Global Partnerships

Volunteering Kicks Up a Notch in Kenya

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – One of the biggest cross-nation collaborations currently, is between the European Union and Kenya. This unusual pairing provides Kenya with the resources to implement development strategies with a Sh8 billion line of credit (USD 78.922.800,00) from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

While the loan is earmarked for the private sector to improve development, there is a definite need for support in all areas to make these funds go even further. One of the biggest cost items for any development project is labour. While paid labour will still be a component, a large form of relief is through skilled volunteers.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa South of Sahara; 05 June 2019

ACP-EU Projects Assist Africa to Unlock Innovation Potential

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (ACP-IDN) – The world’s first green power generator which can produce electricity using radio frequencies, an electric powered car which does not consume fuel, a multi-fueled helicopter: by any stretch of imagination, innovations like these will not be attributed to an African. But Maxwell Chikumbutso has meanwhile been recognized as an exception to the rule. The United States government has given him new home in the populous state of California.

In an interview with a Zimbabwean independent online media organization, Chat263.com, Chikumbutso expressed disappointment that Africa did not see what the U.S. Government saw in his ground-breaking inventions.

: Jeffrey Moyo; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 01 June 2019

Asia-Pacific Failing on Achieving Global Development Goals

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI | BANGKOK (IDN) – The leaders and senior government officials, attending the 75th Session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) from May 27 to 31 in Bangkok, have called for efforts to advance equality and empowerment for over four billion people across the region and resolved to strengthen regional cooperation and partnerships towards achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The importance of this resolve is underlined by a new report published on May 28, which warns that if the region continues its current trajectory, it will not achieve any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The report reveals that for more than half the SDGs, progress has stagnated or is heading in the “wrong direction”.

: Devinder Kumar; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 31 May 2019

Photo: Xi chairs leaders' roundtable of Belt and Road forum in in April 2019 in Beijing. Source: Xinhua News Agency

China's OBOR Promises a World Sans Hegemony

Viewpoint by Chandra Muzaffar

The writer, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST).

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) also known as the One Belt One Road ( OBOR) project could well emerge as the obor ( the flame in Indonesian or Malay) that will blaze the trail in the evolution of a new epoch in history.

Chinese President Xi Jinping must have sensed its historical significance when he announced OBOR in 2013. Essentially an infrastructure development endeavor, it seeks to initiate and support the construction of roads, railways, ports and bridges in at least 65 other countries spanning four continents. With a commitment of over 900 billion U.S. dollars, OBOR is the biggest infrastructure development project ever undertaken in the history of our planet.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 25 May 2019

Photo: ACP Secretary General Dr. Patrick Gomes (left) and Tjekero Tweya Minister of Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development of the Republic of Namibia and President of the ACP Council of Ministers) (right). Credit: ACP

79-Nation Group’s Head Explains Vital Tasks Ahead Until ACP-EU Accord Expires

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – As talks progress on future relations between 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union in the aftermath of historic Cotonou Agreement due to expire in February 2020, Secretary-General Dr. Patrick Ignatius Gomes has spelt out vital tasks ahead.

The significance of milestones marking the coming six to nine months is underlined by the fact that the future ACP-EU partnership will span more than half of United Nations member countries and over 1.5 billion people, serving to further cement the close political ties between the two groups of countries on the world stage.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 23 May 2019

Photo: (from left to right) Haymadoyal Dillum, Ambassador of Mauritius to Brussels; Nandcoomar Bodha, Minister of Public Infrastructure and Transport and Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade; Viwanou Gnassounou, Assistant Secretary General of the ACP Group, Department of Sustainable Economic Development and Trade and Michal Golabek, Chargé d'affaires, European Union Delegation in Mauritius and Seychelles.

ACP Provides Information on Development of Private Sector

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, has launched a series of regional meetings aimed at boosting ACP private sector information, developing knowledge sharing and networking.

As an integral activity of the Joint ACP-EU Private Sector Development Framework, these events are being organised with technical support from Business ACP – the ACP Private Sector Development Platform in close concertation with the European Commission.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 23 May 2019

Photo: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (left) with Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (second from right) in February 2019. Source: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Twitter account.

Pakistan's Juggling Act on a Precarious Tightrope

Viewpoint by James. M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Pakistan risks falling off the tightrope it walks as it attempts to balance its relations with rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 13 May 2019

Photo: Inundated victims of two cyclones in Africa. Credit: -cdn.com. Source: USA Today.

World Bank Ups Aid Package For Cyclone-Hit Countries

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The new head of the World Bank has approved emergency support for the three African countries slammed by record-strength cyclones in what has been called the worst weather catastrophe in decades.

Tropical Cyclone Idai ripped through Mozambique with 110 mph winds and a storm surge topping 20 feet before moving inland into Zimbabwe and Malawi. Heavy rains accompanied the storm on March 15 affecting 1.7 million people in Mozambique and 970,000 in neighboring Malawi.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa South of Sahara; 07 May 2019

Photo credit: SDG Global Festival of Action

Global Festival Looks Beyond Promises of Agenda 2030

By Sean Buchanan

BONN (IDN) – The SDG Global Festival of Action, which takes place in Bonn every year, is an occasion for bringing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) campaigners and multi-stakeholder partners together for inspiring and broadening the global movement to take action for the SDGs.

It provides a dynamic and interactive space to showcase the latest innovations, tools and approaches to SDG advocacy and SDG action.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 07 May 2019

Photo: A Sherp crosses flooded plains to deliver 26 tons of food to Buzi in Northern Mozambique. Credit: WFP/Adam Marlatt

International Aid Flows to Southern Africa after Two Devastating Cyclones

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – All that she has now is her 12-year old daughter. Her home, and almost all her belongings were destroyed by Cyclone Idai in March. Over a month ago since the tragedy struck, 35-year old Teresa Chizimu who hails from Chikwawa district in Malawi, has sunken deeper and deeper into desperation since she had an encounter with the cyclone.

Not only Chizimu is in this crisis in the southern hemisphere, but also Mozambique’s 71-year old Aderito Abdala from the port city of Beira, is faced with a catastrophic situation, with all his four grandchildren and wife, killed by Cyclone Idai.