In Zanzibar, Tanzania, women like Munira Abdallah Abdallah are experiencing transformation in their economic lives, thanks to investments in early childhood centres. A grandmother and sea moss farmer, she now has a safe place to leave her grandchild while she works to improve her livelihood.

Each morning, Munira Abdallah Abdallah (44) wakes up early to prepare breakfast for her family and get her two-year-old grandchild ready. After dropping him off at a daycare centre, she sets out on a three-kilometer walk to the ocean, where she cultivates sea moss.

A mother of six, Ms. Abdallah lives in Muungoni, a small village located in the southern region of Zanzibar, Tanzania. She learned sea moss farming at 17 but had to stop after having her first child due to the demanding nature of the work.

In January of this year (2024), she heard about a new childcare centre established by the local government, UN Women Tanzania, and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE).

“At the time, an opportunity came up to start farming sea moss again through my women’s savings and credit cooperative. I’m my grandson’s primary caretaker because my daughter works hours away, so the childcare centre provided an opportunity for me to take him somewhere I can trust while I make an income,” she explained.

In Zanzibar, the sea moss sector reportedly employs over 23,000 residents, the majority of whom are women. These women spend up to six hours a day cultivating sea moss. Working mothers often face a difficult choice: leaving their young children with a neighbour or relative or bringing them to the work site, where they must juggle between their farming duties and keeping their children safe.

For Ms. Abdallah and many other women in the community, the childcare centre has been a game-changer.

“There are so many benefits,” she says with a smile. “I can focus fully on my work, knowing my grandchild is well taken care of.”

Ms. Abdallah also highlights the safety the centre provides, noting, “We often hear about cases of violence against children, so knowing they are in a safe place with trained caretakers makes an incredible difference.”

Addressing Women’s Unpaid Care Work through JPRWEE

The childcare centre in Muungoni is one of three established by UN Women through the UN Joint Programme on Accelerating Progress towards Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JPRWEE), a multi-country initiative implemented with FAO, IFAD, and WFP to secure rural women’s livelihoods, rights, and resilience.

Located in a building allocated by the Muungoni local government authority, the centre that Ms. Abdallah relies on is part of UN Women’s efforts to address the disproportionate unpaid care and domestic responsibilities that women face in Tanzania, where they currently spend three times as many hours as men on these tasks. Once the programme concludes, plans are in place for the childcare centre to continue to operate through the Muungoni local government authority.

“These centres are vital to our commitment to creating supportive environments for women to pursue their livelihoods,” says UN Women’s Programme Specialist on Women’s Economic Empowerment, Ms. Lilian Mwamdanga. “By providing this essential service, we significantly reduce the time women like Munira spend on unpaid care responsibilities, allowing them to engage in income-earning activities while ensuring their children are well cared for.”

According to Kikuba Khamis Mcha, who works as a caretaker at the Muungoni childcare centre, the centre now has 20 children enrolled, ranging from six months to five years old. Parents can drop off their children for up to five hours on weekdays.

“Since the majority of the mothers are sea moss farmers, we care for the children during their working hours from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m.,” says Ms. Mcha, who has been an early childhood educator for 26 years. As a former sea moss farmer herself, she added that she understands the challenges these women face, emphasizing that providing a service that frees up their time to earn an income makes a significant difference.

Expanding Women’s Economic Opportunities Beyond Childcare

In addition to interventions to reduce, recognize and redistribute women’s unpaid care and domestic work, under JPRWEE, UN Women Tanzania is implementing targeted interventions in Zanzibar, Dodoma, and Singida.

These efforts advocate for increased access to productive resources such as land for women, enhancing the capacity of women entrepreneurs to add value to their products, improving access to finance and markets, and strengthening the leadership and agency of rural women, particularly within Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs). UN Women is also working with the Government and stakeholders to develop and enhance policies and laws that respond to rural women’s needs and priorities.

Through these efforts in Zanzibar, over 3,000 community members have been reached through awareness-raising efforts to support and advance women’s economic empowerment and women’s access to and ownership of resources. Additionally, nearly 900 rural women were provided with training on entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Sixty village savings and loan associations were formed with about 15 women members each, where women can collectively save and use members’ savings to lend to each other. Two women leaders’ networks were established in the seaweed, sardines and horticulture value chains to support these women with knowledge exchange, discussion of key sector issues, and collective input into decision-making processes. Over 300 women also received gas cooking stoves at a subsidized cost to reduce the time they spend on cooking and fetching firewood.

In the next few months, Ms. Abdalla says she is looking forward to expanding her sea moss business. “I want to go beyond farming and selling sea moss to producing sea moss gel, soap, and other products that could fetch me a higher price,” she said.

For her, she says, the centre is more than just a childcare facility—it is a vital resource that empowers her to contribute to her family’s well-being.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Women – Africa.

We are now at the six month mark of Tigran’s unjust detention. Tigran’s physical and mental conditions have deteriorated rapidly with his situation being more dire than ever. He is in severe pain and unable to walk due to a herniated disc. Despite his conditions, the Nigerian government has refused adequate medical care, including basic needs such as providing access to a wheelchair. Furthermore, they are refusing to provide access to his legal counsel, despite a trial commencing on 2 September, which we have been informed is unconstitutional in Nigeria. A court has demanded the government release Tigran’s medical records but after several months, they have still not complied. This week Tigran was denied access to his US consulate representative. These actions are inexplicable.

I am deeply concerned about the long-term, potentially irreversible physical and mental impact this horrific episode is having on Tigran and I appeal once again for the Nigerian government to allow him to go home to his family on humanitarian grounds so that he can seek the appropriate medical treatment in the US, recover and get back to the healthy, active life he previously had.

Baseless Allegations Should Not be Used to Continue to Hold Tigran

A reason that the Nigerian government has used for continuing to hold Tigran is because “(Binance) is operating virtually. The only thing we have to hold on to is this defendant (https://apo-opa.co/3yW0d1Q).” 

This statement is far from the truth. There is no need to imprison an innocent employee to answer for any allegations against Binance. We have settled issues in countries around the world, including the US, Thailand, and most recently in Brazil (https://apo-opa.co/3MnjsEm) and India (https://apo-opa.co/3Xm3z7v), in a reasonable, collaborative and amicable manner with governments. All these were done without threat or harm inflicted to any of our employees. This is no good reason to hold an innocent employee to advance the discussion of outstanding issues.

Another claim made by the Nigerian government was that Binance was responsible for its currency decline. To everyone paying attention, this is not backed up by facts. Between 2021 and the end of 2022, the Naira traded between a relatively narrow range of USD1: 380 to USD1: 440.  We have been offering P2P services as a value-added service for our users wishing to get exposure to crypto during that period of time. The end of the Naira’s currency peg by the Government in June 2023 caused the biggest fall in Naira’s history according to experts (https://apo-opa.co/4dY7P2y). It went from USD1: 460 in June 2023 to USD1: 900 by the end of 2023. The downward trend continued since. The Naira traded at a recent low of USD1: 1,660 on 31 July 2024, representing a 50% decline from the start of 2024. This downward trend continued despite Binance ceasing to offer P2P services in the country in February 2024. As economists have more elegantly explained, the movement of a country’s currency is attributable to various macroeconomic factors (https://apo-opa.co/3Mnk11h). 

It is useful to point out that Nigeria has never been a big market for Binance. The Government has said that we made USD$26bn in revenue from Nigeria in 2023. That is not the case. The $21.6bn figure is the total transaction volume from 2023. To provide an understanding of transaction volume: if a person were to take $1000 and trade it 1000 times, that would represent $1m in transaction volume. Our actual revenue is based on charging a small percentage of transaction fee and we are proud to offer our users some of the lowest transaction fees of any exchange globally.

Call to Action

Tigran is a proud American who should not be subject to such unjust treatment. It is my sincere hope that the American government and political apparatus can exert its political will and muscle to bring Tigran home soon, so that he can get the adequate treatment and be reunited with his family and loved ones. The US administration and legislators have the power to designate Tigran as one of its “unlawfully detained” citizens overseas and there are substantial reasons to do so.

Global citizens should add their voices and concerns, convincing the Nigerian government such unilateral action without strong basis will be detrimental to the long term economic development and well-being of a country. Key stakeholders in the government of Nigeria made the decision to unfairly and unlawfully detain Tigran and they can just as easily make the fair decision to allow Tigran, a former US federal agent, to go home. We appeal on humanitarian grounds to all decision makers in Nigeria to allow Tigran safe passage home to his wife and two young children.

Once these issues are resolved, we hope to work with the Nigerian government to support development of the Web3 industry, create more opportunities for its young, talented workforce, and support the effort to attract more foreign direct investment.

Further Reading

From Richard Teng, Binance CEO: Tigran Gambaryan is Innocent and Must Be Released (https://apo-opa.co/4dZhiGU)
Statement Regarding Tigran Gambaryan (https://apo-opa.co/3ABPp9p)
Noah Perlman: Building a Culture of Compliance at Binance (https://apo-opa.co/4cNCSND)

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Binance.

At the U.S.-Africa Nuclear Energy Summit in Nairobi, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins, joined by U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Assistant Secretary Aleshia Duncan, Ghana Deputy Minister of Energy Collins Adomako-Mensah, and Ghana Ministry of Energy Chief Director Wilhelmina Asamoah, observed a significant milestone in civil nuclear cooperation between U.S. and Ghanaian nuclear industries — the signing of a commercial agreement between Nuclear Power Ghana (NPG) and Regnum Technology Group, the U.S. developer for a small modular reactor (SMR) project using NuScale Power technology.

This commercial agreement between NPG and Regnum represents a pivotal advancement in collaboration between U.S. and Ghanaian civil nuclear industries and is testament of the commitment by both nations to advancing clean and sustainable energy solutions. The SMR project is anticipated to be a cornerstone of Ghana’s efforts to enhance its energy infrastructure and lead the way on SMR deployments in the region. This initiative will help Ghana achieve its energy goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, setting a precedent for future energy projects in the region.

The NPG-Regnum agreement builds on existing U.S.-Ghana civil nuclear cooperation, including under the U.S. Foundational Infrastructure for the Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) Program that is helping Ghana to establish itself as a SMR Regional Hub and center of excellence. In addition to technical training, advisory services, and study tours, the FIRST Program is providing a NuScale Energy Exploration (E2) Center SMR control room simulator to serve as a regional training center for nuclear power technicians and operators and is establishing a welding certification program to support jobs and supply chain development for the region. Through this dedicated workforce development focus, Ghana will be positioned to establish a skilled nuclear workforce consistent with the highest international standards of nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation.

The United States is committed to supporting the use of innovative clean nuclear energy to power global decarbonization efforts and provide energy security to partners around the world.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Department of State.

Independent experts* today expressed concern about multiple allegations of arbitrary arrests and detentions on charges of, inter alia, unlawful assembly, espionage, hate speech and seditious practices against opposition political party leaders and members, parliamentarians, human rights defenders and activists, as well as restrictions on gatherings, meetings, peaceful protests and rallies in Zambia.

Since January 2022, at least 26 such cases have been brought to the attention of the experts. Information received indicates that in some cases, arrests, intimidation and harassment stem merely from expressing diverging, and critical views whilst in others, they are intended to curtail participation in political and public life.

“These practices have resulted in increasing political polarisation and self-censorship,” the experts said. “The arrests and restrictions have had a chilling effect on freedom of opinion, expression, association and assembly, which are core components of a robust functioning democracy and risk exacerbating deepening divisions, including along ethnic and regional lines, and further shrinking civic space in the country.”

The experts noted that, since December 2021, they had also received information about 16 incidents against journalists or media outlets, as well as 11 clashes, attacks, and cases of intimidation and assault, mostly perpetrated by ruling party members against members and supporters of opposition parties. According to information received, the church has not been spared, with reported arrests of clergy and disruption of meetings by law enforcement.

“To deescalate tensions, the Government must uphold constitutionally guaranteed rights; create a safe and enabling environment for civic space; expedite legislative reforms, including the Public Order Act, the Penal Code and the State Security Act; ensure the functioning of the National Mechanism for Implementation and Follow-up; and institute measures to ensure that State actors and institutions, including the Zambia Police Service, protect human dignity and rights.”

“We are deeply troubled by allegations that State actors have instrumentalised arcane provisions in the law, including “seditious intention”, to suppress the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression which is also enshrined in international treaties that Zambia has ratified. This is compounded by shortcomings in the administration of justice, such as arrests prior to the conduct of thorough and impartial investigations and undue delays in bringing accused persons before the courts.

“While the Government’s actions to counter hate speech, maintain peace and stability, and promote national unity are welcomed, these must be based on national laws that conform to international human rights law and standards,” the experts said.

“The Government has a responsibility to disrupt destructive patterns of attack and retribution between ruling and opposition parties, which have characterised politics over the last three decades, including by inviting dialogue with the opposition,” they said.

The experts are in contact with the Government of Zambia on these issues.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).