Fencing offers teens hope in impoverished Nairobi slum

By Rose TROUP BUCHANAN Along the muddy tracks of a sprawling slum in Kenya's capital Nairobi, scores of teenagers learn how to fence each weekend under Mburu Wanyoike, whose initiative offers hope in a place bedevilled by crime and lack of opportunity. Several hundred thousand people live in closely packed poverty in Mathare, many born there like 27-year-old Wanyoike, who a decade ago was on […]

June 10, 2024 8

South Africa

UNICEF Report Indicates South Africa Is Among Top 20 Nations With Highest Child Food Poverty

A UNICEF report reveals South Africa is one of 20 countries accounting for 65-percent of all children globally living in severe food poverty. Twenty-three-percent of South African children experience food deprivation and they are 50-percent more likely to suffer life-threatening malnutrition. UNICEF's Christine Muhigana says the consequences can last a lifetime, weakening immunity, increasing disease risk and perpetuating the poverty cycle: E

June 10, 2024 24

South Africa

ANC set to lose majority after watershed vote

By Umberto BACCHI with Zama LUTHULI in Durban South Africa's ruling ANC was on course to lose its 30-year-old unchallenged majority on Thursday after voters queued long into the night to cast their ballots, preliminary results and projections showed. With a fifth of votes tallied, the ANC was leading but with a score of 44 percent -- well down on the 57 percent it […]

May 30, 2024 29

Interview Transcripts

Herbert Jauch, a Social Justice Activist, Talks Minerals and Poverty in Namibia

Herbert Jauch, a Social Justice Activist, on Minerals and Poverty in Namibia Namibia, a nation blessed with abundant mineral resources, has long been a significant exporter of valuable commodities such as uranium, diamonds, zinc, copper, and lead. Additionally, its marine fish products contribute substantially to the global seafood market. In recent years, the extraction of rare earth minerals has further expanded Namibia's role in the global resource landscape. Despite this […]

May 16, 2024 42

South Africa

South Africa will be president of the G20 in 2025: two much-needed reforms it should drive

By Danny Bradlow, University of Pretoria South Africa will play an important international role in 2025 as president of the G20. The G20 is a group of 19 countries as well as the African Union and the European Union. Between them they represent 85% of global economy, 75% of world trade and 67% of global population. The G20 defines itself as the premier multilateral forum […]

May 15, 2024 24

Africa

Ghana’s forests are being wiped out: what’s behind this and why attempts to stop it aren’t working

By John Tennyson Afele, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Ghana has around 7.9 million hectares of forested land (35% of the total land area), according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Around 7.6 million hectares are primary or naturally regenerated forest, and around 297,000 hectares are planted forest. In 2022, Ghana lost 18,000 hectares of primary forest, a nearly 70% increase from […]

May 15, 2024 35

South Africa

Over 26 million South Africans get a social grant. Fear of losing the payment used to be a reason to vote for the ANC, but no longer – study

By Leila Patel, University of Johannesburg and Yolanda Sadie, University of Johannesburg Social grants to reduce poverty feature prominently in the campaign promises of political parties in South Africa’s 2024 national and provincial general elections, set for 29 May. The country’s social grants system is one of the largest in Africa in terms of number of beneficiaries. Research shows that this has helped reduce poverty. […]

May 15, 2024 14

Africa

South Africans are abandoning smallholder farming – history and policy can help explain why

By Klara Fischer, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences South African smallholders are abandoning farming. The decline in field cultivation is a problem, since many of these smallholder households struggle to make ends meet. If people were able to produce more of their own food this would improve their lives. The current situation is a combined effect of the country’s historical legacy and the negative impacts of recent […]

May 10, 2024 21

Africa

Nigeria’s minimum wage has never protected workers from poverty: here’s why

By Stephen Onyeiwu, Allegheny College Wages have become the top issue for Nigeria’s organised labour movements in the past year. Reacting to recent increases in the cost of living, the labour movement has been calling for an upward review of the national minimum wage, currently N30,000 (US$24) a month. The Conversation’s Adejuwon Soyinka asks economics professor Stephen Onyeiwu if Nigeria’s minimum wage truly protects workers from poverty. […]

May 6, 2024 27

Poverty