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.
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.
Unless Somalia commits to choosing a state system over a clan system and promoting women to meaningful positions where they can shape policy and promote legislation securing the protection and advancement of women and girls, the multinational efforts to build Somalia into a stable nation are sure to fail.
Meet Officer Bile – the only female police officer in her unit in Garowe, Somalia. She’s fighting to protect women and get justice for survivors of rape and sexual violence in this conservative region.
A widespread government crackdown had many Kenyans worried that their country’s young democracy is collapsing before their eyes, and giving way to a new strain of authoritarianism.
A government crackdown on media freedom and political opposition in Kenya are the latest signs that East Africa’s most vibrant economic power is slipping off its democratic path.
As the cornerstone of East African democracy, Kenya is an important economic and political force in the region and a critical U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism. But worrying signs, including a crackdown on press and civil society, police killings committed seemingly with impunity, and threats and attacks on election officials and judges, suggest that Kenya may be veering off its democratic path.
Kenya is experiencing an economic boycott against government-affiliated corporations, just one of many efforts spreading throughout the country and spearheaded by Kenyatta’s primary opposition, the NASA coalition. But resistance is not reserved to NASA supporters: a movement is rising against what many see as a slide away from Democracy in Kenya.
Kenya’s historic Supreme Court decision to void President Uhuru Kenyatta’s August 8 reelection victory based on voting irregularities was widely hailed as a testament to the strength and independence of the country’s judiciary. But a deteriorating political situation and uncertainty surrounding recently enacted election reforms is raising concerns about the country’s ability to hold a fair rerun of the vote on Thursday.
“I think this is Kenya’s wasted opportunity. Because, in contrast to all those other elections, less seems to have gone wrong this time. The question here is why? Why, even when the process is right, can Kenya not seize the opportunity to build public confidence in the state? And that’s the Kenyan conundrum.”