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Local entrepreneurs drive a major West African water program.
A set of water and sanitation projects implemented by a well-funded water and sanitation program in Ghana, Mali and Niger has gone far beyond boreholes and pit latrines to improve public health. The efforts of 12 entities that have formed the West African Water Initiative broadened their community health goals with a variety of projects. Farmers are selling cat-sized rodents that are popular fare in big-city restaurants; women in fashionable boubous stand guard over standpipes along the roadsid...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Mobile Phone: A Tool For Modern Fishermen In Ghana
by Mawutodzi K. Abissath It is prudent to be guided by some of the thought-provoking African proverbs like this simple one: ?A child who has never traveled before tends to think that only his mother knows how to cook delicious soup.? --------- Long, long ago; and long before the Pyramids of Egypt were built and before Amenhotep IV a.k.a Akhenaton who was the first human being to proclaim monotheism or the concept of One God, passed through transition in 1350 B.C., traditional fi...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Indigenous Trees Feed Rural Families
Nicola Jenvey Durban Hundreds of rural families, many of whom are child-headed households, are securing sound incomes by growing indigenous trees from the seeds found in local forests and using the saplings as currency. The project, which aims to help people out of poverty, got a boost yesterday when 100 new bicycles, food, clothing and building materials became the anchor products for a range of stores that will barter trees for...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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85bn Cedis Micro-Credit For Rural Poor
The government has channelled ?85 billion (approx US$9.4 million) through the rural banks for lending as micro-credit to the economically active but poor in the rural areas for them to improve the quality of their lives. The Vice- President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, announce...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Cisco Systems Sees Massive Potential in Developing World
Many African governments were beginning to spend heavily on telecommunications networks, seeing them as a platform through which to connect communities and start to challenge poverty. Two problems were how Cisco could penetrate so many countries, and the shortage of skills to support its technologies. Networking company Cisco Systems expects to sustain annual growth of 10%-15% for the next few years as the volume of traffic carried on global networks surge...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Opportunity International to develop a trans-African network of new commercial banks for the poor
Opportunity International’s efforts in Malawi and Mozambique will provide thousands of poor Africans with financial tools to rise out of poverty and will demonstrate that rural Africa is a viable market for microfinance. Opportunity International, one of the world’s largest microfinance organizations, today announced that it received a $2.2 million grant over three years from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will go toward a project to develop a...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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St. Jude Empowers 180,000 Farmers With Organic Skills
ST. JUDE Family Projects is training farmers in modern Integrated Organic Farming (IOF). For the past 12 years, the project has equipped more than 180,000 farmers with skills in IOF. Integrated Organic Farming is a process of harmonious co-existence between the various components on a farm - plants, animals, water and soils. Each component contributes directly or indirectly to the other. The centre, located at Busense, Kabonera sub-county in Bukoto Central, Masaka distric...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Malawi Pilots Drought Insurance Coverage With Local Farmers
Malawi has introduced an innovative pilot drought insurance program for local groundnut farmers that will help them mitigate the risks associated with periodic droughts. The insurance will help farmers obtain financing necessary to obtain certified seeds, which produce increased yields and revenues as well as greater resistance to disease. The program is currently being utilized through the pilot program by nearly 900 farmers in four areas and, if successful, can be scaled up to other crops and...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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