A three-day workshop on regional human security analysis and coordination wrapped up in Abuja, Nigeria on the 1st of February 2024. Convened by the Directorate of Early Warning of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the event brought together experts from National Centre for Coordination of Response Mechanism (NCCRMs) of the member countries and the ECOWAS Commission to tackle pressing human security challenges across the region. Utilizing the Human […]

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy, has welcomed the declaration of De Berg Nature Reserve as South Africa’s 30th Ramsar site under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. “The conservation and restoration of wetlands is crucial to achieving many of our national and global sustainable development goals. Estuaries, marshes and vleis, rivers and lakes, and the biodiversity that they preserve, matter for our health, […]

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has embarked on an extreme prioritization of assistance leaving millions of vulnerable people without food assistance as needs continue to outpace available resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). More than 6 million people have been displaced – one of the largest in the world - and now live in makeshift camps and with host families. “We are having to prioritise […]

The Presiding Officers of Parliament led by National Assembly Speaker, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces Chairperson, Mr Amos Masondo today learnt with great sadness of the passing of the former National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Deputy Chairperson, Ms Peggy Hollander. Ms Hollander was elected on 17 January 2005 and served as the NCOP Deputy Chairperson in the third Parliament from 2005 until 2009. “We remember her for […]

7.1 million people; around 32% of the total population are in need of humanitarian assistance in Mali; Menaka region alone registered 4690 new IDPs in the last week; IRC calls for greater access to urgently needed humanitarian aid. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is drawing attention to the worsening humanitarian situation in several regions of Mali, particularly Ménaka. In the last week of January 2024, the IRC recorded over 4,690 people arriving […]

The Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Mogadishu has been officially reopened with a special ceremony, in the presence of His Excellency Hamza Abdi Barre, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia, and His Excellency Ahmad Juma Al Rumaithi, UAE Ambassador to Somalia. The hospital reopened following comprehensive renovations and the installation of new medical equipment. The medical facility encompasses eight major departments: Emergency Department, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Dentistry, […]

UNICEF, alongside its partners Goodwall, Yoma and Generation Unlimited, and with financial support from the Governments of Austria and the Netherlands, is thrilled to announce today – 29 January 2024 - the launch of the FairChance pilot programme. This groundbreaking initiative, primarily hosted on the Goodwall app, aims to upskill and boost competencies of marginalised young women in Zimbabwe to access decent job opportunities and thrive in today’s competitive world of […]

USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman concluded a six-day trip to Mozambique, where she met with government officials, civil society actors and private sector representatives to highlight long-standing U.S. support to the country, especially in the central and northern provinces. After arriving in Maputo on January 25, Deputy Administrator Coleman met with Mozambique’s Minister of Public Works, Housing, and Water Resources Carlos Alberto Fortes Mesquita and Vice Minister of Economy and […]

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) urgently calls on Sudan’s warring parties to provide immediate guarantees for the safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian food assistance to conflict-hit parts of Sudan, especially across conflict lines where hungry displaced civilians are trapped and cut-off from life-saving humanitarian assistance. The situation in Sudan is dire. Despite WFP's efforts to provide food assistance to millions of people across the country since the […]