Latest News
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Africa up for grabs, Saudi Arabia takes its share
Land grabbing threatens the livelihood of many communities in Africa. Saudi Arabian companies are among the many grabbing land in Africa. Under the umbrella of the King Abdullah Initiative for Saudi Investment Abroad, Saudi investors have acquired land in Africa with promises to improve Africa’s agricultural sector. Saudi investors have leased a combined 1,000,000 hectares…
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Africa Has One Less Autocrat: Blaise Compaore, of Burkina Faso, deposed after 28 years
On October 31st the world has taken notice of an important historic event on the African continent: the people of the west African nation of Burkina Faso are free from one of Africa’s atrocious dictators. This liberation ends 28 years of oppression. An African proverb (popular in the AFJN office) says: “When spider webs unite,…
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AFJN Publication: “Land Grabbing in Africa: Herakles Farms’ Failed Venture in Brewaniase, Ghana”
AFJN travelled to Brewaniase, a town in Ghana’s Volta Region, to learn more about a potential land grab deal by Herakles Farms, a New York based agribusiness.
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Africa Must Leapfrog Its Way to the Future
By Ola Orekunrin, edited by Rita Murphy from Think Africa Press. The conventional path for improving healthcare is to build more hospitals and train more doctors. But could Africa speed up progress by ‘hacking’ its way to success? Governments, NGOs and businesses spend billions of dollars across Africa building new hospitals and training new doctors….
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AFJN Signer of Open Letter on Conflict Minerals
It is time for another broader push for reform on conflict minerals and natural resource governance in order to complement the Dodd-Frank legislation and deepen related minerals reforms.
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AFJN featured in Enough on Conflict Minerals
On October 30, 2014, the Africa Faith and Justice Network was mentioned in the Enough Team’s article “Open Letter on Conflict Minerals” in Enough. Read the full article here: https://enoughproject.org/reports/open-letter-dodd-frank-october-2014
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Investigating Herakles Farms in Ghana: AFJN’s Report
What happened with Herakles Farms in Ghana? How is the community doing now? What is the prognosis for the new owner of the land? Find out by clicking here to read our report (pdf).
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Equal gender representation in the Namibian Government is on the rise
By AFJN Intern Erika De Leener Namibia’s ruling South West Africa People’s Organization ( SWAPO) party has delivered its promise of equal gender representation.With 51% of Namibia’s population being woman it seems only fitting that there is equal representation. Not only has Namibia reached the milestone of equal gender representation in members of government, it…
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AFJN’s First Empowerment and Advocacy for Just Governance Workshop
From October 8-10, 2014, we organized our first pilot workshop on Empowerment and Advocacy for Just Governance in Accra, Ghana. The workshop was organized in partnership with the Archdiocesan Office for Justice and Peace and Development Commission, The National Catholic Secretariat of Ghana’s Bishops Conference, the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar…
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Campaign to Prevent Land Grabbing in Ghana’s Volta Region
Land Grabbing Research, Awareness and Prevention in Ghana’s Volta Region is a project of the Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN) funded by two Catholic religious congregations: The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and The Adorers of the Blood of Christ. The outstanding success of this project was in part made possible by our local…
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Preventing land-grabbing in Africa
As the international community joins hands to stop the threat of the Ebola virus, Bahati Jacques of Africa Faith and Justice Network, a Catholic advocacy organization based in Washington DC, would like to also shine some light, stop and prevent another serious and rapidly growing threat to Africa’s future: land grabbing. To ensure food security for a…
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AFJN signed on a joint statement to stop the World Bank from enabling land grabs
Though it is widely recognized today that land grabs are dispossessing and impoverishing rural communities across the globe, the World Bank is unwilling to change its approach. On the contrary, it is working to do more to favor investments by foreign corporations in developing countries’ agricultural sectors.
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Pushing for Internet Access
Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican, has called for the extension of internet and other technological facilities to rural areas in order to improve upon the quality of education in villages and towns in West Africa. He said it was time internet facilities were made available in…
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AFJN publishes report titled “Land Grabbing in Africa: Herakles Farms’ Failed Venture in Brewaniase, Ghana”
On October 1st, 2014, AFJN authors and publishes a report titled “Land Grabbing in Africa: Herakles Farms’ Failed Venture in Brewaniase, Ghana” in the Land Portal Foundation.
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Kenya’s Ogiek Women Conquer Cultural Barriers to Support their Families
NAKURU COUNTY, Kenya, Sep 22 2014 (IPS) – Just two years ago, Mary Ondolo, a 50-year-old mother of nine from Kenya’s marginalized, hunter-gatherer community the Ogiek, used to live in a grass thatched, mud house. She’d been living there for decades. But thanks to a donation of livestock and equipment she has now been able…
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The Murder of Catholic Nuns in Burundi is a Violation of African Taboo
The weekend of Sunday, September 7, 2014 saw abominable acts in Burundi as three Italian Catholic nuns, members of the Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary were killed in cold blood. According to a press release from the US Xaverian Missionaries Provincial Superior Fr. Carl Chudy, SX, “the nuns were killed at two separate incidences in…
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Praise for Zambia’s Social Progress
United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening visited Zambia in July. She said Zambia had enjoyed impressive economic growth and had seen 1.2 million more children in schools and 40 per cent reduction in child mortality. She commended Zambia’s commitment to scaling up social protection to those living in extreme poverty saying…
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Church Experience in Africa: Cheerful Offering
This is a typical Sunday mass at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Nkwanta/Jasikan Diocese. Dancing is one of many aspects of the adaptations of the faith experience (enculturation) of the Roman Catholic Church in Africa. The celebratory and musical feel of Sunday gatherings and other faith meetings stem from people’s faith in a God whose…
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Kenyan Javelin Thrower
Kenya is renowned for its distance runners who have won races all over the world. The Kenyans showed their prowess again recently at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, where they won 10 gold medals. Nine of the 10 gold came in running events, while Julius Yego made history as the first Kenyan to be…
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