November 21, 2016Articles
Vigilante security groups in the Kenyan slums are one piece in a patchwork of informal survival strategies woven together by residents to improve their safety in places where muggings, break-ins and robberies are a routine part of life. The prevalence of private security providers, ranging from social networks and opportunistic enforcers to tireless local guardians, highlight the government’s failure to fulfill one of its core functions.
external link
September 30, 2016Articles
The campaign to track down poachers and protect endangered species in Africa’s embattled reserves is tapping into the technology used in the virtual world of online poker and other computer games. A U.S.-funded initiative is applying artificial intelligence and game theory algorithms to predict the movement of poachers, helping rangers who are testing the new technology in Uganda to find illegal hunters and their animal traps.
external link
September 6, 2016Articles
In Uganda, sex work is illegal and highly stigmatised, making women vulnerable to unlawful arrest, rape, bribery, beating and murder. Now, a new technology initiative has provided around 1,000 sex workers across Uganda with information-loaded digital memory cards so they can use their phones to learn how to protect themselves against violence, HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies.
external link
Hundreds of drivers signed up with ride-hailing service Uber in Kenya went on strike on Tuesday to protest against fare cuts.
[bctt tweet=”Uber drivers in Kenya go on strike after price cuts ” username=”nehawadekar”]
external link
Over the past 20 years, Kenya has slashed its HIV prevalence rate to 6 percent today from 11 percent in 1996 through campaigns to encourage safer sex between heterosexual couples and improved access to antiretroviral drugs, according to the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
But little has been done in Kenya to reduce the risk to injecting drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men, who together make up more than 30 percent of new infections, government data shows.
external link
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a four-nation tour of Africa that is part of a policy push to make his country a more global player, economically and diplomatically. India will lend Kenya $45 million to help develop a textile factory and other smaller industries, the leaders of both nations said on Monday.
external link
Pop star Madonna was reduced to tears during a trip to Kenya as she listened to a man describe how his five-year-old daughter had been recently raped by a neighbour in Nairobi’s Kibera slum. During her trip, Madonna met Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta on Monday to discuss working with her charity to scale up maternal and child health programmes and initiatives against gender violence.
external link
Teenagers across Africa urgently need more information about sex to combat soaring rates of HIV and unwanted pregnancies, experts say, as widespread taboos and cultural conservatism prevent discussions in schools and homes.
However, a growing number of businesses, charities and individuals are seeking to fill the gap in information.
external link
Sidian Bank has approved its first car loans to experienced Uber drivers in Kenya, using a model the ride hailing service hopes can be rolled out across countries in Africa where a lack of customer data limits lending.
external link
This piece, published by USC’s Center for Public Diplomacy, serves as an introduction to my multimedia project on Syrian refugees in Jordan. You can view the videos from this project in the “videos” section of this site.
external link
