Ladies without plastic - Green Menstruation. Environmental challenge by Sofonie Dala, Angola. Webisode 12

Women without plastic - Key to reduce our carbon footprints 👣 

Greetings for the day! 

Welcome to day 12 of our Green Menstruation Challenge!

Because of women’s relationship with the environment, they can be critical agents of environmental conservation, sustainable development and adaptation to climate change.

Our guest for today is a 25-years-old Isabel-Branca, she is willing to accept the challenge of changing from disposable to reusable products for the sake of the environment.

Disposable pads and tampons create a lot of waste that goes to the landfill. Much of it is non-biodegradable. They also create pollution of the land and water from the cotton growing process, as well as the manufacturing process.

Organics are slightly better, in that they don’t pollute the environment. However, there is still the waste problem to consider.

Is there a better solution than just going organic? The good news is that there is—consider making the switch to reusable feminine hygiene products. By reusables, I mean a menstrual cup, reusable cloth menstrual pad, or a pair of period panties. Here’s a bit of information about each of these eco-friendly period solutions.

As women’s participation in environmental management has increased, they have become more visible. By enrolling women and their communities as partners, we will increase community awareness of sustainable practices while supporting traditional knowledge. Workshops on how to dispose of plastic responsibly, use solar cookers, use reusable menstrual pads, improve management of water resources, including rain water harvesting, and other good practices that are kinder to the environment enhance the quality of rural life.

Interesting links about Isabel: https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2021/01/africa-educates-her-campaign-angola_4.html

https://sofoniedala.blogspot.com/2020/12/corona-voice-angola-tok-show-with_29.html

Happy International Volunteer Day (IVD)

 2021 Theme: Volunteer now for our common future

We aim to inspire people, whether they are decision makers or citizens of this world, to take action NOW for people and the planet.

The United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV) coordinates International Volunteer Day on 5 December every year to recognize and promote the tireless work, not just of UN Volunteers, but of volunteers across the globe. Every day, volunteers dedicate time and effort to ensure the inclusion of those often left behind, drive climate action and advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

When people are encouraged to get involved in solving problems, the solutions are more likely to be feasible and lasting. Volunteers engage communities and build a people-centric movement to help build a better and safer future for us all.

For the generations of TOMORROW, we must take responsibility for the changes needed to build a better future NOW. Encouraging, recognizing and promoting volunteerism is an important part of creating a more equal and inclusive future for communities and worldwide.

In the lead-up to #IVD2021, let us celebrate the contributions of the millions who #volunteernow.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (EJS) Center Amujae Initiative 2022 for emerging African Women Public Leaders

Application Deadline: 23 January 2022. 

The Amujae Initiative is the EJS Center’s flagship program. The program inspires and prepares women to unapologetically take up roles and excel in the highest echelons of public leadership, and to bring other women along.

Each year, the EJS Center selects a cohort of African women public leaders and offers them targeted leadership development experiences that are designed to fuel their ambition and equip them with the necessary skills for effective service.

Amujae Leaders receive world-class coaching from former heads of state, leadership development through in-person forums and virtual workshops, tailored media and communications support, and self-development opportunities. It is the only initiative in the world that is specifically designed to support talented African women leaders as they advance in their public leadership journeys.

Requirements

Be a citizen and resident of any African country.

Have already invested in a public leadership journey with demonstrable accomplishments. This journey may have evolved in various professional backgrounds/ sectors, not strictly public service.

May be working/ involved in sectors that include but are not limited to public administration, politics, civil society, business, arts, media, sports, education, sciences, etc.

Have the ambition to serve at the highest levels of public leadership.

Have demonstrated a commitment towards the upliftment/ empowerment of other women.

Be patriotic, demonstrating commitment and service to her home country/countries.

Click here to apply: 

https://bit.ly/2ZUbgag

Udacity/Access Bank Advance Africa Scholarship Program 2021/2022 (Cohort 2) for young Africans.

Application Deadline: December 29, 2021 

Access Bank and Udacity are awarding 2,000 scholarships in 2021-2022! Apply if you want to enhance your future career or skill set in today’s most sought-after, in demand tech skills. Access Bank and Udacity will provide 2,000 Nanodegree program scholarships for people in Africa to build practical, in-demand, cutting-edge tech skills. The scholarship will create upskilling opportunities for scholarship recipients and give them the skills needed by many tech companies today.

Udacity and Access Bank are committed to closing the divide between the number of tech jobs available and the number of Africans working in tech by providing opportunities to those who would not otherwise have them. That starts with ensuring a robust pipeline of trained, talented tech professionals. Together, we are offering:

2,000 Nanodegree program scholarships for Africans to build practical, in-demand, cutting-edge tech skills.

Engagement with classmates in a robust, actively managed, student community.

Subject matter experts and on-demand tutors.

The scholarship will create upskilling opportunities for individuals and give them the skills needed in the digital world. In fact, the tech industry comprises some of the highest growth, most in-demand careers today.

Click here to apply:https://bit.ly/3oi0HHs

Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge 2022 for early-stage Entrepreneurs ($1,000,000 USD in prize money)

Application Deadline: February 11th, 2022

The Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge 2022 is a worldwide search for early-stage technology-enabled solutions and services that can enable economic development and/or benefit society and/or the environment.

The 6th annual Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge aims to recognize new business ideas that leverage technology for social impact from early-stage entrepreneurs around the world.

$1,000,000 USD in prize money will help accelerate the adoption of breakthrough technology, products, and services that drive economic development and/or solve social or environmental problems.

Prizes

team will be designated the grand prize winner.
$75,000 USD Regional First Runners-UpThree teams from around the world (Americas, EMEAR and APJC) will be designated the regional first runners-up and will receive $75,000 USD each.

$50,000 USD Second Runners-UpThree teams will be designated the second runners-up and will receive $50,000 USD each.

$10,000 USD People's ChoiceThe finalist entry that receives the most votes will receive the People’s Choice Award.
$15,000 USD Cisco Employees' ChoiceThe finalist entry that receives the most votes will receive the Cisco Employees' Choice Award.

Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/31mPw7E

Adalberto Costa Júnior elected UNITA president

Luanda - Adalberto Costa Júnior was Saturday elected president of the main opposition UNITA party, with 96.43 percent of the votes.

The election of Adalberto Costa Júnior, who replaced Isaías Samakuva in the post, concluded the organisation's 13th Ordinary Congress.

According to the head of the Electoral Commission, António Kangombe, the leader of UNITA won with 1,081 votes (96.43 percent), 26 against (2.32 percent) and three abstentions (0.27 percent).

He explained that 1,121 congressmen went to the polls, instead of the 1,150 expected.

Covid-19: Angola reports 21 new cases, 3 recoveries

Luanda - Health authorities reported, this Saturday, the registration of 21 new infections and the recovery of 3 patients, in the last 24 hours.

Of the new cases, of which 15 are male and 6 female patients, aged between 2 and 76 years, 15 were diagnosed in Luanda, 3 in Moxico, 2 in Benguela and 1 in Cuanza Norte.

In the last 24 hours, 957 samples were processed by RT-PCR, with a positivity rate of 1.8 percent.

Among those recovered, two reside in Luanda and one in Moxico.

Angola has a cumulative total of 65,244 confirmed cases, of which 211 are active, 1,735 have died and 63,298 have been recovered.

Of the active cases, 3 are severe, 9 moderate, 18 mild and 181 asymptomatic.

In the treatment centres, 30 patients are hospitalised, while 57 citizens are serving institutional quarantine and 81 contacts of positive cases are under medical surveillance.

Covid-19: Angola with over nine million citizens vaccinated

Luanda - At least 9.8 million people were vaccinated across the country, since the beginning of the process in March 2020, the National Director of Public Health, Helga Freitas said Friday in Luanda.

The official, who was speaking during the meeting of the Multi-sectorial Commission for the Prevention and Fight against Covid-19, led by its coordinator, Francisco Pereira Furtado, pointed out that 6.6 million people with the first dose and 3.2 million people with complete doses.

According to Helga Freitas this result is fruit of the country having received about 21.7 million vaccine doses, of which 10 million acquired by the Government, 10 million received through the Covax initiative and one million doses of bilateral donations.

She stressed that this mobilization of vaccines has been possible due to the country's performance and the creation of cold chain conditions.

Accordingly, he said that around 15 million doses were expected to arrive in January 2022 in a government procurement, 11 million from the Covax initiative and 10.4 million from bilateral donations.

Rights groups’ warning as Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy restored

US human rights groups have criticised the reinstatement of a Trump-era policy requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while claims are processed.

The American Immigration Council said it was a dark day for the US and the rule of law.

US President Joe Biden had suspended the policy, calling it “inhumane”, but was ordered by courts to resume it.

Under the policy, thousands of migrants were forced to stay in dangerous conditions on the Mexican border.

But Republicans have welcomed the decision as a way to restore order in the border regions.

Mexico has now agreed to accept the policy, known as Remain in Mexico, in exchange for concessions such as a shorter turnaround time for asylum decisions and a US-Mexico development programme for Central America.

Mr Biden’s administration has kept up one other major Trump-era border policy: Title 42, which allows for the quick expulsion of migrants on public health grounds.

Why is Remain in Mexico back?

Former US President Donald Trump introduced the programme, then known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, to send more than 60,000 asylum applicants back to Mexico.

Migrants were often left waiting in Mexico for months, where they sometimes fell prey to criminal gangs.

According to charity Human Rights First, there have been more than 1,500 publicly reported cases of kidnapping, rape, torture and other abuses against migrants returned to Mexico.

Mr Biden suspended the programme almost immediately after taking office, as part of a campaign pledge to reverse hardline immigration policies enacted by his predecessor.

• What are Biden’s challenges at the border?

In June, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas terminated the policy.

But in August, a federal court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee, ruled that the policy had been improperly cancelled.

The Biden administration is appealing against the decision.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that the president stood by past remarks about the “unjustified human costs” of the programme.

“But we also believe in following the law,” she said.

The policy has been revamped to address Mexico’s concerns, including to limit time spent for each asylum application to six months.

Implementation is expected to begin next week at ports of entry in Texas and California.

What does Mexico have to gain?

Immigration has again proven to be the main prism through which Washington views its relationship with Mexico.

It seems the numbers of people arriving at the US southern border – and the effect that is having on President Biden’s standing in the polls – has meant the administration is happy enough to reinstate the law – albeit having been ordered to do so by the courts.

Yet one might well as ask what Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has to gain by agreeing to carry out his side of the policy, namely accepting thousands of asylum-seekers into Mexican border towns to await their day in a US court. On the surface, he has added a more humanitarian veneer to the policy, tying down a timeline of 180 days in which asylum cases should be heard and development funds for Central America under the name “Planting Opportunities”. But in reality, this is a political risk he can afford to take.

With asylum seekers likely to be living again in precarious conditions in dangerous border towns, the Mexican president may be considering that migrants will have less incentive to travel north. And in the meantime, he has undoubtedly created some useful leverage with President Biden in other areas.

‘A dark day’

The move was condemned by pro-immigration groups and lawmakers from Mr Biden’s own Democratic party.

In a statement, American Immigration Council policy director Jorge Loweree rejected the Biden team’s “claims that it can administer the Remain in Mexico program in a more humane manner”, adding: “Today is a dark day for the United States and for the rule of law.”

By expanding the programme to include any migrants from the western hemisphere – including non-Spanish speaking groups such as Haitians – Mr Biden had “made the programme even broader than under Trump”, the group said.

The UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, also condemned the move and refused to help implement the policy.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the resumption would lead to “horrific abuse, including torture, rape, and death”.

But Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy welcomed the programme’s reinstatement.

“It is unfortunate that it took litigation to force the Biden administration’s hand to apply this common-sense measure,” he said.

Texas attorney-general Ken Paxton, a conservative Republican, described the development as a “huge win”.

“I will continue to fight to restore safety and order along our southern border, making sure that this essential programme is implemented in full compliance with the court’s order,” he said, quoted by the Associated Press.

But Texas Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar told The Hill newspaper that the policy “erodes our values as a country” and is “a violation of asylum processing”.

She called for the White House to aggressively fight the order in court, and criticised Mr Biden for not having fixed the system after nearly a year in office.

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez urged Mr Biden to “make every effort” to overturn “this xenophobic and anti-immigrant policy for good”.

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