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Why Women are Economic Backbone of Rwanda
Kigali, Rwanda (CNN) -- Six days a week Bernadette Ndizigiye puts her skillful hands to work. Stretched out on the floor of an empty classroom in Kigali, Ndizigiye and 20 other women weave baskets to earn their keep. Her job at the Agaseke Project, a government run cooperative, has earned Ndizigiye a steady wage, her first savings account, and a taste of financial empowerment. "I can pay school fees for m...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Fund Seeks to Invest in the West African Seed Industry
The West Africa Agricultural Investment Fund ("WAAIF") and Injaro Investments Limited ("Injaro") Monday announced the First Closing of the first ever West African fund focused on investing in indigenous seed production companies. The initial investors in the fund are The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Lundin For Africa Society, a Vancouver-based foundation. The launch of the fund will provide capital that is desperately needed by West Africa’s cr...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Fighting Poverty in Kenya by Selling Water Pumps to Poor Farmers
JIM LEHRER : Next: A California man takes a business approach to combating poverty in Africa. "NewsHour" correspondent Spencer Michels reports. SPENCER MICHELS : It’s a strange sight on the roof of a building in San Francisco: Martin Fisher, the co-founder of a nonprofit called KickStart, demonstrating a pump called the Super MoneyMaker that he developed for sale in poor countries, mostly in Africa. It’s a devic...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Cooperatives Can Get Women Out of Poverty
On July 3, Uganda joined the rest of the world in the celebrations to mark the 88th Annual Cooperative Day, a day which provides us with a chance to reflect upon the remarkable achievements of the Cooperative Movement. The theme for this year was Empowering Women, a section of society which has historically stood to gain the most from the movement, and continues to advance itself using cooperative tools. All over the world, women are choosing t...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Danone Expands Its Pantry to Woo the World’s Poor
RICHARD TOLL, Senegal-Twice a week after work, Senegalese webmaster Demba Gueye treats himself to a snack: a 10-cent tube of Dolima drinkable yogurt. It’s a splurge considering his two-dollar-a-day food budget, and the 50-gram sachets are "teeny." But the 25 year-old says they’re delicious. "I’m crazy about it," he says. The yogurt is an attempt by French food company ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The AIDS Funding Dilemma
In the "AIDS exceptionalism" debate, emotions run high, and the options are difficult: Shift some AIDS funding to other care, or find billions in new support. Dr. Jerome Kabakyenga has just walked a pair of visitors through a pair of vividly different Ugandan hospital laboratories - one ultramodern, the other an outdated relic. ...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Can Ice Cream Help Pull Rwanda Out of Poverty?
Motorcycle taxis zip along the narrow tarmac road from Butare, Rwanda’s second largest city, to the National University on the outskirts of town. Along the verge, clusters of students mosey towards campus while men on bicycles laden with sacks of beans cruise past a backdrop of terraced hills. About halfway between town and the university, the students pause at a modest yet modern white-stucco storefront where a hand-painted banner announces the arrival...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Menstruation Stigma Costs Girls Dearly: Development Group and MIT Create Affordable Sanitary Pads
Three days a month, Annalita is too embarrassed to go to school. The Rwandan teen, like millions of her peers worldwide, is menstruating. Her family can’t afford sanitary pads, so Annalita makes do with what few materials she can find including rags, bark and mud. But these makeshift pads are usually ineffective. Rather than focusing on her studies, Annalita spends her day anxious about a potential accident in front of her classmates. She also worries about embarrassment...
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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