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The South African ’Wonderbag’ Soon to be UNFCCC Accredited
A South African project that initially attempted to tackle poverty has shown potential to mitigate the effects of climate change and is expanding beyond the country’s borders. By Kemantha Govender, BuaNews The Wonderbag project - a recyclable, insulated ’cooker’ - focuses on developing countries and communities with high poverty, shortage of fuel supplies, high i...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Spectacular Mobile Phone Revolution in Africa
Mobile phone service is gaining by leaps and bounds in Africa. Indeed, so many Africans have subscribed to wireless service that the continent is now the second-largest market in the world - having supplanted Latin America -- and behind only Asia, the top market. The expansion of mobile phones is likely to revolutionize Africa, a land plagued by poverty, disease, war...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Microcredit – Women Demand More Than Incomes
VALLADOLID, Spain, Nov 16, 2011 (IPS) - Microcredit can help a woman to have an income. It can, for better or worse, also transform gender equations in the public and private spheres. Making microfinance more meaningful for women in terms of real empowerment occupies much of the deliberations at the Fifth Global Microcredit Summit underway in this Spanish city. Apparently, not all microcredit institutions (MFIs) are aware of the importance of contribu...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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A Netflix for Batteries to Get Africa on the Grid
Around the world nearly 2 billion people don’t have reliable access to electricity. We’ve covered some of the inspiring plans and products aiming to compensate for that by making solar power cheap enough for off-grid homes in the developing world. But in Tanzania, where just 14 percent of peopl...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Rural Women Banking by Mobile Phone
PLUMTREE, Zimbabwe, Nov 14, 2011 (IPS) - Collecting the monthly subscriptions for her co-operative has always been a headache for Thelma Nare, 41. This is because Nare lives in Tshitshi, Plumtree in rural Zimbabwe, about 60 kilometres away from the humdrum of the nearest town centre where banks are located. "We meet after a long time as here in the rural areas our homesteads can be very far from each other. So members of our club do not meet or contribute regularly...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Embrace ICT for Development, Minister Urges SMEs
Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (SME) operators have been urged to leverage the power of the Internet in transforming their businesses. Speaking at the Google Business Summit in Lagos, the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, said research supports the concept of putting businesses online. "Today, Nigeria has an estimated 33 million Internet users and we have targets to double this number in the next three to four years. Getting your business o...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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LinkedIn Connects Chilean Social Entrepreneur with Kenya
Sebastian Salinas Claro, a young social entrepreneur from Chile is headed to Kenya to help launch a social entrepreneurship program. This event came about through the leading social networking website for professionals, LinkedIn. Sebastian, who founded a small social enterprise called Emprediem earlier this year. The company conducts workshops in entrepreneurship and social innovation. Sebastian’s Kenya endeavor began when a friend informed him that he was connected with Alex...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Gates Foundation Unveils New Agricultural Policy
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the world’s largest donors to international agricultural research for development, has announced tighter priorities for its funding for Africa and South Asia, concentrating on key target countries and crops. In Africa the focus will be on Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. These countries will benefit from significant investment "to...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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