| ||||||||||||||||||
Hosted by E.K.Bensah Jr, a Research & Communications Specialist, the show seeks to disrupt the African Rising narrative by demystifying;unpacking; and explaining ECOWAS;African Union; South-South Cooperation policies around Africa's integration.
Monday, October 27, 2014
PODCAST>> "AFRICA IN FOCUS: Review of CCDA4 and Ninth African Development Forum in Context of UN@69 (21 October, 2014)
AFRICA IN FOCUS >> Coming up on 28 October, 2014: State of Aviation Sector in Africa (2)
State of the Aviation Sector(2)
In this edition of AIF, we will be discussing the aviation sector in Africa, with a special focus on two updates.
The first is AFRAA's meeting with the AU Commission that plan to convene a meeting on the Yamassoukro Decision October ending, and the second is the 23rd Airports Council Intl Africa Regional Assembly, held in SA.
We want to find out the state of Africa's aviation sector and explore way forward, especially now Ebola is being contained.
Guiding Questions to be answered:
· What concrete measures are airlines taking to help bring down tickets?
· How satisfied are the airlines operating here that the Yamassoukro Declaration is being implemented?
· Taxes, Charges and Fees are the highest in West Africa. Is it a case of West African governments being insensitive to the necessity of airlines in contributing to Africa’s development?
· What can our governments do better to help the aviation sector, beyond implementing the YD?
· How can tourism help synergise with the aviation industry?
· How can tourism help synergise with the aviation industry?
Guests in the studio:
Ø William Afadzinu, Marketing Manager, ASKY Airlines
Ø Anthony Sarfo, Marketing Manager--West & North Africa, Kenya Airways
Ø Representative, Arik Air
Ø Ignatius Ahimbisibwe, RwandAir
Ø Dr.Boakye, Tourism Research Advocacy Centre, Cape Coast
Ø Ignatius Ahimbisibwe, RwandAir
Ø Dr.Boakye, Tourism Research Advocacy Centre, Cape Coast
Tune in at 13h10 GMT (1:00pm Ghana Time). We’re also streaming live www.radioxyzonline.com.
Contact us Facebook on: http://www.facebook.com/africainfocusonradioxyz and radio XYZ 93.1FM. Tweet us @africainfocus14 and @ekbensah. Listen to us on #MultiTVChannel29. Thanks!
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
AFRICA IN FOCUS >> Coming up on 21 October, 2014: Review of CCDA4 and Ninth African Development Forum in Context of UN@69
Review of
CCDA4 and Ninth African Development Forum in Context of UN@69
Two
significant UN conferences are over.
The first,
which was the Fourth edition of the Conference (CCDA-IV) was convened in
Marrakesh, Morocco from 8-10 October 2014 on the theme: "Africa Can
Feed Africa Now: Translating Climate Knowledge into Action". The
theme selection was in recognition of 2014 as the year of agriculture. For this
reason, the spotlight was on climate knowledge opportunities that can transform
agricultural production systems to feed Africa sustainably.
Considered a
policy-influencing space organized each year under the auspices of the Climate
for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) Programme, ClimDev-Africa is a consortium of three
leading pan-African institutions i.e. the African Union Commission (AUC), the
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African
Development Bank (AfDB).
The second, which was the Ninth African Development Forum, was held in
Marrakech, Morocco, from 12 to 16 October 2014 on the theme “Innovative financing for Africa’s transformation”. The
Forum offered a platform for prominent African stakeholders to share key
information and participate in more focused and in-depth discussions on issues
relating to innovative financing mechanisms in the following four thematic
areas:
·
Domestic
resource mobilization
·
Illicit
financial flows
·
Private
equity
·
New forms of
partnership
The Forum further
sought to enhance Africa’s capacity to explore innovative financing mechanisms
as real alternatives for financing transformative development in Africa.
In addition,
the Forum was seeking to build on best practices, innovative policies and
strategies, and institutional and governance frameworks. It also aimed to be
guided by evidence-based knowledge and information on the range of options and
their scope for leveraging opportunities for financing Africa’s sustainable
development.
The ADF is
convened in collaboration with the African Union Commission, the African
Development Bank and other key partners with a view to establishing an
African-driven development agenda that reflects consensus and leads to specific
programmes for implementation.
These are
two conferences that seem to have made little impact in countries like Ghana.
Unlike in Morocco, where it made headline news, Ghana papers barely got a
look-in – save for one journalist from Kumasi covering the CCDA-IV.
While we
complain about yet-two more UN conferences at a time the UN is turning 69 on 24
October, have we not arrived at a point where the Global South accepts that the
UN is probably still only the international Forum that continually seeks to
allow the African voice to be heard? So even as there were few African lawyers;
policy-makers; and African negotiators at the Fourth Conference on Climate and
Development in Africa (CCDA-IV), and represented at the Ninth African
Development Forum, can we surmise that the UN continues to be the sole space
where a semblance of advocacy for equity around global concerns can be
expressed?
In this 20th
edition of AIF, we want to look at diplomatic relations between non-Ghanaian
countries and Ghana, with a special focus on Morocco, and ask whether it is
still important for African countries to create synergy with North Africans.
What about experiences of intra-African travel? If CCDA-IV is anything to go
by, it made a nonsense of continental African solidarity on entry into African
countries. Interestingly, however, it showed in unique cases that African
diplomats were ready to pull the envelope to help their citizens out of trouble
– something that is very refreshing. Finally, we will be speaking to two
African journalists to get a sense of how they experienced the two conferences,
and leave the show with a clear sense of the way forward on tackling Africa’s
existential threat of climate, and better-mobilising resources for the Africa’s
development.
Guiding Questions to be answered:
·
How difficult was it getting a visa/visa-on-arrival
to Morocco from respective countries (Cameroon; Kenya; Ghana)?
·
What does the treatment by Moroccan
officials at Ghana’s Embassy say about Ghana-Morocco relations; and Morocco’s
relationship with other African countries?
·
Is synergy with North Africa still a
good idea in Africa’s development?
·
After CCDA-IV and ADF9, is the UN
still a great idea for African countries?
·
Is the so-called international
development community finally getting it right on Africa’s development by
involving more sectors, including private?
·
Are journalists and media
practitioners better-communicating conferences, such as the CCDA-IV and 9th
African Development Forum, better than before – or is the jury still out?
·
On the line
Ø Ellen,
ABANTU, Civil Society activist, Ghana @13h50
Ø Mkhu Ncube, ex-UNECA/Business leader, Zimbabwe @
14h05
Ø Peter da Costa,Ph.D, ex-UNECA/Former Journalist/Development Consultant,
Kenya
@ 14h20
Ø Aaron Kaah, Journalist, Cameroon @14h35
Ø Busani
Bafana, Journalist, Zimbabwe @ 14h45
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Covering Climate Change for Development in Africa (CCDA-IV): INTERVIEW of Board Member Mpanu-Mpanu of African Risk Capacity
| ||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
The African Union as a ‘Game-changer’ in combating climate Change
Emmanuel is currently in
Morocco as part of the live-reporting team of the UN Economic Commission for
Africa/African Union Commission/African Development Bank-sponsored Fourth Climate Change and
Development in Africa (CCDA), which is underway till 10 October ;
and where he will also file stories for the African Development Forum from
12-16th October.
The African Union as a
‘Game-changer’ in combating climate Change
By Emmanuel.K.Bensah Jr Marakkech, Morocco
At a time when the African Union has come under
considerable criticism for doing little to address pertinent development issues
on the continent, along comes the African Risk Capacity to help combat climate
change. If Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, Board Member of the ARC Agency Governing Board, is
to be believed, the ARC is a real “game-changer” in helping address climate
change in Africa.
 |
| Mr.Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, Board Member, ARC Agency Governing Board |
Established in 2012, the ARC is a specialized agency
of the AU, established by a Conference of Plenipotentiaries, to help AU
Member States improve their capacities to better plan, prepare and respond to
extreme weather events and natural disasters.
According to Mpanu-Mpanu, it functions as an insurance
scheme that helps African countries pool resources together. He believes a
system like this “makes perfect economic sense as countries deal with drought”.
It further helps countries insure themselves against risk.
Once a request for assistance is approved by the Board, it takes around one hundred days for the money to be disbursed. This contrasts sharply with the donor agencies, which often take between four and six months. Against this backdrop is the idea that action must be taken quickly.
Pressed on why the idea of the insurance sector
helping address Africa’s problems at a time one barely hears of that sector,
Mpanu-Mpanu explained that one of the reasons why the ARC is a game-changer is
because it is about “changing the narrative” of African countries. It is also
about understanding the risk-profile associated with climate change in the
sense that when disaster strikes, a country will be well-covered.
According to their website, the ARC comprises two
entities: the Specialized Agency and a financial affiliate, ARC Insurance Company Limited (the Company). The Agency provides general oversight and supervising
development of ARC capacity and services. The Company is the financial affiliate
that carries out commercial insurance functions of risk pooling and risk
transfer in accordance with national regulations for parametric weather
insurance in Bermuda, the Caribbean, where it is located until such time that
an equally favourable legal and regulatory regime exists in an AU Member State.
Mpanu-Mpanu explained that had Mauritania known of ARC
when it experienced its severe drought last year, it would not have spent an
excess of around one million dollars to address it. He further elaborated on
the dynamics of the mechanism by explaining that, given that disaster cannot
hit countries all at once, when countries pay a premium, the pot will get
larger than the-over $100m that donors have helped capitalize as the ARC was
established.
The ARC is supported by DFID; SIDA; KFW(German
Development Bank) and Rockefeller Foundation, among others.
Mpanu-Mpanu looks forward to the day when all
fifty-four member countries will be covered by the ARC.
ENDs
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
PODCAST>> "AFRICA IN FOCUS: The Hotel Industry in Ghana & Africa (2); and a Chat with Miss Tourism 2013 (30 September, 2014)
| ||||||||||||||||||
NATIONAL REDD+ ROAD SHOW STARTS IN DAMONGO ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATIONAL REDD+ ROAD SHOW STARTS IN DAMONGO ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014
The National REDD+ Road Show event, which was launched on Friday, September 19th, 2014, during a media interaction at the Forestry Commission in Accra, starts at Damongo in the West Gonja District of the Northern Region from Wednesday, 1st to Thursday, 2nd October.
It is the first ever Road Show event of the forestry sector intended to create awareness among Ghanaians about REDD+ and its potential to help Ghana to mitigate climate change as well as enable the country adapt to its impacts. The theme for the Road Show is “Reducing Forest Loss and Climate Change Impacts throughREDD+; Our Collective Responsibility.”
REDD+ is an acronym for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. The Plus sign (+) represents activities that offer co-benefits such as biodiversity conservation, sustainable forest management and carbon stocks enhancement.
From Damongo, the Road Show moves to Dormaa Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo Region from Wednesday, 8th to Friday, 10th October, 2014. The next venue is Tarkwa in the Western Region from Wednesday, 15th to Friday, 17th October, 2014. From Tarkwa, the next event will be at Hohoe in the Volta Region from Wednesday, 22nd to Friday, 24th October, 2014. The REDD+ Road Show event will be climaxed with a National REDD+ Forum in Accra on Friday, 7th November, 2014, at the National Theatre in Accra.
The National REDD+ Road Show event is a country-wide mass communication campaign involving branding of vehicles, endorsement messages, radio discussions, float, road procession, sensitization of pupils and students, interactions with traditional authorities and local community members, film shows and durbars. The National REDD+ Secretariat of the Forestry Commission is spearheading the campaign.
The purpose is to "sell REDD+" to the Ghanaian populace, drawing attention to unsustainable land-use practices leading to deforestation and forest degradation, and their negative impacts including global warming and loss of livelihood opportunities. The event is further intended to galvanize public support for actions and measures targeted at addressing the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Ghana.
Globally, REDD+ has been recognized as an activity whose successful implementation will help reduce the impacts of climate change particularly in developing countries like Ghana. The preparation towards implementing REDD+ in Ghana, has been on-going since 2007.
Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), developed countries have committed to provide financial incentives to developing countries that have large tracts of forests to help them to expand, nurture and protect their forests. This will ensure that forests continue to play their natural roles which include absorption of excess carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere in order to prevent the dangerous warming of the earth. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have established that the continuous releasing or emission of a number of identified gases including carbon dioxide and methane (through mostly human activities) into the atmosphere has resulted in global warming leading to climate change.
The National REDD+ Roadshow Planning Committee, the Forestry Commission and partner institutions urge the general public, particularly residents of the various towns to participate in the various activities for the REDD+ Road Show. They should come on board, join in the procession and support the battle to save our forests and reduce the impacts of climate change.
Issued by the National REDD+ Secretariat
Forestry Commission
Accra
30th September, 2014
For further information contact:
Email: info.hq@fcghana.org
Website: www.fcghana.org/nrs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
