On 29 March 2022, the International Livestock Research Institute with its partners marks official launch of the “Pull-Push” project, a consumer communication campaign in Dire Dawa and Harar cities of Ethiopia.
“Eat safe tomatoes” is the key message of the integrated Media, Digital and Door to Door campaign, aimed at households of Dire Dawa and Harar, pilot region of the project. Next to the consumer campaign new packaging material for transport will be introduced and chain partners will be trained to increase the number of intact tomatoes at the sales locations in the region.
Worldwide, more than 2 billion people fall ill each year from the food they eat. Foodborne diseases are a major public health problem, that affects local farmers, but also families that buy food products. Women have an important role in the prevention of foodborne diseases, by buying and handling food products optimally. In the Pull-Push project, we support informal markets to provide safer tomatoes and we empower women to make an optimal choice in buying products and handling tomatoes safely.
After thorough investigation and research, the main conclusion is that tomatoes can be the cause of foodborne diseases, especially if severely bruised tomatoes are bought and not well processed in meals. Lab analysis by a risk-based approach shows that severely damaged tomatoes should better not be used for home cooking, since the risk of foodborne diseases, directly or by cross-contamination, is too high.
Launch of the “Pull Push” project
UN inter-agency team support Hargeisa fire response needs assessment
A week has passed since a blaze destroyed the Waheen market in Hargeisa. The impact of the devastating fire is still being felt, with many local business people reeling from its impact.
“My boutique used to stock clothes. I used to sell all types of clothes. It was a big boutique. I used to feed my elderly parents, my children, as well as my daughters’ children in total, ten people’s livelihoods depended on my business. I was the only breadwinner for my family and they depended on this boutique, but it is no more,” said Zainab Hassan Warsame, as she stepped through the ashes of where her boutique once stood.
With an estimated 5,000 businesses ranging from large stores to small stalls once located in the marketplace, Warsame is far from alone.
ADF approves $5.5 million grant to fund phase two of flagship Desert to Power energy project
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved a $5.5 million technical assistance grant to kick-start the roll-out of the flagship Desert to Power initiative in the Eastern Sahel region countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan.
Known as the East Africa Regional Energy Project, it will be financed through the ADF-15 Regional Public Good window of the African Development Fund, the concessional arm of the African Development Bank Group. The project will develop technical studies for regional solar parks and associated battery storage near regional energy interconnectors, high-voltage cables that connect the electricity systems of neighboring countries. The initiative will also strengthen the technical capacity of the implementing agency, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a trade bloc that includes governments from the Horn of Africa, Nile Valley and the Great Lakes region.
UN: “Great finance divide” amid COVID-19 poses major setback for sustainable development
The crippling cost of debt financing for many developing countries has hamstrung their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, forced cutbacks in development spending, and constrained their ability to respond to further shocks, according to a new report launched by the United Nations today.
The 2022 Financing for Sustainable Development Report: Bridging the Finance Divide finds that while rich countries were able to support their pandemic recovery with record sums borrowed at ultra-low interest rates, the poorest countries spent billions servicing debt, preventing them from investing in sustainable development.
The pandemic shock plunged 77 million more people into extreme poverty in 2021, and by the end of the year many economies remained below pre-2019 levels. The report estimates that in 1 in 5 developing countries’ GDP per capita would not return to 2019 levels by the end of 2023, even before absorbing the impacts of the Ukraine war.
“As we are coming up to the halfway point of financing the world’s Sustainable Development Goals, the findings are alarming,” UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said. “There is no excuse for inaction at this defining moment of collective responsibility, to ensure hundreds of millions of people are lifted out of hunger and poverty. We must invest in access for decent and green jobs, social protection, healthcare and education leaving no one behind.“
