Latest News
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Land Grab in Francophone Africa: Identifying and Promoting Lasting Endogenous Solutions
A Review of Follow-up Actions After the Limuru Conference Remarks by Aniedi Okure, OP, Executive Director, AFJN, Abidjan November 21, 2017 Your Excellencies, dear brothers and sisters, thank you for giving me the opportunity to present the follow-up to the conference that took place in Limuru, Kenya from 22 to 26 November, 2015, two years…
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AFJN’s Policy Analyst Jacques Bahati quoted in New York Amsterdam News on the resignation of the Zimbabwe President
On November 21st, 2017, the New York Amsterdam News published an article titled “Zimbabwe President Comrade Robert Mugabe resigns” by Aeed Shabaz.
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“Nobel Prize of Agriculture” – a recognition for pioneering Nigeria’s E-Wallet technology
The World Food Prize is awarded yearly for a specific and exceptionally significant contribution to the production or distribution of food. This year’s “Nobel Prize of Agriculture” was awarded to Akinwumi Adesina, a former Nigerian agriculture minister – and currently the president of the African Development Bank – for his contributions to increasing productivity in…
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Representative Huizenga’s Bill H.R. 4248 – a Safety Threat and a Financial Gift to Rebel Groups in D.R. Congo
Representative Bill Huizenga (R-MI) has made it one of his legislative priorities to reopen the cash flow to rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which is currently closed due to regulations by section 1502 (Conflict Mineral) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Representative Huizenga‘s bill…
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Justice With Charity: Ghanaian Sisters Responding to Violence Against Women and Children
In May 2017, members of the Africa Faith & Justice Network team met with the major superiors of Ghana, encouraging them to engage structures of injustice in their communities while continuing to provide services to the people, thus sustaining the gains of sisters’ charity work. From October 7-11, 2017, at the request of the major…
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Rare victory for rainforests as nations vow to stop ‘death by chocolate’
Up to 70% of the world’s cocoa is produced by 2 million farmers in a belt that stretches from Sierra Leone to Cameroon, but Ivory Coast and Ghana are the giants, the world’s first and second biggest producers. They are also the biggest victims of deforestation. Ivory Coast is losing its forests at a faster…
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Ghana is rolling out a digital address system to help formalize more of its economy
Mail and delivery is not that straightforward in Ghana, which like many developing countries, lacks a formal addressing system. Instead of a number and street name, often landmarks, be it a junction, tree or colored gate, are used to describe a location. The Ghanaian government has launched a digital system which allows users to generate their…
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The biomedical smart jacket that diagnoses pneumonia using Bluetooth
Pneumonia kills half a million children under five in sub-Saharan Africa every year, with the region accounting for half of all global deaths from pneumonia of children under five. Most of these deaths are due to misdiagnosis and the lack of access to treatment. To mitigate this problem, Brian Turyabagye and Olivia Koburongo of Uganda,…
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AFJN’s and Fr. Danielle Moschetti’s US Advocacy featured in Famiglia Cristiana
I missionari italiani sono poco più di 8 mila, rispetto ai 24 mila degli anni Novanta. Nel frattempo, però, crescono le giovani Chiese, in un mondo sempre più interdipendente.
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Blind female Ethiopian lawyer wins global award for promoting disability rights
About 10% of the world’s population has a disabilities, of which 80% live in developing countries. The majority of this 80% living in developing countries lack access to education and rehabilitation services. In Ethiopia, people with disabilities have been unable to participate in national developments due to lack of assistance and stigmatization. But that was…
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Protect Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Peace Law Provisions of Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
In response to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13772 on Core Principles for Regulating the United States Financial System, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued this October 2017 report titled “A Financial System That Creates Economic Opportunities” in which the Department recommends that “Section 1502 (conflict minerals), Section 1503 (mine safety), Section 1504 (resource…
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Local women changing Congo from within
The Democratic Republic of Congo has been named the rape capital of the world following studies that found 1,152 women are raped every day – a rate equal to 48 per hour, but Justine Masika Bihamba does not see it that way. To her, Congo is a nation of sisterhood and solidarity. “We are changing…
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Kenya’s Maturing Democracy put to test by its Judiciary
An election is a process, not an event.’ This was the bold rationale provided by Chief Justice David Maraga in his brief remarks, after announcing that Kenya’s Supreme Court had nullified the August 8th Presidential election results, by a 4-2 vote margin. The majority judges, led by the Chief Justice himself, presented their decision in a brief publication entitled, “Determination of Petition Without Reasons”, explaining that substantial…
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Advocacy Against Defunding 1502 Dodd-Frank, U.S Conflict Mineral Law
On September 14, 2017, as part of H.R.3354, the Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, 2018, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to defund the implementation, administration and enforcement one of America’s latest peace, human rights and democracy promotion laws. This law is called Conflict Minerals and it is the 1502th section of…
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2017 Africa Braintrust
This year’s Africa Braintrust was held on September 22nd as part of the 2017 Congressional Black Caucus. The event was aimed at exploring the various ways the United States can renew and strengthen its engagement with Africa in the domains of economic investments, cultural exchange, democracy promotion, education, and scientific research. Much attention was, however,…
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Coffee Industry Revives in DRC, Ghana
Due to ongoing conflict in the 1990s and 2000s, coffee, which was once the second biggest export in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, suffered a drastic blow to its market. Donor funding in recent years however has contributed to rebuilding the coffee industry and making it attractive to global buyers such as Starbucks. While…
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Parliamentarians Fight to Resist Legalizing Lifetime Presidency in Uganda
The violence which broke out in Uganda’s parliament on September 26, 2017 calls for greater global solidarity and action in support of the will of the Ugandan people to end lifetime presidency in Uganda and anywhere where the fight for presidential term limits is ongoing or needed. Lifetime President’s Profile Life presidents are tyrannical, corrupt…
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Guinean teacher builds a dam to power up his entire village
The West African nation of Guinea has significant hydroelectric potential (estimated at 6,000 MW) but, currently, only 2% of that amount is being exploited, providing access to only one out of every four Guineans. Last April, the government said it intended to connect 721,000 homes to electricity between now and 2020. But the population is…
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A New Normal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Priests, Doctors, and Citizens Kidnapped for Ransom or Killed
On September 20, 2017 Archbishop Nicholas Djomo of the diocese of Tshumbe in the Kasai region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) held a briefing for the Catholic Task Force for Africa and other groups at the office of the Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN). The event was live streamed which allowed…
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Secondary School Now Free in Ghana
While primary education has been free in Ghana since 1995, the government recently moved to make public high school free as well. Calling it a “necessary investment in the nation’s future workforce,” free high school was a major campaign promise of President Nana Akufo-Addo who assumed office in January 2017. As the Education Ministry has…
