Poverty

3,500 Lose Jobs As New Currency Shortage Hits Zimbabwe

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Over 3,500 youth officers have been laid off as part of the nation’s shortage of currency amid efforts to streamline the wage bill. It was explained that the layoffs would save the country a substantial amount while the nation’s economy is limping.

Public Service Commission secretary Jonathan Wutawunashe said the layoffs were in line with the transitional stabilization program as announced by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube in the 2019 national budget last November.

The measures, Ncube said, "will yield annual financial savings to be channeled to critical areas of health and education, as well as infrastructure".

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 January 2019

Photo: Coal-fired power plant. Credit: ozone.unep.org

New Agreement Seeks To Resist Powerful Greenhouse Gases

By Devendra Kamarajan

NAIROBI (IDN) – A new agreement signed in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, promises to fight global warming. Known as the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, came into force on January 1, 2019.

According to UN Environment, it will reduce the projected production and consumption of powerful greenhouse gasses termed as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by more than 80 per cent over the next 30 years.

: Devendra Kamarajan; UN INSIDER; 06 January 2019

Photo credit: UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Africa Poverty Clock Launched on UNECA's 60th Anniversary

By Devendra Kamarajan

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) at its 60th anniversary celebrations in Addis Ababa has launched the Africa Poverty Clock, a customized version of the world poverty clock developed by World Data Lab, aimed at monitoring progress against extreme poverty, an aspiration of the United Nations' first Sustainable Development Goal – SDG1. The Clock provides real-time poverty estimates till 2030 for the majority of countries around the world.

Speaking at the launch, the ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe said that many African countries have achieved remarkable progress over the last six decades.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 December 2018

Photo: Ashraf El Nour, Director of IOM Office to UN New York addressing the UN Security Council Meeting on the "Maintenance of international peace and security: Trafficking of persons in conflict situations" on 21 November 2017.

Migration Is a Great Opportunity to Africa and Host Countries

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Contrary to the widespread view coloured by the too-common images of young African migrants crossing the Mediterranean, migration in Africa is dominated by Africans moving within Africa, says Ashraf El Nour, the director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Office to the UN in New York.

They migrate mostly to neighbouring countries, or within the same region. Africa's share of global migration, which on the whole stood at 258 million in 2017, are 36 million people of which 19 million moved within the continent and 17 million outside Africa, El Nour told Africa Renewal's Zipporah Musau.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 December 2018

UNDP Welcomes Significant Rise in German Funding

Berlin a 'Launch Partner' to UNDP’s Accelerator Labs in 60 Countries

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has greeted the German government's decision to raise a further 25 percent in funding from its 2019 core resources, which follows a 60 percent increase for 2018. Germany is currently the largest government donor to UNDP.

Germany – which assumes a seat in the UN Security Council on January 1, 2019 as a non-permanent member for 2019-2020 – has also confirmed that it will become a “launch partner” in supporting UNDP’s pioneering and groundbreaking launch in January 2019 of Accelerator Labs in 60 developing countries.

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 13 December 2018

Asia-Pacific Reviews Ambitious Targets of 1994 Cairo Conference

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Natalia Kanem

Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Dr. Natalia Kanem is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Ministers and senior policymakers across Asia and the Pacific are gathered in Bangkok up to November 28 to focus on population dynamics at a crucial time for the region. Their goal: to keep people and rights at the heart of the region’s push for sustainable development. They will be considering how successful we have been in balancing economic growth with social imperatives, underpinned by rights and choices for all as enshrined in the landmark Programme of Action stemming from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, or ICPD.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 27 November 2018

Photo: Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi, addressing the conference. Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

Women Medics Pitch for Effective Role in Decision Making on Health Issues

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is crucial in attainment of not only health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) but also all SDGs.

Participants in the Medical Women’s International Association (MWIA) Regional Conference 2018, that was held in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, from November 11-15, noted that achieving UHC can aid in tackling the growing disease burden and extreme poverty in Afrcan countries and other poor nations.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 November 2018

Photo: The first migrants from the Aquarius ship arrive at the port of Valencia on an Italian ship, the Dattilo, June 2018. Credit: UNHCR

Migration a Major Issue in EU's Relations with 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific States

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – As the United Nations Global Compact fractures, migration has become a key issue in negotiations between the European Union (EU) and 79 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) which kicked off in September 2018 to hammer out a successor to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement set to expire in 2020.

The ACP-EU Partnership Agreement, signed in Cotonou, Benin, on June 23, 2000, was concluded for a 20-year period from 2000 to 2020. It is the most comprehensive partnership agreement between developing countries and the EU. In 2010, ACP-EU cooperation was adapted to new challenges such as climate change, food security, regional integration, State fragility and aid effectiveness.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; UN INSIDER; 09 November 2018

Photo: This field visit provided a learning opportunity into two of MLife’s distribution models, micro-entrepreneurs and enterprise associations. Mlife has been in partnership with the Zambia Federation of Associations of Women in Business (ZFAWIB) to provide low-cost funeral insurance services since 2016. Credit: Munich Re Foundation

Insurance Essential for Sustainable Development – But Billions Still Losing Out

By Kwame Buist

LUSAKA, Zambia (IDN) – Billions of uninsured individuals, families and small businesses are exposed to risks which can result in catastrophic losses, delegates to the 14th International Microinsurance Conference (IMC) on ‘Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets’ in Lusaka were told.

Despite encouraging signs of increased insurance cover uptake in some markets, climate change and extreme weather events are exposing the poorest and most vulnerable to risk as never before.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 November 2018

Inclusive Insurance for a Sustainable Future

By Katharine Pulvermacher*

The author is Executive Director of Microinsurance Network.

LUXEMBOURG (IDN) – Life is hard enough for small-scale farmers, businesses, families and communities who live with the daily threat of losing everything to natural disasters, extreme weather or other catastrophes. Even if you are insured, it can be tough to start again after drought has taken your cattle, pests have destroyed your crop or the main breadwinner has died in an accident. But for the four billion people around the world who have no access to financial services, insurance remains a distant dream.