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South-South Cooperation (SSC) has been regaining traction in recent years. Due to setbacks in North-South Cooperation, calls for new development efforts are increasing. Development partnerships among Southern states aim to be complementary to traditional cooperation and is rooted on horizontality, solidarity, and respect for national sovereignty and ownership. SSC offers itself as a modality that attempts to shift away from ineffective development cooperation practices. One of its core principles, which came from the Bandung Era, […]

The post On South-South Cooperation: Assessing its political relevance and envisioning a future beyond technical cooperation appeared first on Reality of Aid.

23-10-26 _Sarah Grünewald - Behinderungen dagmar.wolf Thu, 26.10.2023 - 02:00 In Colombia, it is often difficult for children and young people with disabilities to receive medical care. The “Familias siguen adelante” project aims to change that Living with disability Therapy for young people with disabilities in Colombia In Colombia, it is often hard for young people with disabilities to obtain medical care and participate in society. The “Familias siguen adelante” project aims to change that by getting relatives involved. 26.10.2023Latin America and the Caribbean Hintergrund SDG3 SDG13 SDG14 SDG15 SDG16 SDG17 Gesundheit, Medizin Kinder, Jugend Partizipation, Inklusion Sozialpolitik, Sozialentwicklung Zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen

The effort and concentration are clearly visible on 14-year-old Tania’s face. Lying on her stomach on an exercise ball, she tries to straighten her torso. Her whole body trembles, but after a few attempts she succeeds. With a beaming smile, she looks at her mother Patricia, who is seated on the floor in front of her. They are both clearly proud of this progress. Tania has spastic cerebral palsy, a movement disorder and muscle stiffness caused by brain damage before birth. She relies on a wheelchair.

Tania is one of around 180,000 children and teenagers under the age of 19 with disabilities in Colombia. And that is only the official figure. A large number of cases probably go unreported due to inaccurate data collection and the difficulties of surveying households in remote areas. One thing is certain: every single one of these youngsters needs special attention, therapy and care for their development.

Children with disabilities have the same rights as other children – for example, rights to healthcare, education and protection from violence and neglect. That is stipulated in the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and in the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The signatory countries, which include Germany and Colombia, have committed themselves to protect and guarantee such rights.

Jörg Döbereiner 30.12.2022 Inclusion instead of discrimination

In reality, however, people with disabilities worldwide face a wide range of restrictions and discrimination in all areas of life. One in five households in Latin America and the Caribbean living in extreme poverty has at least one member with disabilities (World Bank 2021). Access to education, decent jobs and public services is often poor, especially for people in the lower socioeconomic groups. Medical treatment and personal support services are often expensive, increasing the risk of poverty.

Impeded access to services

Medical care for children with disabilities is inadequate in many countries. Where it is available, it is often costly and non-inclusive. Moreover, it tends to be poorer in rural areas than in urban settlements. Colombia is no exception: access to health and rehabilitation services is impeded by bureaucracy, and appointments can be hard to get. Where people fail to take part in rehabilitation programmes, the reason is often lack of money. Other reasons include the lack of approval by their health-insurance company and the sheer distance between their home and the care centre. Rural areas in particular are short of support services, day-care facilities and therapy centres.

Lack of access to adequate rehabilitation has serious consequences for the physical and mental development of children with disabilities, including their overall quality of life. Their limbs become less mobile and basic functions such as grasping deteriorate. Joint pain, posture problems and pressure sores due to poor positioning get worse. This makes everyday care procedures such as bathing and dressing more difficult, placing a greater strain on caregivers.

Family support project

In most cases, family members are the ones who provide care. For many, it is not only a physical, psychological and emotional burden, but one which also heightens their risk of poverty. The task of caring for a child with disability often falls to the mother, who also runs the household. The financial strain is intense, since this is often associated with a loss of income, and families receive hardly any monetary support from the state.

Tania’s mother Patricia experienced those difficulties herself. Finding a place for her daughter at a day-care centre proved impossible, and the low salary she earned as a nurse would not allow her to engage a daytime home carer. Eventually, she gave up her job at a doctor’s surgery and devoted herself entirely to providing care and support for her daughter. 

At some point, however, the cost of food, medication, doctor’s visits and assistive devices increased so much that she could no longer make ends meet with the little she earned from small part-time jobs. In the end, her 70-year-old mother moved in to care for her granddaughter. Patricia took a job as a kitchen assistant.

Patricia’s employer is Fundación Proyecto Unión, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting social inclusion. In Tocancipá, a municipality in the state of Cundinamarca, north of the Colombian capital Bogotá, it runs a project called Casa de los Ángeles, which offers a range of support services for families in need, including those with children with disabilities. For example, when seriously ill children are brought to Bogotá for medical treatment from remote areas, Casa de los Ángeles offers free accommodation for the families.

In March 2023, the Foundation launched another project, addressing the problem of limited access to therapy services for children with disabilities. It is called “Familias siguen adelante” which means that families move forward despite difficulties through perseverance. The project operates a free therapy and rehabilitation programme catering for 24 children, teenagers and young adults with physical and mental disabilities. Their ages range from two to 28. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports the project with € 10,000, administered by the Germany-based Stiftung Nord-Süd-Brücken (“North-South Bridges Foundation”). The German aid organisation Friends of Angels Germany is receiving the funding and implementing the project jointly with Fundación Proyecto Unión until end of January 2024.

The participants in the programme live in Tocancipá, in the neighbouring community of Sopó or in one of the surrounding villages. Without the project, they would not have access to comparable therapy services. “Familias siguen adelante” seeks to promote their individual development, improve their mobility, enable them to be more independent and facilitate their social inclusion. Each participant receives an hour of one-to-one occupational therapy and physiotherapy twice a week for three months.

Involvement of caregivers

The project’s focus is also on the caregivers. They can obviously help to significantly improve the social inclusion of children with disabilities, so families are actively involved in the rehabilitation programme. Caregivers attend the therapy sessions which enables them to continue the training at home and consolidate the progress made. Most families are in a precarious financial situation, so the project reimburses transport costs for each participant and an accompanying caregiver.

“I see the parents as my co-therapists,” says Lilián Beltrán, the programme’s physiotherapist. “It helps me a lot to understand what everyday life in the family is like and what ways the children and parents have found to make certain daily routines work better. I can then tailor the therapy to the individual’s needs. And I learn something new from them every time.”

Patricia feels the project is bearing fruit. “I have noticed many positive changes in Tania,” she says. She finds her daughter is more alert and keener to interact with other children. What is more, Tania is making progress physically, which makes daily care tasks such as dressing or washing easier.

Projects like “Familias siguen adelante” show how important it is to provide free therapy for young people with disabilities and their families. Governments worldwide need to step up their efforts to improve inclusivity so that children and teenagers with disabilities can exercise the same rights as their peers and find their own way in life.

LINKS

Fundación Proyecto Unión:
https://www.proyectounion.org/

Friends of Angels Germany:
https://www.friendsofangels.de

World Bank, 2021: Disability inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean: A path to sustainable development. Washington D.C.
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/12/02/la-inclusion-de-las-personas-con-discapacidad-clave-para-el-desarrollo-sostenible-de-america-latina-y-el-caribe

Sarah Grünewald is the first chairwoman of Friends of Angels Germany.
verwaltung@friendsofangels.de

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The European Commission launched the worldwide forum of its flagship foreign infrastructure investment scheme, the Global Gateway, on Wednesday (25 October) - just one week after China held its own forum to celebrate the successes of its own scheme.

No ground water available? No access to satellite data because of where you live or home insurance due to recent natural disasters? A new UN report launched on Wednesday has some useful insights on the “risk tipping points” which are becoming an increasing challenge worldwide. 

No ground water available? No access to satellite data because of where you live or home insurance due to recent natural disasters? A new UN report launched on Wednesday has some useful insights on the “risk tipping points” which are becoming an increasing challenge worldwide. 

Michael Eichholz joerg.doebereiner Wed, 25.10.2023 - 11:36 Michael Eichholz michael.eichholz@bgr.de

is an expert on groundwater governance at the BGR.

Ramon Brentführer joerg.doebereiner Wed, 25.10.2023 - 11:34 Ramon Brentführer ramon.brentfuehrer@bgr.de

is a project manager at the BGR.

Johannes Münch joerg.doebereiner Wed, 25.10.2023 - 11:30 Johannes Münch johannes.muench@bgr.de

works for the BGR in the field of groundwater for agriculture.

Die Flüchtlingspolitiken im südlichen Afrika zeigen in den verschiedenen historischen Epochen und politischen Kontexten ein komplexes Verhältnis zwischen himanitärer Hilfe und innenpolitischen Prioritäten. Dieser Beitrag argumentiert, dass die während der antikolonialen Kämpfe zu beobachtende Kohärenz zwischen nationaler Flüchtlingspolitik und regionaler Geopolitik inzwischen durch Widersprüche zwischen Komponenten ersetzs worden ist. Die gegenwärtige Bemühung um regionale Integration geht einher mit der Behandlung von Flüchtlingen als nachteilig für die nationale Prioritätensetzung. Dies führt zu einer Flüchtlingspolitik, die nationale Belange über die Rechte von Geflüchteten stellt. Das Kapitel vergleicht historische und aktuelle Flüchtlingspolitiken und zeigt, wie nationale Prioritäten Vorrang vor dem Schutz von Flüchtlingen und regionaler Solidarität gewannen.

23-10-25_Joachim von Braun - food security in climate crisis dagmar.wolf Wed, 25.10.2023 - 02:00 The global food system both contributes to climate change and is threatened by it Global governance How to safeguard food security in climate crisis Climate change is causing heat waves, droughts, wildfires and floods, all of which affect the food system. At the same time, food production contributes to climate change, causing about 30 % of global greenhouse-gas emissions. This multifaceted problem needs a multifaceted solution. 25.10.2023Global Hintergrund SDG2 SDG13 SDG14 Ernährung, Hunger Landwirtschaft, ländliche Entwicklung Global Governance Armutsbekämpfung Forschung, Wissenschaft Umweltproblematik Klima, Energie

The global community, and countries in their contexts, must modify food systems in ways that overcome current food insecurity and ensure food security long term. All issues must be addressed head on.

“Food security” is defined as access to sufficient quantities of food in appropriate quality. It obviously depends on an adequate and affordable supply of all ingredients required for a nutritious diet. Today, about 735 million people around the world do not get sufficient food and are undernourished as a result. About 3 billion, moreover, do not consume healthy diets.

Unless comprehensive action is taken, the climate crisis will make matters worse. A holistic agri-food system perspective must consider the entire range of actors involved in the production, aggregation, processing, distribution, consumption and disposal of food products. It must also take account of agriculture (including livestock), forestry, fisheries and food industries, as well as the broader economy, social disparities and the natural environment.

A sustainable food system must achieve good nutrition for all in a way that preserves the foundations of future generations’ food security. This challenge has economic, social, cultural and environmental dimensions. It is crucial to preventing further loss of biodiversity and to stabilising the climate.

Mitigation, adaptation, transformation

Many national food systems, as well as the global food system, are losing resilience. “Resilience” is the capability to cope with shocks without significant loss of livelihood, health and nutrition. Food-system resilience can be understood as a function of hazard, vulnerability and exposure to climate risks. It is therefore essential to limit the climate-related hazards that affect food supply, reduce food systems’ vulnerability and lower people’s exposure to risks. Three policy approaches serve this triple purpose:

• Mitigation of climate change. Radically reducing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is indispensable for sustainable food security. Global heating is leading to extreme weather events, which affect production as well as farm workers’ health. Moreover, recent science suggests that extreme heat curtails photosynthesis, with serious impacts on crops and forests. And this is not just a terrestrial agenda, because climate change affects oceans, which also have a bearing on food systems. Nature-based solutions such as agroforestry, coupled with sustainable land and soil management, serve mitigation. However, mitigation in itself is no longer enough to safeguard food security.
• Adaptation to climate change. People can protect themselves by increasing their chances to cope. Important issues include affordable access to clean energy, water and healthcare. All of them have a bearing on good nutrition. Long-term adaptation, however, will be impossible unless mitigation puts an end to further heating.
• Transformation. Socio-ecological systems, including the lifestyles of wealthy nations, must change to become sustainable. In particular, people in high-income countries must reduce their consumption and assume responsibility for their impact on the environment.

The climate crisis negatively affects food security in several ways. For example, access to safe drinking water is becoming more precarious. Climate events like floods often disrupt it. Diarrhoeal diseases, however, affect humans’ intake of micronutrients. These illnesses have a strong correlation with rising temperatures. At the same time, heat waves make it more difficult to handle food safely.

The climate crisis also affects market dynamics and causes price volatility. Price hikes are happening more frequently. Several issues can exacerbate the impacts of weather-related shortfalls in food production. They include poor market transparency, financial speculation in commodity markets as well as export restrictions. The current grain-market disruptions resulting from Russia’s attack on Ukraine show how important unrestricted exports are.

Crucial policy areas

Policymakers’ action must not only boost food systems’ resilience against known risks around the world, but also increase resilience to so-far unknown ones. Cross-cutting action is necessary. In particular, progress is needed in seven policy areas:

• Sustainable land management (SLM): Relevant aspects include sustainable water management, ecosystem health, agricultural productivity, climate adaptation and mitigation as well as the protection of biodiversity. SLM incentives (such as payments for ecosystem services) are necessary. Crop cultivation and livestock production must be practiced in economically viable and environmentally sustainable ways.

Susanne Neubert 30.11.2021 Tackling the global land-use trilemma

• Social protection. Poverty often undermines families’ food security. Nutrition interventions like school meal programmes are helpful. So are cash-transfer schemes or job creation. Countries with low and middle incomes deserve support for improving social protection. Access to healthcare and education are essential. Where related polices are not in place, they should be adopted. Food security hinges on the reduction of inequality.

Markus Loewe 04.05.2022 Social protection for everyone

• Diversification. Diversifying agriculture and supply chains strengthens food-system resilience. However, diversification has costs as it reduces opportunities for economies of scale and specialisation. Transaction costs tend to rise accordingly. Another challenge is that resilience is not just about withstanding current shocks, but also about maintaining the capacity for future development. If diversification hampers the latter, it is not fully conducive to resilience building.
• International trade. Ensuring free and open global food trade will require a reinvigoration of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Panic-induced border closures lead to international price spikes. Transparent information on production, stocks and government interventions around the world is critical and must be made publicly available (e.g., through the Agricultural Market Information System – AMIS). Trade facilitation in terms of investments in infrastructure – including particularly the digitisation of customs systems – matters too.
• Insurance is a promising tool to strengthen food-system resilience. It spreads both the risks and the costs of negative shocks among a large pool of people, enhancing resilience at the level of individuals. However, it does not prevent or reduce climate risks. Insurance may thus prove counterproductive if it motivates people to continue unsustainable activities. Though this kind of financial service is quite effective in terms of managing individual shocks, it is less useful when many people experience shock impacts at once, as is typically the case in extreme weather events.

Renate Bleich Dirk Reinhard Christian Barthelt 22.06.2022 Managing climate risk with private insurance

• Migration. In response to the climate crisis, people are leaving their homes. In some cases, migration is basically a form of livelihood diversification. Remittances from migrant workers contribute to their families’ resilience after all. However, entire areas are likely to become uninhabitable, for example, as the rising sea level inundates islands. Migration processes and policies need to be coordinated, and both sending and receiving countries must act in ways that make migration strengthen the resilience of individuals and systems. Climate refugees from countries that are becoming uninhabitable must get an internationally recognised climate refugee passport.
• Science-based innovation. Science is facilitating key innovations in food systems, including efforts to reduce risks and to enhance productivity. Bioscience and digital technology are important. Scientific research also helps to find new ways to maintain and, if necessary, renew productive soils, water resources and even entire landscapes. Science is also needed to protect biodiversity, including agricultural genetic diversity. Research can help to reduce inequality too. More funding is needed for research on food systems.

We live in the Anthropocene, the age in which humanity is shaping the Earth’s geosphere, biosphere and atmosphere. Action to enhance food security must be embedded in a broad strategic agenda of transformation. The global community must shift to a sustainable bioeconomy. It also needs a coherent governance structure to safeguard both food security and the global environment. The SDGs provide the concept, but not the policy framework for such joint action.

Long-term food security is intricately linked to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention on Biodiversity, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and the Sustainable Development Goals. So far, appropriate funding has not been made available for any of the above-mentioned global agreements. That must change for the sake of humanity’s common future.

Joachim von Braun is a professor for economic and technical change at Bonn University’s Center for Development Research (ZEF – Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung). 
jvonbraun@uni-bonn.de

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Sarah Grünewald dagmar.wolf Tue, 24.10.2023 - 16:55 Sarah Grünewald verwaltung@friendsofangels.de

is the first chairwoman of Friends of Angels Germany.

Unter dem Titel ›Unsere gemeinsame Agenda‹ (›Our Common Agenda‹) läuft derzeit ein umfassender Reformprozess bei den Vereinten Nationen. Das Ziel: Ein effektiverer Multilateralismus zur Bearbeitung globaler Herausforderungen im Rahmen der UN. Bislang nicht auf der Vorbereitungsagenda steht eine Auseinandersetzung damit, was geopolitische Verschiebungen für multilaterale Kooperation in den UN bedeuten. Effektiver Multilateralismus erfordert von den Mitgliedstaaten der UN nationale Selbstbeschränkung und eine Orientierung an gemeinsamen globalen Interessen. Doch mit dem derzeitigen geopolitischen Wandel zeichnet sich ein robusterer Stil in der UN-Diplomatie ab, was die Integrität des UN-Multilateralismus belastet mit potenziell schädlichen Auswirkungen auf das Vertrauen in die UN als Forum und Akteur für globale Problemlösungen. Ein diplomatischer Verhaltenskodex könnte helfen, das neue Gerangel um Einfluss einzuhegen. Ziel müsste es zum einen sein, bestehende Regeln wie etwa die Neutralität der UN-Bediensteten zu bekräftigen. Zum anderen gibt es Bereiche, die einer Neubewertung bilateraler Einflüsse erfordern: Wie weitgehend darf sich die UN in den Dienst bilateraler Großprojekte wie der chinesischen ›Neue Seidenstraße‹ oder der ›Global Gateway‹-Initiative der Europäischen Union (EU) stellen? Unter welchen Bedingungen sollen Süd-Süd-Kooperation und zweckgebundene Finanzierungen möglich sein? Letztlich geht es um die Frage, wie die Mitgliedstaaten in den UN zusammenarbeiten wollen und wie eine UN, die allen gehört und allen dient, aussehen sollte.

This chapter discusses whether development matters for tax expenditure (TE) use. First, we identify potential drivers of TE use. Next, we discuss the limitations researchers face when conducting comparative empirical studies on TEs. Furthermore,  we provide an overview of the literature on TEs and point out research gaps of existing comparative studies on the use of TEs in developing countries. We also present some preliminary empirical insights on development and TE use.

After decades of aggression between Israeli occupation forces and the Palestinian people, the past weeks witnessed relentless attacks on civilians and wide-scale human rights violations. Driven by their right to self-determination, Palestinian armed resistance forces have long fought for their independence and rights over their land. Israel’s response remains violent, launching bombs, air strikes and dangerous chemicals on its occupied territories, detaining civilians, cutting off access to water, power, food and medical supplies, forcing millions […]

The post When Aid Colonizes, Displaces, and Kills: Statement of Reality of Aid-Asia Pacific on Palestine appeared first on Reality of Aid.

This week’s Global Gateway Forum offers the EU a chance to show global leaders how a focus on democratic values and transparency distinguishes it from China’s Belt and Road. To succeed, this focus should be established from the start, write Sam van der Staak and Paul Maassen.

23-10-24_Rael Nkoi Lomoti - Turkana greenhouses dagmar.wolf Tue, 24.10.2023 - 02:00 In Kenya’s Turkana County, the climate crisis is wreaking havoc. Severe droughts, disappearing water sources and dwindling livestock are driving the Turkana people to the brink of famine. Local organisations are trying to achieve food security Pastoralist communities Greenhouses in the desert In Kenya’s arid Turkana County, the climate crisis is wreaking havoc. Severe drought, disappearing water sources and dwindling livestock are driving the Turkana people to the brink of famine. Local organisations are trying to achieve food security through innovative farming approaches and culturally sensitive workshops. It means giving up unsustainable rural traditions. 24.10.2023Sub-Saharan Africa Hintergrund Kenia SDG2 Ernährung, Hunger Extremwetter Indigene Völker, traditionelle Gemeinschaften Klima, Energie Landwirtschaft, ländliche Entwicklung Zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen

The devastating impacts of the climate crisis have disrupted the livelihoods of millions of people. Extreme weather events such as droughts and floods have hit nations across the world, but low-income countries are affected most.

Christoph Schneider-Yattara 25.08.2023 The multiple layers of drought

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A large number of people have no access to food and clean drinking water. Malnutrition hits the weakest groups in society hardest. Children drop out of school, while the problems of the elderly and people with disabilities worsen.

The impacts on food security are particularly felt in regions with generally harsh conditions, especially in arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL). 

Turkana County in northern Kenya is one such region. With not quite 72 million square kilometres, it is the country’s largest county and home to about 930,000 people (excluding refugees who have fled the ongoing conflicts in neighbouring South Sudan and mostly live in Kakuma, one of the world’s largest refugee camps).

Alba Nakuwa 31.07.2023 Living as refugee in Kenya

Turkana has always had little and rather erratic rainfall throughout the year. Large parts of the region are desert. Temperatures go up to 40 degrees in the dry season. Evaporation rates are high. The annual rainfall rate is about 300 millimetres.

Things are getting worse. Droughts have been recorded since the 1960s. They used to occur approximately every five years, but since the 1990s, they have become an annual phenomenon. In the recent years, the situation deteriorated further. Some parts of Turkana did not get any significant rainfall in the last four years.

The county is home to the Turkana community. The Turkana are nomadic pastoralists who keep cattle, donkeys, camels and goats as a source of income and for subsistence.

Christoph Schneider-Yattara 01.06.2022 Travelling far to keep herds alive

Due to their dependence on livestock, they are particularly affected by the extreme weather. Whatever hurts their herds, has an immediate impact on their livelihood. When the animals starve, their owners are at risk of starvation too.

According to the Turkana County administration, approximately 800,000 people are currently suffering malnutrition to some extent. Many are in acute risk of starvation.

Major shift in approach needed

It is necessary to adapt strategically to the climate crisis to protect people from its devastating impacts. In Turkana County, it is mainly civil society that is trying to improve the situation in a sustainable way. The Kenyan government mostly focuses on short-term relief, distributing basic food and medical aid to the most vulnerable groups.

However, a fundamental shift in approach is needed. The climate crisis will not disappear. The Turkana community must be guided in the shift from livestock rearing towards other, more sustainable livelihoods. Unless people adopt new practices, they cannot become self-reliant and food secure. They will stay dependent on food aid.

Desert Roses is a community-based organisation (CBO) working in the region. One of its concerns is to address food insecurity. Apart from educating the Turkana community on sustainable agriculture, Desert Roses is setting up greenhouses in the region.

The greenhouses are collectively owned. They typically belong to a village or community and use a local borehole. Water is stored in tanks for times of severe drought. Community members work in turns. All produce is shared by the community. The products could be sold in local markets in the future.

According to county statistics, Turkana has about 2.5 million hectares of arable land. On the upside, the potential for using solar energy is great, and it can facilitate various farming practices.

However, the situation in Turkana is desperate due to a number of problems besides the climate crisis. First, the Turkana still live very traditionally, with cattle playing a central role. Women and girls are often neglected, but boys too only tend to receive little formal education. Girls’ lives revolve around (early) marriage. The main reason is that parents expect a bride price which is paid in livestock and thus makes the family’s herd more numerous. Due to the ongoing drought, herds are dwindling however, and the traditional bride-price system is completely out of balance. Trying to adhere to it only exacerbates the problems.

Because of their nomadic life, Turkana children normally do not attend school regularly, so the illiteracy rate is high, even among the adult men. Low literacy, however, makes it very difficult to teach people sustainable alternatives to their traditional livelihoods.

Poor infrastructure is another challenge. Many places lack boreholes, and existing ones are drying up. The water level of the few rivers is not constantly monitored, so there is no reliable data on the availability of water. The lack of water, however, is certainly the biggest challenge to food security in the region.

Several things would help. People need tanks and manage them well. They need better technology to extract water. And it would make sense to power borehole extraction with solar energy.

Local organisations in Turkana face additional challenges, including financial constraints, soil acidification as well as the lack of skilled labour and technical expertise. Turkana is also marked by sometimes armed conflicts over livestock.

To promote sustainable agriculture in the region, grassroots organisations need support so they:

• can acquire more seedlings and farming equipment, set up more greenhouses and plant more trees,
• do awareness raising on water use and farming,
• invest in smart agriculture, such as promoting the cultivation of drought-tolerant crops and smallholder agriculture, and
• embrace research by partnering with institutions focusing on smart agriculture and green energy.

To build a food-secure society, socio-cultural and infrastructural factors need to be addressed coherently. People’s acceptance is crucial for community workshops on greenhouses, kitchen gardens, or large-scale agriculture to succeed. Centuries-old practices are becoming unviable and related values are now causing harm. Turkana culture must adapt – but if people feel disrespected, they will refuse change.

Rael Nkoi Lomoti is the founder of Desert Roses and a Turkana.
desertrosesfootbalacademy@gmail.com

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In recent years, there has been a debate on so-called “Global Public Investment" or GPI. The ambition of GPI - to improve international cooperation - seems perfectly fine. However, it is rather difficult to find any reflections on the possible limitations of GPI. In my blog “Global Public Investment: a critique” I raise three main concerns: a distorted representation of development cooperation; a high degree of vagueness; and a lack of integration of real-world constraints.

23-10-22_Mustafa Shrestha - UN-Studie - water security dagmar.wolf Mon, 23.10.2023 - 02:00 Water-security levels are lowest in Africa and South Asia. The situation is not automatically improved by a high-performing economy SDG6 UN report critical of poor water supply Poor countries may have the worst water security. However, a high-performing economy does not necessarily make things better. That is one of the conclusions of a UN report midway through the International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development. 22.10.2023Global In brief SDG6 SDG9 SDG10 Gesundheit, Medizin Global Governance Infrastruktur Wasser

The Water Action Decade was launched by the UN five years ago. The idea was to intensify global efforts for Sustainable Development Goal 6: Access to water and sanitation. Halfway through the decade, the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) took stock of the global water. It assessed the state of water security for more than 7.7 billion people in 186 countries.

Its report – the “Global Water Security 2023 Assessment” – points out that access to safe drinking water and sanitation is crucial for all aspects of human health, well-being and socioeconomic development. However, the majority of the world population lacks adequate access. More than 70 % (5.5 billion) have no safe drinking water supply. Proper sanitation would help, yet over 22 % of the world’s population (1.7 billion) have no access to even basic sanitation services. More than half have to get by without safely managed sanitation.

The report’s authors point out that death and disease due to contaminated water are preventable and should not be a problem anywhere in the 21st century. Nonetheless, contaminated water claims more than a million lives a year, with children under five accounting for a disproportionate number of the fatalities. The UN researchers decry the situation as unacceptable.

Water security levels lowest in poor countries

The study finds that guaranteeing global water supply is made difficult by population growth, global economic competition and violent conflicts. But other issues matter too. Problems are compounded by the wide-ranging impacts of climate change.

Rafiqul Islam Montu 02.08.2023 The city of millions that is being flooded every day

The regions with the lowest levels of water security are in Africa and South Asia. The largest swath of humanity living in countries considered water insecure – 4.3 billion – is in the Asian Pacific region. Another 1.3 billion live in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and parts of West Africa.

Low-income countries are the least water secure. Of the 23 countries with critical water situations, 16 are on the UN list of least developed countries (LDCs). Seven are small island developing states (SIDS).

However, the INWEH researchers point out that a high-performing economy does not automatically mean greater water security. The Bahamas, for instance, is a high-income country but has a comparatively low water-security rating. 

Conversely, there can be marked differences in the water-security status of countries with similarly performing economies. Libya and Malaysia are a good example: the former is critically water-insecure, the latter ranks much higher in the national water security table.

Faster progress needed to reach water goals

The authors bemoan that, despite the UN Action Decade, global water security is improving too slowly. By 2030, a billion people will still have no access to safe drinking water and 2.8 billion will not have access to safely managed sanitation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) note that progress needs to be four times faster for SDG6 to be achieved by 2030. Without more effort on water, the other SDGs are also at risk.

The authors emphasise that good data is essential for development efforts, funding and legislation to be designed effectively. Moreover, they stress that many of the aspects examined are interdependent. This means that an improvement in one area would very likely lead to improvements in others.
 

LINK
Global Water Security 2023 Assessment:
https://inweh.unu.edu/global-water-security-2023-assessment/

Mustafa Shrestha is an online journalism student at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. He wrote this article as part of his internship at D+C/E+Z.
euz.editor@dandc.eu

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23-10-23_Dasmani Laary - Ghana - Chalölenges female agriculturalists dagmar.wolf Mon, 23.10.2023 - 02:00 In Ghana, female farmers are essential for ensuring food security and nutrition, but they often face systemic challenges Food security Female farmers need more support in Ghana Ghanaian women play a crucial role in agriculture, growing the largest share of food for the population of over 30 million people in the West African country. Their contributions are essential for ensuring food security and nutrition, but they often face systemic challenges. 23.10.2023Sub-Saharan Africa Nowadays SDG2 SDG5 SDG8 Arbeit Ernährung, Hunger Entwicklungszusammenarbeit der Geberländer Gender, Frauen Landwirtschaft, ländliche Entwicklung Soziokulturelle Faktoren

Most women in Ghana work in agriculture. They are smallholder farmers who cultivate a variety of food crops, including cassava, yam, groundnut, millet, rice, maize, cocoyam, garden eggs, okra and plantain. Their activities make a significant contribution to creating employment opportunities for young people without work, especially girls, but this crucial role in building the economy is often neglected or unrecognised.

Females have fewer opportunities to get and own land and when they do, they are often given smaller parcels of land than their male peers. The gender gap in access to financial resources is also large, and access to information and the advantages of extension services and training is frequently out of reach for women due to low asset ownership, lower literacy rates, a lack of political voice and social norms.

Adjoa Kwei, a maize and cassava farmer in Noka, expressed her frustration with the obstacles faced in agriculture: “Although smallholder women farmers in Ghana cultivate crops for both household sustenance and commercial purposes, we are overlooked when it comes to the allocation of agricultural resources.” She pleaded with the government to supply subsidies and farm inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides to female farmers and make arable land accessible to them.

Kwaku Adjei Asong, also a farmer, is concerned about women’s empowerment in agriculture and firmly believes that women should be given land, finances and inputs to expand their agricultural involvement and family output.

Recent efforts have been made to remove these barriers, such as USAID’s initiatives to scale up agricultural investments by smallholder farmers. Over 25,000 agribusinesses have received a substantial financial boost, with a total support package exceeding $ 192.9 million. This contribution enhances agricultural productivity and contributes to the improvement of food security in Ghana.

Despite the efforts made, much work remains to be done to increase gender awareness and invest in awareness to destroy existing prejudices that hurt attempts to mainstream gender equality. Ghana’s Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Lariba Zuweira Abudu, urges financial institutions to support women in agribusiness by providing them with improved seeds, fertiliser, agricultural technology, processing equipment and other essential farming resources.

Empowering females in agriculture may boost their efficiency, raise agricultural output, improve their quality of life and contribute to long-term sustainable development.

Dasmani Laary is a journalist in Ghana.
laarygna@gmail.com

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Triangular cooperation has become an increasingly popular development partnership modality. This study examines how and to what extent members of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) - i.e. traditional donors - engage with triangular cooperation, and how this engagement plays out in the Arab region. Commissioned by the United

Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, the study finds that DAC member engagement with triangular cooperation has been heterogeneous, ranging from proactive promotion to complete neglect. As part of the global portfolio of DAC members, triangular cooperation with the Arab region presents a similar heterogeneous picture. Beyond complex coordination processes, however, the existing triangular cooperation schemes involving DAC members and Arab partners suggest that there is space for expanding joint action.