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The name Dr Vena Arielle AHOUANSOU is not in anyone’s lexicon at the moment, but that may change in the coming years, thanks to her singular idea of transforming Africa’s primary healthcare culture.
The 27 year old’s her journey began one evening back in October 2016 as the young medical student making the rounds in a public hospital in Cotonou – Benin and her team attended to a patient who was haemorrhaging after the delivery of twin babies.
Unfortunately, because of the need for a blood transfusion, the extended time it took to determine just her blood type alone in the absence of a simple record system, cost the patient her life.
It was a dark and bright moment, all at the same time, it seemed.
For a young Dr Arielle Verna AHOUANSOU, that tragic event changed forever her mission as a care giver, and her vision for what a primary healthcare system should be in her country Benin.
Armed with a little faith and driven with an abundance in a belief that a basic digital EMR [Electronic Medical Record] system could be developed, she took her message to any and everyone who would listen to her idea.
Dr Ahouansou was hoping someone somewhere would see not just the benefits of such a system, but believe that even though she was a young woman [in a ‘very patriarchic Africa’ and with little digital and zero IT experience], she was still the right person to develop this new system in her country.
Thanks to a series of small ‘gender based’ development competition grants from African entrepreneurs Tony Elumelu [via his foundation], Aliko Dangote [via his foundation], and a similar grant by the French luxury goods maker Cartier for women, Dr Ahouansou assembled a small local team four years ago to create a pilot program that in 2021 become a model being successfully tested in a major hospital in Benin.
That initiative today is known as the Kea medicals solution.
During his three country West Africa visit to Cameroun, Guinea and then Benin last week, President Emmanuel Macron invited Dr Vena Arielle Ahouansou to share her vision of a new African digital healthcare system.
Sitting alongside Benin’s foreign minister H.
E. Aurelien Agbenonci and President Emmanuel Macron, Dr Ahouansou shared her vision where critical talents from Africa and Europe would collaborate, to create an integrated and seamless digital primary healthcare system that benefits one simple race of people – and that is, the human race.
Buoyed by her projects strong reference in a recent 2021 OECD and AU report released in 2022 as an example of the power and effect of Africa’s digitization drive, Dr Ahouansou is looking to take her project to other governments in francophone African countries, with the assistance of President Macron.
She believes her message of a universal digital primary healthcare deployment across Francophone Africa and someday perhaps the whole of Africa, would be a lifesaver by reducing medical records access time and improving overall care management efficiency.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says millions of refugees and migrants in vulnerable situations, face poorer health outcomes than their host communities especially where living and working conditions are sub-standard.
The organisation said on Wednesday that the report was according to the first WHO World report on the health of refugees and migrants.
“Around the world, millions of refugees and migrants in vulnerable situations, such as low-skilled migrant workers, face poorer health outcomes than their host communities.
“Especially where living and working conditions are sub-standard, this has dire consequences for the probability that the world will not achieve the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for these populations,’’ it said.
Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said there were some one billion migrants globally, about one in eight people.
According to him, the experience of migration is a key determinant of health and wellbeing, and refugees and migrants remain among the most vulnerable and neglected members of many societies “This report is the first to offer a global review of refugee and migrant health, it calls for urgent and collective action to ensure they can access health care services that are sensitive to their needs.
“It also illustrates the pressing need to address the root causes of ill health and to radically reorient health systems to respond to a world increasingly in motion,’’ Ghebreyesus said.
He said based on an extensive review of literature from around the world, the report demonstrates that refugees and migrants are not inherently less healthy than host populations.
Ghebreyesus said it was the impact of the various suboptimal health determinants, such as education, income, housing and access to services.
He said impact was also compounded by linguistic, cultural, legal and other barriers and the interaction of these during the life course, that are behind poor health outcomes.
The report reiterated that the experience of migration and displacement were key factors in a person’s health and wellbeing, especially when combined with other determinants.
“For example, a recent meta-analysis of more than 17 million participants from 16 countries across five WHO regions found that, compared with non-migrant workers, migrant workers were less likely to use health services.
“Also, more likely to have an occupational injury.
“Evidence also showed that a significant number of the 169 million migrant workers globally are engaged in dirty, dangerous, and demanding jobs and are at greater risk of occupational accidents.
“Others are injuries, and work-related health problems than their non-migrant counterparts, conditions exacerbated by their often limited or restricted access to and use of health services,’’ it said.
The report demonstrated critical gaps in data and health information systems regarding the health of refugees and migrants.
It said while data and evidence are plentiful, they are fragmented and not comparable across countries and over time.
It said although these mobile populations are sometimes identifiable in global datasets used for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) monitoring.
It said that health data are often missing from migration statistics and migratory status variables are often missing from health statistics.
The report said that such made it difficult to determine and track progress for refugees and migrants towards the health-related SDGs. Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO’s Deputy Director-General said: “It is imperative that we do more on refugees and migrants’ health but if we want to change the status quo.
“We need urgent investments to improve the quality, relevance and completeness of health data on refugees and migrants,’’ she said.
Jakab said that the organization needed sound data collection and monitoring systems that truly represent the diversity of the world population and the experience that refugees and migrants face.
According to her, lack of comparable data on the health of refugees and migrants across countries and over time often impedes good policy development towards health equity.
Jakab said others are policies and frameworks do exist that address and respond to the health needs of refugees and migrants.
The report said that however, disparities in health outcomes remain and the report showed that they are mainly due to a lack of meaningful and effective implementation of policies.
Dr Santino Severoni, Director of WHO’s Health and Migration Programmem said health does not begin or end at a country’s border.
Severoni said that migratory status should therefore not be a discriminatory factor but a policy driver on which to build and strengthen healthcare and social and financial protection.
He said the organisation must reorient existing health systems into integrated and inclusive health services for refugees and migrants, in line with the principles of primary health care and universal health coverage.
The report said that refugees and migrants can introduce innovative ideas that drive economic and social transformation.
It highlighted the extraordinary contributions of refugee and migrant healthcare workers to the COVID-19 frontline response.
The report said that one of the most notable was the contributions of migrants in several countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
It said it was particularly significant when in some countries as many as half of doctors or nurses are foreign born.
“Implementing inclusive health systems that conform to the principle of right to health for all and universal health coverage would permit individuals in need of health services to be identified and supported early.
It said health systems were only as strong as their weakest link.
The report said the inclusion of refugees and migrants was a worthwhile investment for the development and wellbeing of societies around the world.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday called for Russia to be expelled from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, blaming Moscow for fueling the global grain crisis by invading his country.
"There can be no discussion about extending Russia's membership in the FAO," Zelensky told delegates at a Paris meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) by video link.
Active in 130 countries around the world, FAO's mission is "to achieve food security for all".
"What can Russia (at the FAO) do if it is starving at least 400 million, or potentially more than a billion people?" Zelensky added.
Ukraine's Black Sea ports typically export millions of tons of grain each year, but have been blocked since Moscow's invasion in late February.
Coupled with Western sanctions on Russia, which prevent Moscow from selling much of its grain abroad, the blockade has sent food prices skyrocketing and prompted famine warnings in the Middle East and Africa.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in UN-backed talks in Turkey on Wednesday that Moscow was ready to grant safe passage to ships carrying Ukrainian corn and wheat.
Ukraine says it is open to resuming shipments but needs concrete security guarantees from Russia, an FAO member since 2006.
“The United Nations mediation efforts are significant steps and I think unfortunately the only ones,” Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told the OECD meeting on Thursday.
"We have to offer President Zelensky the guarantees he needs that the ports will not be attacked."
The fourth day of the Africities summit started with the official opening of the political segment which was marked by a conversation between two former African heads of State namely, His Excellency Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique and His Excellency Danny Faure former President of Seychelles. The main topic of the conversation was “Thriving the way for the future of Africa in a world of turmoil”. The young elected officials invited the former heads of State to reflect and advise them around the unbalanced share of public financial and human resources between the national level and the local level; on the centrality of cities and territories as places hit by the consequences of climate change and paradoxically their absence at the table when discussing climate action; on the proposal to devise a program for upgrading tou7nghe infrastructure and equipment of local governments, including intermediary cities, within the pan-African framework, as was the case with the NEPAD major infrastructure program, for intermediary cities to play their rightful role as engineering places for the African Continental Free Trade Area, a booster for African integration; on making cross-border decentralized cooperation a tool for African integration; and finally on arguments to put forward to give hope to young Africans that they have a future on this continent instead for them dying in the Mediterranean trying to find their future outside the continent.
In response, His Excellency Joaquim Chissano told the leaders of local governments that as much as it is OK to engage national governments for a better share of public resources between the national and the local levels of government, there is need also to find creative ways of mobilising locally the resources they need.
“It would be important for local governments to engage in dialogue between themselves and the central government and ensure that there’s a permanent space for dialogue through associations for example to discuss the issues they have” said His Excellency Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique.
With regards to climate change, His Excellency Danny Faure urged United Cities and Local Governments of Africa to fight and ensure that local governments have a seat at the negotiating table during the upcoming COP 27 in Egypt. COP is the name given to the annual meeting of world leaders in a climate change capacity. COP27 will be the 27th such conference to take place in Sharm- Al-Sheikh, Egypt, in November 2022.
“It is important that we have at the table representatives of intermediary cities and local governments. We also need to press that "Loss and Damage" as a facility is created and approved so that nations having difficulties because of climate change can benefit from this new facility” said His Excellency Danny Faure, former president of Seychelles. (Watch video Interview of HE Danny Faure: https://bit.ly/3sXRK81)
Loss and damage are a general term used in the United Nations climate negotiations to refer to the consequences of climate extreme events hitting communities ill-prepared to face them. Loss and damage refer to the consideration that the Africa is responsible for less than 4% of greenhouse gas emissions but is one of the regions of the world most impacted by the consequences of global warming it did not participate in producing. Loss and damage also refer to the compensation that Africa should be receiving from the rest of the world for the role it is playing in carbon sinking, notably through the Forest of the Congo Basin and Africa’s wetlands. It is about maintaining dignified living standards for the population in forest area to ensure that they do not engage in deforestation to earn a living.
On the other hand, it should be noted that a conversation took place between two former heads of State and Young Leaders of local governments of Africa aged 35 or below.
After the dialogue between the former heads of State and young leaders, an UCLG Africa honorary membership award ceremony was organised, during which the two former heads of State gave their honorary membership attributes to the nominees in the 5 colleges of UCLG Africa honorary members, namely the college of former mayors and leaders of subnational and local governments, the college of the academia, the college of the private sector, and the college of UCLG partners, in exclusion of the college of former heads of State.
The following members received their honorary membership attributes from the hands of President Chissano and President Faure:
College of former Mayors and Leaders of subnational and local government Governments of Africa: Ms. Rose Christiane Ossouka-Raponda, former Mayor of Libreville, and Prime Minister of Gabon; Mrs Celestine Ketcha Courtès, former Mayor of Bagangte, Cameroon, and former President, REFELA, Minister of Urban Development and Housing, Cameroon; Mr. Jeannot Ahoussou Kouadio, President of the Senate, Côte d’Ivoire; Mr. Daby Diagne, former Mayor of Louga, Senegal, and former President last President of the United Towns Organization (UTO) ; Mr Hugues Ngouélondélé, former Mayor of Brazzaville, Congo, and former President of UCLG Africa; Mr Tarayia Ole Kores, former President, Association of Local Government Authorities of Kenya, ALGAK, and former President, UCLG Africa; Mr Khalifa Sall, former Mayor of Dakar, Senegal, and former President of UCLG Africa; Mr Mpho Moruakgomo, former President of the Botswana Association of Local Authorities, BALA, and former Vice President, UCLG Africa; Mr Thabo Manyoni, former Mayor of Magaung, South Africa, former President of the South African Local Government Association, SALGA, and former Vice President of UCLG Africa; Mr Eneas Comiche, Mayor of Maputo, Mozambique, former Vice President of UCLG Africa; Mr Ahmed Hamza, former Mayor of Nouakchott, Mauritania and former Vice President, UCLG Africa; Mr Omar Bahraoui, former Mayor of Rabat, Morocco, and former Vice President of UCLG Africa; and Mr Simon Compaoré, former Mayor of Ouagadougou, and former member of UCLG Africa´s Executive Committee.
College of Academia: Professor Akinlawon Mabogunje, former Dean of the Faculty of Geography, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
College of the Private Sector: Mr Seidnaly Aphadi, Fashion designer, Niger
Category of UCLG Africa Partners: Mr. John Dossavi, President of RAPEC, Togo, the association of African Professionals in the area of Culture, the man behind the celebration of the UNESCO World Day of African and Afro-descendent Culture on 24 January every year; and Mr William Cobbett, former Director, at the Cities Alliance Secretariat, and former Director General for the National Department of Housing in President Nelson Mandela’s Government of National Unity, South Africa.
MEETING OF MINISTERS
The Ministers' meeting is one of the three parallel meetings of the political segment being held over the last two days of the Africities Summit. The Ministers' meeting includes African ministers who are members of the African Union's Specialized Technical Committee on Public Service, Local Government, Urban Development and Decentralization (STC 8); as well as ministers in charge of Finance and/or the Economy.
Drawing lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministers confirmed the resolve of African governments to minimize dependency from the world market for commodities and services indispensable for the day-to-day living conditions of the people such as food systems or health services; and strive and improve self-reliance through the promotion of local economies economic that connect closely intermediary cities with their rural hinterlands, which should be instrumental to building a more balanced spatial development of human settlements at national, regional and continental levels, in line with the UN´s New Urban Agenda.
The ministers confirmed that COVID-19 puts a huge burden on African public finances that makes it difficult for the national level to make adequate transfer of resources to the local governments as it should have. They suggested therefore that innovative forms of funding be sought for subnational and local governments, including improving local government owned-sourced revenues, but also the recourse to innovative instruments such as public-private-partnership or bonds issuing on the capital market. The proposal by UCLG Africa to set up a special purpose vehicle, the Africa Territorial Agency, ATA, is a welcome move to the right direction and should be supported.
The ministers also confirmed the rightness and urgency to pay more attention to intermediary cities in national urban policies. They acknowledged the need to bring the issue of the role of cities including intermediary cities in the structural transformation of Africa to the attention of the heads of State and Government of the African Union to form part of the agenda of one of their nearest conferences, with the support of the African Union Commission.
The ministers also bought in the proposal to make culture the fourth pillar of sustainable development in sync with the proposal of the 2021 African Union Year tagged the African Year for heritage, arts, and culture. They fully supported the proposal by UCLG Africa to celebrate the African Capitals of Culture biennially. They welcomed the celebration of the city of Rabat as the first African Capital of Culture for the years 2022-2023.
The ministers acknowledged the fundamental change introduced by the digitalization of society. They committed to support the digital transformation of the continent and committed to facilitate ICT investment and equipment as well as skilling local governments staff in digital governance. They welcomed the establishment of the network of smart intermediary cities headed by the City of Benguerir, Morocco.
The ministers also welcome the adoption of the Local Government Charter on Gender Equality and committed to the implementation of its provisions in the different African countries.
The ministers finally discussed and adopted the questions they wished to ask to Mayors on the hand, and to Development partners in the other hand, in the framework of the tripartite dialogue roundtable between ministers, mayors and development partners. They also agreed on the five ministers that would be on the delegation of ministers at the tripartite dialogue roundtable to be held on May 21, 2022, namely, the ministers from Tanzania, Rwanda, Niger, Mozambique, and Egypt.
“We have done enough exchanges, benchmarking, comparisons, contrasts, a feel of best experiences, and also what level each one of us is at. It is now really a question of putting into practice what we are preaching when we get back; and come the next convention, we should be able to report on the deliverables and what we have picked out of such a large convention and hopefully it should not be a talking shop” said Hon. Gary Nkombo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Zambia.
MEETING OF MAYORS
The meeting of mayors and leaders of subnational and local governments of Africa was first called to reflect on the implementation of the decentralization policy within the African continent. The participants in the meeting recommended that the triennial Report on the institutional enabling environment created by the national governments in favor of city and subnational and local governments serve as the basis of a permanent dialogue between the central State and the local governments on the implementation of the decentralization policy. The celebration of the Decentralization Day on August 10 each year can serve as a moment for presenting the local governments´ perspective of the implementation of the decentralization policy in each African country.
The meeting of Mayors recognized that local governments has been at the forefront in fighting unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in unexpected expenditure, and the reduction of owned-sourced revenues of around 30% to 50 %. Hence the proposal to include subnational and local government among the beneficiaries of Post-COVID support packages.
The meeting of Mayors gave its full support to the setting up of the Africa Territorial Agency, the special purpose vehicle aimed at facilitating access of African cities and territories to the capital market. The meeting also praised the effort of UCLG Africa to facilitate access of African local government to climate finance; and fully supported the organization of a Forum of Mayors for Climate in the official program of COP 27 in Sharm-Al-Sheikh, Egypt.
The meeting of Mayors recognized that, from now on, the digital transformation of subnational and local governments is a must and has become the urgent duty of the day. They therefore committed to embark into the digitalization their governance and operations. They praised the efforts of UCLG Africa that has digitalized the operations of its Academy, ALGA, by putting in place an e-academy and welcome the partnership established with the 01Talent Company aiming at producing 500.000 young coding specialists in African cities and territories within the coming 10 years. The mayors as well welcomed the proposal to set up a e-trading capacity building program to allow young Africans to become traders on the principal stock exchange in the world while still residing back home in Africa. Mayors also recommended the involvement of all stakeholders of the territory in digital transformation through the development of living labs approaches.
The meeting of Mayors valued the decentralization cooperation as a means to associate subnational and local governments into the dynamism of African integration; to fight discrimination against migrant populations; to embed the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area into the social, cultural as well economic realities of the continent reflected in intermediary cities; and to participate in the early warning mechanism on conflicts put in place by the African Union at the level of the Regional Economic Communities. To that effect, the meeting of Mayors recommended that a mechanism be in place to encourage the participation of local governments in the regional economic dynamic. An example of such mechanism is given by the Council of Territorial Governments, CCT, established as a body the West African Economic and Monetary Union, WAEMU, a part of the Economic Community of West African Stated (ECOWAS). The meeting of Mayors recommended therefore to put in place a council of subnational and local governments in the different Regional Economic Communities, mirroring the High Council of African Local Authorities set up as a consultative body of the African Union.
The meeting of Mayors recommended that all regional economic communities define cross-borders decentralized cooperation programs for cities and territories to be able to transform the borders of African countries inherited from colonial times from "breaking points to stitching points", following the wise word of His Excellency Alpha Oumar Konaré, former President of Mali and former President of the African Union Commission.
The meeting of Mayors urged all African countries to sign and ratify the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development. The meeting also called on all city and territorial governments of Africa to adopt the African Charter on Gender Equality proposed by the REFELA, the network of female Mayors and Local Elected Officials of Africa.
The meeting of Mayors praised the initiative of the Kingdom of Morocco to set up an African Fund for International Decentralized Cooperation that supports city-to-city partnerships in Africa; and called for the setting up of such decentralization cooperation funds in many other countries of Africa in order to build contribute, through robust decentralized cooperation programs, to the emergence of the “Africa of the Peoples above and beyond the Africa of post-colonial National States”, thus contributing to building African integration from its cities and territories.
The meeting of Mayors considered that intermediary cities are the support points for the emergence of strong local economies, a sine qua non for the bifurcation towards the road to a more economically resilient, ecologically sustainable, and socially just and inclusive development pathway. The meeting supported therefore the effort of cities and territories engaged in the rethinking of their development policies and strategies, taking into account the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives of Agenda 2063 of the African Union.
The meeting of Mayors endorsed the proposal by the Youth Day to create youth empowerment councils bringing together youth organizations to take care of identifying opportunities for younger generations in terms of education, employment, and investment, and to advise the municipality on policies dedicated to youth in order to address the challenge of youth at odds with peaceful social relations and prey to delinquency and crime.
“We have discussed several things but one of the key things that we hope will be implemented after the tripartite discussions is the harmonization of structures across Africa. This is because some countries have a minister in charge of Decentralization working directly with local authorities and other countries do not have it. This is why there is a discrepancy in budgets because some countries have 2% of their national resources allocated to subnational and local governments budgets while others have 15%. This is a huge difference and harmonizing of infrastructure would be a win” said Mrs. Khady Niang SYLLA, Deputy Mayor of Dakar.
The meeting of Mayors then approved the five questions they would ask to ministers and development partners during the tripartite dialogue roundtable as well the delegates representing the Mayors and leaders of subnational governments, namely, Mayor Mrs. L´khiel, Mayor of Arbaoua, Morocco; Mrs. Kady Niang Deputy Mayor of Dakar, Senegal, Mrs. Maria Helena Langa, Mayor of Mandlakazi, Mozambique; Mr. Rama, Mayor of District 4, City of N’Djamena, Chad; and Mr. Kitour, Mayor of Eldoret, Kenya.
MEETING OF DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS
The Development Partners meeting approved the 5 questions to be submitted to the ministers and mayors and subnational governments leaders. They also debated and proposed the roadmap to be adopted at the end of the Summit. This roadmap is supposed to make sure the support of development partners contributes to strengthening the place and role of intermediary cities in the implementation of the United Nations´ 2030 Agenda and of the African Union´s Agenda 2063.
“One of the things we ask the mayors as development partners is what do you want and what do you need? We do ask these questions because local authorities are the best engineers of development. We hope that some of the donors including the major players will start to say: we want to see how to finance local authorities directly”, said Laurent Bossard, Director of the Sahel and West Africa Club - OECD.
Upcoming sessions
On May 21st, the focus will be on the tripartite roundtable between ministers, mayors, and development partners, and on the presentation of declarations and adoption of the roadmap for the ninth edition of the Africities summit, and the official closing session, followed up by the official closing gala dinner.
Video: B-Roll Day 4: https://bit.ly/3LSnAKc
The fifth and final day of side events and thematic panel sessions of the 5th International World Conference on the Elimination of Child Labor concluded on Thursday 19 May 2022 at the ICC in Durban, South Africa. The panel discussions were productive and valuable, paving the way for a commitment to end child labour. This was the first time the conference had been held on African soil, and history was made when children were included and given a voice at the conference for the first time. On May 20, 2022, the conference will conclude with the adoption of the Durban Call to Action and a closing ceremony.
The thematic panels of the day addressed issues such as child labor in agriculture and supply chains, overcoming vulnerabilities
Throughout the week, participants were able to interact both online and in person thanks to the hybrid conference. Also noteworthy is the area enabled for streaming Dreams of Gold through a virtual reality headset. Attendees were virtually teleported to a gold mine in Ghana, where they were able to experience and experience child labor for a few moments.
The most affected sector
Globally, 70% of children involved in child labor come from the agricultural sector. According to the latest Global Child Labor Estimates, during the period 2016-2020, an additional 4 million children were involved in child labour. The socio-economic consequences of COVID-19 on food security and agricultural livelihoods have pushed more children into child labor in agriculture. Without a breakthrough in this sector, target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goal will not be achieved.
Throughout the roundtable, global, regional, national and local experts provided insights on how to better position sustainable and resilient agri-food systems as a key factor in ending child labour.
“If programs are sensitive and target households at risk, if root causes are addressed and small farmer organizations are strengthened, if we engage in programs like school feeding, we can end child labor in agriculture,” said Bernd Seiffert, Focal Point for Children. I work in Agriculture at FAO.
She pointed to cross-cutting factors such as social protection, climate-smart practices and women's empowerment as key elements of an integrated approach in the sector.
Adding to that sentiment, Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development of South Africa, raised the importance of addressing the root causes of child labour. “Agriculture continues to be an important sector of our economy and cuts across several areas,” he said. "If you don't address poverty, conflict and war, you won't solve child labour."
He also called for spot checks to ensure that the laws are followed and advocates that the sectors work together to ensure that nothing escapes. It is easy to have laws in place, but it is imperative to make sure they are enforced.
It was mentioned that people need to speak out against child labour. Anonymous lines should be established where this can be reported.
Collaboration is needed to eliminate child labour. All ministers must line up and unite to #EndChilldLabour.
Address key vulnerabilities
Child labor is driven in part by specific vulnerabilities, such as poverty, risks and shocks. Without adequate access to finance, health services and social protection, children are more likely to engage in work and less likely to get an education.
In this session, panelists examined contextual, sociopolitical and economic factors, shedding light on the complex root causes that perpetuate the cycle of child labour.
“We have to take action, engage children and take a rights-based approach,” said Najat Maalla M'jid, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children.
“The most important thing we have done in Pakistan is stop normalizing child labour,” said Amna Shabbir. She spoke candidly about what her country has done to protect children from child labour: 2 international conventions, 40 legal frameworks and 20 departments that work exclusively for children's rights. Pakistan's world-class carpet weaving and soccer ball production industries are now 100% free of child labour, a powerful message of hope for other countries with high levels of child labour. It's possible.
Child labor free supply chains
Supply chains are complex and interconnected. The panelists discussed the structural factors that weaken them and make them vulnerable to child labor in the afternoon.
Claudine Ndusi M'Kembe, from the Ministry of Labor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, discussed some of the steps her country has taken to address the root causes. Recently, world attention has focused on cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 60 percent of the world's cobalt is mined. Unfortunately, child labor remains a major problem in small-scale artisanal mines. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is focusing on education in addition to strengthening laws, developing advocacy tools and mobilizing inspectors on the ground.
"We are working for a better future in particular for our girls," he said. "We are trying to improve social conditions in the country, so that parents understand the importance of sending children to school and not to mining."
This panel shed light on some of the complexities around child labor in supply chains, including shared responsibilities and the need for more coherent efforts and collective action among a variety of stakeholders.
According to Lilian Tschan, State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour, Germany: “The G7 countries must send a clear signal that they support constructive solutions,” she said. “The foundations are laid. We can build on the internally accepted frameworks of the UN, ILO and OECD. That said, a more binding approach is needed.”
Raising the voice of children
This month is Africa Month, a time when the world turns to this innovative and solution-oriented continent to scale up initiatives for a better future. "It is fitting that the first world conference is being held in Africa, with the voices, views and talents of children." "It is essential that this is done at all future conferences involving children so that they can be heard," said South African Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour, Boitumelo Moloi.
South Africa will celebrate Child Protection Week from May 29 to June 5, 2022. National Child Protection Week is celebrated annually in the country to raise awareness of children's rights as articulated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Children's Law (Law No. 38 of 2005).
The children began the session with an original play that represented a real life situation that many children face today. During the panel discussion, the children mentioned that poverty is one of the main causes of child labour. Various children from all over the world shared their stories; some were forced to work as children due to poverty and unemployment of their parents. Others were born into working families. Amar Lal, a child labor survivor, was grateful to be able to study thanks to a scholarship. He is now a lawyer and fights for other children who were once in his place.
The call for governments to implement infrastructure and concrete solutions for poor families, so that children do not have to work, has been a recurring statement in many round tables.
Amar made a significant statement by saying, “As we sit in this conference, there are children working. We need to act now! The kids can't wait! They need their rights now."
Expand and join the conversation using the hashtag #EndChildLabour
Follow online: www.5thChildLabourConf.org
See the agenda for the next day: https://bit.ly/3wiez8H
Urbanization in Africa is contributing to better economic outcomes and higher standards of living, with cities notably outperforming national averages in most socioeconomic indicators, including the share of skilled jobs, wages, education, and access to services and infrastructure, according to a new report (https:/ /bit.ly/381UWs0).
Download document (EN): https://bit.ly/3MPP7N7 Download document (FR): https://bit.ly/38Messy
Produced by the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC/OECD) in association with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa's Development Dynamics 2022 (https://bit.ly/ 3OZ3TmE) The Economic Power of Africa's Cities analyzes data from four million people and businesses in 2,600 cities in 34 African countries. It offers the most extensive assessment of the impact of cities in Africa on social and economic outcomes.
Speaking at the virtual launch, Dr. Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, Honorary Chairman of SWAC and Executive Director of AUDA-NEPAD, said: "The cities of Africa […] they have maintained their economic performance despite growing by 500 million people in the last 30 years, providing several hundred million people with better jobs and better access to services and infrastructure. This, in a context of very limited public support and investment, is probably one of the most underappreciated achievements of African cities.”
In her welcoming remarks, Edlam Yemeru, Acting Director of the Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division at ECA, said: “Africa's urbanization is a game changer. The change is not just demographic, but is also substantially reshaping economic and social outcomes. Therefore, cities must be placed at the center of national economic policy making.”
Key results:
Urbanization drives GDP growth. Approximately 30% of Africa's per capita GDP growth in the last 20 years has been due to urbanization and the agglomeration economies generated. Urbanization drives economic transformation. Skilled workers represent almost 36% of the total number of workers in urban areas, while in rural areas they represent just under 15% of the labor force. Urbanization improves access to financial services. About 49% of urban households have a bank account compared to just 17% of rural households. Urbanization increases education levels. The average urban dweller receives 8.6 years of formal education, while their rural counterpart attends school for only half as many years. Cities benefit rural areas. Rural areas close to cities perform better than remote rural areas in terms of employment, education, access to finance, and infrastructure. For example, the proportion of rural households that have a bank account is double among rural households that live less than 5 kilometers from a city compared to those that live 30 kilometers from the nearest city. City clusters provide new opportunities. Five of Africa's six major urban clusters cross national borders, providing new avenues for economic development and regional integration.However, the report notes that economic and political constraints continue to limit the potential of cities to contribute more significantly to economic growth and social development, which risks leaving many people behind. Furthermore, it identifies an urgent need for timely data and new, locally tailored approaches to address existing and emerging challenges in African cities.
Against this background, the report proposes actions policymakers can take to maximize the benefits of urbanization and unlock the full economic potential of Africa's cities:
National governments must anchor cities in national development and economic planning through better coordination of national and local development policies, leveraging cities as drivers of development, and investing in infrastructure that connects cities and increases productivity. National governments should empower local governments as equal partners in shaping economic development, allowing city authorities to manage their investment decisions and develop their skills. National governments must boost local investment capacity through better finance by implementing predictable and stable intra-governmental transfers, increasing local revenue through taxes, fees and charges, and facilitating greater access to debt finance.In his closing remarks, Mr. Solomon Quaynor, AfDB Vice President for the Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, said: “Urbanization is one of the most significant transformations the African continent will experience this century.”
The report Africa's Development Dynamics 2022: The Economic Power of Africa's Cities is available online here (https://bit.ly/3yfaN1e) and a digital information story can be viewed here (https://bit.ly/38PRgcJ) .
The recorded webinar can be viewed here (https://bit.ly/3sdqcet).
UNDP will work to improve human rights standards in business in 17 countries through a new project funded by the Government of Japan. By promoting the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the initiative will better equip governments and businesses to understand and act on their duties and responsibilities to prevent abuses such as forced labour, land grabbing and discrimination.
The project will have two main purposes. First, it will guide companies to carry out Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) to assess, prevent and mitigate adverse impacts. To achieve this, UNDP will support Japanese companies and their suppliers in managing the human rights risks potentially associated with their operations. Companies will also benefit from this process, as companies that demonstrate clean operations have clear advantages in bringing their products to market.
The second goal of the project is to help the 17 target countries develop policies to address business-related human rights abuses. UNDP will work with governments to create a level playing field that encourages more companies to adopt responsible business practices. The project will be implemented by UNDP country offices in Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mexico, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam. In Japan, training and guidance will also be provided to Japanese companies.
With this project, UNDP and Japan will promote the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. UNDP's vast experience in implementing its Business and Human Rights initiative and promoting HRDD has shown that business of all sizes can be agents of positive change. As the development actor with the largest dedicated field presence in this thematic area, UNDP has helped companies address social justice issues, both within their operations and in promoting broader changes in policy and regulation.
“Businesses have a role to play in achieving the SDGs and achieving the goals set by the Paris Agreement,” said Asako Okai, UNDP Under-Secretary-General, Deputy Administrator and Director of the UNDP Crisis Office.
“With this new project, UNDP and the Government of Japan come together to support companies in their efforts to meet human rights standards and advocate with governments for better policies and legislation to protect rights and encourage responsible business. . In our current context, they also have the potential to become engines of a just recovery from COVID-19, even in fragile and crisis-affected contexts. To better move forward, we need concerted and urgent action,” said ASG Okai.
The project will be implemented through the UNDP Global Program for the Rule of Law, Human Rights, Justice and Security for Sustainable Peace and Development (the Global Program) in coordination with partners active in the field of responsible business , such as the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), International Labor Organization (ILO) and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
This new initiative complements UNDP's ongoing work on Business and Human Rights. Since 2016, UNDP has supported the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP) with a focus on Asia and the Pacific, and with the support of the Government of Sweden and the European Union.
In 2020, this regional program expanded its operations. Currently, 26 UNDP country offices in five regions are working with governments, businesses and civil society organizations, with support from the EU, Japan and Sweden, among others. UNDP provides technical assistance for the development and implementation of National Action Plans on business and human rights, advises companies on conducting human rights due diligence processes, and promotes access to remedies for victims of abuses against human rights by companies.
The next Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO) will be Gilbert F. Houngbo of Togo. Houngbo is currently president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He was elected by the ILO Governing Body, made up of representatives of governments, workers and employers, during its meeting in Geneva. He will be the 11th Director-General of the ILO and the first African to hold the post. Speaking after his election, Houngbo said: “Although my origins are African, my perspective is global. In an age, sadly, of division, my commitment to be a unifying CEO stands firm… I will be the CEO of no one and the CEO of everyone. Governments, employers and workers alike, from all regions of the world, can and should rely on my full readiness to represent and defend the views of all tripartite constituents in the organization”. “I am committed to representing the voices of those who trust us at the ILO. I am thinking of the four billion people in the world who do not have access to social protection. I am thinking of the more than 200 million women and men who face unemployment. The 160 million children in child labour. The 1.6 billion people in the informal sector. Businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses facing supply chain disruption or closure due to crises, including the pandemic, climate change and armed conflict. I am thinking of the women and men who face discrimination, violence and harassment in the workplace and elsewhere. These are all expressions of unacceptable social injustice that we are morally, if not legally, bound to address." The five-year term of the new Director General will start on October 1, 2022. The current Director General, Guy Ryder, from the United Kingdom, has held the position since 2012. The ILO Governing Body is made up of 56 regular members (28 government, 14 employers and 14 workers) and 66 alternate members (28 governments, 19 employers and 19 workers). The Employer and Worker members are elected individually. The ILO is the oldest specialized agency of the UN. It was founded in 1919 and has a mandate to promote decent work for all. It has 187 member states. There were five candidates for the post of Director-General of the ILO. The other candidates were: Kang Kyung-wha (Republic of Korea), former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Deputy Director General for International Organizations of Korea, and United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. Mthunzi Mdwaba (South Africa), former Employer Vice-Chairperson of the ILO Governing Body and Vice-President of the ILO, International Organization of Employers. Muriel Pénicaud (France), currently Ambassador and Permanent Representative of France to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and former Minister of Labor of France. Greg Vines (Australia), currently ILO Deputy Director-General responsible for Management and Reform, and former Minister (Labour), Permanent Mission of Australia to the UN in Geneva and Chairman of the ILO Governing Body.
In the US public sphere, a decline in trust in government can be discerned. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has stated that: “Trust is the basis of the legitimacy of public institutions and of a functioning democratic system. It is crucial to maintain political participation and social cohesion.” The lack of confidence in the government or in public institutions is equivalent to the delegitimization of the State. In the US this has not been prospective.
In "A Quarter Century of Declining Trust," published in the April 2000 Journal of Democracy, Susan J. Pharr, Robert D. Putnam, and Russell J. Dalton, referencing Seymour Martin Lipset and William Schneider, commented on the US to the extent that “Three-quarters of the American public ever trusted the government to do the right thing, only 39 percent felt that way in 1998 in 1964, only 29 percent of the American electorate was agree that "it is practically run by a few who seek great interests." for themselves. By 1984, the figure has risen to 55 percent, and by 1998, fully [sic] 63 percent of voters agreed in the 1960s, two-thirds of Americans rejected the statement 'most elected officials don't care what the likes of me think'; in 1998, nearly two-thirds of Americans agreed. This negative assessment applies to virtually all parts of government. Those people who expressed "a great deal" of confidence in the executive branch fell from 42 percent in 1966 to just 12 percent in 1997, and the equivalent confidence in Congress fell from 42 percent in 1996 to 11 percent in 1997."
Source Credit: TheGuardian
The Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) and the OECD Total Official Support Secretariat for Sustainable Development (TOSSD), with the support of the European Union, organized a series of capacity-building webinars on a new standard to monitor resources flowing to developing countries. for its sustainable development. Webinars for IsDB member countries (www.IsDB.org) were held virtually on February 10, 16 and 17, 2022.
One of the challenges in monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is having reliable and accurate statistical reporting systems to measure progress on various indicators. The TOSSD framework aims to establish a new international standard for monitoring all official and private resources mobilized through official means that flow to developing countries for their sustainable development.
The framework also includes statistics on contributions to International Public Goods, including through South-South Cooperation and Islamic Finance, that help countries achieve the SDGs. Therefore, TOSSD complements the Official Development Assistance (ODA) measure by including these missing flows.
The IsDB Institute's collaboration with the TOSSD Secretariat, which is housed in the OECD Development Cooperation Directorate, will help IsDB member countries establish statistical systems to better report on SDG 17. With a consistent system , comparable and unified for tracking SDG-relevant investments, TOSSD will inform IsDB member countries for strategic planning, identification of emerging needs and priorities, and assessment of progress.
The first webinar consisted of an overview of the TOSSD framework, including its policy anchor, scope, main features and benefits, as well as recent developments related to the framework. It also included an introduction from the IsDB on the relevance of TOSSD in the context of Islamic finance and South-South cooperation.
The second webinar provided concrete guidance on how TOSSD reporting is done. It focused primarily on providers of development cooperation, particularly staff in charge of reporting on development finance in Ministries of Planning and Finance and National Statistical Offices. The last webinar was devoted to capacity building on the use of TOSSD data (available online at www.TOSSD.online) for recipient country staff monitoring SDG financing, participating in development planning processes or analyze development. Finance.
More than 60 participants from more than 30 IsDB member countries and organizations attended the webinars. The collaboration between IsDBI and the TOSSD Secretariat will continue to build capacity, spread knowledge and establish reliable systems to measure IsDB member countries' progress towards the SDGs. As a result of the webinars, 5 IsDB member countries have requested support to start reporting on the TOSSD framework.
