By Dennis Kabatto – “Equality for women is progress for all,” Under-Secretary General Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the head of United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), told the 58th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 58) stressing there must be gender equality to achieve poverty eradication and sustainable development in the 21st Century. The main focal point of CSW 58 is “Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the MDGs for women and girls,” Mlambo-Ngcuka said Monday during her opening remarks at the UN Headquarters in New York. She declared... Continue Reading
…..to reduce gender-based violence – Harare, March, 2014: The U.S. State Department, through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has provided $100,000 to Tag A Life International Trust (TaLI), an advocacy group for the rights of girls, to increase awareness of gender-based violence (GBV) among vulnerable youth and address its intersection with HIV/AIDS. The funding will enable TaLI to reach 300 schools and train 160 Community Peer Educators in four districts in Midlands province over the next two years. It is an expansion of a project which began in 2012, through the partnership of TaLI, the U.S. Embassy... Continue Reading
President Ernest Bai Koroma – President of the Republic of Sierra Leone – By African Women are Free to Choose – The Term Female Genital Mutilation Violates the Rights of Bondo/Sande Women and Girls in Sierra Leone. Dear President Koroma, As a non-partisan and non-political group of women of Sierra Leonean descent based in The Republic of Sierra Leone and in the Diaspora, African Women are Free to Choose (AWA-FC), we wish to express our concerns regarding the Government’s ambivalent position with respect to traditional female genital surgeries, also referred to locally by many women as female circumcision or Bondo. ... Continue Reading
Binga; Matabeleland North- March 4, 2014: Receiving a full scholarship to study in the United States has driven Chiza Ngachize Mwinde in search of ways to restore the dignity of her community in Binga where the shortage of qualified teaching personnel and inadequate learning facilities is affecting the academic progress of students. “It is very hard for students in Binga to know, let alone, get such opportunities because of our geographic location which is far away from the big cities and because of the fact that most of our parents never got the exposure beyond what is happening in Binga,” says Chiza.... Continue Reading
Each season fashion week in New York offers emerging fashion designers who take a unique approach to conceptualizing apparel. Concepts can range from colours, shape texture and a combination of everything that the creative mind can conceive. This season TeKay Designs, a couture studio based in Houston Texas, presented Queen of the Brides, a collection of gowns with accessories that are historic and have a cultural significance. TeKay’s presentation opened with an acoustic chorus sound track, chromatic luminance and a branded light projection. Ethnic diversity was applied to model selection; as each model graced the catwalk with authoritarian elegance. But... Continue Reading
