Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Border Town in a Fix Over Water
Water scarcity in Tog-Wajale, a town straddling the border between
northwest Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland and Ethiopia,
is threatening the health and livelihoods of locals who cannot afford to
buy it.
"One barrel of water [200 litres] was only 20 [Ethiopian] birr [US$1], but the price has now reached about 50 Ethiopian birr [$2.5]," said Ahmed Jama Weirah, a father of seven in Tog-Wajale. "We can't provide for our families... because our earnings are not enough to provide food and water."
The Somaliland side of Tog-Wajale has had no official water supply since 1995, following the closure of the town's only well, which had fallen into disrepair. The town's main water sources are a seasonal river that acts as the border between Somaliland and Ethiopia, and expensive pumped water from Ethiopia.
"Now the [river] water is over and we can't afford to buy imported water," said Weirah.
"While livestock have been moved further north where they can find water, townsfolk face water scarcity," said Abdillahi Omar, a resident. "Some families use less than 20 litres per day to cook meals, and they don't take a bath for several days."
Local officials told IRIN they hoped the rains would start soon, but were focusing on long-term solutions.
The dysfunctional well used to supply less than 2,000 litres of water a day, so repairing it would not provide sufficient water for the town’s estimated 40,000 people (up from 10,000 in 1995), said Hashi Mohamed Abdi, the mayor of Tog-Wajale.
Currently about 20,000 litres are pumped from Ethiopia every day, “which is not enough", he said, adding that water was also trucked in from Kalabiat and Gabiley to the northeast of Tog-Wajale.
However, the future looks brighter as the European Union (EU) has agreed to fund a water project in the town.
The EU is funding water projects in several Somaliland towns, including Hargeisa, Burao, Erigavo and Tog-Wajale; the Tog-Wajale water project is due for completion in 2015.
"One barrel of water [200 litres] was only 20 [Ethiopian] birr [US$1], but the price has now reached about 50 Ethiopian birr [$2.5]," said Ahmed Jama Weirah, a father of seven in Tog-Wajale. "We can't provide for our families... because our earnings are not enough to provide food and water."
The Somaliland side of Tog-Wajale has had no official water supply since 1995, following the closure of the town's only well, which had fallen into disrepair. The town's main water sources are a seasonal river that acts as the border between Somaliland and Ethiopia, and expensive pumped water from Ethiopia.
"Now the [river] water is over and we can't afford to buy imported water," said Weirah.
"While livestock have been moved further north where they can find water, townsfolk face water scarcity," said Abdillahi Omar, a resident. "Some families use less than 20 litres per day to cook meals, and they don't take a bath for several days."
Local officials told IRIN they hoped the rains would start soon, but were focusing on long-term solutions.
The dysfunctional well used to supply less than 2,000 litres of water a day, so repairing it would not provide sufficient water for the town’s estimated 40,000 people (up from 10,000 in 1995), said Hashi Mohamed Abdi, the mayor of Tog-Wajale.
Currently about 20,000 litres are pumped from Ethiopia every day, “which is not enough", he said, adding that water was also trucked in from Kalabiat and Gabiley to the northeast of Tog-Wajale.
However, the future looks brighter as the European Union (EU) has agreed to fund a water project in the town.
The EU is funding water projects in several Somaliland towns, including Hargeisa, Burao, Erigavo and Tog-Wajale; the Tog-Wajale water project is due for completion in 2015.
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012
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Landmines Hurting Farmers’ Livelihoods
Landmines planted about a decade ago in
parts of Kabalo territory in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC)
southeastern Katanga Province are adversely affecting farming
livelihoods, and an important World Food Programme (WFP) project.
“In our area, there are villages where we get much harvest but the road leading to those villages [has] landmines,” a food trader from Kabalo said.
Lorries often get blown up by the landmines, Birindwa Murhula, a leader of one of the local food traders’ associations, told IRIN.
Kabalo, formerly the breadbasket of mineral-rich Katanga Province, was affected by DRC’s 1998-2003 civil wars. The Mpaye area, for example, served as a demarcation zone separating belligerents when Zimbabwean-backed DRC army troops clashed with the rebel Rassemblement Congolais Pour la Democratie, which was backed by the Rwandan Army.
Mpaye is still affected by landmines, making the transportation of food from local villages to trading centres and beyond a challenge.
In the past, the NGO Danish Church Aid (DCA) helped to demine Kabalo but stopped work in the first half of 2012 due to a lack of funding.
Katanga Province is among those affected by landmines and other explosive remnants of war in the DRC, according to the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre. Other affected provinces include Eastern Kasai, Equateur, Maniema, North Kivu, Orientale, South Kivu and Western Kasai.
While “relative stability has resulted in a significant increase in the mobility of [the] population and a considerable increase in activities such as: preparation of land for agriculture, irrigation ditches, movement of livestock, timber cutting, village to village trade and large-scale movement of IDPs [internally displaced persons] and refugees returning to their homes, all of these activities are greatly increasing the risk and exposure of the local population to landmines and UXO [unexploded ordnance],” warned a 2011 Mine Action report.
WFP micro-credit project
The presence of the landmines could also erode gains the food traders are attributing to the WFP Purchase for Progress Programme (P4P) which is helping to link them with small farmers in the area.
“Traders who have resumed working thanks to P4P micro-credit cannot go to the villages that always harvest good maize,” explained Murhula.
Thanks to P4P, traders can access micro-credit loans of up to US$2,000 which they use to buy maize or rice from farmers, who are also P4P beneficiaries, to sell to towns such as Bukavu, Kalemie, Lubumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi and Uvira in neighbouring provinces. Some 12,000 farmers and 120 traders in Kabalo are P4P beneficiaries.
A market for farmers’ produce has meant that they now have access to improved incomes, though this has not led to improved nutrition among the P4P implementing villages, in a country where half the population has nutrient deficiency.
The poor transport system, price fixing and delays in buying produce from farmers are further challenges. “If I buy maize 90km [away], I cannot offer the same price like when I buy at Kabalo business centre,” said a trader.
P4P is helping to connect small rural farmers in developing countries to markets, leveraging WFP’s position as a major staple food buyer. WFP has an annual US$1.25 billion procurement budget and already has an institutional platform in some of the poorest countries.
In neighbouring Uganda, at least 25,000 farmers are participating in the P4P programme selling their produce to WFP and gaining access to credit. Based on the quality, quantity and location of the farmer’s produce in the warehouse, the farmers can obtain a warehouse receipt which serves as security for micro-credit access.
According to a WFP brief, the programme aims to buy some 500,000 tons of food in 21 developing countries where the scheme is being piloted between 2008 and 2013.
“In our area, there are villages where we get much harvest but the road leading to those villages [has] landmines,” a food trader from Kabalo said.
Lorries often get blown up by the landmines, Birindwa Murhula, a leader of one of the local food traders’ associations, told IRIN.
Kabalo, formerly the breadbasket of mineral-rich Katanga Province, was affected by DRC’s 1998-2003 civil wars. The Mpaye area, for example, served as a demarcation zone separating belligerents when Zimbabwean-backed DRC army troops clashed with the rebel Rassemblement Congolais Pour la Democratie, which was backed by the Rwandan Army.
Mpaye is still affected by landmines, making the transportation of food from local villages to trading centres and beyond a challenge.
In the past, the NGO Danish Church Aid (DCA) helped to demine Kabalo but stopped work in the first half of 2012 due to a lack of funding.
Katanga Province is among those affected by landmines and other explosive remnants of war in the DRC, according to the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre. Other affected provinces include Eastern Kasai, Equateur, Maniema, North Kivu, Orientale, South Kivu and Western Kasai.
While “relative stability has resulted in a significant increase in the mobility of [the] population and a considerable increase in activities such as: preparation of land for agriculture, irrigation ditches, movement of livestock, timber cutting, village to village trade and large-scale movement of IDPs [internally displaced persons] and refugees returning to their homes, all of these activities are greatly increasing the risk and exposure of the local population to landmines and UXO [unexploded ordnance],” warned a 2011 Mine Action report.
WFP micro-credit project
The presence of the landmines could also erode gains the food traders are attributing to the WFP Purchase for Progress Programme (P4P) which is helping to link them with small farmers in the area.
“Traders who have resumed working thanks to P4P micro-credit cannot go to the villages that always harvest good maize,” explained Murhula.
Thanks to P4P, traders can access micro-credit loans of up to US$2,000 which they use to buy maize or rice from farmers, who are also P4P beneficiaries, to sell to towns such as Bukavu, Kalemie, Lubumbashi, Mbuji-Mayi and Uvira in neighbouring provinces. Some 12,000 farmers and 120 traders in Kabalo are P4P beneficiaries.
A market for farmers’ produce has meant that they now have access to improved incomes, though this has not led to improved nutrition among the P4P implementing villages, in a country where half the population has nutrient deficiency.
The poor transport system, price fixing and delays in buying produce from farmers are further challenges. “If I buy maize 90km [away], I cannot offer the same price like when I buy at Kabalo business centre,” said a trader.
P4P is helping to connect small rural farmers in developing countries to markets, leveraging WFP’s position as a major staple food buyer. WFP has an annual US$1.25 billion procurement budget and already has an institutional platform in some of the poorest countries.
In neighbouring Uganda, at least 25,000 farmers are participating in the P4P programme selling their produce to WFP and gaining access to credit. Based on the quality, quantity and location of the farmer’s produce in the warehouse, the farmers can obtain a warehouse receipt which serves as security for micro-credit access.
According to a WFP brief, the programme aims to buy some 500,000 tons of food in 21 developing countries where the scheme is being piloted between 2008 and 2013.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Future Forests Programme
There has never been such a great demand for a solution to the issue of deforestation. Farming of crops like cocoa, cassava and oil palm has resulted in significant and widespread deforestation and degradation of West Africa's tropical forest area. The principal cause of this environmental change has been the expansion of smallholder agriculture that depends on environmentally-destructive practices like slash-and-burn and land clearing.
Key to the success of this programme will be the partnerships we foster. We must all work together to achieve a common goal - to save our forests before it's too late!
We need your help, please click on the ChipIn button above to donate!
Sustainable Fisheries Programme
The
Simson Foundation is committed to working with communities and
professional commercial fisherman to develop a long-term solution to the
issue of fish stock depletion. By acting now to implement sustainable fish farming methods, we have a real opportunity to allow wild fish stocks to recover. Aquaculture,
or farming seafood, is not new: it has been in use for several thousand
years already and can bring many additional benefits, such as
alleviating poverty through the development of jobs in production,
processing and sales. Our aim is to work with fishing communities to
maximize the development, quality and governance of offshore fish
farms. This in turn will have a positive effect upon the environment,
economies and quality of life for both the communities that rely upon
the commercial fishing industry and, ultimately, the end-consumer.
We need your help!
Well Water Programme
Please help The Simson Foundation raise money for our Well Water Programme in Ghana. We can't do it without your help!
Myanmar to Immunize 6.4 Million Against Measles
The Burmese Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization, have launched a measles vaccination campaign to reach 6.4 million under-five children nationwide.
“Such campaigns play a significant role in reducing global and national mortality and morbidity due to measles,” Marinus Gotink, UNICEF’s chief of health in Myanmar, told IRIN on 22 March, the first day of the campaign. “It’s important to continuously emphasize high levels of routine immunization coverage.”
The 10-day campaign involves 9,500 immunization teams of health workers and volunteers in all seven states, with 75-100 children under-five per ward in urban areas and 50-75 children per village in rural areas to be vaccinated daily.
Measles outbreaks are reported every four to five years in Myanmar. The last nationwide campaign was in 2007. In 2010 there were 190 registered cases. The following year, 1,774 cases were reported, although health experts believe more infections went undetected or unreported.
ds/pt/cb
Source: irinnews.org “Such campaigns play a significant role in reducing global and national mortality and morbidity due to measles,” Marinus Gotink, UNICEF’s chief of health in Myanmar, told IRIN on 22 March, the first day of the campaign. “It’s important to continuously emphasize high levels of routine immunization coverage.”
The 10-day campaign involves 9,500 immunization teams of health workers and volunteers in all seven states, with 75-100 children under-five per ward in urban areas and 50-75 children per village in rural areas to be vaccinated daily.
Measles outbreaks are reported every four to five years in Myanmar. The last nationwide campaign was in 2007. In 2010 there were 190 registered cases. The following year, 1,774 cases were reported, although health experts believe more infections went undetected or unreported.
ds/pt/cb
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Empowering Poor Women at the Base of the Pyramid?
Base of the pyramid (BoP) approaches have
been attracting a lot of attention in business and development circles
lately. Although typically associated with highly publicised schemes
such as Grameen’s “village phone ladies” and Hindustan Unilever’s
“Project Shakti”, a number of BoP initiatives have sprung up across
Africa and Asia to address a range of development concerns, from health
and energy to gender empowerment and poverty reduction.
For the last few years my colleagues* and
I at the Saïd Business School have researched the opportunities that
BoP distribution systems provide for women to earn an income by selling
consumer goods door-to-door in communities beyond the reach of
mainstream retail. We’ve looked at one scheme in depth: CARE
Bangladesh’s Rural Sales Programme (RSP), which aims to create
employment opportunities for marginalized women and to improve the
access of the rural poor to a range of consumer goods.
Unlike business-led BoP distribution
systems such as Project Shakti, CARE has grown the system from a small
pilot scheme in 2004 into a sales network of 2,640 women known as aparajitas (meaning
women who do not accept defeat) who distribute a basket of branded
goods (e.g. Bic, Danone, Bata and Unilever) to other low-income
households. The aparajitas not only sell multi-national company
products but also goods made by rural entrepreneurs such as saris and
prepared foods. Our research found that the RSP provides an important
income-generating opportunity for some of Bangladesh’s most marginalised
women -enabling them to gain a measure of financial autonomy and to
improve food security in their households. The success of the program
has also led to a joint venture between CARE International and
danone.communities named ‘JITA’ - an NGO-private sector hybrid that aims
to employ 12,000 women and reach 10 million customers in Bangladesh by
2014. For more information on the CARE RSP, see our teaching case and teaching notes, and our forthcoming paper in Oxfam’s Gender and Development.
There will also be a panel discussion on the CARE RSP at the Skoll
World Forum for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, Oxford
on Thursday 29 March.
Though schemes like the RSP highlight the
potential for BoP approaches to provide economic empowerment for poor
women, they are not a panacea. There are ethical concerns about pursuing
development through increased consumption, especially among the world’s
poorest communities, and questions about whether development funds
should be used to expand consumer markets for global corporations.
There are also environmental questions about the wisdom of selling
single serve sachets in a context of global climate change, and the
long-term financial viability of the model as markets may become
saturated as the popularity of BoP projects increases, eroding women’s
earnings. The challenges and opportunities of BoP systems will be
explored in a Development Studies New Initiatives scheme titled: “The
New Economies of Development: Critical Engagements with the Bottom of
the Pyramid,” a collaboration between the Universities of Edinburgh,
Oxford and Sussex.
The project will host an open public debate titled ‘The BoP Approach: Responsible Capitalism or Business as Usual?’, at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford on Thursday 3 May. For more information, please email me.
* Professor Linda Scott and Mary Johnstone-Louis
Monday, March 12, 2012
Could You Run 5 Marathons?
Starting in late April and ending in October 2012, Dave Corp will be
taking on a Five Marathon Challenge (5M) on behalf of TSF, Manchester
Marathon, Trail Marathon Wales, Over The Edge, Moray Marathon and
Snowdonia Trail Marathon. From Dave: "I
want to contribute to TSF because it fits with what I set out to do a
year ago, and that's to support the next generation, both in the UK and
abroad. It's something I'm passionate about. I've run the London
Marathon and Snowdon Marathon and now I'm upping the bar. I want to
make a difference by helping to provide the basics, food, clean water,
safety etc, in order that the next generation can achieve their full
potential. If you would like to join Dave on one or all of the stages
of 5M to help raise funds for TSF's projects, please send an email to
tsfevents@thesimsonfoundation.org
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Viral Post?
Hi everyone, I am pleased to present our brand new video for the Well Water Programme. Please please share with as many people as you can. Remember, you might not be financially able to donate, but lots of people out there are and we need YOUR help to reach them. My aim is at least 10,000 shares for this video, but would love to get far more. Please help me reach this goal.
Let's see if we can do this together!!!!!! Please ask your friends and family to share also. We really need this video to become viral in a big way to succeed in our goals.
Thank you for your help from all at The Simson Foundation.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Reduce Hunger, Nurture Women Farmers
The UN theme for International Women’s Day - “Empower rural women - end
poverty and hunger”, probably does not mean much to people like Hani
Issa, a woman in rural southwestern Niger trying single-handedly to feed
her seven grandchildren.
Six months ago, when the rains failed, the able-bodied men in her extended family (farmers) headed for the nearest town, leaving her to figure out how to feed those left behind. The men only rarely send money, forcing her to walk several kilometres most days to try and find wild leaves and fruits for her family. Other days she just begs.
Hundreds of thousands of impoverished rural people across the world like Issa are feeling the effects of increasingly erratic weather.
At a climate conference in the Rwandan capital Kigali recently, aid workers and disaster experts talked about the possibility of yet another drought in the Horn of Africa, and about empowering women like Issa. Stories were recounted of women left to fend for themselves and their children after a drought or floods in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.
What if a woman like Issa owned a piece of land or livestock, or had access to some credit? What if she were taught a skill which could help her earn an income? What if she knew about drip irrigation - could she use the water from the well in her village to grow some vegetables? These were some of the issues raised.
Uma Lele, a former senior adviser to the World Bank due to take part in the Global Conference on Women in Agriculture (in India, 13-15 March), says such questions have been discussed many times. “Men have been migrating from rural areas leaving women to tend to farming and the household for many, many years.”
Renewed interest
In the past few years, there has been a surge of interest in rural women and the role they play in agriculture.
This has been prompted by the renewed focus on agriculture - sparked by two food crises; droughts linked to climate change, forcing men to seek alternative livelihoods away from home; HIV/AIDS, which has hit the agricultural workforce, particularly in southern Africa; and the growing importance of nutrition and food quality.
Recent studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank, have also highlighted the key role in agriculture played by women.
Women make up 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, said FAO’s 2010-2011 annual report. “In some countries it [proportion of women in agriculture] is as high as 70 percent or even 80 percent,” said Lele.
The FAO report said that if women had the same access to agricultural inputs as men, they could increase yields by 20-30 percent, and raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5-4 percent, and potentially reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12-17 percent.
Closing the gender gap in terms of access to agricultural inputs alone could lift 100-150 million people out of poverty, said FAO.
New report
A new report by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) entitled Engendering Agricultural Research, Development and Extension, which will be a main point of discussion at next week’s conference in India, calls for a more gender equitable agriculture.
The development of homestead gardens should get the same attention from policymakers as male-dominated aspects such as cash-crops, says the report, which calls for an expanded concept of the food sector - to include staple crops, but also fish, livestock, gardens, the nutritional value of food and the use of water.
Noting the correlation between high levels of gender inequality and hunger in some countries, it urged the provision of microcredit, skills and training, as well as opportunities for land and livestock ownership, to women farmers. It called for more investment in women agricultural scientists, who would be more sensitive to the needs of women in agriculture; and it said attention should be given to food processing - among other things in order to reduce food losses, preserve the nutrient content of food, ensure food safety, reduce drudgery, and free up women’s time for other activities.
But the best way to empower rural women is to provide education and a voice. “Women, if given the tools can help themselves,” said Lele.
Six months ago, when the rains failed, the able-bodied men in her extended family (farmers) headed for the nearest town, leaving her to figure out how to feed those left behind. The men only rarely send money, forcing her to walk several kilometres most days to try and find wild leaves and fruits for her family. Other days she just begs.
Hundreds of thousands of impoverished rural people across the world like Issa are feeling the effects of increasingly erratic weather.
At a climate conference in the Rwandan capital Kigali recently, aid workers and disaster experts talked about the possibility of yet another drought in the Horn of Africa, and about empowering women like Issa. Stories were recounted of women left to fend for themselves and their children after a drought or floods in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.
What if a woman like Issa owned a piece of land or livestock, or had access to some credit? What if she were taught a skill which could help her earn an income? What if she knew about drip irrigation - could she use the water from the well in her village to grow some vegetables? These were some of the issues raised.
Uma Lele, a former senior adviser to the World Bank due to take part in the Global Conference on Women in Agriculture (in India, 13-15 March), says such questions have been discussed many times. “Men have been migrating from rural areas leaving women to tend to farming and the household for many, many years.”
Renewed interest
In the past few years, there has been a surge of interest in rural women and the role they play in agriculture.
This has been prompted by the renewed focus on agriculture - sparked by two food crises; droughts linked to climate change, forcing men to seek alternative livelihoods away from home; HIV/AIDS, which has hit the agricultural workforce, particularly in southern Africa; and the growing importance of nutrition and food quality.
Recent studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank, have also highlighted the key role in agriculture played by women.
Women make up 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, said FAO’s 2010-2011 annual report. “In some countries it [proportion of women in agriculture] is as high as 70 percent or even 80 percent,” said Lele.
The FAO report said that if women had the same access to agricultural inputs as men, they could increase yields by 20-30 percent, and raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5-4 percent, and potentially reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12-17 percent.
Closing the gender gap in terms of access to agricultural inputs alone could lift 100-150 million people out of poverty, said FAO.
New report
A new report by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) entitled Engendering Agricultural Research, Development and Extension, which will be a main point of discussion at next week’s conference in India, calls for a more gender equitable agriculture.
The development of homestead gardens should get the same attention from policymakers as male-dominated aspects such as cash-crops, says the report, which calls for an expanded concept of the food sector - to include staple crops, but also fish, livestock, gardens, the nutritional value of food and the use of water.
Noting the correlation between high levels of gender inequality and hunger in some countries, it urged the provision of microcredit, skills and training, as well as opportunities for land and livestock ownership, to women farmers. It called for more investment in women agricultural scientists, who would be more sensitive to the needs of women in agriculture; and it said attention should be given to food processing - among other things in order to reduce food losses, preserve the nutrient content of food, ensure food safety, reduce drudgery, and free up women’s time for other activities.
But the best way to empower rural women is to provide education and a voice. “Women, if given the tools can help themselves,” said Lele.
Source: irinnews.org
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Land Row Delays Resettlement of Congolese Refugees
The continued arrival of
refugees fleeing post-election violence and militia activities in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in western Uganda, and the government’s
efforts to resettle them, have created a land row that has already cost the
life of a government official.
Alphonse Nteziryayo, commander of Rwamwanja settlement, in Kamwenge district, had accompanied humanitarian aid workers to assess the land the government had set aside for the settlement of Congolese refugees in Uganda when he was attacked and killed by squatters, who had settled there.
Government officials say 100 police officers have been deployed to Oruchinga, Nakivale, Rwamwaja, Kyangwali and Kiryandongo refugee settlement camps to help quell the clashes and ensure the safety of the refugees.
"[The] government has moved to set up security in all the refugee settlements. This level of security shall be maintained until such a time when law and order shall be deemed to have returned to the settlements," Stephen Mallinga, Uganda’s Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, told IRIN.
An estimated 100-150 Congolese refugees cross into Uganda daily through Bunagana, Busanza and Nteko in Kisoro district, according to officials. Some 5,600 refugees have crossed into Uganda since November 2011 following a disputed presidential election.
Government officials told IRIN the dispute might hamper the quick resettlement of the refugees. The squatters' claim to the land hinges on a presidential directive, issued in 2009, that they be given part of the land.
"Each of the 25 encroachers occupies 5.2-7.8 sqkm, which they hire out to squatters to cultivate. They are resisting leaving the government land. This will definitely affect the [resettlement] exercise," Charles Bafaki, senior resettlement commander in the Office of the Prime Minister, said.
Area politicians accuse the minister of ignoring the presidential directive and of sending the government official to the disputed land without adequate security, despite the tensions.
"...He is trying to cover up his own actions and that of his staff that were violating the president’s directive... It’s them [government] who went back to the field and sent the old man [resettlement commander] in without security," Frank Tumwebaze, a legislator from the area, told IRIN.
The minister has, for his part, accused the politicians of inciting the squatters not to move off the land, and to attack government officers and aid workers. He insists the squatters had already been allocated land somewhere else.
"The encroachers are being supported by some politicians who want to gain political capital out of this unfortunate situation. Most of the encroachers are government officials or former government leaders who grabbed government land they were charged to protect," Malinga noted.
Alphonse Nteziryayo, commander of Rwamwanja settlement, in Kamwenge district, had accompanied humanitarian aid workers to assess the land the government had set aside for the settlement of Congolese refugees in Uganda when he was attacked and killed by squatters, who had settled there.
Government officials say 100 police officers have been deployed to Oruchinga, Nakivale, Rwamwaja, Kyangwali and Kiryandongo refugee settlement camps to help quell the clashes and ensure the safety of the refugees.
"[The] government has moved to set up security in all the refugee settlements. This level of security shall be maintained until such a time when law and order shall be deemed to have returned to the settlements," Stephen Mallinga, Uganda’s Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, told IRIN.
An estimated 100-150 Congolese refugees cross into Uganda daily through Bunagana, Busanza and Nteko in Kisoro district, according to officials. Some 5,600 refugees have crossed into Uganda since November 2011 following a disputed presidential election.
Government officials told IRIN the dispute might hamper the quick resettlement of the refugees. The squatters' claim to the land hinges on a presidential directive, issued in 2009, that they be given part of the land.
"Each of the 25 encroachers occupies 5.2-7.8 sqkm, which they hire out to squatters to cultivate. They are resisting leaving the government land. This will definitely affect the [resettlement] exercise," Charles Bafaki, senior resettlement commander in the Office of the Prime Minister, said.
Area politicians accuse the minister of ignoring the presidential directive and of sending the government official to the disputed land without adequate security, despite the tensions.
"...He is trying to cover up his own actions and that of his staff that were violating the president’s directive... It’s them [government] who went back to the field and sent the old man [resettlement commander] in without security," Frank Tumwebaze, a legislator from the area, told IRIN.
The minister has, for his part, accused the politicians of inciting the squatters not to move off the land, and to attack government officers and aid workers. He insists the squatters had already been allocated land somewhere else.
"The encroachers are being supported by some politicians who want to gain political capital out of this unfortunate situation. Most of the encroachers are government officials or former government leaders who grabbed government land they were charged to protect," Malinga noted.
Source:
irinnews.org
Calling All Women of The World!
I
hope all my fellow women have a wonderful day wherever you are. I call you all
to join me and The Simson Foundation in our fight to make the world a better
place for all those who are less fortunate.
Women can be one of the most powerful forces in the world when they put their mind to it. We all need to act as one to make this happen. Please like our page and join us in our fight
Like Our Page. Make Your Voice Heard
Women can be one of the most powerful forces in the world when they put their mind to it. We all need to act as one to make this happen. Please like our page and join us in our fight
Like Our Page. Make Your Voice Heard
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Great Fishing Bait!
TSF are fishing for supporters, doners and sponsors. Can we tempt you to take our bait?
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Catalysts of Change - TSF Quarterly Magazine
Catalysts of Change, TSF quarterly magazine is almost ready to be distributed. If you would like a copy of the magazine, please send an email, stating your name to liz.bonetto@thesimnsonfoundation putting Catalysts of Change in the subject box and I'll ensure you get a copy.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
No Let Up In Drought!
Years of successive drought in the Sahel
have driven millions of people to despair and death. Even the normally
adaptive nomads, who range this southern fringe of the Western Sahara
Desert, are finding life extremely difficult.
In Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, Nassamu Malan, chief of Foudouk village in the northern region of Agadez, told IRIN how his village is struggling to cope.
“Our village, Foudouk, was founded in 2001. There are 315 families here. We are Peul [Fula] and by nature nomadic, which means we have many cattle. But we have decided to settle in one place, although now and again we must move with the cattle to look for pasture.
“Our village depends on livestock. We can’t engage in farming because the water table is very deep in the Agadez Region. In some places it is 80-100m deep so it is impossible to dig a well.
“The good years were 2003-2005, before the drought. At that time a rich family would have 150 animals. Now nobody has that many. I believe the village lost 70 percent of its animals in the 2010 drought. We suffered very badly that year.
In Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, Nassamu Malan, chief of Foudouk village in the northern region of Agadez, told IRIN how his village is struggling to cope.
“Our village, Foudouk, was founded in 2001. There are 315 families here. We are Peul [Fula] and by nature nomadic, which means we have many cattle. But we have decided to settle in one place, although now and again we must move with the cattle to look for pasture.
“Our village depends on livestock. We can’t engage in farming because the water table is very deep in the Agadez Region. In some places it is 80-100m deep so it is impossible to dig a well.
“The good years were 2003-2005, before the drought. At that time a rich family would have 150 animals. Now nobody has that many. I believe the village lost 70 percent of its animals in the 2010 drought. We suffered very badly that year.
“We heard that the government says it will vaccinate animals. We would like to see that in our village so that they don’t die.
“When there are food shortages in the south we hear about projects to help them, but we don’t see anything here.
“There is nothing for young people to do here, no jobs, no way to make money. At least 150 of our young men have gone to Nigeria to look for work. Sometimes they send money to their families here.
“I think a cereal bank for millet would be a good idea now that we don’t move so much, as well as extra food like cotton grains for the animals. A lot of the village stock was eaten in 2010 - two of our stores are completely empty now.
“People forget that when the rains fail that also affects us. The land in our region is becoming very poor. The animals need good pasture and when it doesn’t rain they over-graze. I know lots of other people are struggling. We try to do our best.”
Source: irinnews.org
Dave Corp - 5M Marathon Challenge 2012!
A big shout for Dave Corp who is going to head up 5M. Let's get behind him and give him lots of support and sponsorship for this massive challenge!
Click Here to Sponsor Dave
The Simson Foundation is committed to working with communities and
professional commercial fisherman to develop a long-term solution to the
issue of fish stock depletion. By acting now to implement sustainable
fish farming methods, we have a real opportunity to allow wild fish
stocks to recover. You can do your part to help too by visiting the
link below
The One That Got Away?
Heavily subsidised European trawlers could be allowed to continue to overfish the waters of developing countries despite mounting evidence that stocks are being devastated and that African coastal populations are being deprived of food.
Documents seen by the Guardian show that Spain, which dominates EU
fishing with nearly 25% of its boats, is pressing hard in EU ministerial
meetings to exempt European vessels from proposed tighter rules when
they work outside EU waters.
The two documents, dated 30 January 2012 and 3 February 2012,
were leaked from the council of the EU and contain the commission’s
draft proposals for reform of the external fisheries policy. They show
that Britain has argued strongly for much stronger rules to govern EU
fleets wherever they fish.
Concern is mounting that the EU heavily subsidises – to the tune of
€1.9bn a year – some of the world’s biggest and most powerful
freezer-trawler vessels to work in the waters of over 20 of the world’s
poorest countries using bilateral agreements, known as Fisheries
partnership agreements (Fpas).
But a new report by Greenpeace International
shows that these agreements allow European fleets to unfairly compete
with artisanal fishermen and that most commercial fish stocks in West
African waters are now fully or over-exploited.
According to the study, the EU paid €142.7m to secure the fishing
rights for just one fleet of 34 giant factory trawlers to work in
Mauritanian and Moroccan waters between 2006 and 2012. Of this, EU
taxpayers paid €128m, and the companies only €14m.
The report shows that these 34 vessels catch 235,000 tonnes a year of
fish from the Moroccan and Mauritanian waters, leaving little for the
local fishers. Mauritania is one of seven Sahelian countries to have
declared a food emergency in the last month and appealed for emergency
aid.
The Pelagic freezer-trawler association (PFA), a group of companies
working under Dutch, German, French, UK and Lithuanian flags, also
received €21m in subsidies to increase and modernise its fishing
operations between 1994 and 2007.
“Millions of Africans depend on fish caught by local fishermen, but
as a consequence of overfishing by the European fleet, stocks are
further decreasing. Local fishermen are now forced to fish further out
at sea because the accessibility to stocks for the coast is diminishing.
“The EU fleet’s destructive fishing practices cost European citizens
billions of euros each year in lost potential income and tax exemptions.
In addition, despite widespread recognition that harmful fisheries
subsidies should be brought under control, EU taxpayers have been paying
around €1.9bn in EU and national aid each year. This is fuelling
overcapacity and overfishing,” said the report.
Using enormous trawl nets up to 600 metres long with openings 200
metres wide, one European trawler, says the report, can capture and
process 200-250 tonnes of fish per day. This is more than 56 traditional
African boats can catch in a year. More than 90% of the fish caught by
EU freezer-trawlers off Morrocco and Mauretania is exported to countries
outside the EU, such as China, Egypt, Nigeria and Thailand.
“This means EU taxpayers pay more than 90% of the access costs to
allow these companies to continue overfishing in African waters to
supply cheap fish to the rest of the world,” the report says.
The amount of fish discarded at sea, dead or dying, during one large
trawler’s fishing trip at full capacity is estimated to be same as the
average annual fish consumption of 34,000 people in Mauritania.
“In the past 15 years, “bycatch” from around 20 EU pelagic trawlers
in Mauritania has killed an estimated 1,500 critically endangered
turtles, more than 18,000 big rays and more than 60,000 sharks,” says
the report.
Spain, which receives nearly €1bn a year of EU fishing subsidies, has
172 vessels working Moroccan waters, and 49 working off the Cape Verde
islands.
“Local fishermen have seen see their catches shrinking and their
costs and workload rising. They are forced to travel further to catch
fish and often have to compete for space with the industrial trawlers in
dangerous waters unsuitable for their small boats,” says the report.
Fish is a primary protein source for people along West Africa’s
coastline. A collapse of West Africa’s marine resources would have
catastrophic effects for the region.
Greenpeace has called on EU governments and the European parliament
to agree new fishing rules that reduce overcapacity by decommissioning
unsustainable fishing vessels. They also urged the EU to end subsidies
to destructive fishing practices, and instead only invest public money
in measures of public value, such as restoring and maintaining stocks.
“European taxpayers are bankrolling these floating factories to
plunder the fishing grounds of some of the world’s poorest countries. It
is grotesque that at a time of economic crisis we should be using
public money to support this immoral practice,” said Ariana Densham, a
Greenpeace fisheries campaigner.
“Last year Richard Benyon met with West African fishermen and heard
first-hand about the impact on their lives, and as a result committed to
achieving radical reform of the rules governing fishing in distant
waters. He must remain true to this promise and not back down during the
tough European negotiations coming up in March,” she said.
Source: whitbyseaanglers.co.uk
Monday, March 5, 2012
Seafood & Eat It???
Did you know that more than 70% of the world’s commercial marine fish
stocks are either fully exploited or overfished. All is not lost
though, we all have the solutions at our fingertips, because the seafood
you choose to buy today can determine whether tomorrow’s generations
will continue to enjoy the oceans’ riches. WWF have a Sustainable
Seafood Guide which you can use to help combat this problem....go see!
Volunteers Wanted
The Simson Foundation www.thesimsonfoundation are looking for volunteers (both home and abroad) for our various projects, Well Water Programme, Sustainable Fisheries Programme and last but not least, Healthy Education Programme. You don't have to be living in, or from the UK to work with us. TSF are unique in that the Foundation pass on over 70% of the donations to their projects, unlike lots of other organisations, who average around 2% - 10% of the donations, so you would be helping a worthwhile organisation by working with us. Another way in which we are set aside from the rest is that we keep everyone informed as to where funds are being spent and how. Sponsors and donors even get updated on how things are going AFTER the project has ended. You won't find much more transparency than that! Please email volunteer@thesimsonfoundation.org for information to find out more about working with TSF.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Paid Fundraisers Wanted
The Simson Foundation are looking for caring
people who would be interested in working with us as paid fundraisers. To learn more about the work we do, and to
download a job description, please visit
Work With The Simson Foundation
Work With The Simson Foundation
Friday, March 2, 2012
Can I have a Fizzy Drink Please?
How is it that the world's most popular
fizzy drink reaches even the farthest-flung corners of the planet, yet
vast numbers of children in developing countries die for lack of one of
the cheapest and most effective preparations known to medical science?
The world's second-biggest cause of child mortality, diarrhoea, kills about 1.5 million children every year. Three-quarters of these deaths could be prevented with a simple course of oral rehydration salts (ORS) combined with zinc tablets, at a cost of just US$0.50 per patient.
Yet, despite being heavily promoted by the World Health Organization since the 1970s, fewer than 40 percent of child diarrhoea cases in developing countries are treated with ORS. That figure falls below 1 percent when the treatment includes zinc, which reduces not only the duration and severity of diarrhoeal episodes but also the likelihood of subsequent infections.
"The challenge is not what to do but how to deliver [ORS] at very high coverage," Abdulai Tinorgah, who heads the UN Children's Fund's Child Survival and Development section in Nairobi, told IRIN.
Whereas blanket interventions such as measles immunization, vitamin A supplementation, and bed-net distribution have been scaled up significantly over recent years, "those that have to do with case management have shown much less progress [since 2000]", he said.
"Because these require a health system ready and able to respond to individuals when they need care, there are special challenges especially of access, demand generation and logistics," he explained.
Social marketing and private-sector initiatives, coupled with better distribution and public information, are among the ways ORS coverage could be increased, said Tinorgah.
Opportunity
Almost 30 years after British aid worker Simon Berry first pondered the Coca-Cola conundrum while working in Zambia, he is about to turn the puzzle into an opportunity he hopes will drastically reduce child mortality by adopting some of these strategies. And he wants to do so through commerce, rather than charity, or even, in the long term, through subsidy.
Berry has isolated a gap in the market, literally in the spaces between crated Coca-Cola bottles trucked and biked to villages all over the developing world.
ColaLife's single-dose anti-diarrhoea kits (ADKs) fit 10 to a crate of Coca-Cola bottles and contain eight small sachets of low osmolarity ORS and a 10-tablet course of zinc.
In a pilot project set to start in Zambia in September 2012, ColaLife will buy the drugs, package them, and inject them into the supply chain in partnership with Medical Stores Limited, a government agency.
The world's second-biggest cause of child mortality, diarrhoea, kills about 1.5 million children every year. Three-quarters of these deaths could be prevented with a simple course of oral rehydration salts (ORS) combined with zinc tablets, at a cost of just US$0.50 per patient.
Yet, despite being heavily promoted by the World Health Organization since the 1970s, fewer than 40 percent of child diarrhoea cases in developing countries are treated with ORS. That figure falls below 1 percent when the treatment includes zinc, which reduces not only the duration and severity of diarrhoeal episodes but also the likelihood of subsequent infections.
"The challenge is not what to do but how to deliver [ORS] at very high coverage," Abdulai Tinorgah, who heads the UN Children's Fund's Child Survival and Development section in Nairobi, told IRIN.
Whereas blanket interventions such as measles immunization, vitamin A supplementation, and bed-net distribution have been scaled up significantly over recent years, "those that have to do with case management have shown much less progress [since 2000]", he said.
"Because these require a health system ready and able to respond to individuals when they need care, there are special challenges especially of access, demand generation and logistics," he explained.
Social marketing and private-sector initiatives, coupled with better distribution and public information, are among the ways ORS coverage could be increased, said Tinorgah.
Opportunity
Almost 30 years after British aid worker Simon Berry first pondered the Coca-Cola conundrum while working in Zambia, he is about to turn the puzzle into an opportunity he hopes will drastically reduce child mortality by adopting some of these strategies. And he wants to do so through commerce, rather than charity, or even, in the long term, through subsidy.
Berry has isolated a gap in the market, literally in the spaces between crated Coca-Cola bottles trucked and biked to villages all over the developing world.
ColaLife's single-dose anti-diarrhoea kits (ADKs) fit 10 to a crate of Coca-Cola bottles and contain eight small sachets of low osmolarity ORS and a 10-tablet course of zinc.
In a pilot project set to start in Zambia in September 2012, ColaLife will buy the drugs, package them, and inject them into the supply chain in partnership with Medical Stores Limited, a government agency.
ADKs will be sold to Coca-Cola wholesalers, and then on to retailers who
transport the crates to their shops, bars and kiosks. Everyone along
the line will be entitled to factor in their profit margins.
Berry calls it the last mile of the supply chain. "Although it may be the last 10km," he said.
Stimulating demand
But getting the stuff to market is only half the battle, and pointless unless demand, stifled by a lack of supply and low public awareness of ORS's benefits, is significantly stimulated.
During the ColaLife pilot, dozens of retailers and promoters, as well as two major wholesalers, will receive training in marketing the kits, while caregivers will get discounts in the form of paper coupons and mobile-phone money transfers.
A UNICEF-funded monitoring and evaluation team will keep tabs on the project.
Berry has distilled his philosophy into a tweet-friendly soundbite: "You can get any commodity or service to anywhere in the world by creating and sustaining demand & making it profitable to fulfil that demand."
For Kate Schroder of Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a global organization that works to strengthen health systems, this should be done "not through public service announcements but the same way as you would drive demand for Coca-Cola".
"If you had a surge in demand, the supply chain would work itself out," she said.
In an article published in the British Medical Journal in February, CHAI described scaling-up of ORS+zinc as the "low-hanging fruit" in achieving the fourth Millennium Development Goal: reducing 1990 child mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015.
Berry has won plaudits from high places. "ColaLife is exactly the type of new approach that could help accelerate progress and save lives in Zambia and beyond," British International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell told IRIN via email.
The UK's Department for International Development is providing much of the funding for ColaLife. "British ingenuity with the power of the private sector is a potent mix," Mitchell said.
Coca-Cola, meanwhile, is keeping a keen eye on the project. "If it proves successful for all parties, including the distributors, NGOs, government and other beneficiaries, we will certainly be open to engaging our system partners to discuss replicating this model in different markets," said spokesman Sebastian Van Der Vegt.
CHAI has also indicated it might work to scale up components Berry's brainwave to a national or even international level, should it work well.
Still, as UNICEF's Tinorgah pointed out, increasing ORS uptake is far from the only, or even best, way to stem diarrhoeal deaths.
"Interventions in several other areas are critical: water and sanitation programmes promoting hand-washing and household water treatment and safe storage; nutrition programmes promoting Vitamin A supplementation; exclusive breast feeding; measles immunization and in recent years, rotavirus immunization."
Berry calls it the last mile of the supply chain. "Although it may be the last 10km," he said.
Stimulating demand
But getting the stuff to market is only half the battle, and pointless unless demand, stifled by a lack of supply and low public awareness of ORS's benefits, is significantly stimulated.
During the ColaLife pilot, dozens of retailers and promoters, as well as two major wholesalers, will receive training in marketing the kits, while caregivers will get discounts in the form of paper coupons and mobile-phone money transfers.
A UNICEF-funded monitoring and evaluation team will keep tabs on the project.
Berry has distilled his philosophy into a tweet-friendly soundbite: "You can get any commodity or service to anywhere in the world by creating and sustaining demand & making it profitable to fulfil that demand."
For Kate Schroder of Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), a global organization that works to strengthen health systems, this should be done "not through public service announcements but the same way as you would drive demand for Coca-Cola".
"If you had a surge in demand, the supply chain would work itself out," she said.
In an article published in the British Medical Journal in February, CHAI described scaling-up of ORS+zinc as the "low-hanging fruit" in achieving the fourth Millennium Development Goal: reducing 1990 child mortality rates by two-thirds by 2015.
Berry has won plaudits from high places. "ColaLife is exactly the type of new approach that could help accelerate progress and save lives in Zambia and beyond," British International Development Minister Andrew Mitchell told IRIN via email.
The UK's Department for International Development is providing much of the funding for ColaLife. "British ingenuity with the power of the private sector is a potent mix," Mitchell said.
Coca-Cola, meanwhile, is keeping a keen eye on the project. "If it proves successful for all parties, including the distributors, NGOs, government and other beneficiaries, we will certainly be open to engaging our system partners to discuss replicating this model in different markets," said spokesman Sebastian Van Der Vegt.
CHAI has also indicated it might work to scale up components Berry's brainwave to a national or even international level, should it work well.
Still, as UNICEF's Tinorgah pointed out, increasing ORS uptake is far from the only, or even best, way to stem diarrhoeal deaths.
"Interventions in several other areas are critical: water and sanitation programmes promoting hand-washing and household water treatment and safe storage; nutrition programmes promoting Vitamin A supplementation; exclusive breast feeding; measles immunization and in recent years, rotavirus immunization."
Oh Boy I'm Thirsty!
A nice clean glass of water! You can help us make this a reality for 1,000's of children.
Go On Take a Sip!
Go On Take a Sip!
Wow! That's Some Bike Ride!
2nd challenge of the day is.... Brendan Randall and his team of riders, will take on the PACT13 challenge on behalf of The Simson Foundation. This epic journey of some 37,375 km begins in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
Hey! Get That Tree Out of My House!
How to work towards a tree free home:
- don't buy paper napkins, invest in cloth napkins
- buy bleach-free, toilet paper that is made from the highest post-consumer waste content you can find (80% minimum)
- read books, magazines, and newspapers from your local library or online (lots have email newsletters)
- if you print documents, print on once-used paper and/or bleach-free, recycled paper
- create and use note pads from once-used paper
Source: http://globalstewards.org/ecotips.htm
What's in There?
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Join our group and find out what lies within TSF
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Where to Start?
Today's quote:
There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self. So you have to begin there, not outside, not on other people. That comes afterward, when you've worked on your own corner. Aldous Huxley
Once You've Done That, Come and See Us!
There's only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self. So you have to begin there, not outside, not on other people. That comes afterward, when you've worked on your own corner. Aldous Huxley
Once You've Done That, Come and See Us!
They Took Our Homes!
IRIN Africa Reported - Hundreds of families forced from
their homes in the 1990s, as well as former refugees, who are living in
informal settlements on the outskirts of Bujumbura, the capital, are
seeking a lasting shelter alternative to cramped temporary sites.
"I am ashamed, I sometimes send some [children] to get shelter in other homes," Consolate Ndikumana, a resident of the Beterere site outside Bujumbura, told IRIN. "You cannot share the room with grown-up children; it is not possible to live like that."
Ndikumana's family is one of 342 now living in Buterere after being relocated from the flood-prone Sabe area in May 2011 where they had initially settled. At Buterere, the situation is not much better, with families living in cramped conditions; Ndikumana's family of six shares a 15 sqm plastic tent.
"During the day, the tent is very hot and very cold in the night," added Marie Jacqueline Keza, another resident.
The families were supposed to have been resettled at the Maramvya area in Bujumbura Rural's Mutimbuzi commune, in 2011, where each household would have been allocated a 270 sqm plot.
But there have been challenges to the resettlement, according to officials.
"There was some confusion in the lists of beneficiaries," said Anicet Nibaruta, secretary of the National Platform for the Prevention of Risks and Management of Disasters, which coordinates emergency aid, noting there were also some illegal beneficiaries on the lists.
A topography study of the area has also yet to be released to allow for the building of the houses at Maramvya.
"I am ashamed, I sometimes send some [children] to get shelter in other homes," Consolate Ndikumana, a resident of the Beterere site outside Bujumbura, told IRIN. "You cannot share the room with grown-up children; it is not possible to live like that."
Ndikumana's family is one of 342 now living in Buterere after being relocated from the flood-prone Sabe area in May 2011 where they had initially settled. At Buterere, the situation is not much better, with families living in cramped conditions; Ndikumana's family of six shares a 15 sqm plastic tent.
"During the day, the tent is very hot and very cold in the night," added Marie Jacqueline Keza, another resident.
The families were supposed to have been resettled at the Maramvya area in Bujumbura Rural's Mutimbuzi commune, in 2011, where each household would have been allocated a 270 sqm plot.
But there have been challenges to the resettlement, according to officials.
"There was some confusion in the lists of beneficiaries," said Anicet Nibaruta, secretary of the National Platform for the Prevention of Risks and Management of Disasters, which coordinates emergency aid, noting there were also some illegal beneficiaries on the lists.
A topography study of the area has also yet to be released to allow for the building of the houses at Maramvya.
"We are working on it day and night," said Nibaruta.
The lack of access to land has led to a life of dependency for the Buterere residents.
"When we arrived here, we were only given the place for our tents, but no land," Buterere resident Marc Ngendakumana said.
The residents have resorted to engaging in petty jobs, such as working in rice plantations.
"When it is not raining, we help in the transportation of bricks. If you transport 1,000 bricks, you can easily get 1,500 francs [US$1.07] per day," added Ngendakumana.
"We might be in difficult living conditions there [in Maramvya], even without food, but the place will be our own home."
Among the families are those who were initially forced from their homes in the 1990s in the suburbs of Bujumbura when the main Hutu and Tutsi ethnic communities were living separately; others are former refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.
The lack of access to land has led to a life of dependency for the Buterere residents.
"When we arrived here, we were only given the place for our tents, but no land," Buterere resident Marc Ngendakumana said.
The residents have resorted to engaging in petty jobs, such as working in rice plantations.
"When it is not raining, we help in the transportation of bricks. If you transport 1,000 bricks, you can easily get 1,500 francs [US$1.07] per day," added Ngendakumana.
"We might be in difficult living conditions there [in Maramvya], even without food, but the place will be our own home."
Among the families are those who were initially forced from their homes in the 1990s in the suburbs of Bujumbura when the main Hutu and Tutsi ethnic communities were living separately; others are former refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Do Your Part, Help Make an Impact!
Today's tip - Help make an impact: Wherever possible, replace disposable products with reusable ones (i.e., razor, food storage, batteries, ink cartridges (buy refill ink), coffee filters, cooker or air conditioner filters, nappies (daipers) etc.).
Visit Our Website
Visit Our Website
Drought Warning Prompts Call for Early Action
Drought is likely to return to Somalia
and other parts of the Horn of Africa over the next three months, say
regional climate scientists meeting in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. The
forecast comes just weeks after the UN declared the Somali “famine”
over.
“There is a high probability of drought returning to the Greater Horn of Africa…Poor rains are a definite in all of Somalia, Djibouti, northern Kenya, southern, eastern and northeastern Ethiopia,” said Laban Ogallo, director of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), which provides forecasts for the Horn.
“We have put the message out there. It is now up to governments, civil society and the media to prepare… for the worst-case scenario even if the worst does not happen. There is no harm in being prepared,” he said. “We must realize many of these areas are already facing the cumulative impact of several droughts.”
Youcef Ait Chellouche, deputy regional coordinator of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, said the coping mechanism of people in most of these areas who experienced severe drought in 2010-2011, is almost non-existent. In the coming days, he said, he would be meeting disaster risk managers from various countries and agencies to draw up a plan for early action.
“We cannot wait for people to show up in Dadaab [refugee camp in eastern Kenya] yet again. We have to take preventive action now. We need to find ways to secure livestock and provide cash transfers to people now. These are some of the lessons from last year’s drought,” he added.
It took scientists three days of brainstorming over rainfall and temperature data, the status of ocean currents and the strength of the La Niña to make the forecast at the 30th Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum in Kigali.
Increased cyclonic activity recorded over the Indian Ocean in the past few weeks was one of the major factors drawing moisture away from the Horn, explained Ogallo. “The Indian Ocean is rather warm at the moment and will continue to be over the next few months.” He cited the recent cyclones recorded near Madagascar.
Climate scientists Andrew Colman with the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre and Vadlamani Kumar from the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the residual effects of a dying La Niña were also a factor in possible poor rains over the Horn.
La Niña occurs when the surface of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean - the world’s largest body of water - cools, and has a climatic impact in other regions of the world. A particularly strong La Niña was recorded in 2010-2011 and parts of the Horn experienced their driest period in 60 years.
“We are in a transition phase. It [La Niña] seems to be dying out but it always gets a bit chaotic now [weather-wise] during such time,” said Peter Ambenje, deputy director of Kenya’s meteorological department.
“Near normal to below normal rains” - meaning the outlook is not very hopeful - have also been forecast for southern, eastern and northern Tanzania; Burundi; Rwanda; Uganda; and western and southern Kenya.
High temperatures
“We have already recorded some of the highest temperatures ever in the past 13 years in northern Kenya in January 2012,” said Ambenje. The government, he said, was already planning contingency measures. “People will need water and their livestock will need to be secured.”
The US Agency for International Development’s FEWS NET said people should expect erratic rain in southern Somalia and southeastern Kenya. It would be releasing a detailed outlook in the coming weeks.
Ethiopia’s pastoralists in the Somali Region and the agro-pastoralist communities in southern Oromia could be in for hard times ahead, and The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR), one of Ethiopia’s poorest, is also likely to face a drought, say climate scientists.
However, Dula Shanko, head of Ethiopia Meteorological Department, said they expected the drought to be less severe than last year, as most parts of Ethiopia had received good rains towards the end of 2011.
Djibouti is already facing water shortages, said Osman Saad Said, chief of the country’s Met Division. At least one in eight people there was in need of emergency aid in 2011, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “We are already drilling more and more bore-wells in the city,” he said.
Many disaster experts cited the slow response by governments and donors to the early warning forecasts of the 2010-2011 Horn drought.
Abbas Gullet, secretary-general of the Kenya Red Cross, said his organization had responded to the warning and launched an appeal in early 2011, but it had not managed to raise sufficient resources as the government had failed to ring official alarm bells. Only after it went to the people later in the year as part of the “Kenya 4 Kenyans” campaign were sizeable funds raised.
One of the problems highlighted was the lack of linkage between early warning and early action. “There is no framework that allows the trigger of funds when the early warning bell is sounded,” said one aid worker.
“Governments and people must take pre-emptive action on their own accord and not wait for donors to provide funds,” said another.
"It will be interesting to see how humanitarian actors - and donors - will factor this information into their decision-making, what they will be doing on this basis in the next few weeks,” said Maarten Van Aalst, director of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, and co-ordinating lead author of the summary of the special report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change (SREX) produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2011.
“Given the moderate strength of the forecast signal, I think the best options would be no-regrets investments, particularly aimed at high-risk areas still suffering from the current crisis, and proper monitoring so that further scale-up can be fast when it is needed,” he added.
Given the moderate strength of the forecast signal, I think the best options would be no-regrets investments, particularly aimed at high-risk areas still suffering from the current crisis, and proper monitoring so that further scale-up can be fast when it is needed."
“There is a high probability of drought returning to the Greater Horn of Africa…Poor rains are a definite in all of Somalia, Djibouti, northern Kenya, southern, eastern and northeastern Ethiopia,” said Laban Ogallo, director of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), which provides forecasts for the Horn.
“We have put the message out there. It is now up to governments, civil society and the media to prepare… for the worst-case scenario even if the worst does not happen. There is no harm in being prepared,” he said. “We must realize many of these areas are already facing the cumulative impact of several droughts.”
Youcef Ait Chellouche, deputy regional coordinator of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, said the coping mechanism of people in most of these areas who experienced severe drought in 2010-2011, is almost non-existent. In the coming days, he said, he would be meeting disaster risk managers from various countries and agencies to draw up a plan for early action.
“We cannot wait for people to show up in Dadaab [refugee camp in eastern Kenya] yet again. We have to take preventive action now. We need to find ways to secure livestock and provide cash transfers to people now. These are some of the lessons from last year’s drought,” he added.
It took scientists three days of brainstorming over rainfall and temperature data, the status of ocean currents and the strength of the La Niña to make the forecast at the 30th Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum in Kigali.
Increased cyclonic activity recorded over the Indian Ocean in the past few weeks was one of the major factors drawing moisture away from the Horn, explained Ogallo. “The Indian Ocean is rather warm at the moment and will continue to be over the next few months.” He cited the recent cyclones recorded near Madagascar.
Climate scientists Andrew Colman with the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre and Vadlamani Kumar from the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the residual effects of a dying La Niña were also a factor in possible poor rains over the Horn.
La Niña occurs when the surface of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean - the world’s largest body of water - cools, and has a climatic impact in other regions of the world. A particularly strong La Niña was recorded in 2010-2011 and parts of the Horn experienced their driest period in 60 years.
“We are in a transition phase. It [La Niña] seems to be dying out but it always gets a bit chaotic now [weather-wise] during such time,” said Peter Ambenje, deputy director of Kenya’s meteorological department.
“Near normal to below normal rains” - meaning the outlook is not very hopeful - have also been forecast for southern, eastern and northern Tanzania; Burundi; Rwanda; Uganda; and western and southern Kenya.
High temperatures
“We have already recorded some of the highest temperatures ever in the past 13 years in northern Kenya in January 2012,” said Ambenje. The government, he said, was already planning contingency measures. “People will need water and their livestock will need to be secured.”
The US Agency for International Development’s FEWS NET said people should expect erratic rain in southern Somalia and southeastern Kenya. It would be releasing a detailed outlook in the coming weeks.
Ethiopia’s pastoralists in the Somali Region and the agro-pastoralist communities in southern Oromia could be in for hard times ahead, and The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s Region (SNNPR), one of Ethiopia’s poorest, is also likely to face a drought, say climate scientists.
However, Dula Shanko, head of Ethiopia Meteorological Department, said they expected the drought to be less severe than last year, as most parts of Ethiopia had received good rains towards the end of 2011.
Djibouti is already facing water shortages, said Osman Saad Said, chief of the country’s Met Division. At least one in eight people there was in need of emergency aid in 2011, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “We are already drilling more and more bore-wells in the city,” he said.
Many disaster experts cited the slow response by governments and donors to the early warning forecasts of the 2010-2011 Horn drought.
Abbas Gullet, secretary-general of the Kenya Red Cross, said his organization had responded to the warning and launched an appeal in early 2011, but it had not managed to raise sufficient resources as the government had failed to ring official alarm bells. Only after it went to the people later in the year as part of the “Kenya 4 Kenyans” campaign were sizeable funds raised.
One of the problems highlighted was the lack of linkage between early warning and early action. “There is no framework that allows the trigger of funds when the early warning bell is sounded,” said one aid worker.
“Governments and people must take pre-emptive action on their own accord and not wait for donors to provide funds,” said another.
"It will be interesting to see how humanitarian actors - and donors - will factor this information into their decision-making, what they will be doing on this basis in the next few weeks,” said Maarten Van Aalst, director of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, and co-ordinating lead author of the summary of the special report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change (SREX) produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2011.
“Given the moderate strength of the forecast signal, I think the best options would be no-regrets investments, particularly aimed at high-risk areas still suffering from the current crisis, and proper monitoring so that further scale-up can be fast when it is needed,” he added.
Given the moderate strength of the forecast signal, I think the best options would be no-regrets investments, particularly aimed at high-risk areas still suffering from the current crisis, and proper monitoring so that further scale-up can be fast when it is needed."
Source: irinnews.org
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