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By Kwame Buist
LUSAKA, Zambia (IDN) – Billions of uninsured individuals, families and small businesses are exposed to risks which can result in catastrophic losses, delegates to the 14th International Microinsurance Conference (IMC) on ‘Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets’ in Lusaka were told.
Despite encouraging signs of increased insurance cover uptake in some markets, climate change and extreme weather events are exposing the poorest and most vulnerable to risk as never before.
By Naimul Haq
DHAKA, Bangladesh (IDN) – Despite a well-coordinated effort to address the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar, a coastal town bordering Myanmar, some major challenges still need attention.
The local administration admits that with over one million forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens arriving in such a short time, it is indeed difficult to manage the environmental damages and rising crime rates faced by the local people.
Cox’s Bazar deputy commissioner Md Kamal Hossain told IDN that in terms of supplies of food, commodities and household basics efforts have been well coordinated. However, “environmental damage and the crimes rising by the day are major concerns but they are being addressed now and hopefully we would soon find solutions.”
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK(IDN) – Tanzania-based WomenChoice Industries and Mukuru Clean Stoves of Kenya are the global winners of the SDGs and Her Competition that seeks to increase knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their potential impact on women, as well as to encourage private sector partners and share best practices and innovative ideas.
They were celebrated at a side-event on September 24, 2018 during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly. The contest – co-sponsored by the World Bank Group, UNDP, UN Women, and the Wharton School Zicklin Center – showcases women micro-entrepreneurs who are helping to achieve the SDGs through their businesses.
By Kalinga Seneviratne
SINGAPORE (IDN) – The Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) – Singapore's leading gender equality advocacy group – has called upon the government to provide free childcare to low-income families to enable, especially single mothers, to find sustainable employment.
In a report titled 'Why are you not working?' based on interviews with 47 mothers from low-income families – most of whom come from the minority Malay and Indian communities – AWARE said that the rise of precarious employment, gradual withering away of family backing and lack of public support for caregiving has made it impossible for mothers of low-income families to balance work and caring for the children.
By Billy Ntaote
This report is part of a series on Human Trafficking by MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Lesotho.
MASERU (IDN) – For people living in the rural parts of the country, early child marriage doesn't exist – but when a teenager is impregnated, families rush to organise a traditional wedding ceremony and it's a deal done.
This common, yet cruel practice perpetrated on the girl child continues in rural parts of Lesotho with the unsuspecting victims – socialised to believe it is their only way out of poverty and hunger – married-off in exchange for either a herd of cattle or cash in bride-wealth.
By Prossy Nandudu
KAMPALA (ACP-IDN) – With the African population expected to increase by roughly 50 percent over the next 18 years to over 1.8 billion in 2035, demands for mineral resources will also climb sharply to meet the need for additional housing units, roads, energy and other urban infrastructure using development minerals, averred Dr Patrick Gomes, Secretary General of the African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) Group of States.
"In most ACP countries, growth rates are recorded due to the construction, mining and transport sectors. Interventions in this sector may be an effective way to help countries achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030," he told a high-level ministerial meeting of the Group at the ACP Secretariat early this year in Brussels.
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN (IDN) – The number of tourists around the world grew in 2017 to an all-time record of 7 percent to reach 1.3 billion. Tourism accounts for 10 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), 10 percent of the world’s jobs, and 7 percent of the world’s total exports.
The need to turn these figures into benefits for all people and all communities, "leaving no one behind" – as required by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations in September 2015 – was also the subject of ITB 2018, the Berlin travel trade fair in March.
By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE (IDN) – Waving a red cloth tied to a stick while signalling vehicles to stop, 35-year old Denford Muzvidziwa who dons blue overalls and a white helmet, joyfully busies himself on the Harare-Mutare high way which is still being upgraded.
For over a decade after he completed a degree in Social Work at the University of Zimbabwe, Muzvidziwa has never found a formal job that suits his qualification, but he is happy with his new found job in the construction sector, saying the job nevertheless earns him some bit of money to caution him in the face of this country’s fledgling economy.
By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – He was just 17 when his country Zimbabwe gained independence. Now, 38 years later, Trynos Hove is over half a century old and what he remembers is persistent underdevelopment and repeated calls for foreign investment.
Without meaningful foreign direct investment in this Southern African nation, says Hove, suffering will continue for the majority of citizens who are now bearing the brunt of joblessness.
“I’m one of the Zimbabweans who are without employment today. I worked for Lever Brothers before I was sacked as the company scaled down operations owing to the failing economy here,” Hove told IDN.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – While progress has been achieved in realizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in September 2015, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed has warned that "the drop in extreme poverty remains uneven across regions, within countries and between various social groups."
Addressing the opening of the fifty-sixth session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD56), she however remarked: "At the global level, we have experienced impressive reductions in extreme poverty. Significant progress has also been made in improving access to schooling and healthcare, promoting the empowerment of women, youth, persons with disabilities, older persons and indigenous populations."
