Rural Health Workers, Development Conversations and Other Reports

A lot has happened in rural development in the past week. However, as part of our tradition, we bring you some of the most important reports on development in rural Africa and its environs. The reports include some of our top picks from recent must-read research, interviews, reports, blogs and in-depth articles which have been carefully selected to help you keep up with global issues. Here are some of the updates you may have missed from the previous week:

 South Africa: Rural Communities Important in Conservation

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has called for the recognition and involvement of rural communities in the conservation of biodiversity.

She was speaking during discussions on livelihoods and food security at the 17th Conference of Parties (COP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) currently underway in Johannesburg.

“South Africa initiated the implementation of the Biodiversity Economy Strategy as a key transformational intervention to ensure that rural communities’ development takes place, especially in communities that have benefitted from our land reform process and opportunities relating to legal international trade will form part of this programme,” said Minister Molewa

The First Step Is to Listen: Unlocking Conversations in Development With Radio and Mobile Phones

How can we include the world’s most vulnerable people in the decisions that affect them? It’s simple: We ask them. How? By combining the two most powerful communications tools in the developing world: radio and mobile phones.

Health Team Responding to Rural Health Workers Concerns

Health care delivery in Liberia was weakened by the EVD outbreak in 2014, exposing major gaps and for now, the health system is being reformed by the government and its partners with collaboration from communities to ensure the implementation of a 10 year government investment plan, aimed at making Liberia’s health sector resilient.

However, health workers in Gbarpolu County are still concerned about limited lodging facilities for them in the county.

“Health workers are lodged in buildings own by local chiefs which are they say ‘are not even up to local standard’.

How Climate Change Is Fueling a Food Crisis in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria

The frontline of global warming is on farms. But the story is about much more than hunger.

The village of Nowcaca is nestled in the verdant hills of northwestern Mozambique, some 600 miles north of the coastal capital Maputo. A footpath winds through a sea of shoulder-high grasses, leading from a two-lane highway back to a dusty plot where Amelia Tonito grows onions, tomatoes, and cabbage. Amelia presses her hand into the soil, next to a few meager green sprouts. Rainfall has been sparse this year, and without the money to buy fertilizer, her optimism for a profitable harvest is waning.

“We only produce enough to eat,” she says. “But we’d like to produce enough to eat and to sell.”

In Rural Kenya, Women Swap Charity for Tea Boxes

At first, decorating boxes for the Ajiri Tea Company simply helped women in Kenya’s Kisii region shed their reliance on handouts. Now the women are using their salaries to help each other fix leaky roofs and put their children through school.

In Rural Kenya, Women Swap Charity for Tea Boxes

At first, decorating boxes for the Ajiri Tea Company simply helped women in Kenya’s Kisii region shed their reliance on handouts. Now the women are using their salaries to help each other fix leaky roofs and put their children through school.

Bamboo bicycles launched in Accra

The ‘Eco Ride’, which is made up of 75 per cent bamboo, is expected to enhance rural transport and also contribute to reduce the country’s carbon pollution.

The bicycle can be used to transport people to their farms and schools and also facilitate the delivery of  items such as medical supplies to hospitals, particularly those in rural communities.

The bamboo bike is designed for all road conditions in the country.

http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/bamboo-bicycles-launched-in-accra.html

More female farmers now into male-dominated crop cultivation

Many female farmers have ventured into the production of crops often seen as ‘men crops’, following an aggressive capacity building efforts undertaken by African Lead, to improve leadership skills of women into agribusiness across the country.

Ericsson launches first 4G radios built for rural Africa

The squabbles around spectrum allocation, auctions and alternativewireless connectivity goes on, but telecoms equipment manufacturer Ericsson believes it has at least part of the solution for connecting more Africans online – power efficient radio devices.

The company launched a new product portfolio for extending mobile networks into rural areas and developing countries today, and the key selling point is a hardware suite that’s smaller, lighter and cost efficient than predecessors. According to the firm’s VP Pieter van der Westhuizen, it’s something local operators have been requesting for a long time.

 

Busayo Sotunde is a prolific writer with special focus on Business, Entrepreneurship, Reproductive Health and other development issues in Africa. Her articles have been published by different outlets including Investing Port and Ventures-Africa.com. She has a penchant for reading and sustainable development. Follow Busayo on Twitter @BusayomiSotunde
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