Survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), especially during the Covid-19 period, have a reason to smile after three organisations rolled out a multi-million project to support them.
The United States vowed Tuesday to protect progress made in Afghanistan on women’s rights over the past 20 years, as it pushes for a transitional government in Kabul that would include the Taliban.
“We must do more to support the women and girls of Afghanistan,” the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the UN Security Council during a debate on Afghanistan.
Today, people are beginning to embrace the idea of having a side hustle than before, maybe because prices of goods and services are going up and we’ve realized that our monthly income can no longer take care of our bills. So, we need other streams of income to live life comfortably.
The African Development Bank has approved two grants for research that will increase African women’s access to a range of digital financial services including loans and micro-insurance. The grants, for $1 million and $300,000 respectively, will be disbursed through the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility, a blended finance vehicle supported by the Bank, to two financial technology firms, Pula Advisors Kenya Ltd., and M-KOPA Kenya Ltd.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, and to mark the rollout of the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) Guarantee for Growth program, the African Development Bank and the African Guarantee Fund are showcasing the first beneficiaries of the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth program – an innovation aiming to unlock up to $3 billion in loans to women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Tech giant Google has furthered its commitment to the economic empowerment of women in Africa by establishing a grant worth $25-million in the new Global Impact Challenge (GIC) for women and girls. Google’s Global Impact Challenge aims to support women and girls in Africa Alistair Mokoena, Google South Africa country director quotes the Foresight Africa report 2021 with direct reference to the importance of supporting women and the impact the pandemic has had on equality. “It confirms that the coronavirus has ‘exacerbated already-existing gender inequalities, laying bare serious fault lines in safety, physical and mental health, education, domestic responsibilities, and employment opportunities”. The Global Impact Challenge The challenge provides $25-million in cash grants to non-profit organisations and social enterprises that are aimed at improving the livelihoods of women and girls’ lives. “As economies and societies rebuild, we need bold new ideas that will propel us forward. We can’t afford to go back to the way things were,…
The First Lady of Zimbabwe Auxillia Mnangagwa has set up a toll-free line into a call centre set up in the office of the First Lady so that immediate help can be rendered to victims of gender-based as they are swiftly connected to police, emergency medical services or counselling services as appropriate. The call centre was set up following reports of escalating cases of gender-based violence (GBV), in the vast majority of cases by men on women, and the need for instant reporting and support to ensure the safety of the victims. Around the world, lockdowns used to contain Covid-19 have been seeing more GBV as women with abusive partners are locked up with these men. The toll-free number is 575 with users of TelOne, NetOne and Telecel already able to call the centre and the other networks expected to be on board soon. The initiative by the First Lady…
