Africa Educates Her Campaign with Sofonie Dala. Day 4

Africa Educates Her Campaign is live in Angola 

Girls are missing out on education because they can’t access online and distance learning. Member organisations are aware that only 12% of households in the poorest countries have internet access at home, and access to mobile internet is 26% lower for women and girls than for their male peers. On top of this, girls are the first to be pulled out of school, put to work and care for younger siblings when families face economic hardship. As a result, member organisations are concerned that girls don’t have time for school work and may not return once schools reopen.

We are working hard to find solutions that can safeguard girls education and get girls back to school. 

Today we invited Augusta. She will share with us her challenges during covid-19 pandemic.

All the interviews are being conducted in Portuguese. 

Note: this is a collection of stories via video from girls in primary, secondary and tertiary level who have been affected by the lockdowns.

Key questions answered are:

What is your name?

What is your age?

Country?

What level of education are you in?

How has COVID-19 affected you as a student?

What are the challenges you are facing or have faced in your pursuit to continue learning during the school lock-down?

And what do you think educators, government and development players can do to ensure every girl goes back to school after the lock-down?

The African Union International Center for Girls & Women's Education in Africa (AU/CIEFFA) is calling upon its Alumni and young people across the African Union Member States to work together and ensure girls and women in the continent continue learning during and post the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sign up to be part #AfricaEducatesHer and join other African youth and networks taking action to safeguard girls education and getting girls back to school. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1-GwJpUv_SFPzC9o5ASZPJkR0hah7kCY9ZzZbOj1KniyKrQ/viewform 

ACT Foundation Changemakers Innovation Challenge 2020 for nonprofits and social enterprises in Africa

 The Changemakers Innovation Challenge is conceived by ACT Foundation as a response to the impressive work of community nonprofits and social enterprises in Africa who are leveraging technology/ digital tools to create social change in their communities. Research shows that most nonprofits using technology/ digital tools to drive projects and develop communities are coming ahead in the world and also creating lasting impact.

Application Deadline: 7th September 2020. https://bit.ly/2QH0Nqh

Opportunity for Africans: LEAP Africa’s Social Innovators Programme (SIPA) 2020 for young changemakers.

Over the past six (6) years, LEAP Africa has partnered with Union Bank Nigeria, other corporate sponsors and development champions, to enable these young change makers to transition their social change ideas into scalable social enterprises. Through a careful selection process, 20 highly motivated and young Nigerian social innovators are chosen across a pool of applicants, to participate in activities outlined for the fellowship year. This year, the fellowship will open up to receive applications from English speaking West African countries.

Application Deadline: September 7th 2020 https://bit.ly/2WEhsy4

Fellows are empowered through a series of training sessions (physical and online), mentorship, access to local & international funding and partnership opportunities, and importantly the opportunity to be a part of a global network of social change agents. These activities culminate into an award ceremony where outstanding Fellows are rewarded with seed grants and showcased. The initiatives of Fellows cover various aspects of the society, such as Agriculture, Youth Empowerment, Education, Science & Technology, Health, Law, Human Rights, among others.

Level of creativity/innovation applied and their entrepreneurial approach towards social change.
Experience mobilizing people and resources to achieve set goals.
Applicants must give compelling reasons why they would like to participate in the fellowship programme and also show a strong desire to increase the impact of their change initiative.
Demonstrate a passion for social change and active participation in community building
Willingness to implement appropriate systems and structures to sustain the innovation developed

Gates Cambridge Scholarship Programme 2021 for Study at the University of Cambridge, UK (Fully Funded)

 Application Deadline: 7 January 2021 https://bit.ly/3bfffPJ

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship Programme was established in October 2000 by a donation of US$210m from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge; this is the largest ever single donation to a UK university.

Each year Gates Cambridge offers c.80 full-cost scholarships to outstanding applicants from countries outside the UK to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge. Approximately two-thirds of these awards will be offered to PhD students, with approximately 25 awards available in the US round and 55 available in the International round.

Funding

the University Composition Fee at the appropriate rate*
a maintenance allowance for a single student (£17,500 for 12 months at the 2020-21 rate; pro rata for courses shorter than 12 months) – for PhD scholars the award is for up to 4 years
one economy single airfare at both the beginning and end of the course
inbound visa costs & the cost of the Immigration Health Surcharge

2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize Writing Contest for unpublished short fiction (£15,000+ in Cash Prize).

Application Deadline: 1 November 2020
Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/34Ty8Xy

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize started in 2012 with the launch of Commonwealth Writers. Free to enter and with a global reach across five continents, the Prize seeks out talented writers and brings stories from new and emerging voices to an international audience. Stories often come from countries with little or no publishing infrastructure and from places that are marked by geographical, geopolitical or economic isolation.

The Prize attracts between 5,000 and 6,000 entries each year from almost all of the 54 countries of the Commonwealth. It is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction. You don’t need an agent, just an internet connection to submit your unpublished story of 2000-5000 words. Entry is always free and stories can be submitted in Bengali, Chinese, English, French, Greek, Kiswahili, Malay, Portuguese, Samoan, Tamil and Turkish, and in translation into English from any language.

Prize

Each regional winner receives £2,500, and their story is published online on Granta, the magazine of new writing. One of the regional winners is then selected as the overall winner, who receives £5,000 – one of the highest amounts for an international prize for unpublished short stories.

 

Ministry of Health prepares new serological test

 The minister of Health, Sílvia Lutucuta, announced last Monday that from next week onward people are going to be tested with the new serological analysis called “Elisa”.

With the new test, already in use in other countries, Angola will afford to test three thousand people per day, replacing the Abote test used so far for rapid testing campaigns against Covid-19.

“We’ll start as from next week with another technology: the ELisa test”, informed Sílvia Lutucuta, during the press conference to update the epidemiological situation of Covid-19.

As for the current rapid test, the minister reassured that the country still has a stock of 50,000 lots, of the 170,000 that has been acquired.

On the other hand, she also informed that the country is using modern technologies to carry out the geo-referencing of suspicious people, using the tools used by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

So far Angola registers 2,654 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 108 deaths, 1,071 recovered and 1,475 hospitalised patients.

Sonangol puts Hotel Florence on sale

 Public oil company Sonangol has opened a public tender for the sale of Hotel Florence, a three-star hotel located in Luanda, an act that happens under the programme for the privatization of state assets and divestment outside its "core business".

The deadline for submitting applications is 16 October, at 11 am, according to the announcement published in last Monday's edition of daily newspaper Jornal de Angola.

The tender for the purchase of Hotel Florence, located in the Talatona region, is open to national and foreign bidders.

The submission of proposals by the candidates runs until the 4th of December.

For provisional guarantee, Sonangol is demanding 60.000 US dollars or the equivalent in kwanzas at the exchange rate of the National Bank of Angola (BNA).

This is the second hotel owned by Sonangol being put up for sale in less than a week, after the five-star  Hotel Convention of Talatona  , an undertaking whose construction cost more than 200 million dollars.

In addition to these two investments, Sonangol opened also the tender for the sale of assets and stakes in the tourism sector, after in January it placed six companies with headquarters in Angola, Portugal, the United States and France in the private sphere.

Covid-19: Angola reports 75 new infections, one death, 13 recoveries

 Seventy-five new positive cases of covid-19, one death and 13 recoveries have been reported in Angola since the last update of Monday.

The information was released Tuesday evening in Luanda by the secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda.

Delivering the daily covid-19 update, the Health official said the new infections have been detected in northern Zaire province (14), central Huambo (02), northern Cabinda (08) and Luanda (51).

With the two just registered cases, Huambo joins the Angolan provinces with reported positive cases of covid-19. Northwestern Namibe and southeastern Cuando Cubango are the only provinces of the country with no case of the pandemic.

According to Franco Mufinda, the newly infected persons are aged between one and 69 years. 53 are males and 23 females. The recoveries were reported in Luanda and Benguela with 11 and two respectively. The dead is a Luanda 65-year old patient.

Angola’s current covid-19 statistics indicate 2,729 positive cases, 109 deaths, 1,084 recoveries and 1,536 active patients.