Those were the words of Pravin Gordhan, the South African finance minister speaking at the recent Climate Investment Funds partnership forum hosted by the African development Bank. Gordhan went on to say that there is need for transformation in the traditional paradigms of development and funding in the continent for it be a key player in global growth and development.
Times South Africa
Times South Africa
At the recently completed International Water Conference, the government of Sudan and major donors expressed their intention to make significant pledges to the global appeal launched at the conference. The United Nations and the Sudan Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources introduced the appeal for some $1 billion for six years of 65 inter-related water system projects to meet the rapidly increasing demand for water across Darfur and in doing so to tackle one of the major factors contributing to the ongoing conflict as well as threatening the livelihoods of ordinary Darfuris.
According to Gender Links , a South African research and advocacy organisation, which analysed representation at the May local government elections, in 1995 representation of women in local government was at 19% overall; 29% in 2000; 40% in 2006 and then dropped two percentage points to 38% for May 2011. The South African department of Women, Children and People with Disabilties, reported that the drop in the representation of women in local governments confirm the need for laws on increasing the number of women in decision-making positions
Youth empowerment will be the focus of the 17th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly, scheduled to take place this Thursday and Friday in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The meeting is to be held under the theme “Accelerating Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development”.
The AFDB recently reported that it would be partnering with the Asian Development Bank to set up a trade finance program to boost African trade and, more broadly, South-South trade. These agreement comes at a time when the AFDB is scaling up its trade finance activities to channel critical trade support to companies across the African continent.
Experts gathered for Africa's first mobile health summit on Tuesday hailed the use of phone technology as a new frontier in improving patient care in poor countries. But a government minister in South Africa, which is hosting the summit, called for caution over issues of regulation, confidentiality and cost to patients. The debate came as the World Health Organisation released a major report (pdf) charting the worldwide use of mobile phone technology in healthcare. It finds that 83% out of 122 countries surveyed use mobile phone technology for services that include free emergency calls, text messaging with pill reminders and health information and transmission of tests and lab results.
