On a visit to the city of Galkayo in northern Somalia, top United Nations humanitarian officials heard first-hand of the dire conditions that local communities of internally displaced people (IDPs) are enduring amid the severe drought affecting the country – with the visit also providing extra motivation to do more to help those in need as the risk of famine in Somalia grows.
“It gave me the firsthand testimony that I need to provide to our donors and to let them know that it is not a fictional thing to talk about the 1.4 million malnourished children – 330,000 of whom are at risk of dying by the end of this summer if we don’t step up our engagement and provide them with the support they need,” the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Adam Abdelmoula, said after visiting two IDP camps in the city’s north.
Amid growing famine risk in Somalia, un humanitarian visit in Galkayo highlights dire conditions of displaced Somalis
Afreximbank launches $4 bln Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme
The Board of Directors of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) approved the launch of the Ukraine Crisis Adjustment Trade Financing Programme for Africa (UKAFPA), a programme of credit facilities that the Bank has developed to manage the impacts of the Ukraine crisis on African economies and businesses. The programme amounts to US$ 4 billion.
The Russia-Ukraine crisis which escalated on 24 February 2022 has had a significant effect on the global economy. Given the importance of both Russia and Ukraine as sources of crude oil and gas, raw materials and grains, the outbreak of the conflict has wider repercussions on a global scale, including adversely affecting African economies, especially those that rely heavily on grain, fertilizer and fuel imports.
Since its establishment, Afreximbank has built a track record and earned a reputation for introducing and implementing various emergency intervention programmes, with embedded strong risk mitigations to respond to various crises on a global scale and impacting Africa. Recent examples include the Pandemic Trade Impact Mitigation Facility (PATIMFA) through which Afreximbank disbursed over US$7 billion in support of African economies in their fight against the Covid 19 pandemic.
Crisis in Ukraine, agricultural machinery must ‘work as a system’
The fourth edition of the FederUnacoma Think Tank dedicated to the geopolitical emergency and the commodity crisis took place on 31 March in Bologna. The commodity crisis could last for years, so it is necessary for agro-mechanical companies to develop long-term strategies, while being reactive to sudden situational changes. Proposals were made by thematic study groups.
The international landscape presents many factors of instability that require agricultural machinery companies to adopt more flexible strategies than ever before. This is what emerged from the work of the fourth edition of the FederUnacoma Think Tank, which was held on 31 March in the evocative setting of the Dall’Ara Stadium in Bologna and which dealt with topics relating to the current geopolitical crisis and the raw materials emergency.
Jacobs Foundation calls for “culture shift” to put evidence at the heart of Africa’s $1.5 billion Edtech industry
The Jacobs Foundation called on investors, edtech companies, and academia throughout Africa and around the world to deepen their collaboration and integrate more research in the development of new edtech products. The Foundation also urged edtech venture capital funds to make greater use of evidence in investment decision-making, as analysts predict that the African edtech market, currently valued at $1.5 billion, will exceed $10 billion by 2026.
The Jacobs Foundation made this call ahead of May’s World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, where world leaders will convene under the theme, ‘Working together, restoring trust’. They will look at the role of public-private cooperation in rebuilding trust and shaping a more sustainable future. This comes after the pandemic disrupted learning for more than 1.5 billion students throughout the world.
To help further this drive, the Jacobs Foundation has committed CHF 40 million ($44 million) globally to foster greater cooperation between edtech investors, start-ups, and researchers. These key actors will convene in May this year at the Jacobs Foundation’s Unlocking the Impact of Edtech Conference in Germany, where they will discuss ways to make more and better use of evidence in edtech.
