Most African farmers and small businesses operate with no way to protect themselves if disaster strikes. But that may be starting to change. A handful of companies are now offering inexpensive, tech-driven micro-insurance and are making it easy for ordinary Africans to sign up. My report for VOA from Nigeria and Kenya.
Sudanese painter Galal Yousif is taking his art to the streets to share his gift with the world.
Meet Islam Elbeiti, the 23 year old bass player who is striving for social change in Sudan through her strings.
Nafisa Hafiz, a fashion designer from Khartoum, uses her keen eye for detail to put Sudan’s stamp on the fashion world.
Somalia has opened its first forensic laboratory to test DNA in sexual crimes, and it’s a big step in protecting survivors of sexual assault.
Ugandan prisons are setting an example for how to rehabilitate and reform inmates thanks to nonprofit organizations like Advance Afrika and Africa Prisons Project that offer education, life-skills training and economic opportunities to prisoners across the country.
Female genital mutilation is a widespread problem in Somalia — this girls basketball team wants to end the harmful practice.
Somalia has opened its first forensic laboratory to process rape kits. Sexual assault is widespread in the country, according to human rights groups, but few victims come forward and few perpetrators are punished. The new forensic lab in Somalia’s Puntland region has been hailed as a step in the right direction, but a long road remains to end impunity for gender-based violence.
These female artists in Nairobi, Kenya are using graffiti as a form of therapy.
Severe drought has displaced nearly half a million people in Somalia. In the Puntland region, herders who have lost their livestock are now seeking refuge in urban areas. Those towns are struggling to deal with the influx of displaced families. Neha Wadekar has the story for VOA from the town of Qardho.