We are delighted to announce the launch of ''Corona Voice'' - Angola. The tok show with Sofonie Dala. Webisode 1

One of the main tasks of the show is to refute the saying "you can't help things with a word." The heroes of the program are the most ordinary citizens - they share with the audience their songs, poems and real stories of how the Coronavirus pandemic affected their lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human life worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to education, public health, food systems and the world of work.

Our today's special guest is Domingas D'Carvalho, she is a teacher and at the same time a student. Today she will share with us how covid-19 has affected her social life.

Greetings!

My name is Domingas, I'm here to talk about how the coronavirus pandemic affected me!

Honestly, covid - 19 has affected me negatively. In the field of studies, I always used to go to school but we had to stop studying suddenly.

In the social context, I used to catch taxi at the bust stop easily, but now it's difficult because taxi drivers take small numbers of passengers, the bus stops are crowded with people without keeping any social distancing and also the transport stops circulating very early, before the pandemic they circulated until midnight.

In addition, not all taxi drivers comply with biosecurity rules, collectors do not use masks, drivers do not use masks and many of them do not use it correctly.

In the work context, I am a collaborator teacher and covid-19 affected me a lot in this area. In this time of the pandemic I am not receiving any income, because students in primary education will not return to school this year and I am a primary school teacher.

Therefore, until today, students from the fifth grade to preschool children have not returned to school and we, the teachers are out of wages.

After sharing with us the challenges she faces during the pandemic, Domingas decided to read a beautiful poem for us.

In the middle of this pandemic, everything was isolated

Although it was the joy

But fear prevailed

In these pandemic times

Hugs are a danger

It is better to prevent ourselves

Than hurt our friends

The coronavirus has shaken

Our whole society

Very fast spread

And reached all ages

The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating: tens of millions of people are at risk of falling into extreme poverty, while the number of undernourished people, currently estimated at nearly 690 million, could increase by up to 132 million by the end of the year.

Click here to watch free full webisodes: https://coronavoice-angola.blogspot.com/

Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) Young Engineers Programme 2021 for young Nigerian graduates

 Application Deadline: December 20th 2020 

Buoyed by a mission to redefine customer experience and be the provider of choice wherever energy is consumed, the Ikeja Electric (IE), Nigeria's largest power distribution network, came into existence on November 1st, 2013 following the handover of the defunct Power Holding Company Of Nigeria (PHCN) to NEDC / KEPCO Consortium under the privatization scheme of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Requirements

Preferred fresh from the university but certainly with not more than 2 years' experience

Must be highly intelligent, hardworking, having the ability to apply common sense in analyzing and resolving problems and who value integrity more than wealth.

Minimum B.Sc. or, preferably, M.Sc. Degree in Engineering, in one of the following disciplines Electrical Engineering and Electronics Engineering from reputable Universities with a minimum of 2nd class upper

Must have completed NYSC

Maximum age of 27 years as of December 2020

Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/39IDgjM

GNPC Ghana Local Undergraduate Scholarships 2020/2021 for Ghanaian students.

 Application Deadline: December 31st 2020 

The GNPC Ghana Local Undergraduate Scholarships is open to eligible Year one and continuing Ghanaian Students pursuing undergraduate studies at any accredited tertiary institution in Ghana.

Requirements

Applicants must be Ghanaian

Must have obtained admission to pursue an undergraduate degree program at any accredited tertiary institution

Persons with disability (Applicants with any form of disability are required to upload a medical certificate stating the level / seriousness of disability)

Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/3on0foj

European University Institute (EUI) STG Policy Leader Fellowship 2021/2022 (Fully Funded to Florence, Italy with € 2,500 Monthly Grant)

 Application Deadline: 22 February 2021

The School of Transnational Governance (STG) at the European University Institute (EUI) is offering fellowships to early- and mid-career policy professionals for the academic year 2021-2022. The STG Policy Leader Fellowship is a global program at the vibrant campus of an international institution.

The STG's Policy Leader Fellowship is a global program providing a unique opportunity for policy professionals from around the world to further develop their policy work and professional skills whilst participating in workshops, training and skills development sessions, conferences and other events, in addition to interacting with the other fellows, policy makers and the academic community at the EUI.

Grant

The basic grant is € 2,500 per month.

Travel expenses

Fellows (but not their families) receive reimbursement for the incoming trip from their place of origin to Florence, and for the outgoing trip to their destination at the end of their fellowship.

First-class rail (travel by car is also reimbursed on this basis)

Economy class air fare

The maximum amount for travel reimbursement amounts to € 1,200 including both incoming and outgoing trip. Taxi expenses are not reimbursed.

Click here to apply:  https://bit.ly/39zpD6g

Challenge Campus 2030 for students and university professors/researchers worldwide.

 Application Deadline: February, 7th 2021 

University campuses are at the heart of the change: in 10 years, they should have achieved the 17 SDGs to be able to welcome and educate the next generation! What will these Campuses be like?

Imagine a solution that will allow these sites to be considered socially, economically and environmentally sustainable.

Requirements

Student. Any individual aged eighteen (18) years and / or with full legal capacity, who (i) is currently enrolled at a post-secondary institution during the current scholar year 2019-2020, with a student card as verification. Each Student may only participate once in each Challenge. If the participant is a minor, he / she must provide this authorization signed by a parent or guardian.

Teacher / Professor. Any individual aged eighteen (18) years and / or with full legal capacity, who (i) currently a teacher-researcher enrolled in higher university education and able to prove it by a document attesting to their teaching load at the university and / or their membership of a university laboratory. Only one participation in the Challenge per person will be allowed.

Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/3qy5DHk

BIGSAS/DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Programme 2021 for female African Scholars

 Application Deadline: 24 January 2021

The Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies, BIGSAS, invites outstanding female African scholars based on the continent to join an international community of early career researchers working in the field of African Studies. BIGSAS provides a center for creative and innovative doctoral training based on the inter- and multi-disciplinary research environment of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth.

In 2021, BIGSAS is awarding two scholarships within the Graduate School Scholarship Program (GSSP) provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). For these, BIGSAS will nominate candidates who have successfully passed the application procedure. The final selection will be made by the DAAD. The scholarship periods begin in October 2021 at the earliest (including a German language course starting in summer 2021, if applicable). The scholarships are awarded for a total scholarship period of up to four years.

Click here to apply: https://bit.ly/33KEgzR

UK says EU trade talks at tricky point as hopes of deal dim

 Britain's business minister said Friday that U.K.-EU trade talks are at a “difficult” point, as British officials poured cold water on hopes of an imminent breakthrough - and France said it could veto any agreement it didn’t like.

U.K. Business Secretary Alok Sharma said Britain was “committed to reaching an agreement.”

“But, of course, time is short and we are in a difficult phase. There’s no denying that, ”he told the BBC. "There are a number of tricky issues that still have to be resolved."

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, his British counterpart David Frost and their teams remained locked in talks in a London conference center Friday after a week of late-night sessions fueled by deliveries of sandwiches and pizza.

U.K. officials sought to dampen hopes of an imminent deal, briefing media outlets that the EU had set back negotiations by making last-minute demands - an allegation the bloc denies.

The U.K. left the EU early this year, but remains part of the 27-nation bloc’s economic embrace during an 11-month transition as the two sides try to negotiate a new free-trade deal to take effect Jan. 1. Any deal must be approved by lawmakers in Britain and the EU before year’s end.

Talks have dragged on as one deadline after another has slipped by. First, the goal was a deal by October, then by mid-November. On Sunday, Britain said the negotiations were in their final week. Now the two sides say they could stretch into the weekend or beyond.

European Council President Charles Michel noted that it wasn’t the first time that deadlines had slipped.

“We will see what will happen in the next days,” he said in Brussels. “But the end of December is the end of December and we know that after the 31st of December we have the 1st of January, and we know that we need to have clarity as soon as possible.”

A trade deal will allow goods to move between Britain and the EU without tariffs or quotas after the end of this year, though there would still be new costs and red tape for businesses on both sides of the English Channel.

If there is no deal, New Year’s Day will bring huge disruption, with the overnight imposition of tariffs and other barriers to U.K.-EU trade. That will hurt both sides, but the burden will fall most heavily on Britain, which does almost half its trade with the EU.

Months of tense negotiations have produced agreement on a swath of issues, but serious differences remain over the “level playing field” - the standards the U.K. must meet to export into the bloc - and how future disputes are resolved. That's key for the EU, which fears Britain will slash social and environmental standards and pump state money into U.K. industries, becoming a low-regulation economic rival on the bloc’s doorstep.

But the U.K. government, which sees Brexit as all about “taking back control” from Brussels, is resisting curbs on its freedom to set future economic policies.

Another sticking point is fish, a small part of the economy with an outsized symbolic importance for Europe’s maritime nations. EU countries want their boats to be able to keep fishing in British waters, while the U.K. insists it must control access and quotas.

Fishing is especially important to France, which is seen by many on the U.K. side as the EU nation most resistant to compromise and likeliest to scuttle a deal.

“If there was to be an agreement and it was not good ... we would oppose it,” Clement Beaune, France’s junior minister in charge of European Affairs, Europe 1 radio. "France like all its (EU) partners has a veto right."

If there is no weekend breakthrough, next week will bring more complications. On Monday Britain's House of Commons will vote on a bill that gives Britain the power to breach parts of the legally binding withdrawal agreement it struck with the EU last year.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government acknowledges that the Internal Market Bill breaches international law, and the legislation has been condemned by the EU, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and scores of British lawmakers, including many from Johnson's own Conservative Party.

The House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber, removed the law-breaking clauses from the legislation last month, but Johnson's government says it will ask lawmakers to reinsert them.

That would further sour the talks, demolishing any good will that remains between the two sides.

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Source: AP