Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG) Scholarships 2022/2023 for Study in the University of Oxford, UK (Fully Funded)

 

Application Deadline: October 10th, 2021 

The AIG Scholarships were launched in 2017 to provide a unique opportunity for exceptional West Africans interested in a career in public service to pursue a Master of Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Since 2017, twenty-seven (27) scholarships worth over £50,000 each have been awarded to future public sector leaders who have demonstrated a passion for the public sector.

AIG Scholars spend the year at one of the world’s top universities, gaining knowledge and skills from the outstanding academic faculty and expert practitioners and interacting with other future public sector leaders from around the world. After completing their degrees, scholars return to their countries and use their learnings to bolster policymaking, support reforms and contribute to their nation’s development.

From 2022, the AIG Scholarships will only be open to applicants already working in the public sector. Applicants should be aged between 25 and 50, with strong intellectual capacity, demonstratable leadership qualities and a passion to contribute to the development of Africa’s public sector.

Requirements

Be a Nigerian currently working in the public service
Aged between 25 and 50 years
Have a minimum of seven (7) years of work experience
Have a bachelor’s degree with a minimum of second-class upper qualification
Gain admission into the Blavatnik School of Government following success in the AIG shortlisting process

Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/399vDBg

Korean Government Scholarship Program 2022 for Undergraduate study in South Korea (Fully Funded)

 Application Deadline: October 20th, 2021 

Global Korea Scholarship is designed to provide international students with opportunities to study at higher educational institutions in Korea in pursuit of academic degrees, which will enhance international education exchange and deepen mutual friendship between Korea and participating countries.

Korean government invites 125 international students from 67 countries who wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in Korea. To be selected as a GKS grantee, any applicant should successfully pass through the 1st selection process set by the Korean Embassy of his or her country of origin.

Requirements

All applicants must hold citizenship of NIIED designated countries that are invited to take part in the GKS program.
All applicants and their parents must NOT hold Korean citizenship. If an applicant or his/her parent(s) hold dual citizenship (one who have Korean citizenship and citizenship of another country), he/she is NOT eligible to apply.
※ Applicants and their parent(s) may hold different citizenship. Applicant‟s parent(s) may hold a citizenship of non GKS participating countries.

Click here to apply:https://bit.ly/3tI3VFa

AUC-UNDP African Young Women Leaders Fellowship Programme 2021/2022 at UNDP Headquarters in New York or in a regional or country office (Fully Funded)

 Application Deadline: 19 September 2021 (Extended) 

UNDP is searching for 25 young African women to join the second cohort of the African Young Women Leaders (AfYWL) Fellowship Programme.

The AfYWL Fellowship Programme offers an interesting assignment with UNDP at its HQ in New York or in one of its regional or country offices. The fellow may also be assigned to the UN Secretariat or the AU Commission. For the second cohort (2021-2022), UNDP will work with the AUC and AU member states to enhance women’s leadership and representation in public and private institutions through targeted leadership training and capacity development to promote the participation of young women in decision-making roles.

Requirements

National of an African Union member state. Priority will be given to nationals of AU member states that did not benefit from the first cohort of the Fellowship Programme.
Aged below 34 years at the date of application.
Maximum one year (post master) of relevant and paid working experience in research, analysis and programme/project development, implementation and management.
Available in late 2021/early 2022 to participate in an induction workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Available in 2021/22 to dedicate 12 months to a fellowship assignment.

Benefits

The programme will cover expenses related to travel and medical insurance, and each fellow will receive a monthly stipend to cover accommodation and living costs at their respective duty station.
An earmarked learning budget will be also allocated for undertaking relevant learning and development activities.
Applicants should note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, physical travel will be dependent on the recommended guidelines of each recruiting office.

Click here to apply:https://bit.ly/3gzz3Bx

Brexit: Checks on goods imported from the EU delayed again

The UK is to delay introducing post-Brexit checks on food and farming imports to England, Scotland and Wales, blaming Covid disruption and pressure on global supply chains.

Measures which were expected to come in next month will now be introduced in January and July next year.

Labour said the government did not have a “sustainable answer to tackling delays and red tape at the border”.

The move comes amid shortages of some products in shops and supermarkets.

Many large companies have blamed a lack of lorry drivers for the problems experienced, with M&S chairman Archie Norman, a former Conservative MP, predicting a “bumpy ride” for retailers in the run-up to Christmas.

The EU has implemented full checks on UK goods since the start of this year.

Checks on goods going the other way were also due to come into force in full after the post-Brexit transition ended in January.

But they were delayed and, in March, the government announced a timetable to get changes for the food and agriculture sectors done by 1 October.

Paymaster General Penny Mordaunt has told MPs another postponement is now needed.

“The government’s own preparations, in terms of systems, infrastructure and resourcing, remain on track to meet that timetable,” she said, in a written Commons statement.

“However, the pandemic has had longer-lasting impacts on businesses, both in the UK and in the European Union, than many observers expected in March.

“There are also pressures on global supply chains, caused by a wide range of factors including the pandemic and the increased costs of global freight transport.”

Ms Mordaunt announced that the requirement to pre-notify British officials about agricultural and food imports from the EU would now start on 1 January next year, rather than on 1 October this year.

The requirement for EU firms to get export health certificates before sending live animals and animal products to Britain would be put back to 1 July, she said.

‘Rug pulled’

For Labour, shadow Cabinet Office minister Baroness Chapman said: “This announcement shows what we have all known for months – that the government do not have a workable, sustainable answer to tackling delays and red tape at the border…

“We cannot have another year of stop-gap solutions, meaningless deadlines, and threats of even greater disruption and economic damage.”

The British Chambers of Commerce called the latest delays “sensible given the ongoing issues with ensuring trader readiness, the need to build more border control posts and the skills shortages crisis”.

But the Food and Drink Federation criticised the government for “the lateness” of its announcement.

“Businesses have invested very significant time and money in preparing for the new import regime on 1 October 2021. Now, with just 17 days to go, the rug has been pulled,” said chief executive Ian Wright.

“We welcome the government’s acknowledgement that supply chains are under extreme pressure but this is to a large extent caused by labour and skills shortages in every part of the food chain,” he added.

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Prince Andrew: High Court will notify royal about accuser’s civil case

Lawyers for the woman who has accused the Duke of York of sexual assault have asked the British courts to notify the royal about the civil case against him.

The High Court has accepted Virginia Giuffre legal team’s request to formally contact Prince Andrew about the proceedings launched in the US.

The prince’s lawyers have argued he has not been properly served notice of proceedings.

Prince Andrew has consistently denied Ms Giuffre allegations.

His spokeswoman has declined to comment on the latest development.

The Hague Service Convention, a treaty that governs requests between countries for evidence in civil or commercial matters, allows Ms Giuffre legal team to ask the High Court in London to formally notify Prince Andrew about her civil action.

The High Court had initially rejected their request, citing an issue with the application, but later said: “The lawyers acting for Ms Giuffre have now provided further information to the High Court, and the High Court has accepted the request for service under the Hague Service Convention.

“The legal process has not yet been served but the High Court will now take steps to serve under the convention, unless service is arranged by agreement between the parties.”

At the first pre-trial hearing in New York, on Monday, the prince’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, argued he had not been properly served under either UK or international law.

Ms Giuffre lawyers had claimed papers had been left with a police officer at the gates of Prince Andrew’s Windsor home last month – and so successfully “served”.

The prince does not face the prospect of an extradition hearing, as this applies only to criminal charges and not civil cases.

Difficult for Andrew to ignore case

It is now becoming very, very hard for the Duke of York to avoid being served with documents and having to file a response to the courthouse in New York.

An international agreement between British and US courts means the High Court is now under an obligation to find the most practical way to serve the Giuffre case on Prince Andrew.

English law sets out clear but flexible rules on how that should happen – and the court will ultimately decide how best to proceed.

It could order an officer of the court to take the documents once more to Windsor, where Prince Andrew lives.

But the US lawyers could ask the High Court to approve an alternative method, such as posting or emailing them, or leaving them with one of his known lawyers.

In practice, many defendants presented with this situation ultimately accept they have to be served and consent to it, so they can focus on how they will respond and attempt to have the case dismissed.

During the hearing, held via telephone conference, Mr Brettler also described the civil case against the prince as “baseless, non-viable [and] potentially unlawful”.

And he said a 2009 settlement between Ms Giuffre and billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had released the prince from “any and all liability”.

Ms Giuffre, now 38, was an accuser of Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, and claims she was sexually assaulted by the prince at three locations, including New York City.

Ms Giuffre – then known as Virginia Roberts – says she was assaulted at the London home of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and at Epstein’s homes in Manhattan and Little Saint James, in the US Virgin Islands.

‘No recollection’

Her case claims Prince Andrew, 61, engaged in sexual acts without Ms Giuffre consent, including when she was 17, knowing how old she was, and “that she was a sex-trafficking victim”.

The Queen’s second son has consistently denied the claims and, in 2019, told BBC Two’s Newsnight programme: “It didn’t happen.

“I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened.

“I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.”

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EU needs to step up on defence, says von der Leyen

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said the EU should seek to beef up its military capabilities to confront security threats and global crises.

She told the European Parliament she believed EU military forces would be “part of the solution”.

After the Afghan pull-out the EU needed the “political will” to intervene militarily without US-led Nato.

France will host an EU defence summit next year, she added.

“It is time for Europe to step up to the next level,” Mrs von der Leyen said in her annual State of the Union address.

The EU has historically relied on the Nato alliance for military action.

The rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s government at the end of the US-led mission in the country last month has raised questions about the EU’s ability to drive its own defence policy.

Earlier this month German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer called for intense talks on making the EU “a strategic player to be reckoned with”.

Her comments echo those of other EU leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, who has backed the idea of a European army.

The UK’s departure from the EU has also brought security into sharp focus, partly because it was opposed to building a new European intervention force.

A ‘lack of political will’

Proposals for an EU rapid-response force first emerged in the 1990s.

In 1999, member states pledged to develop a military force of up to 60,000 soldiers. In 2007, so-called battlegroups of 1,500 troops drawn from each member state were created.

The battlegroups were declared ready for operations but have never been used because of disputes over funding and a reluctance to deploy.

“You can have the most advanced forces in the world – but if you are never prepared to use them, of what use are they?” the Commission president told the Strasbourg parliament.

“What has held us back until now is not just a shortfall of capacity – it is the lack of political will.”

Most EU nations are also members of Nato and some, particularly states neighbouring Russia, do not want to undermine ties with the US.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this month he supported EU plans to build a common defence policy, but warned against the creation of a new military force.

Mrs von der Leyen explained that the EU had to provide greater stability in its own neighbourhood and elsewhere, taking part in missions that did not include Nato and the UN. It also had to tackle cyber-threats by becoming a leader in cyber-security.

A joint declaration would be made with Nato by the end of the year, she added.

The Commission president also said:

• The EU would “stand by the Afghan people” and increase humanitarian aid for Afghanistan by €100m (£85m; $118m)
• The forthcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow would be “a moment of truth for the global community”. She called on the US and China – the world’s biggest polluters – to step up their commitments to curbing climate change
• The Covid-19 pandemic was “a marathon, not a sprint”. She announced more funding and vaccine donations to low-income countries to ensure “this doesn’t turn into a pandemic of the unvaccinated”
• EU member states had a responsibility to defend European values, including the right to an independent judiciary
• The Belarus government had “instrumentalized” migrants by sending them to the borders of EU nations. She accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of “a hybrid attack to destabilise Europe”
• The European Commission would develop a new chipmaking “ecosystem”, to keep the EU competitive and self-sufficient

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Afghanistan: Women’s youth soccer team escapes to Pakistan

Female players from Afghanistan’s junior national soccer team have crossed the border into Pakistan.

The girls had spent the past month in hiding amid fears of a crackdown on women’s rights by the Taliban.

The adult side flew out of Kabul last month but the youth team were reportedly left stranded as they lacked passports and other documentation.

32 players and their families won visas after lobbying of the government by charity “Football for Peace”.

Officials said the group, totalling 115 people, will travel from Peshawar to the eastern city of Lahore, where they will be housed at the Pakistani Football Federation’s headquarters.

The Independent recently revealed that the players had written to the Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to ask for permission to urgently enter the country.

The letter claimed that the girls were at risk of “grave threats” from the Taliban.

After the fall of Kabul players were warned by the national team’s former captain, Khalida Popal, to delete pictures of themselves playing on social media and to burn their kits to protect themselves from potential reprisals from the new regime.

Last week the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, cast doubt over the future of women’s sport in the country when he said it was considered neither “appropriate nor necessary” in response to a question about the fate of the women’s cricket team.

“In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this”, Wasiq said.

“It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate [Afghanistan] do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed.”

Women were barred from participating in sports during the Taliban’s last spell in power from 1996-2001.

Their departure is part of a wider exodus of Afghan sports and cultural stars amid fears of a crackdown on women’s rights following the takeover of the country by the Taliban last month.

As well as the departure of the women’s football teams, the country’s biggest pop singer Aryana Sayeed and the famed film director Sahraa Karimi both left during the evacuation last month.

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