanitation Marketing and Financing (CLTS++) approach propagated by UNICEF and adopted by the government in 2016, LGA WASH units visit rural communities to facilitate community dialogue processes on open defecation using participatory tools. This enables community members analyze and appraise their sanitation and hygiene situation. During this process, people often realize that they have been eating and drinking food and water contaminated by their own feces. They are also made aware of the negative health, social and economic impacts of poor hygiene practices. To tackle the issue, they all work in collaboration to draw up an action plan to end open defecation in their communities and adopt local solutions for all households to own and use a toilet. Communities and their leaders, with support from state agencies and LGA WASH units, build and strengthen supply chains, link sanitation entrepreneurs to households and create financing opportunities for households to scale up the uptake of improved toilets in their communities.

With the critical role of women in promoting WASH services clearly defined and recognized, women in these rural communities have been placed at the heart of CLTS++ activities. Like Afolabi, these women serve as volunteer hygiene promoters, community influencers, toilet business owners, and key Adashe (community local savings and loans group) and WASH Committee members, who have supported many communities to end open defecation. With support from UNICEF, 8 LGAs (out of 13 ODF LGAs) and over 18,000 communities have attained their ODF status, and the proportion of improved latrines has increased from 40 per cent to over 60 percent since 2016. Narrowing down to Oke Aladie village, all households now own and use a latrine and practice safe hygiene and handwashing at critical times as a result of the influence of women who are amongst the key community leaders that lead the CLTS++ process. A similar trend is taking place in all the 160 communities under Ifedayo LGA. This LGA is on its way to becoming the first to attain LGA-wide open defecation free status in southwest Nigeria. 

While these may be early days in the journey to an open defecation free Nigeria, lessons from women in Oke Aladie village who are driven by their passion to see their communities become open defecation free is a beacon of hope for the country. Engaging women in CLTS++ processes such as toilet business owners, WASH entrepreneurs, sanitation or hygiene officers, WASH facility caretakers, amongst other activities, has played vital roles in boosting community ownership of WASH services and women empowerment. Government at all levels, with the support of partner organizations, should continue to engage rural women when facilitating community action to promote safe hygiene and end open defecation in Nigeria.

About the author

Jonathan Ekhator is a WASH Specialist at UNICEF Nigeria.

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How Nigeria can be rid of its badge of shame as top African country practising open defecation http://ruralreporters.com/how-nigeria-can-be-rid-of-its-badge-of-shame-as-top-african-country-practising-open-defecation/ Sat, 31 Aug 2019 02:24:24 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7153 There is the popular saying that “when it rains, it pours.” But when nature calls, what happens? Well, No one can refuse it. Perhaps this explains why many Nigerians – 47 million people – find it pleasing to defecate in open spaces even in many of the cities in Nigeria.

This common practice is often found in public places such as railways, motor parks, airport terminal buildings, filling stations, footpaths, highways, street roads, playgrounds, prayer houses, forests, and stadiums. A habit that is endangering human lives and the environment.

The practice of open defecation has earned Nigeria a badge of shame – as we are recognized globally as the country with the largest number of people that defecate in the open in Africa and second-largest in the world – after India.

In the Municipal area of Calabar State, Obutang beach community to be precise, residents defecate in the open and throw their faeces into the nearby river, which also serves as a source of drinking. Houses built in this community do not have functional toilets. The few houses that manage to have been badly built that it has since failed to serve its purpose.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a recently released data, says out of the 47 million Nigerians that practice open defecation, 17.9 percent live in the south-south region of Nigeria. Calabar is among the region mentioned in this report.

In a visit to Obutang, a predominantly fishing community in Calabar Municipal, residents could be seen washing their nets at the bank of the river. In a chat with Asuquo Essien, a resident in the community, he stated that he defecates in the river daily, saying only a few people in the area have toilets.

Asuquo explained further that the river flushes the faeces, which then makes the water safe for fishing and drinking. Another fisherman in the community, Israel Mesembe, corroborated Asuquo’s claim, saying he has never come in contact with faeces while fishing. According to him, the faeces are washed away by the river and do not cause any harm to the fishes.

“It’s only the tilapia fishes that eat faeces. But, even at that, when we catch them, we use a properly boiled water to wash them well to ensure that they are not contaminated,” Mesembe said.

However, these beliefs were rebuffed by Deborah Patrick, a nurse in the community’s health centre. In an exclusive interview with her, she mentioned that many of the residents do come to the health centre to treat cases of typhoid, malaria, diarrhoea, cholera, and malnutrition. This according to her, emanates from the continued use of the same river where they throw faeces as the source of water for drinking and cooking.

Although many of the villagers argued that they boil the water after fetching it from the river, Nurse Patrick, however, explained that the bacteria in the water can only get killed if boiled at 100 degrees Celsius.

“Most of them that come from that area have recently been complaining of typhoid and malaria, and then malnutrition.

“We used to have diarrhoea cases from them too. The recent cases we have been having from them is typhoid, malaria, and malnutrition for children. When they come, we compel them to run tests because they have a stream where they drink water from. But, presently, they installed a borehole there for them. But it is not everybody that will use the borehole. Some will say they have put a chemical in the borehole. They are used to the river.

“Some of them have pits where they defecate. But most of them, especially the male, defecate in the river.”

Nurse Patrick further disclosed that the health centre is usually their last resort when they fall ill because they depend on local herbs or administer over the counter drugs when they are sick.

With India fast approaching its target deadline for eliminating open defecation, Nigeria has set a 2025 deadline to achieve the same goal. The plan to meet this deadline involves providing equitable access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services and strengthening tailored community approaches to total sanitation.

Development partners like UNICEF have since joined in the campaign to end open defecation in Nigeria, alongside the World Bank and African Development Bank.

At a two-Day Media Dialogue in Calabar State recently, Dr. Geoffrey Njoku, Communication Specialist with UNICEF, said the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign is aimed at creating awareness to end the menace by 2025.
His words: “There is need to create awareness about the Clean Nigeria, Use the Toilet campaign and mobilise resources to sustain the national movement.”

At the federal level, a national secretariat has been established to manage all the affairs and efforts to end open defecation and revitalise the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector in the country. The Nigerian government has also approved the sum of ten billion naira (N10billion) to fight open defecation. The approved sum, which is domiciled with the Federal Ministry of Water resources, would be accessed annually to put into place, mechanisms carefully planned and structured to end open defecation in the country before the end of 2025.

To be rid of the badge of shame, there is a need to approach the campaign to end open defecation with a sense of urgency. Experts are calling on the government to give an extra push for heightened awareness among people about the benefit of using toilets.

“There should be more focus on increasing awareness about the harmful consequences of open defecation through large‐scale behaviour change campaigns,” says Dr. Sola Osindero, a public health practitioner in Lagos, Nigeria.

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Youth participation key to end open defecation in Nigeria http://ruralreporters.com/youth-participation-key-to-end-open-defecation-in-nigeria/ Mon, 12 Aug 2019 00:16:58 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7146 When Abdulahi Yinusa, 25, is not farming, he spends time riding his motorcycle around Yammawar Kafawa community in Dambatta Local Government Area of Kano state. He transports villagers for a small fee, which supplements the income he makes from selling his farm produce.

Yinusa also spends his free time volunteering as a member of the community vanguards for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committees (WASHCOM), a local group that supports communities to effectively manage their WASH affairs.

The WASHCOM in Yammawar Kafawa community also brings various communities together to form associations at ward and Local Government Area level. Along with some other members of his community, including children, Yinusa was trained by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) and UNICEF, to convey messages about the importance of safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) practices in Yammawar Kafawa.

“We get information from the training on what to tell households especially housewives on the importance of good hygiene practices,” said Yinusa.

With an estimated population of 199 million, according to recent data by UNFPA, more than half of Nigeria’s population is under 30 years of age. It is no surprise that in Yammawar Kafawa community young people and children are active members of WASHCOM.

“WASHCOM plays significant role in influencing the community to end open defecation and adopt safe hygiene behaviors not only among all households but also in neighboring communities,” said Bioye Ogunjobi, WASH specialist.

“By so doing they become change agents and create a local movement raising awareness about the negative impact of open defecation in communities,” he said.

Nigeria ranks second among countries with the highest number of people practicing open defecation. With an ambitious goal to get the 47 million people who defecate in the open to use the toilet, the Nigeria government in November 2018 declared a state of emergency in the WASH sector, launched a national campaign tagged, “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet, and reaffirmed its commitment to end open defecation in the country by 2025.

Although only 13 Local Government Areas have been certified open defecation free in Nigeria, Yammawar Kafawa stands among some 70,000 communities spread across the country, that have been able to achieve and sustain an open defecation free status.

Young people like Yinusa are playing a critical role in helping their communities achieve the feat through their membership of WASHCOM.

Abdulahi Yinusa and Shafiyu Abdullahi are members of the WASH vanguards championing the need to end open defecation in Nigeria

The Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children have the human right to express their opinion and to have that opinion listened to and taken into consideration when decisions are being made that affect them or other children.

Young people in Yammawar Kafawa having keyed into the relevance of this article are actively protecting the wellbeing of their community without dismissal on the grounds of age. And they are being given the information they need to make good decisions, which has helped the community attain and maintain an open defecation free status.

As community vanguards, youths are also engaged to ensure that the action plans to practice safe WASH and end open defecation created during community dialogues are implemented. In addition, they serve as monitoring agents, supporting RUWASSA in ensuring that households do not fall back to defecating in the open once the ODF status is attained.

As change agents, they also consciously practice what they preach, by not defecating in the open.

“Having been informed of the importance of not practicing open defecation, if we are pressed, we take permission from the nearest neighbor to use their toilet,” said 25 -year- old Shafiyu Abdullahi, a construction worker.

Yinusa and Abdullahi, accompanied by other youth vanguards work individually and sometimes as a team.

In addition to sharing the messages of “use the toilet and wash your hands properly” from house to house through interpersonal communication, the youth vanguards also offer to help build toilets in homes headed by old people and widows. This way, the community is reaping the benefit of sustaining an open defecation free status.

“Since the beginning of this initiative, there have been no cases of diarrhea,” said Abdullahi. Considering more than 100,000 children under the age of five die yearly from WASH-related illness, the progress in Yammawar Kafawa could be an inspiration to other communities.

“Communities should form youth groups as a pressure group and get [the needed] support for their communities to end open defecation,” said Yinusa, while strongly advocating for more youth involvement in Nigeria’s drive to end open defecation.

The youth engagement is beyond handouts and tokenism. “Policymakers cannot enforce laws in communities without the support of youths of the community,” said Rabiu Musa, UNICEF communications specialist.

“If they support a social movement, nothing can stop them,” he added.

As Nigeria embarks on its journey to end open defecation by 2025, UNICEF will keep involving young people as stakeholders by continuously applying a social reward mechanism.

This includes publicly recognising youths who actively involved in the fight against open defecation as change agents.

“We’ll encourage the involvement of more youths in WASHCOMs, support the development of economic value chain for sanitation where youths can take advantage and create an opportunity for regular open engagement of youths in social dialogue on issues around safe sanitation,” said Zaid Jurji, Chief of WASH.

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Land Reforms, Farm Attacks, and Other Reports http://ruralreporters.com/land-reforms-farm-attacks-and-other-reports/ Mon, 29 Jul 2019 12:02:26 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7140 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:

Land Reform That Unleashes a Rural Economic Miracle Should Be The Goal

If integrated land and agriculture value chains are combined with improving the quality of public schools, hospitals and infrastructure in such rural towns, South Africa’s rural areas can be re-energised, the flight from rural areas to cities slowed down and a rural economic miracle could be unleashed.

Available state land, whether under the control of SOEs, municipalities or provinces, should be made available to farmers already active in farming – not given to political farmers.

Kenya: Rural Households Achieve Food Security through No-tillage Farming

Some rural households have conservation agriculture, a method introduced by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and it is yielding good fruits for them. Conservation agriculture is a farming system that promotes maintenance of a permanent soil cover, minimum soil disturbance, and diversification of plant species.

South Africa: DA Urges Police to Protect Rural Communities after Another Free State Farm Attacks

South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) says it is time for urgent police action to protect rural communities. Only six days after the DA expressed its concern at the murder of an emerging farmer in the Free State in the Frankfort district, Johannes Mazibuko, and further reiterated the urgency to government to establish specialised rural safety units to improve safety and security in rural areas, another farm attack occurred in the Free State, DA spokeswoman Mariette Pittaway said.

Nigeria: Monarchs Says No Land for RUGA in Delta State

The Delta State Traditional Rulers’ Council has declared that there is no land for Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) project in Delta State. The council also examined the heightening security situation in the country, occasioned by cases of kidnapping, killings and other criminalities and therefore, called on the Federal Government to be more proactive, firm and decisive in clamping down on all forms of criminal elements in the country.

Ghana: Research Shows Migration Patterns in Rural Ghana Remains Unchanged

Professor Joseph K. Teye, Director of Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana, Legon and a Principal Investigator of the research team, said the research indicated that internal migration is still a dominant form of migration in the country, hence the need for migration management programmes to focus internally as well. The research also states that spatial inequalities in job opportunities are the main drive of internal migration in the country.

Kenya: Africa’s Largest Wind Power Project is Now Open In Kenya

Kenya has unveiled Africa’s largest wind power project in a gusty and rocky desert stretch located 600 kilometers (372 miles) north of the capital Nairobi. The Lake Turkana Wind Power farm consists of 365 turbines with a capacity to dispense 310 megawatts of reliable, low-cost energy to Kenya’s national grid. The Turkana plant was funded by a consortium of African and European companies, with Kenya expected to buy power at a fixed price over a 20-year period.

Africa: Powering Up Rural Areas Can Fight Unemployment in Africa and Asia

Amid growing concern in country capitals and regional institutions over the potential for social disruption and increased migration, new data suggests that rural electrification can be one important contributor to alleviating joblessness, especially for youth and women. Indications also emerged that providing access to energy can help scale agriculture, which is seen as crucial to the future growth of still largely agrarian economies.

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Report: Strengthening partnerships for an accelerated promotion of stand-alone solar systems in Africa http://ruralreporters.com/report-strengthening-partnerships-for-an-accelerated-promotion-of-stand-alone-solar-systems-in-africa/ Fri, 26 Jul 2019 00:49:19 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7135 By Adeola Aroso

 

Lome, Togo – The Third Regional Off-Grid Electrification Project (ROGEP) was held in Lome, Togo. The theme was Strengthening Partnership for an Accelerated deployment of Stand-alone Solar Systems in West Africa and the Sahel. The two-day forum brought a diverse group of stakeholders in the energy sector together with from 19 project countries mainly from ECOWAS member states and the Sahel, investors, rural electrification agencies, development partners, commercial financial institutions, national and regional standards bodies, ministries in charge of energy, as well as civil society groups. 

The conference also marked the launch of the implementation phase of ROGEP, which was approved for funding by the World Bank on April 17, 2019. ROGEP is one of the ECOWAS Community development projects designed to increase electricity access of households, businesses, and communities using modern stand-alone solar systems (such as solar lanterns, solar home systems, solar water pumps, solar mills, and solar sewing machines) through a harmonised regional approach, supported by the World Bank Group, Lighting Africa and the Clean Technology Fund, implemented by ECREEE and BOAD.

Welcome remarks were given by the Resident Representative of the World Bank in Togo, Ms. Hawa Wague and the Executive Director of ECREEE, Mr. Mahama Kappiah.

Ms. Wague explained how access to electricity is central to any development program and that the World Bank is committed to partner with ECREEE to successfully implement the ROGEP project. This will help to make a big change in the lives of ordinary citizens in the countries covered by the project.

In his speech, Mr. Kappiah reminded participants that the objective of ROGEP is to eradicate energy poverty through the development of a viable business ecosystem for the rapid deployment of stand-alone solar systems in the project countries. He thanked the World Bank and Clean Technology Fund for financing the initiative, which he said will help to address energy access deficit in the project countries and informed participants that ROGEP will be providing financial support to entrepreneurs in this line of business, and reduce risk to businesses that embark on these new technologies and business models. 

Mr. Kappiah informed participants on some of the activities and achievements of ROGEP since its start in 2017 in Dakar, Senegal. Some of these include national stakeholder consultations in the project countries, two regional meetings during which common grounds for the implementation of the project were defined and adopted. Also, a Market Assessment was conducted and regional standards for Solar Home Systems adopted by the ECOWAS Committee meetings held recently. He said pilot projects are currently being carried out in Niger and Nigeria to assess the potential of providing energy services to public institutions such as schools and hospitals.

The special adviser to the President of West African Development Bank (BOAD), Christophe Agueggy also spoke during the commencement address and shared how the ROGEP project will promote renewable energy in areas not covered by the national grid. Mr. Agueggy talked about the importance of energy and the excellent partnership between BOAD, ECREEE and the World Bank, which he said will help to spur development in member countries.

The opening ceremony speech was delivered by the Director of Energy, Dr. Tchapo Akassewa Singo on behalf of the Togolese Minister of Energy and Mines, Marc Ably Bidamon. Dr. Singo emphasized on the importance of energy security in member countries noting that provision of energy services will help to spur sustainable development, growth as well as job creation.  He urged participants to come up with workable recommendations for the effective implementation phase.

During the conference, topics on the off-grid sector in the region were presented by ECREEE, BOAD, the World Bank, CTF and consultants who have been connected with the project. The highlights of a Market Assessment conducted during the preparation of the project was presented and deliberated upon. The speakers shared their insights on the sector, challenges, and developments as well as the role of finance in improving the access to energy by the consumer. Other subject areas such as Productive Uses, Public Institution Electrification the role of the private and public sector were also presented and discussed by various speakers. 

Some participants also suggested ECREEE and those in the business of renewable energy should consider focusing on products meant for Africa by African manufacturers instead of importing them as this creates a sustainable economy for the people. Others added that evaluating the success of the Kenyan Lighting Africa model and adapting it for West Africa.

Eniola Fatimilehin, West African Business Development Manager for Greenlight Planet, Nigeria, was one of the panelists on an Enabling Environment and she talked about how harmonizing tax rates, cross-border trade, and an altogether enabling environment that allows for the easy movement of products in West Africa.

 Leah Soumah, CEO of FLS Group, Sierra Leone, talked on Private Sector Support Facility encouraged people to consider having a hybrid strategy while working in this line of business, shared ideas on getting to the people at the last-mile. Ms. Soumah was very vocal about enforcing standards regionally and globally while urging businesses to take input from their suppliers before creating products meant for the West African market.

 On the second and final day of the conference, there were exciting sessions on Access to Finance, Gender and Energy, and Efficiency for Access.

Soma Dutta, the Programme Coordinator at ENERGIA International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy, spoke on Gender in the transition to sustainable energy for all and shared evidence and lessons learned from incorporating gender in energy projects, programmes, and policy as well as recommendations for ROGEP. ENERGIAs programme approach includes womens economic empowerment, enabling policy environment, thought leadership and facilitating alliances & strategic partnerships.

Charles Miller, Senior Policy Advisor at Energy Saving Trust and Efficiency for Access spoke on how to promote high-quality off-grid appliances, the role of appliances in clean energy access. Mr. Miller cautioned against hasty mandatory regulations in a nascent industry as this could hamper innovation, but there should be a focus on voluntary standards which can serve as the groundwork for mandatory standards in the long run.

For those who are new to this, ROGEP was launched by the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) with funding from the World Bank to the project will identify policy barriers affecting the growth of the stand-alone solar market through a regional-level initiative. The project is focused on all the 15-member states of the ECOWAS as well as 4 from the Sahel Chad, Cameroon, Mauritania and the Central Africa Republic. The project will create awareness within the policymakers in member states on the benefits of removing policy barriers and provide targeted support for barrier removal in challenging markets, it will also help the countries adopt the Common External Tariff (CET) to facilitate cross-border trade of stand-alone solar products, and subsequently, develop regional standards on quality assurance (QA) framework of stand-alone solar products to facilitate supply of eligible products across the 19 project countries.

 The ultimate project beneficiaries will be the people currently living without access to electricity connection or living with unreliable electricity supply within the 19 ROGEP countries and the project hopes to provide electricity services to about 1.7 million people, half of which will be women.

 

This report is based on the presentations and readers are encouraged to visit www.ecreee.org access the full conference materials.

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Rural Poor, Fair Trade, and Other Reports http://ruralreporters.com/rural-poor-fair-trade-and-other-reports/ Mon, 08 Jul 2019 07:32:20 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7132 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:

 

Fairtrade Benefits Rural Workers in Africa, But not the Poorest of the Poor

A new study from the University of Göttingen and international partners have analyzed the effects of Fairtrade certification on poor rural workers in Africa. The results show that Fairtrade improves the situation of employees in agricultural cooperatives, but not of workers in the smallholder farm sector, who are often particularly disadvantaged. The study was published in “Nature Sustainability”.

Benin: Digital Rural Transformation Project Promises a New Dawn

A newly approved $100 million credit by the World Bank will support the government of Benin’s efforts to improve access to broadband services in rural communities. The funds will also be used to promote the use of digital solutions to improve efficiency of selected value-chains, financial inclusion and access to markets.

Expect Budget to Be Rural-Centric, Focus On Delivery to Beneficiaries

The interim Budget was presented in February 2019. The full Budget for 2019-20 will be presented by the newly-appointed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on July 5.

“None of the schemes declared in the interim budget and around that time would be scrapped or refurbished,” the offcials added.

If this is the principle behind the current budget, it’s likely to be rural like the interim budget. Also, going by major public pronouncements by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it will be a rural budget.

Budget 2019-2022 Vision: Every Single Rural Family Will Have Electricity, Clean Cooking Facility, Says FM

While tabling budget 2019 in Parliament, Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, Government of India said, “By 2022, every single rural family except those who are unwilling to take the connection, will have electricity and a clean cooking facility.” She also informed the house that earlier it used to take 314 days to construct a house under Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna (PMSY) which has now come down to 114 days, a third of the time taken for constructing a PMAY house.

Tanzania Lags Behind Target on Electricity Connectivity

Tanzania still lags behind its grid electricity connection targets, despite government’s deliberate initiatives to reach more people, a new report shows.

The connectivity of power supplied by the Tanzania Electricity Company (Tanesco) increased from 18 per cent in 2011/12 to 29 per cent in 2017/18, according to the latest Household Budget Survey released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

However, the increase has not matched the government’s ambitions. The government planned to increase connection levels to 30 per cent by 2015, 50 per cent by 2025 and at least 75 per cent by 2033, according to the Electricity Supply Industry Reform Strategy and Roadmap for 2014 – 2025.

Malawi Bemoans Low Number of Rural Mobile Money Agents

The Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA) is concerned over the low number of mobile money agents in rural areas. CAMA executive director John Kapito said the situation impacts negatively on the country’s financial inclusion agenda.

He added that mobile money agents could be frustrated because of the low transaction volume in rural areas compared to urban areas.

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Ruga settlements, Rural Safety, and Other Reports http://ruralreporters.com/ruga-settlements-rural-safety-and-other-reports/ Mon, 01 Jul 2019 07:54:04 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7129 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:

 

The Federal Government of Nigeria begins Ruga settlements in Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Kaduna, others

Despite the harsh criticism of  the planned establishment of Ruga settlements across the country, the Federal Government is set to commence the pilot phase of the project  in Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Kaduna and seven other states, Saturday PUNCH’s investigations have confirmed.

It was learnt in Abuja on Friday that the  execution of the project  would start in 11 states including Sokoto, Nasarawa, Kogi, Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara and Niger.

Thousands Petition The President To Act On Rural Safety Now, Says DA

The Democratic Alliance launched the campaign last week on #RuralSafety as a result of the number of attacks on people who live in rural communities.

At the end of 2018 there were 29,000 reported cases of livestock theft in South Africa. This was costing the country billions of rand and was taking its toll on the agricultural economy. A University of South Africa study on rural safety found that R1.3 billion was lost to livestock theft in one year.

“The increased attacks on our farming communities is as a result of a lack of political leadership. The government’s rural safety strategy has been a dismal failure, because police stations in the most hard-hit rural areas are understaffed and under-resourced. SAPS [South African Police Service] is increasingly unable to protect rural communities,” Cilliers said.

UNICEF, European Union Call For Clean Water, Toilets In Nigerian Schools

According to the data from the WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORM), as many as 47 million Nigerians practise open defecation, only 11 percent of Nigerians have access to complete basic water, sanitation and hygiene services and only 13 percent of schools have access to basic water and sanitation services.

Ambassador Ketil Karlsen, Head of EU Delegation in Nigeria, explains that ending open defecation and making water, sanitation, and hygiene services available to children in rural Nigeria is one of the biggest challenges in Nigeria, construction and management of which requires sustained investments and more partnerships.

Creed commits to Task Force on Rural Africa at African Union-European Union Ministerial Conference in Rome Announces new call for applications for Africa Agri Food Development Programme

The Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, T.D., today participated in the European Union-African Union Ministerial Conference in Rome.

Minister Creed stated, “This conference follows the recent publication of the Task Force on Rural Africa report, which highlights the strategic role which the European Union and its Member States can and should play in supporting the transformation of Africa’s agri-food sector and rural economy. Rural Africa faces both enormous challenges and opportunities, with its workforce set to grow by 800 million over the next 30 years”.

Africa’s biggest “digital dividend” lies in its rural areas, report

Digital innovations could transform African rural areas and agriculture while tackling many of the continent’s other emerging challenges, from youth unemployment, food insecurity and the need for further economic growth, a new report explains.

The report calls for investments targeting so-called “last-mile” infrastructure to bridge the urban-rural digital divide, including connections to the electrical grid, reliable telecommunications and internet connection. It also recommends the establishment of digital innovation hubs as well as fiscal incentives, including lower import duties initially, to facilitate market entry and the import of technologies until local markets are developed.

Village Capital Agriculture Africa 2019 is Now Open for Registration

African governments have established various policies and initiatives in crafting a steadfast foundation to facilitate farmers and agronomists alike. Namely the Maputo Declaration and their consent regarding Africa’s Agenda 2063.

Now, Village Capital announces this year’s Agriculture Africa, supported by companies such as Ceniarth and Small Foundation. As an accelerator for startups reigning in the fields of agriculture and consumable commodities, Village Capital selects twelve startups and/or businesses to participate in Agriculture Africa 2019.

For more information, visit their website here.

OXFAM Tells Nigerian Communities To Participate In Budget Processes

In view of the need to harness and deploy resources to drive development at the grassroots level, OXFAM has tasked communities in the State to mobilize and decide what development project would be included in the budget.

Community Development Planning (CDP) template, designed and identified as portent instrument, through which citizens can participate in budget formulation, implementation, and monitoring.

Olumide Ojo, OXFAM’s PROACT Project Manager, led a team of advocacy experts on a two-day campaign to create awareness among communities and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) on participatory governance.

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Social Media Rumours, Rural Teachers, and Other Reports http://ruralreporters.com/social-media-rumours-rural-teachers-and-other-reports/ Mon, 17 Jun 2019 07:52:00 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7125 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:

 

Rural Banks Lose Millions of Cedis to Social Media Rumours

Some rural and community banks (RCBs) lost as much as GH¢1 million per bank within a week to panic withdrawals that were inspired by social media rumours concerning the viability of the community-based lenders, the Managing Director of the ARB Apex Bank, Mr Kojo Matta, has revealed.

The rumours were to the effect that the 144 RCBs, that are currently in operation, were experiencing liquidity challenges and were, therefore, next in line to be cleaned by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) after the ongoing reforms in the microfinance subsector had concluded, Mr Mattah said.

Focus On Africa: Rural Teachers in Zimbabwe Brace for Strikes

Zimbabwe’s new rural teachers union has warned the government of a catastrophe that it says is likely to flatten the country’s strategic education sector.

“School workers remain incapacitated, with parents unable to afford fees and learning materials for their children,” writes the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), in an open letter to the government published by Newsday. “The ruling elite and their allies in the business world have launched a brutal onslaught on the working class under what has become known as anti-people austerity measures.”

‘We Live In Fear’: Facing Dry Times, Rural South Africans Rethink Water

At the height of the 2015 drought that parched South Africa’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, Julie Mkhize had to pull carcasses of dead cows from the dried riverbed near her village, after the desperate animals perished seeking water.

Soon people in her rural community were collapsing as well from dehydration, with 10 dying from drought-related illnesses as drinking water ran short, Mkhize said.

In the years since, the village has seen water flows recover. But this year they are beginning to shrink again, producing deep-seated fear in KwaMusi, a village of 4,000 more than two hours’ drive northwest of Richard’s Bay.

Donors Pledge $17m to End Rural Poverty in Africa

African and non-regional donors have pledged $17 million to replenish the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund, an initiative that aims to provide food security and eliminate rural poverty on the continent. The pledges were made at a high-level donor roundtable convened by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Equatorial Guinea President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, on the sidelines of the African Development Bank’s 2019 Annual Meetings currently underway in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Mastercard’s Nairobi Lab Targets Rural Financial Inclusion

The Nairobi Lab, established by Mastercard in 2015, plans to use SMS and USSD technologies to address the challenge posed by the lack of critical data which continues to hamper financial inclusion in Africa.

This is according to Salah Goss, Vice President and the Head of Lab for Financial Inclusion at Mastercard who said that the availability of historical information only is dissuading lenders from offering credit to prospective partners. Goss explained that basic economic activities are not fully digitised in most rural economies and this fuels the lack of credible data. This, in turn, puts financial players off from extending credit, which perpetuates the financial exclusion issue.

South-South Leads Nigeria’s Huge Alcohol Consumption, NBS Data Shows

Federal statisticians at the NBS say the South East with N44 billion, the South West with N37 billion, the North-central with N30 billion, and the North-east with N19.6 billion follow in that sequence of alcohol consumers in the country.

However, in terms of rural-urban divide, federal statisticians say there are way more drinkers in Nigeria’s rural communities than in the urban areas. Rural communities spent N125 billion naira on alcohol consumption, whilst the urban spend N82.5 billion naira.

Rural Entrepreneurship in Texas Gets Boost from UT Austin Research Projects

To help support entrepreneurs and small-business owners — key drivers of prosperity in rural Texas — the IC² Institute at The University of Texas at Austin is funding new research on entrepreneurship in rural and small city environments.

UT Austin researchers funded by the institute will look at a range of ways to promote economic development including tracking regional entrepreneurship, promoting rural innovation networks and building economic resilience in areas where employment fluctuates with the cycles of the energy industry.

“Entrepreneurship is vital to all regions of Texas,” said President Gregory L. Fenves. “By partnering with entrepreneurs in rural communities across this great state, UT Austin can learn from them and share ideas that create opportunities for all Texans to improve their lives.”

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Rural Power Fund, Obesity In Rural Areas, and Other Reports http://ruralreporters.com/rural-power-fund-obesity-in-rural-areas-and-other-reports/ Mon, 03 Jun 2019 07:59:38 +0000 http://ruralreporters.com/?p=7118 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:

 

World Bank Gives Nigeria 30 Years to Repay $350m Rural Power Fund

Nigeria will have about 30 years to repay the World Bank the $350 million it borrowed from it to fund the expansion of access and supply of electricity to rural communities, educational institutions and underserved micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country under the Nigerian Electrification Project (NEP).

According to the fact sheet on the loan, the NEP is to be managed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and will leverage private sector investments in solar mini grids and standalone solar systems to provide electricity to about 2.5 million people and 70,000 MSMEs.

Who Will Save Africa’s Rural Farmers When Investment And Climate Change Roll In?

While it needs to be recognized that Africa is a net importer of food — total food imports are set to grow from $35 billion in 2015 to over $110 billion by 2025 — it is important to find ways to address food shortages and development constraints without new levels of environmental stress.

Most workers in the agricultural sector are self-employed or own-account workers and constitute a significant part of the national and local private sectors. Although women make up a little more than half the agricultural workforce, they are more likely to work in agriculture (PDF) than in other sectors. Smallholder agriculture and pastoralism accounts for the livelihoods of two-thirds of economically active African women.

Obesity In Rural Areas Driving Global Pandemic: Study

Obesity has become a global pandemic, driven mainly by urbanisation that brought in significant changes to diet and lifestyle. It was until now believed to ensnare people in the urban areas partly because of access to highly processed foods and beverages — high in salt, saturated fat and sugar — are much greater and easier in cities than in rural areas.

However, a new study that analysed the global trends in body-mass index (BMI) — a measure of underweight and overweight — showed spurt in weight gain in rural areas, and determined it as the main culprit behind the worldwide epidemic. The study used measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults appearing in 2,009 population-based studies from rural and urban areas of 190 countries from 1985 to 2017.

Rise of BMI in rural areas was responsible for over 55 per cent of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017 — and more than 80 per cent in some low- and middle-income regions.

Rural Households Staving Off Food Insecurity with Subsistence Farming – Study

Rural households are increasingly turning to subsistence agriculture and this has led to a decline in food insecurity.

Stats South Africa has found that three-quarters of households resort to growing their own food and it’s not necessarily for trading purposes.

Stats SA said the percentage of households who were vulnerable to hunger reflects the same trend. The General Household Survey found that the percentage of people who experienced hunger decreased from 29,3% in 2002 to 11,3%.

Urban Middle Class May Offer Lifeline to Rural Africa

The rise of an urban middle class across much of Africa is stoking demand for food that could curb hunger and cut poverty in rural outposts, a U.S.-based think tank has said.

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said rural communities were in “a state of crisis”, with high poverty rates and poor services driving hunger and malnutrition.

One in five people, or more than 256 million, are hungry in Africa, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

EU to Nigeria: Minimise Rural-urban Development Gaps

The European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS has called on the Federal Government to minimise the persistent rural-urban development gaps by designing and implementing innovative programs for rural revitalisation.

Montserrat Pantaleoni, First Counsellor, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said to overcome these challenges, the three tiers of government and other stakeholders must come together and initiate workable policies on institutions and investments to transform rural areas into vibrant and healthy places to live, work and raise families.

Emergency in Rural Africa – The Importance of Surgeons

African Countries is famous for its wild and rural environments, which yearly attracts thousands of tourists. The wild beauty of Africa is famous all over the world. But there is another aspect to consider. When an emergency occurs, there are fewer facilities in the nearby or EMS to support. In some cases, there are none of them, and the ones which are present lack of equipments and devices. So it becomes extremely difficult to provide good patients care in serious need.

During the Africa Health Exhibition 2019, Professor Pankaj G. Jani, President of the College of Surgeons, East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) will hold a conference about training surgeons for emergencies in rural Africa, explaining how to provide care in rural parts of Africa, how to deal trauma patients, how to deal with essential surgical operations which are required in rural areas, such as hernias, and other diseases like this, that can be considered common in other parts of the world, but are deadly and must be treated correctly and in time.

Police Reservists Sought to Combat Rural Crime

Farm attacks and murders came under the spotlight earlier this month when South Africa’s top cop, National Commissioner Khehla Sitole, met with a delegation from the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) to seek ways of increasing capacity to effectively combat rural crime.

According to an SA Police Service (SAPS) statement, the organisation’s rural safety strategy “strives to address rural safety as an integrated day-to-day policing approach by creating a safe and secure rural environment”. Reporting on the meeting Maroela Media notes SAPS plans to implement a police reservist recruitment programme this year with the sole objective of putting reservists into rural areas.

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