On Friday, 04 February 2022, TrustAfrica's Programs Director, Briggs Bomba is giving a keynote at the side session during the Africa Union (AU) Summit themed 'Building resilience in nutri on on the African con nent: Accelerate the human capital, social and economic development. The side session is hosted by The Stop the Bleeding (STB) Campaign. The session is themed “Reaffirming the People's Demand for a Pan African Agenda on Finance and Development.” While COVID-19 has made the need for global solutions to global challenges more urgent, the Global North has half-heartedly supported efforts to enhance equitable access to vaccines. Likewise, opportunities to address the long-standing challenges of harmful tax competition on fuelling corporate tax avoidance, systemic gender inequality, sustainable debt financing, and addressing climate change have failed to prioritize the Global South. Last year, through its consortium members, the Stop the Bleeding Campaign made impassioned demands on global minimum tax reforms and sustainable debt management. Notably, the AU Special Envoys recommended that AU develop a common African position for the reform of the international financial architecture and advocate for this objective. Some of the critical highlights of AU Special Envoys included implementing the recommendations of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on debt sustainability and improving domestic resource mobilization to support Africa's development financing by upscaling efforts to curb illicit financial flows and enhance revenue collection by strengthening tax administrations.
Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at the Cambridge Judge Business School based at the University of Cambridge will host a seminar titled #ShiftThePower – Revolutionising Transparency in the Third Sector: Driving Better Decisions, Legitimacy and Goodwill on the 7th of October 2021 from 11:00 – 12:30 BST). This is part of an online series deconstructing the components of imbalanced power structures between Global North and Global South philanthropy actors, better understanding how change can come about and enabling philanthropy practitioners to define the nature of the change required for the long-term institutionalisation of COVID-19-induced changes in best practice. The first two session recordings are available here. The registration link for the event can be found here.
The FEMNET 2021 African Feminist Macroeconomic Academy (AFMA) will be held in partnership with TrustAfrica from 15-19 November in Dakar, Senegal.
This year’s academy will be held under the theme: “Promoting a Feminist Approach to Delivery and Financing of Public Services in Africa”. Participants invited to apply will be African feminist activists and movement leaders drawn from a range of sub- regions, organisations, movements and formations that are pushing for women’s economic justice and working in various sectors such as agriculture, informal trade, natural resource extraction, sexual reproductive rights, violence against women, economic justice, trade unions, women with disability, young women among others. Please find the call for applications here. The deadline to apply by is 30 September 2021.
Thème : Une relance verte et juste pour l’Afrique : Un appel à l’action
Le fardeau de la dette de l’Afrique est lourd, très lourd, et le service de cette dette prive le continent de ressources précieuses qui auraient pu être utilisées pour le développement, la fourniture de services sociaux ou l’achat de vaccins anti-COVID-19. Avec les crises sanitaires et économiques qui ont suivi l’apparition de la pandémie de COVID-19, le flux financier à destination du continent s’est réduit, à un moment où le besoin de ressources est peut-être encore plus grand qu’avant les crises. Nous avons donc besoin de toutes les ressources disponibles sur le continent pour surmonter les crises et construire un avenir meilleur. Les appels à l’annulation de la dette extérieure ou, au moins, à un moratoire prolongé du service de la dette (au moins jusqu’en 2022) sont de plus en plus forts et pressants et émanent de nombreuses personnes et institutions, dont un nombre croissant de gouvernements africains.
Le 15 mars 2021, ActionAid, TrustAfrica, Africans Rising, Oxfam, l’Institut de la Société civile de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (WACSI), le Forum de la société civile de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (FOSCAO), le Forum des organisations de la société civile de l’Afrique de l’Est, CIVICUS, le Forum africain sur la dette et le développement (AFRODAD) et ANCEFA ont organisé une table ronde sur la dette africaine, en marge de la 53ème Session de la Conférence des ministres africains des finances, de la planification et du développement économique. Le ministre sénégalais de l’Économie et de la Coopération, M. Amadou Hott, a prononcé le discours d’ouverture, après le mot de bienvenue de Mme Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Présidente du Conseil d’administration d’ActionAid et conseillère spéciale du FMI. Les participants ont discuté des rapports d’études menées dans plusieurs pays africains ainsi que des présentations sur les réponses éventuelles au fardeau de la dette.
Charting A Path Towards A Sustainable Clean Air in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Written by Fatou Published in Conférence Read 10125 times
On Wednesday, June 27th, 2018 the Kiisi Trust Fund hosted the first ever Clean Air Summit in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in partnership with Environmental Rights Action, Centre for Human Rights and Development, Suburbia 180 Foundation, and Citizens Information and Development Initiative, with the aim of creating a template for a systematic, coordinated, result oriented and science-based approach to dealing with the black soot air pollution in Rivers state. Since 2016, residents of Port Harcourt, Eleme and other adjoining towns and villages in Rivers State, Nigeria have observed an increase in the daily blanketing of the atmosphere of an oily soot compound, causing serious source of concern to the 5 million people who reside in the state.
Enhancing Convergence of the Media and Civil Society in Collaborative Efforts towards Combating IFFs from Africa
Written by Fatou Published in Conférence Read 7904 times
TrustAfrica is currently hosting a ‘Meeting on Enhancing convergence of the media and civil society in collaborative efforts towards combatting Illicit Financial Flows from Africa’, taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 28th and 29th June 2018, and in collaboration with Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Strengthening livestock policy advocacy capacity in Tanzania to promote inclusive and accountable livestock investments
Written by Fatou Published in Conférence Read 9611 times
Workshop participants group photo taken at Oceanic Bay Hotel, Bagamoyo Tanzania.
The TrustAfrica Agriculture Advocacy Program working with Agriculture Non-State Actors Forum (ANSAF) held a workshop for livestock stakeholders to sharpen policy advocacy skills and to validate a strategic communication and advocacy plan, developed after several months of stakeholder consultations and research. The workshop was held from the 8th to the 11th of August, as a follow-up to the groundwork that saw the emergence of a loose network of livestock policy advocates upon seeing the need to come together to promote accountable, inclusive and equitable livestock policies and investments in Tanzania.
The network is made up of wide range of stakeholders from civil society organisations, pastoralists, research private organisations, farmers unions, private sector companies, development partners as well as government.
The workshop aimed to build the advocacy capacity of the livestock policy forum in targeted and strategic policy and budget advocacy for the implementation of key reforms in the sector. The workshop provided an opportunity to encourage deeper engagement, coordination and collaboration amongst the network members to work together on championing and advancing livestock sector development.
Dr Bethule Nyamambi, who leads the TrustAfrica Agriculture Advocacy Program highlighted that a strong, coordinated advocacy network of stakeholders was necessary to important in livestock policymaking and providing evidence to ensure strategic investments and problem-solving in small-scale livestock sector development. Noting that the Tanzania livestock sector, though significant due to its large livestock numbers, was still under developed and underperforming in terms of contribution to GDP, it was therefore important to engage government on investments and better policies. Opportunities presented in National development plans (FYDP 2015-2020) and Agriculture development plans, ASDP2 (2016-2021), Tanzania Livestock Modernisation Initiative and Livestock Master Plan should be leveraged to make a case for increased investment and solving challenges impeding the sector currently.
Opening the workshop, Dr S Mlote, Principal Economist M&E in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MALF) said “the forum was coming at the right time, when the Ministry is finalizing the Livestock Master Plan, to guide interventions and investments in the sub-sector”. She emphasized that it is time for stakeholders to work together, advocate for issues and policies that will enable Tanzania to benefit from the large number of livestock through significant economic contribution to the GDP, CAADP goals and even industrialization.
*Dr Mlote, Principal Economist M&E, MALF giving opening remarks
Tanzania livestock sector’s potential contribution to achieving many of the national development goals represents a unique opportunity for far-reaching transformation. However, the 60% of the rural population, that relies on livestock herding for income and food security, are marginalized. Whilst livestock production is a fast-growing sector globally, due in part to changing diets because of increasing disposable incomes, investment in small scale livestock and mobile livestock keeping is still minimal and not inclusive. There is recognition that small-scale livestock farming should be supported for its additional positive and sustainable effects on the environment.
The workshop took time to review the advocacy and communication strategy whose vision is to improve production and productivity of the sector. The plan is to advocate for interventions that address 4 specific challenges impeding; increased public and private investments; low access to feeds; better regulatory environment and reduction in prohibitive taxes, improved access to resources including finance, land, and equipment. This advocacy and communication strategy will serve as a roadmap for the forum’s advocacy and communication engagement to achieve these objectives. Post workshop, the strategy will be finalised and launched in September 2017.
Participants engaging in a facilitated discussion on the livestock policy-making processes
By the end of the workshop, participants acknowledged that they had gained new knowledge and improved their skills on analysing and identifying the policy issues and gaps, and developing alternate policy positions, tracking and monitoring budget allocations and public expenditure, understanding strategies to work with and deepen political will and interventions to increase the visibility of livestock sector initiatives.
TrustAfrica’s agriculture advocacy initiative, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiative seeks to strengthen the policy advocacy capacities of unions, associations and intermediary organizations that represent the interests of smallholders. It currently focuses on six countries in West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso), East Africa (Tanzania and Uganda) and Southern Africa (Malawi) with a combined population of about 160 million people. TrustAfrica’s work on sustainable, inclusive and equitable agriculture development aims to help such groups as the livestock policy advocacy forum to build the capacity to engage more effectively for better policies. The initiative incorporates knowledge building, grant making and technical assistance, strengthening civil society’s capacity to engage in policy-making processes and advocacy for more inclusive platforms to formulate agricultural policies.
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The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and TrustAfrica, Senegal held a National Summit on Tertiary Education in Ghana on the theme: “Crafting a National Vision and Plan for the 21st Century” in Accra from November 2 to 4, 2016.
TrustAfrica (TA)organized a three day seminar in Dakar from March 30 to April 1, 2016 around the theme “Early Learning Innovations Reflections and Planning”. This seminar brought together the current three partners of TrustAfrica’s Early Learning portfolio. These partners have been selected to continue in the phase 2 implementation of the project, which is concerned with condensing and scaling up the innovations from phase one of the project. These partners received bridge funding for the transitional between both phase one and two. The three partners present are who Link Community Development Uganda (LCDU, Uganda), Ecole Multilingue (EMiLe, Senegal) and Madrasa (Kenya).
* To present projects components, achievements, and lessons learned
* To discuss the objectives, strategies and challenges for Phase 2 implementation
* To realize a solid work planning for phase 2 integrating M&E and media dissemination
* To gain knowledge and “how to” tools kits to ensure proper dissemination of the innovations impact to various stakeholders.
* To provide an enabling environment which promotes peer sharing, learning, networking, and opportunities for relationship building and collaboration among grantee partners
Workshop on Documenting Atrocity Crimes in Africa: Amplifying Civil Society Organization Capacity to Work in Transitional Justice Processes in Africa
Written by Masekara Sekoankoetla Published in Conférence Read 15216 timesExperiences in Africa and around the world have indicated that the end of conflict does not automatically lead to sustainable peace and transition to democratic rule with rule of law and respect for human rights. They proved rather that transitional justice (TJ) is indispensable to achieve this end. Indeed there is a need to initiate TJ processes to recognize victims of atrocity crimes and secure accountability for those crimes. In fact this has proved to secure civic trust and national reconciliation and at least promises democratic rule in Africa. It must be noted that transitional TJ processes would not see success without the initiatives of Civil Society Organizations’ (CSOs)) ground preparatory work of fact finding and documentation. Although their preparatory work has proved success of many TJs in securing accountability in Africa, it would be misleading to say this work is a smooth road.
