Some 100 children under five years of age will die today in Zimbabwe, a bleak statistic that is part of new social development data released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the government, has revealed that the situation there for women and children has deteriorated in the past five years.

The data showed a 20 per cent increase in the mortality rate of children under five since 1990, with children in rural areas and those in the poorest one fifth of the population being the most vulnerable. Major causes of these deaths are HIV and AIDS, newborn disorders, pneumonia and diarrhea.

The survey showed that 1 in 2 pregnant women in rural areas were now delivering at home and that 39 percent nationally were not accessing the requisite medical facilities for delivery. Meanwhile, 40 percent where not attended to at birth by a skilled attendant posing huge dangers for both mothers and newborns.

UNICEF says that these findings confirm the result of previous research indicating that user fees and other financial barriers are limiting women’s access to life-saving obstetric services.

In addition, data from the national survey, which had a sample size of 12,500 households in Zimbabwe, revealed limited support to the country’s orphaned and vulnerable children, with 79 per cent not receiving any form of external assistance. Further, around two-thirds of all children in the country do not possess birth certificates.

In Addis Ababa at the end of October, delegates from 26 African countries, plus Canada, Jamaica and Philippines, concluded a three-day sensitisation training on gender and climate change, resolving to put necessary pressure on political leaders and African lead negotiators to integrate gender issues in climate change negotiations ahead of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The training, which was part of the implementation of the Nairobi Declaration, was organised by the United Nations Environment Programme, with the collaboration of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP).

The Nairobi Declaration of the Network of Women Ministers and Leaders for the Environment, called on Governments to support efforts being undertaken by the Global Gender and Climate Alliance in pushing for a gender-responsive process and outcomes under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It also called for the development of Clean Development Mechanism projects that are women-friendly and simplified.

The sensitisation training introduced delegates to the various dimensions of gender and climate change and provided them tools and methodologies for mainstreaming gender equality in climate change initiatives at the national, regional and international levels. Delegates were also trained on how to comprehend the various international mandates, conventions and legal frameworks and their implications for promoting gender in climate change debates.

In a statement at the closing, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Water and Environment Affairs, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, said women were critical to the well-being and sustainable development of their communities and to the maintenance of the earth’s ecosystem, biodiversity and natural resources.

She said women contribute time, energy, skills and personal vision to family and community development in their distinct roles in managing plants in forests, drylands, wetlands and agriculture; in collecting water and fuel and in overseeing land and water resources.

“Therefore, their extensive experience makes women an invaluable source of knowledge and expertise on environmental management and appropriate actions,” said Ms Mabudafhasi.

She said the Network of Women Ministers would follow the ongoing subregional consultations to ensure that gender concerns are fully integrated into the framework of Africa’s positions leading to Copenhagen.

Mrs. Goundo’s Daughters the story of a mother’s battle for political asylum in the U.S., and her quest to protect her daughter and other young women from brutal traditions. In Mali, Africa, 92 percent of the female population are circumcised, a practice that dates back thousands of years, but is hotly contested today by human rights groups. This sensitively wrought film bridges Goundo’s two worlds; scenes of girls from Mali preparing for an excision ceremony are expertly interweaved with scenes of survivors sharing their stories in Philadelphia.

A moving documentary not to be missed!

This time I take you to this brave inspiring article written on the ongoings in Zimbabwe.. Please turn to Constance Manika’s story of the battle to survive in Zimbabwe:
http://thewip.net/contributors/2009/05/the_battle_to_stay_alive_survi.html

A simple thing like buying a product has consequences far beyond feeding your family, making you feel good or giving you something new to talk about. Buying a product, whether it’s the fruit of one person’s labour or the result of super-efficient mechanization is a vote for the organization that provided you with the product.

To you it’s just a banana, just a T-shirt, or just a bar of soap; to a business it’s a response to consumer demand, and money in the bank for investors. But poverty, climate change and economic crisis are the result of the products we buy and the businesses we choose to support.

If you buy Fair Trade products, change becomes inevitable. It’s not complicated - if it were there wouldn’t be so many powerful businesses in the world. You are powerful. You are the change. You already knew that, didn’t you?

World Fair Trade Day 09 MAY 09 is a salute to the people and organizations who have dedicated themselves to making Fair Trade what it is today, a solution not an issue. Fair Trade is not just about poverty, it’s a solution to poverty, Fair Trade is not just about climate change, it’s a solution to environmental degradation and bad practice. Fair Trade is not just about protest, it’s about change. Change that’s long overdue.

World Fair Trade Day 09 MAY 09 is dedicated to you and the positive impact you can make in your community, through local and global events, that unite people and opinion, in a voice that can be heard wherever you are, whoever you are. Grassroots to G8.

Unite with millions of people and be the powerful voice of positive change. Let the world know you want to beat poverty, climate change and economic crisis, play your part in kick-starting the sustainable economy. Make World Fair Trade Day your global stage.

And vote. Vote by buying Fair Trade products and produce. Be the change you want to see.

It is refreshing to hear that once in a while women of Africa experience some positive developments, especially those in such dire situations like the women of Darfur.
Earlier this year, a group of Darfuris women was saved from the hands of bandits who were believed to have been on a mission to take them hostages or possible war slaves.

The UN reported said troops from the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, tasked with protecting civilians and suppressing the bloody conflict in the region, foiled an attempted abduction of several women who had strayed outside a makeshift camp in the war-torn western flank of Sudan.

The report said a patrol from the hybrid force, known as UNAMID, was dispatched to the Hassa Hissa camp in West Darfur after being alerted that six women had been snatched while collecting firewood in nearby fields.

The kidnappers are said to have released the women when they saw the UNAMID team, made up of protection force personnel, police and military observers, approaching the scene.

The incident follows a series of violent incidents surrounding the Hassa Hissa camp, with the latest involving unidentified gunmen having shot dead the traditional leader or “sheikh” in the camp.

Let us hope that incidents like these never seize to happen.

It is refreshing to hear that once in a while women of Africa experience some positive developments, especially those in such dire situations like the women of Darfur.
Earlier this year, a group of Darfuris women was saved from the hands of bandits who were believed to have been on a mission to take them hostages or possible war slaves.

The UN reported said troops from the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, tasked with protecting civilians and suppressing the bloody conflict in the region, foiled an attempted abduction of several women who had strayed outside a makeshift camp in the war-torn western flank of Sudan.

The report said a patrol from the hybrid force, known as UNAMID, was dispatched to the Hassa Hissa camp in West Darfur after being alerted that six women had been snatched while collecting firewood in nearby fields.

The kidnappers are said to have released the women when they saw the UNAMID team, made up of protection force personnel, police and military observers, approaching the scene.

The incident follows a series of violent incidents surrounding the Hassa Hissa camp, with the latest involving unidentified gunmen having shot dead the traditional leader or “sheikh” in the camp.

Let us hope that incidents like these never seize to happen.