Huawei together with Addis Ababa University officially launched Huawei-AAU ICT Practice Center in Addis Ababa Institute of Technology. The project is realized by Huawei with the aim of delivering hands-on practical experience for students and professionals. The target of the center is to train more than 2000 engineers including students and teachers to boost talent ecosystem of Ethiopia in the coming three years.
The practice center located in AAU pharmacy campus was inaugurated in the presence of Mulu Nega, State Minster of Science & Higher Education, Philippe Wang, Executive Vice-President of Huawei Northern Africa, and Prof. Tassew Weldehanna, President of Addis Ababa University, along with other invited guests and members of media.
As part of the cooperation, Huawei installed the up-to-date telecom equipment in AAU pharmacy campus for educational purpose. After 3 years’ know-how transfer, Addis Ababa University will gain 100% ownership of the ICT Practice Center. The 2.1 Million USD investment of the project includes donation scope of 1.9 Million USD worth equipment for training and demonstration, and Train the Trainer program to Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) teaching staff.
Huawei, Addis Ababa University Launch the first Huawei ICT Practice Center in Ethiopia
WFP reaches over 1 million people with emergency food assistance in Tigray
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has provided emergency food assistance to 1 million people since starting distributions in Northwestern and Southern zones of Tigray region in March.
Aster Beyene, a 43-year-old mother of seven, who lost both her home and crops two months ago to conflict, became the 1 millionth person to collect wheat, split peas and vegetable oil from WFP.
“Up until now I have relied on what little food I can get from my neighbours. At least now we have some relief from the hunger we have been suffering,” said Aster from Adi Millen, a remote rural village 50 kilometres from Shire in Northwestern zone. WFP provided food to the 4,500 villagers, bringing the first round of food distributions – which will be carried out every six weeks in Tigray – to a close.
“I am glad that WFP was able to bring the food to us here in Adi Millen, where we are far and cut off from many towns and markets,” Aster added.
WFP is responsible for emergency food assistance across Northwestern and Southern zones of Tigray and will scale-up operations to reach 2.1 million people in need of food assistance across these operational areas. Since April, it has managed to access all 13 woredas (districts) of Northwestern and assisted 885,000 people.
UN Ethiopia kicks off World No Tobacco Day campaign
The United Nations in Ethiopia kicked off activities to mark the 34th World-No-Tobacco Day with a call to tobacco users to commit to quit.
Marked every year on May 31, the World No Tobacco Day is an opportunity to raise awareness on the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use, second-hand smoke exposure, and to discourage the use of tobacco in any form.
During the year-long campaign, under the global theme of “Commit to Quit”, UN Ethiopia will conduct various activities to raise awareness on the negative impact of tobacco on people’s health and wellbeing. The campaign will also serve as a call to action, advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption and engaging stakeholders across multiple sectors in the fight for tobacco control.
As the world continues to reel under the impact of COVID-19, the fear of contracting the disease is motivating more smokers to quit. Tobacco smokers have a higher risk of developing severe form of COVID-19 infection, and of dying from the disease.
Africa’s free trade area can benefit women equally through targeted measures, says UNECA director
Targeted measures are needed to ensure opportunities arising from the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) benefit women and men equally across the region.
Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director of the Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), made this plea to African countries at a roundtable on ‘human capital: culture and heritage’, hosted during the 2021 Africa Dialogue Series.
She said trade alone cannot change the fact women, who although play a significant role in Africa’s economy, remain underpaid and underemployed compared to men.
Beyond the inherit economic disadvantage, Ruzvidzo added that women remain vulnerable to high levies, bribes, harassment, confiscation of goods and violence, especially in Africa’s informal cross-border trade where they make up 70 per cent of merchants.
