Africa Educates Her Campaign - Angola. Do not miss this episode!

Covid-19: Africa educates her campaign is on going- day 14

School closures harm girls in many ways, often with long-term consequences.

Our today's guest is a 15 years old Maria. She will share with us how covid-19 has affected her academic life. 

Coronavirus has affected me in many ways. I don't go to school anymore, I don't interact with my teachers and my colleagues, and it will also be an annulled academic year, lamented Maria.

In the question about what you have been doing to continue learning during the pandemic, she replied that she watches  tele-classes on TV, reviews old school materials, consults the dictionary, etc.

She also said that, the government should install piped water in schools, distribute biosafety materials, masks, gloves, soap and provide strict control of social distance between students, so they can study safe when schools reopen.

Governments should work with communities, school officials and teachers to monitor whether girls are participating in remote educational programs. If these initiatives are not reaching girls or if their families or communities are not prioritizing the girls ’education, they will need to intervene.

Governments should additionally provide information and services on sexual and reproductive health to adolescents. This includes making sure they can access a broad range of contraceptives, which respects their dignity and privacy.

When schools reopen, these efforts must continue. School officials and teachers should make sure that girls are returning. From now, governments should be tracking the numbers of children affected by school closures and provide gender disaggregated data to ensure they can act if a significant number of children do not return to school. 

Governments should develop measures to identify and assist those who have not returned, for example by providing financial assistance programs.

Now is also a good time for countries that exclude pregnant girls and adolescent mothers from school to reform those policies and develop human rights-compliant policies.

Call for aplications: IREX Community Solutions Program 2021/2022 for Community youth leaders (Fully Funded to the United States)

 

Application Deadline: Wednesday, October 28, 2020 

Apply now: https://bit.ly/3j31p6t

The Community Solutions Program (CSP) is a year-long professional development program for people who are working to improve their communities by addressing issues related to energy and the environment, peace and conflict resolution, transparency and accountability, and women and gender. Community activists will be selected to participate in the program that includes:

Four-month Fellowship in the United States: Community Solutions fellows are matched to host organizations throughout the U.S. where they complete a four-month, hands-on professional experience

Community Leadership Institute: Community Solutions fellows participate in the Community Leadership Institute, a leadership training program designed to strengthen their leadership and management skills. The Institute includes face-to-face trainings, online courses, professional coaching, and networking

Community-based initiatives: While in the U.S. and with the help of their U.S. host organization, Community Solutions fellows design and plan a community development initiative or project to carry out after they return home. Once the fellows depart the U.S., they put these projects into action in their home communities

Benefits

J-1 visa support

Round-trip travel from participants ’home city to the U.S.

Monthly allowance to cover housing, meals, and other living expenses while in the U.S. and

Accident and sickness insurance

Requirements

You are between the ages of 25 and 38 as of January 1, 2021

You are a citizen of one of the eligible countries listed below

You are living and working in your home country

Individuals with refugee status working on behalf of their home community may be given special consideration

IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Awards Program 2021 for PhD Students Worldwide (Funded)

 Application Deadline: October 23, 2020 https://bit.ly/2FVnDZp

Strong collaboration with faculty, students and universities is vital to IBM. The IBM PhD Fellowship Program advances this collaboration by recognizing and supporting exceptional PhD students who want to make their mark in promising and disruptive technologies. Focus areas include the following topics of particular interest:

Hybrid Cloud
Quantum Computing / Quantum Systems
Artificial Intelligence
Cloud / Open Source Technologies
Security / Cyber Security
Data Science
Systems

The 2021 two-year IBM PhD Fellowships are awarded worldwide. 

US country awards: $60,000 in award year one; $35,000 in award year two 
Other country awards: vary between $6,000-$25,000 each award year depending on country.

Opportunity for Africans: The World Bank Legal Vice Presidency's (LEG VPU) Internship Program Spring 2021 for highly-motivated law student

 Do not miss this opportunity!

The World Bank Legal Vice Presidency's (LEG VPU) Internship Program Spring 2021 for highly-motivated law students

Application Deadline: September 30th 2020 

Click here to apply: http://ow.ly/uMNN50BxwnP

The World Bank Legal Vice Presidency (“LEGVPU”) offers highly-motivated law students an opportunity to be exposed to the mission and work of the World Bank and that of LEGVPU. The World Bank Legal Internship Program allows individuals to bring new perspectives, innovative ideas, and latest research experiences into the World Bank’s daily operations and improve their legal skills while working in a multicultural environment.

The objective of both programs is to provide you first-hand experiences of the day-to-day operations of the World Bank by closely collaborating with staff in LEGVPU. As part of our team, working directly with outstanding and inspiring development professionals and senior management, you will get the chance to contribute to the legal services offered by LEGVPU as well as participate in high-profile events and conferences organized during the term of your internship .

Requirements

Do you hold citizenship of any IBRD member state?

Are you currently enrolled in an LLB, JD, LLM, SJD, PhD, or equivalent program?

Do you have an excellent command of the English language?

James Bond Villain Michael Lonsdale Dead At 89

 British-French actor Michael Lonsdale, best known for playing Hugo Drax in the 1979 James Bond film Moonraker, has died in Paris aged 89, his agent has told AFP.

Lonsdale was also known in the English-speaking world as detective Claude Lebel 1973’s spy thriller The Day of the Jackal and as. M. in 1993’s The Remains of the Day. In 1986 he starred opposite Sean Connery in the medieval drama The Name of the Rose.

He also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 2005 historical drama Munich, alongside future James Bond star Daniel Craig, and in 1998’s action thriller Ronin.

The bilingual actor had hundreds of acting credits to his name, most recently appearing in the Belgian-French drama The First, the Last (Les Premiers, les Derniers) released in 2016.

Lonsdale reprised the role of Drax for the 2016 video game 007 Legends. When asked whether he was concerned that playing a Bond villain might affect his career, he told James Bond fan site Mi6-HQ: “Not at all! On the contrary!

“Because, I made so many films that were not really very popular or didn’t make much money, and I only made poor films, so I thought I might like to be in a rich film.”

Reflecting on his experience of making the film he said: “It was a great experience to make a very popular film. Everybody was so kind. Roger Moore, Lois Chiles and Richard Kiel were all wonderful. There was a beautiful understanding between the actors, and so I was very happy to do that. ”

The official Twitter account for the estate of Sir Roger Moore, who played Bond opposite Lonsdale, expressed its condolences online. Moore had previously singled out Lonsdale for praise as a Bond villain, telling GQ in 2012: “All the villains are great. Michael Lonsdale [Drax, in Moonraker] is a brilliant actor, sometimes you think that they’re too good for the movie. Lonsdale was born in Paris to English and Irish-French parents, and initially raised in Guernsey, then later in Casablanca, Morocco. He later returned to live in Paris, making his stage debut aged 24. He made his film debut in 1956.

As Doctors Worry About ‘A Very Apocalyptic Fall,’ The CDC Retracts Info On How Covid-19 Spreads

 As most US states head in the wrong direction with coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has retracted key information about how the virus spreads. The US is on the brink of 200,000 coronavirus deaths, with the number of new cases rising in 28 states, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

“We may be in for a very apocalyptic fall, I'm sorry to say,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. ”And it's happening because we're forcing schools to reopen in areas of high transmission. We’re forcing colleges to reopen, and we don’t have the leadership nationally, telling people to wear masks and to social distance and do all the things we need to do. ”Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said she agrees this fall “could be apocalyptic” after recent spikes. “Why are we going back up? I think there are a few reasons, ”Marrazzo said,

“One is that there is general fatigue. People are really tired of this, ”she said. “And then the second thing is… the completely contradictory messages that we're getting - not just the misinformation, but also the confusion about how things are spread.” She cited a recent update from the CDC that said you can get Covid-19 just by inhaling tiny particles from an infected person's breath that linger or travel in the air. ”There is growing evidence that droplets and airborne particles can remain suspended in the air and be breathed in by others, and travel distances beyond 6 feet,” the CDC's website said in an update Friday. “In general, indoor environments without good ventilation increase this risk.” Many doctors have known that for months - hence their pleas for the public to wear masks. “The updated guidance would have been fine if it came out last May,” Hotez said. “We knew all of these things months ago.” But by Monday afternoon, the CDC’s update was removed.

“The fact that they retracted this, even though this is common scientific knowledge at this point, one has to wonder what's behind it,” said Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst and an emergency physician at George Washington University. ”Was there political pressure? Political interference that’s driving this rather than science? ”The removal was not the result of political pressure, according to a federal official familiar with the situation. “This was totally the CDC’s doing,” the official said. “It was posted by mistake. It wasn’t ready to be posted. ”The official said the guideline change was published without first being thoroughly reviewed by CDC experts. “Somebody hit the button and shouldn’t have,” the official said. The official added that the guidance is “getting revised,” but didn’t say when the revision would be posted to the CDC’s website. Both the heads of the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration were appointed by President Donald Trump. And while Trump said he gives himself an “A +” on his handling of the pandemic, he has also said he “wanted to always play it down.” When asked why the CDC retracted its update on aerosolized spread, a spokesman for the agency said it was posted in error. “A draft version of proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency’s official website,” CDC spokesman Jason McDonald said in an email to CNN.

“CDC is currently updating its recommendations regarding airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Once this process has been completed, the update language will be posted. ” The heads of the CDC and the FDA are appointed by the president. Why that might be a problem.

Where Covid-19 cases are rising and falling

As of Monday, 28 states had more new cases this past week compared to the previous week, according to Johns Hopkins data. Sixteen states are holding steady, and only six states are showing declines in new cases: Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina and Vermont.

But it’s not just the raw numbers of new cases that the public should pay attention to. It’s also the test positivity rates - the percentage of tests taken that turn out to be positive. The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised governments maintain test positivity rates at or below 5% for at least two weeks before businesses reopen. As of Monday morning, 27 states and Puerto Rico had test positivity rates higher than that 5% threshold, according Johns Hopkins University.On the other end of the spectrum, five states have test positivity rates less than 1% - Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York. How some states got creative in controlling Covid-19.

Angolan federation denies freezing of FIFA funds

 Angolan Football Federation (FAF) denied reports circulating on social media claiming that Banco Sol has frozen FIFA funds over alleged debt to the this banking institution.

OUTGOING PRESIDENT OF FAF, ARTUR ALMEIDA E SILVA

Covid-19: Angola detects 126 new infections, two deaths

 At least 126 new positive cases of covid-19 have been reported in Angola in the last 24 hours, the Health authorities announced.

The information was released Monday evening in Luanda by the secretary of State for Public Health, Franco Mufinda, who said two patients died of covid-19 and four recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

Delivering the daily covid-19 update, the official said the pandemic that was announced in the country in March this year, records a daily average of 22 infections and one death.

Those newly infected include 48 females and 78 males from central Benguela province with four positive cases, while the provinces of Huila, Zaire, Cuanza Norte and Cabinda have reported one each. 118 infections have been detected in the capital, Luanda.

Mufinda said the new infections involve people with ages from 11 to 80 years, while the dead are a man and a woman of 62 and 67 years of age, respectively, resident in Luanda and Huíla.

With the new data, Angola’s covid-19 figures show 4,117 positive cases, 154 deaths, 1,449 recoveries and 2,514 active patients.

[COME WORK WITH US]: Programme Manager: Economic Justice

OSISA is a growing African institution committed to deepening democracy, protecting human rights and enhancing good governance in the region. It‘s vision is to promote and sustain the ideals, values, institutions and practices of open society, with the aim of establishing vibrant and tolerant southern African democracies in which people, free from material and other deprivation, understand their rights and responsibilities and participate actively in all spheres of life.

In pursuance of this vision, OSISA’s mission is to initiate and support programmes working towards open society ideals and to advocate for these ideals in southern Africa. Established in 1997, OSISA works in 11 southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. OSISA works differently in each of these eleven countries, according to local conditions.

OSISA seeks to recruit for the following key position:

Programme Manager: Economic Justice 

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Programme Manager: Economic Justice will be responsible for the planning, management and implementation of Economic Justice work within the Economic and Social Justice (ESJ) Cluster. S/he will be required to identify opportunities for grant making within the Economic Justice programme and manage the provision of grants to key national and regional partners. He/she will play a strong role in facilitating networks amongst OSISA partners within the Economic Justice Programme and in convening dialogue and debate on issues relevant to OSISA’s overall mandate

RESPONSIBILITIES

Programme Initiation

• Actively identifies opportunities within the programme that are aligned to the OSISA strategy.
• Works with the Economic Social Justice Team Leader to develop the strategy, work plan and budget for the relevant programme portfolio.
• Initiates and facilitates research and knowledge necessary to maximise programme development and/or initiation.
• Collaborates closely with programme staff within the cluster and other OSF Foundations and networks in initiating and developing programmes.

Programme Implementation

• Working closely with other programme managers, the programme manager will ensure the integration of his/her programme within the cluster and across the organization.
• Oversees the financial and administrative management functions of the programme.
• Ensures compilation of budgets in accordance with budget policy and regulations.
• Ensures the programme’s compliance with organizational policies and procedures.

Programme Impact

• Ensures joint and collaborative work with other programmes to ensure maximum impact from OSISA programmes.
• Demonstrates an in-depth understanding of contemporary economic justice issues, including impact investment approaches
• Stays updated with developments in the sector throughout the region and globally and participates in strategic discussions at the regional and global levels in order to keep informed of issues, concerns and needs.
• Continuously monitors and measures the impact of the programme against objectives set and makes recommendations for improvement.
• Coordinates and cooperates with programme partners and grants beneficiaries.
• Liaises with relevant staff members of OSISA in the region to promote coordination and synergy.

Grant Making

• Works with the Senior Grants & Partnerships Manager to identify and manage pre and post award compliance issues as well as reporting requirements.
• Responsible for due diligence, managing and tracking grants within his/her portfolio.
• Actively develops strategies to strengthen the capacity of grantees to become more effective and accountable in managing grants. In collaboration with the Learning and M&E Manager, develops a monitoring and evaluation plan for his/her programme.
• Ensures timely and accurate financial and narrative reporting from grantees.
• Develops competency and technical understanding on the use of the Grants Management system (GMS).

Communication and Advocacy

• Identifies key opportunities for the promotion of OSISA ideals.
• Working closely with the Team Leader: Economic and Social Justice and the Communications Manager, develops advocacy initiatives related to programme issues at regional and national level.
• Collaborates with communications unit to promote and communicate programme activities.
• Ensures open and effective communication with other programmes and across the organisations.

KEY COMPETENCIES

Planning & Organising, Leadership, Interpersonal Skills, Results Focus, and Collaboration.

REQUIREMENTS

• A Master’s Degree in Social Science, Development or field related to the Inclusive Economic & Social Policy programme.
• At least 5 years’ experience working as Programme Manager in Southern Africa in a bilateral, multilateral, civil society, regional organisation setting.
• Clear and demonstrable experience in leading and managing informal sector, food security, climate change and impact investment initiatives.
• Alignment to organisational values, vision and mission.

 

Interested applicants should forward a one-page cover letter and detailed CV to recruitment@osisa.org with the relevant position as the subject heading.

Closing date for submission is 25 September 2020.

Only shortlisted candidates will receive a response.      OSISA is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Building vibrant and tolerant democracies.