Nigeria Overcomes Polio

Before this time, there have been rising issues of polio in Nigeria but recently the country has reached a major polio “milestone” and has been removed from the list of polio-endemic countries after a year of not reporting a single case of wild polio.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said Nigeria has not reported a case of wild polio virus since July 24, 2014.
“All laboratory data confirm that 12 months have passed without any new case in the country.
“Nigeria has brought the world one major step closer to achieving this goal and it is critical that we seize this opportunity to end polio for good and ensure that future generations of children are free from this devastating disease.
“This leaves only Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only countries with endemic cases of the disease,’’ the organisation said in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday.
The statement quoted the Global Polio Eradication Initiative as describing the development as historic achievement in global healthcare.
WHO issued the statement after the recent Global Polio Eradication meeting in New York.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is spearheaded by national governments, WHO, Rotary International, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The statement recalled that in 2012, Nigeria accounted for more than half of all polio cases worldwide. It said that the success was the result of concerted efforts by all levels of government, civil society groups and religious leaders in the country.
It observed further that more than 200,000 volunteers across the country had repeatedly immunised more than 45 million children under the age of five years. It
noted that increased community involvement and the establishment of emergency operations centres at the national and state levels, had also contributed to Nigeria’s success.

According to the statement, such support with continued domestic funding from Nigeria is essential to keep Nigeria and the entire region polio-free. The statement quoted WHO as warning that immunisation and surveillance activities must continue to rapidly detect any potential re-introduction or re-emergence of the virus.

“After three years have passed without a case of wild polio virus on the continent, official certification of polio eradication will be conducted at the regional level in Africa.
“Eradicating polio will be one of the greatest achievements in human history which and have a positive impact on global health for generations to come,’’ the statement said.

Source: Premium Times

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Enter the Global Innovation Competition 2016 #GIC2016

Deadline: October 4, 2015

The GIC is open to applicants from around the world with inspiring ideas. If you have an idea or proven concept for a project that uses innovative technology to improve the relationship between government and citizens in Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Indonesia, the Philippines, Liberia, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Mozambique, Uganda and Nigeria, you are invited to apply.

The themes for the competition this year support the goals of the Open Government Partnership and the Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on accountable, and responsive governance.

Prizes

The competition offers up to 15 finalists the chance to meet together in Accra for a week of networking and mentoring. Finally, the teams will pitch their ideas at a live event that decides who will be the competition winners and win a grant from a £450,000 prize fund.

Eligibility

• A GIC grant is awarded to applicants with particularly innovative ideas, either proven or to be developed should they win.
• The applicant must prove they will implement the idea/proven concept in a Making All Voices Count country.
• Anyone is welcome to apply, companies, government actors, non-profits, for-profits, NGOs, individuals etc. This also includes applicants from the GIC’s inaugural year.
• An applicant can apply with as many ideas/proven concepts as they wish, however only one application per entity can qualify for the second round.
• The Making All Voices Count countries are: Bangladesh, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.

Application Process

To apply, read GIC 2016 Manual and FAQ

Visit Official Website.

Apply for the IRO Doctoral Scholarship Programme in Belgium

Deadline: November 9, 2015

Send in applications for the IRO Doctoral Scholarship Programme. As one of its contributions to development cooperation, KU Leuven offers scholarships every academic year to exceptional students from developing countries to course their PhD in the largest university of Flanders, Belgium . The programme is organised and managed by IRO, the University’s Interfaculty Council for Development Cooperation. Over the past ten years, the Doctoral Scholarships Programme has supported over a hundred PhD graduates . KU Leuven is the oldest university of the Low Countries.

Scholarship

• The IRO Doctoral Scholarships are only granted for programmes with a maximum duration of 48 months and, if needed, for one pre-doctoral year as a preparation for the doctoral programme.
• The scholarship includes the stipend of EUR 1,415 per month for doctoral students or EUR 1,000 per month for pre-doctoral students.
• See more.

Eligibility

• The applicant must be a citizen of one of the countries on the OCDE DAC table that are considered as: Least Developed Countries, Low Income Countries or Low Middle Income Countries;
• The applicant may not possess a citizenship from an EU country. The applicant may not posses a long-term EU residence permit;
• The candidate’s latest master’s degree must have been awarded no more than ten years prior to October 1, 2016 (including the ongoing calendar year);
• The candidate must hold an academic qualification at least equivalent to a high distinction. Degrees obtained with a final score equivalent to second class second/lower division will not be taken into consideration;
Excellent academic quality of the research project , focusing on the development relevance of the proposal;
• The candidate must demonstrate a development-oriented motivation;
• The candidate must be supported by a local co-promoter at the candidate’s home country to ensure embeddedness of the research within the country’s context;
• The candidate must be supported by excellent recommendations from relevant referees.

Application Procedure

• The candidate must follow the application procedure.
• Please make sure to fill up the application form with the following instructions:
  • First name and last name as written on the passport;
  • Status: Doctoral Programme (diploma contract) or Predoctoral programme;
  • Academic year: If you apply between September and October 2015, you must select 2015 – 2016; Starting from November, you must select 2016 – 2017;
• Is this application also intended as a scholarship application? Yes;
• Name of the scholarship agency: IRO Doctoral Scholarship.

Visit here for more information.

International Day of Peace

The International Day of Peace is also known as the World Peace Day. It is observed by all UN Member States on September 21 each year.

The day is dedicated to World Peace, specifically the absence of war and violence. To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan , as “a reminder of the human cost of war”; the inscription on its side reads, “Long live absolute world peace”.

Africa countries have seen so much violence before and after their independence. African Youth can be great agents to reduce war sustainability. Let us build bridges of friendship and learn to treat ourselves as one.

Join your voice today and say #NoToViolence and #YesToPeace!

Beautiful Africa: Mauritius

Africa is a beautiful place. She has great water bodies, vegetation, landscape and fauna. Whether you need a place for a vacation, honeymoon, adventure, tourism, or safari, Africa has got it all.

On this edition of Beautiful Africa, we would see great sights from Mauritius.

Mauritius or officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2000Km off the Southeastern coast of the African continent. As of 2014, Mauritius had an estimated population of 1,261,208 people. The country’s capital is Port Louis and their currency is Mauritian Rupee. Mauritius is a favourite of honeymooners, who cannot have enough of its blue waters and deserted beaches. With evergreen forests, waterfalls and long stretches of spotless white sands, there’s no match for the tropical beauty of this island. Apart from magnificent views, Mauritius also offers various fun activities.

Mauritius Island

Grand Baie Beach

Strive Masiyiwa Speaks on the Need for Education

Why we must sign this petition on Education!

When I was seventeen years old I was traveling between the Zambian city of Lusaka and Kitwe on the Copperbelt, by bus.

As we travelled out of the city it became very clear that the country was on high alert as there were military checkpoints everywhere. About 100km into our journey and after numerous checkpoints some young soldiers refused to accept my ID documents, at one of them. I was the only foreigner on the bus and they thought they had found an enemy soldier in civilian clothes.

The soldiers immediately handcuffed me and told the bus to go without me. It was in the middle of nowhere and it was late in the day. They were totally agitated and threatened to shoot me!

I was in big trouble.

When they learned I could speak the local language they became even more agitated, accusing me of being a spy.

After I had been held there for several hours, surrounded by screaming soldiers, a senior military officer driving a jeep came along and asked what was happening.

He looked at my papers and ordered my immediate release. He then drove me personally to my destination some 300km away!

When we got there, he said something I will never forget:

__”The reason I drove you all the way is because it was my only way of ensuring that you would not be killed at one of these roadblocks. We are at war with the guys next door (Rhodesia) and our soldiers are very nervous at the moment. Unfortunately, some of them cannot read. We have to ensure that in future everyone in the army can read properly.”

Years later when I saw child soldiers being recruited in Liberia and the DRC, I always remembered that harrowing experience. I imagined the terror of being confronted with uneducated kids with guns who cannot recognise a simple passport. Many people probably lost their lives as a result on incidents similar to mine.

Boko Haram, Al Shabaab and other militant groups are all able to thrive when the educational systems don’t exist to provide proper education.

There is really little we can do to develop our nations if we do not tackle education first. There is little we can do to ensure our security if we do not tackle education first.

Education is the key.

Please sign this petition. Go now to upforschool.org and sign.

The Petition: “We, the world’s youth, teachers, parents and global citizens appeal to our governments to keep their promise, made at the United Nations in 2000, to ensure all out-of-school children gain their right to education before the end of 2015. We are standing up to bring an end to the barriers preventing girls and boys from going to school, including forced work and early marriage, conflict and attacks on schools, exploitation and discrimination. All children deserve the opportunity to learn and achieve their potential. We are ‪#‎UpForSchool‬.”

Signing will only take you a minute. Sharing with your friends will take even less time. We are really close to the 10m target.

The End.

Source: Strive Masiyiwa’s Official Facebook Page.

Celebrating the International Literacy Day

As the world all over celebrate today as the International Literacy Day, it is important to know that some 775 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 60.7 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

Literacy is the key driver for sustainable development. Literacy skills are the prerequisite for the learning of a broader set of knowledge, skills, attitude and value, required for creating sustainable societies.

September 8 was first proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965 and was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities, and societies.

From the data collected in the UNESCO’s “Global Monitoring Report on Education for All”, sub-Saharan-Africa stood at second from the bottom on the list of regions with the lowest adult literacy rate with an average 59.7%; while West-Asia stood as the region with the lowest adult literacy rate with an average of 58.6%.

The level of literacy of a region determines to a larger extent the rate of development of that society. For Africa to rise from the bottom of the development chain, we need to put more effort in education: adult education, girl child education, health education and global education. If we must succeed and be recognized in the world, then we must embrace education and literacy.

If we would conquer terrorism, poverty, hunger and disease and mismanagement of resources, then we need to a high literacy level among citizens of African countries.

Apply for the Global Youth Entrepreneurs Summit 2015

Deadline: October 10, 2015

The Global Youth Entrepreneurs Summit 2015 Bangladesh is an event of Global Entrepreneurship Week, which is going to be the world’s biggest platform for entrepreneurs. The Summit will take place on 20-22 November , 2015 at Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Bangladesh.

Global Youth Entrepreneurs Summit 2015 Bangladesh (GYES) aims to focus and support the innovative ideas of the youth Entrepreneurs.

Eligibility

• Open to 500 young entrepreneurs between 18 to 35 years of age from around the world.

Costs

• Accommodation from 19 November 2015 to 23 November will be provided only for International Delegates (Non Bangladeshi) at a renowned hotel in Dhaka covered by DYDF.
• Delegates with top 10 innovative ideas and projects will be rewarded by DYDF in Entrepreneurship Night.
• Every delegate will receive a participation certificate and all other conference kits.

How to apply

• To apply you should fill in the online application form before the deadline.
• For any question please send e-mail
  at id- dydfbd@gmail.com.

Click here for more information.

Welcome to the African Youth Corner!

Africa, the world’s second most largest and second most populous is one that has been misrepresented in years past by the media. The true story about Africa has not been told because the most people telling the story of Africa are not Africans. It has been said that until the lion is given the chance to tell the
story of the jungle, the hunter will continue to
relish us with his exploit in the jungle. The real Africa has not been told and seen in full dimension.

Here at the African Youth Corner, we want to tell the world about Africa, who we are and what we represent. It will be Africans telling the African story as it is and not as some people perceive it to be. We would focus on youth, education, health, governance, economy and other matters that make us who we are.

At the Corner, we would also be sharing opportunities for students and professionals, having several guests who are making a difference here in Africa and the amazing stories of many great Africans.

Please stay connected and enjoy the real Africa.

Let the journey begin!!!