February 15, 2012

• North Africa: Women on the Barricades

  Arab women have shown once again that women can often play important roles in revolutionary events. In Egypt and Tunisia they participated in the popular uprisings for democracy -... Read more »

• Africa: Three Women Laureates

  When the Nobel committee announced in October 2011 that year's recipients of its Peace Prize, it raised to three the number of African women to receive the internationally... Read more »

• Africa: Does Financing Benefit Women? [analysis]

  Decades after the world officially recognized a human right to gender equality, women remain largely excluded from the upper ranks of government and business, earn less than their... Read more »

• Kenya: Taking on Violence Against Women in Africa

  Kenya's current law against wife-beating was prompted some years ago by a particularly dramatic incident of a common problem-one that is not unusual across Africa. In December 1998... Read more »

• Southern Africa: AIDS often Has a Woman's Face

  Schoolgirl Nomasonto Masango giggles as she lists all the things she and her friends want boyfriends to buy them. "If you have an older boyfriend, he can buy you things and it is... Read more »

• Uganda: Women Struggle to Secure Land Rights

  Felitus Kures is a widow living in Kapchorwa, northeastern Uganda. Her husband's death left her solely responsible for their children. To meet their needs, she depended on the... Read more »

• Southern Africa: 'Renewed Energy for Women's Empowerment' [interview]

  Nomcebo Manzini is a busy woman. As the regional director for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean islands of the UN's recently created Entity for Gender Equality and the... Read more »

• Ghana: Tapping Women's Entrepreneurship

  "It has been a very long journey," says Leticia Osafo-Addo, a business owner in Ghana. Her journey to success began nearly 30 years ago. She started off in her kitchen by making... Read more »

• Zambia: Women are Ready to Lead

  When the young Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika was sent off to an all-girls boarding school in Zambia renowned for its academic excellence and sporting discipline, she was laying the... Read more »

January 24, 2012

• Lesotho: Economy Catches Flu - From South Africa's Sneeze

  For decades the mountain kingdom of Lesotho has relied heavily on South Africa to advance - until now. South Africa's economic difficulties are placing Lesotho's economy at a... Read more »

• Africa: Cross-Border Telephone Remittances Increase in Africa

  More people in Africa's poorest countries have mobile phones than have bank accounts. That reality is spurring mobile service companies to explore how they can capture a share of... Read more »

January 09, 2012

• Congo-Kinshasa: When Protectors Turn Predators [analysis]

  "A dead rat is worth more than the body of a woman." Those were the words of one distraught young woman whom I met in Walikale in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in... Read more »

December 28, 2011

• Kenya: Millennium Villages - a Lasting Impact? [analysis]

  Haruni Odhiambo Nyariru is making an addition to his home. Martin Omondi Onyango bought a cow and a goat, covers his younger brother's school fees and is building a house for his... Read more »

• Africa: Dialing for Cash - Mobile Transfers Expand Banking [analysis]

  More people in Africa's poorest countries have mobile phones than have bank accounts. That reality is spurring mobile service companies to explore how they can capture a share of... Read more »

• Africa: Nepad On the Ground

  Over the past 10 years, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has launched a number of bold and innovative programmes. In some instances the plan is already... Read more »

• Africa: Improving Governance, Before It's Too Late [analysis]

  The ongoing agitation in Africa triggered by the "Arab Spring" demonstrates yet again the importance of good political and economic governance for the continent's development. Read more »

• Lesotho: Economy Catches Flu - From Big Brother's Sneeze

  For decades the tiny landlocked mountain kingdom of Lesotho has relied heavily on its giant neighbour, South Africa, to advance - until now. Read more »

• Africa: Famine Response - Too Little, Perhaps Too Late [analysis]

  Jerry Rawlings, a former president of Ghana and now the high representative for Somalia for the African Union (AU), visited a number of African capitals in July and August to drum... Read more »

• Africa: 'In 10 Years, Nepad Has Achieved a Lot' [interview]

  In July 2001, African leaders adopted the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the road map for the continent's development. Read more »

• Kenya: Social Media for a Social Cause

  Julie Gichuru is an award-winning Kenyan television journalist rated by Forbes business magazine in 2011 as one of the "20 youngest powerful women in Africa." Ms. Gichuru has a... Read more »

December 23, 2011

• Africa: 'We Cannot Keep On Offering a Negative Image of Africa' [interview]

  In July 2001, African leaders adopted the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the road map for the continent's development. Since its adoption a decade ago, how much... Read more »

• Africa: Famine Response - Too Little, Perhaps Too Late

  Jerry Rawlings, a former president of Ghana and now the high representative for Somalia for the African Union (AU), visited a number of African capitals in July and August to drum... Read more »

December 14, 2011

• Nigeria: Social Media Stimulates Debate on Sexual Violence

  "Kill me, kill me, you people should just kill me," an unidentified woman begged as she was being gang raped by five men while her ordeal was filmed with one of their mobile... Read more »

• Kenya: Social Media Used to Mobilize Support for Drought Victims

  Julie Gichuru is an award-winning Kenyan television journalist rated by Forbes business magazine in 2011 as one of "20 youngest powerful women in Africa." Ms. Gichuru has a... Read more »

December 06, 2011

• Nigeria: Social Media Stimulates Debate On Sexual Violence [analysis]

  "Kill me, kill me, you people should just kill me." Those were the words of an unidentified woman as she was being gang raped by five men and her ordeal was filmed with one of... Read more »