Nearly 1 billion people – 13% of the world’s population – live without electricity, mostly in rural areas. In Africa, 1 in 3 people resort to using kerosene or can only work during daylight hours. Read my DevEx piece on different business models for solar solutions across the continent.
Watch my videos on five micro-entrepreneurs hustling in Nairobi for the Mastercard Foundation.
Yemen’s four-year civil war has produced the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. The conflict between a Saudi-led coalition supporting the Yemeni government and Iran-aligned rebels has killed at least 10,000 people and pushed 14 million more to the brink of famine. Often overlooked in Yemen’s wartime narrative are women and children. Yet they are the ones most likely to be displaced, deprived and abused. These are their stories.
When the #MeToo movement reached East Africa, it sparked conversations on Twitter and in the media. But social stigma, and a normalization of violence against women and girls means that few men have been held accountable as a result of the movement.
Women in Yemen say they are being excluded from critical discussions about rebuilding the nation after war. Yemeni activists say the U.N. and the United States—actors that have committed to the inclusion of women in peace processes—have not insisted strongly enough on women’s participation. As I report from Yemen, without women, peace will be hard to come by.
After nearly four years of war, Yemen’s humanitarian situation is the worst in the world, say aid agencies, and quickly headed toward famine. Around seventy-five percent of Yemen’s population needs assistance as food prices have shot up due to inflation fueled by fighting around the country’s seaports. As I report from Aden, costs for basic food items have skyrocketed amid shortages, leaving up to 14 million people this year risking starvation.
In Yemen, women and girls have been watching their human rights being eroded for decades. I traveled to Aden, Yemen to meet a group of women’s rights activists who are fighting to reestablish basic rights, empowerment and protection for women and girls.
Start listening around 12 minutes to hear my RTE radio essay about what lifting the ban on the controversial film, Rafiki, means for LGBTQ rights and freedom of expression in Kenya.
Experts agree that increased insurance penetration — including for life, health, property, and livelihoods — supports growth and development, and can protect the most vulnerable. But as part of the informal economy, most workers in Africa lack traditional, employer-provided insurance. Now, a new generation of tech-driven microinsurance products is helping to fill the gap and provide a safety net for those working their way out of poverty.
In Kenya, lack of awareness about Alzheimer’s and other dementias means that people living with these conditions and their families often face a great deal of stigma – some even being accused of witchcraft. But in 2016, a group of devoted caregivers formed ADOK, the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Organisation Kenya, which is working to raise awareness and provide support and care to people living with these conditions and their families.