Friday, March 8, 2013
Melinda Gates: Observing International Women’s Day – March 8, 2013
African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) – Washington, DC-June 2012
Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)
Department of Labor (DOL)
Article by Melinda Gates
Co-chair the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
This piece was published in collaboration with the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, a platform for accelerating entrepreneurial approaches and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing social issues.
The calendar is overflowing with occasions to mark. It seems like there’s a special day for almost everything. For example, September 19 is celebrated by some as International Talk Like a Pirate Day. But the surplus of observances shouldn’t detract from the really important ones, like Friday, March 8, International Women’s Day.
The first International Women’s Day was held in 1911, but it was international only in the technical sense that women in four European nations marched. These activists were ahead of their time in thinking about women’s economic and political equality; they may not have been so far ahead of their time that they envisioned what it has come to mean for many of us today. Now, International Women’s Day represents a movement that is for every woman and girl, no matter where they live. This year, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize nominee in history by risking her life for the cause of universal girls’ education. Her courage has inspired women across the world. Some of the bravest, most revolutionary voices about empowerment are coming from women and girls like Malala who are calling the world’s attention to social norms that prevent women from realizing their full potential.
I just spent some time visiting the poorest parts of Northern India, where I met a courageous woman named Sharmila Devi. Because the government has invested in its basic health system, she received a visit from a trained health worker who told her that spacing her pregnancies was safer for herself and her children. Sharmila decided to use contraceptives despite the opposition of her mother-in-law. In India, husbands and mothers-in-law have been at the core of family decision making power structures for generations. Sharmila’s courage in seeking outside information and defying her parents-in-law as a way to determine her own future and improve that of her children represents a huge leap forward for women throughout the country.
Here is the reality we must confront on International Women’s Day: The decisions women make about their families are the key to improving life for many of the poorest communities in the world.
The evidence shows that in the developing world, women play a different role than men and are more likely to take care of their family’s health care and nutrition, things that children need to become productive adults and contribute to the economic and social development of societies.
In fact, research has shown that a child’s chances of survival increase by 20% when the mother controls the household budget. Yet in many places, women, especially young women, have very little decision-making authority to be able to effect this kind of change.
The work of making sure that women and girls everywhere can seize their potential is about making specific changes that will set into motion these longer term outcomes. For me, it means making sure they have access to the contraceptives so many women tell me they want and need. It’s also about harder to measure changes like whether they have the information and the power to plan their families on their own terms.
When I try to imagine the future, I am optimistic because I see women demanding information and opportunities in the face of social norms that say they’re not permitted to do so. I’m also optimistic because no matter where I go, people ask me, “What can I do to help?”
Malala and Devi aren’t the only heroes. Millions of people—men and women—stand by the conviction that empowered women are a source of progress, and they want to take action. That’s why I’m proud to announce the launch of my team page on Catapult.org, a crowd-funding platform dedicated to supporting women and girls. I identified these three great projects from GirlUp, Breakthrough, and Jacaranda Health and hope you can join Catapult to help fund them.
Our foundation will match every dollar donated to these projects. Together, we can help women and girls determine their own future, no matter where they’re from. To me, this is why marking International Women’s Day is important. It’s a chance for so many people to move beyond “celebrating” and take action to create meaningful and sustainable change for women and girls.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Melinda Gates.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Statement by Secretary Kerry On Republic of Ghana’s National Day
Washington, DC
March 6, 2013
On behalf of the American people, I send best wishes to the people of Ghana as they celebrate 56 years of independence on March 6 and congratulate Ghana on completing its sixth presidential and parliamentary elections. I hope that all Ghanaians will enjoy the benefits of peace and prosperity in the coming year.
The United States and Ghana share many binding ties: our respect for human rights and the rule of law, our commitment to democracy and development, and our belief in prosperity, all of which were born out of our respective struggles for liberty.
We look forward to building further on our strong friendship to achieve our common goals.
U.S. Senator, Coons On increasing U.S. Economic Engagement with Africa
Embracing Africa’s Economic Potential
Recommendations for Strengthening Trade Relationships between the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa
Source: The Africa Society
March 7, 2013
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, today released a report with concrete, substantive recommendations to increase U.S. trade with African markets. Africa is home to six of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world and is a critical emerging market for American businesses. The report is entitled “Embracing Africa’s Economic Potential: Recommendations for Strengthening Trade Relationships between the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa.”
“The United States faces dramatic challenges in Africa – and enormous opportunities,” Senator Coons said. “This report offers specific, concrete recommendations to meet the need for increased economic engagement in sub-Saharan Africa. If we don’t take action now to invest in trade and development across the continent, we will fall behind our global competitors and potentially shut American businesses out of these fast-growing markets for decades to come.”
The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs convened two hearings in the 112th Congress to explore economic opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and identify steps to increase U.S.-Africa investment and trade. This report analyses the findings of these hearings and provides a roadmap for developing a more cohesive, effective strategy for U.S. economic engagement with Africa in both the public and private sectors.
The report’s six recommendations to achieve a cohesive, effective U.S.-Africa economic engagement strategy are:
1. Support African-led efforts to improve the business climate on the continent and remove barriers to trade;
2• Reauthorize and strengthen AGOA to diversify exports, expand country and product coverage, and increase its mutual benefit well in advance of its expiration in 2015;
3• Improve coordination between U.S. government agencies and develop a comprehensive interagency strategy for increased investment in Sub-Saharan Africa;
4• Increase the presence of U.S. Foreign Commercial Service Officers in Sub-Saharan Africa to help U.S. companies navigate the business climate in the region;
5• Provide increased long-term support for agencies that provide financing to encourage U.S. commercial engagement overseas, mitigate investment risks, and generate a profit for American taxpayers; and
6• Engage the African Diaspora community in the United States to strengthen economic ties.
“The Chamber and our membership are extremely encouraged by the leadership that Senator Coons has shown in driving home point that Africa’s development will be accomplished through greater economic investment by U.S. companies,” Scott Eisner, Vice President for African Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce said. “This report establishes a terrific benchmark to guide Congress and the administration on the next generation of Africa trade policy. The business community will continue to work with Senator Coons and like minded members of Congress and the administration on an economically driven, private sector led policy for this country’s engagement with key African markets.”
“The Corporate Council on Africa represents nearly 85 percent of total U.S. private sector investments in Africa, and supports all six of Senator Coons’ recommendations,” Stephen Hayes, President of the Corporate Council on Africa said. “We think all six are vital and are at the heart of the issues that separate the U.S. from becoming far more engaged in Africa. The reality is that Africa is of far greater importance to the United States than most people realize, and we need to make Africa a national priority economically, politically and socially.”
Engagement with Africa is critical to America’s economic interests now and in the years ahead. Meeting Africa’s growing demand for American goods and services will strengthen our economy, help U.S. businesses grow and create jobs here at home. In addition, greater attention to Africa is required in the security sector as well, in order to keep our country safe and meet increasingly complex global security challenges.
Senator Coons recently returned from a congressional delegation visit to South Africa and hosted his second annual Opportunity: Africa conference to give Delawareans a seat at the table with some of the nation’s leading voices on sustainable development and trade with Africa.
The full report can be found here: http://www.coons.senate.gov/africa
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
U.S. Issues Statement on Elections in Kenya
Acting Deputy Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
March 5, 2013
The United States applauds the Kenyan people for participating peacefully in the March 4 national elections.
Although there were scattered acts of violence in two areas of the country, the vast majority of Kenyans voted in a calm, patient, and orderly manner. The final results are not in. Kenya’s Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission is in the process of tallying the ballots and we expect final results soon. We encourage the electoral commission to continue its work in a thorough, transparent, and professional manner.
We encourage all Kenyans to come together and move forward peacefully to realize the full promise and benefits of the new constitution. We urge that any election disputes be resolved peacefully through the Kenyan legal system. It is critical that Kenya avoid the post-election violence that marred the December 2007 presidential contest.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Secretary Kerry Meets Egyptian Business Leaders
Marriott Zamalek Hotel
Cairo, Egypt
March 2, 2013
SECRETARY KERRY: I apologize to everybody for being detained, but I had a very, very spirited, as you can imagine, conversation with members of the opposition, and it was really valuable – very, very valuable. And I’m very grateful to them for taking the time to come and share thoughts. It was really a conversation – we could have gone on for a couple of more hours, and I wish I’d had the time actually to do that because I thought it was very productive.
But I particularly am glad to be back here in Cairo and back here with some of you I met previously and others for the first time. But this is my first trip to Cairo as Secretary of State, obviously, and a lot of things have been happening in the course of the last year, so I wanted to have a chance to be able to talk with you a little bit about the economic challenge that Egypt is facing.
We’ve been a longtime friend and partner, and the American people support Egypt and want its political and economic success. And we really look forward to being able to work with Egypt as it continues to play a very critical role in the region’s economy and in its security issues. We come here – I come here – on behalf of President Obama, committed not to any party, not to any one person, not to any specific political point of view, but filled with the commitment that Americans have to democracy, to a robust commitment to our values – to human rights, to freedom of expression, to tolerance.
And these are things that, historically, the strong civil society of Egypt has cared about. We believe it’s very important for the Egyptian people to come together around those values, but also to come together to meet the economic challenge at this particular moment. It is paramount, essential, urgent that the Egyptian economy get stronger, that it get back on its feet. And it’s very clear that there’s a circle of connections in how that can happen. To attract capital, to bring money back here that will invest, to give business the confidence to be able to move forward, there has to be a sense of security and there has to be a sense of economic and political viability.
And so we understand that. You have to get people back to work, and the energy of this country needs to hopefully be able to move from the streets to enterprise and to work and to daily life and to building the strength of that civil society. And so I’m here primarily to listen to you and you tell me what you think you need to do that. But it’s clear to us that the IMF arrangement needs to be reached, that we need to give the marketplace the confidence. And that very capable and entrepreneurial Egyptian Diaspora that is currently in many parts of the world with its capital, needs to feel comfortable that it could come back here and that there’s a viability in going forward.
So when I speak with President Morsy tomorrow, I will be speaking with him about the very specific ways that we, the United States, that President Obama, would like to see us engage, including economic assistance, support for private businesses, growing Egypt’s exports to the United States, investing in Egypt’s people through education. There are some very specific things that we need to do, and all of them we would only do in consultation with the government of this country. These are not things that we would do on our own without a government desiring it or wanting it or being part of it, obviously. But they are only things that we can do with the same confidence that you make your choices, knowing that Egypt is going to make the right fundamental economic decisions with respect to the IMF and that it stands ready to provide the foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth.
So we’re working on a number of initiatives towards supporting greater trade and business development. Last September, we brought more than 100 representatives from American businesses to Cairo in order to explore these very opportunities. We’re certainly ready to try to do that and try to do more. And I spoke in the last days with Prime Minister Qandil, with President Hollande of France, with Chancellor Angela Merkel, yesterday with Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey – all of them are prepared to be helpful, but all of them believe that Egypt needs to make some fundamental economic choices.
The sad thing is that shortly after the visit of those 100 businesses last year, there was a problem in terms of the violence with respect to the Embassy and the community and it deterred people from following up on that. So a clear message: The United States is committed to helping Egypt become an economically successful, democratic nation. And I know that most of you here are – or all of you here are too. And I look forward for hearing from you your thoughts about the ways in which that can happen rapidly and what we can do most effectively to try to help make it happen. And I thank for listening to those opening comments.
On that note, I invite any members of the chamber or any of the businesses here to speak up. We’re going to – sorry – wait for the press. Apologize. Thank you all very much. Appreciate your being here.
U.S. Assistance in Support of Free, Fair, and Peaceful Elections in Kenya – Facts
Department of State
Washington, DC
March 1, 2013
For 50 years, Kenya has been a stalwart and reliable partner in a strategically important but volatile region. As the economic powerhouse and transport hub of East Africa, Kenya’s stability is crucial to the security and economic prospects of its neighbors. The success of Kenya’s upcoming presidential, parliamentary and local elections depends greatly upon the degree to which the country has reformed and strengthened its democratic institutions, increased transparency and accountability, and deepened respect for the rule of law and human rights. The United States has focused significant diplomatic and programmatic effort, particularly in the time since the December 2007 post-election violence, to support Kenya’s ambitious reform agenda, the centerpiece of which is a new, progressive constitution, which was adopted in 2010.
The upcoming March 4 elections will be an important test of Kenya’s progress on reform. They are the first national elections since 2007 and will be the first under the new constitution. Since 2010, the U.S. Government has contributed more than $35 million to support electoral reform, civic education, and elections preparation in Kenya. In addition, since 2008, we have provided more than $90 million to support constitutional reform, conflict mitigation, civil society strengthening, and youth leadership and empowerment, all of which contribute significantly to the goal of free, fair, and peaceful elections in Kenya. U.S. support, which is coordinated closely with international partners, includes:
The Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission (IEBC): The U.S. Government has provided assistance to strengthen the institutional capacity of the IEBC to hold free, fair, and peaceful elections. This includes technical assistance and support for boundary delimitation; voter registration; development of enforcement mechanisms for electoral laws; elections results transmission; outreach and communication. We have also assisted the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties in developing a software template for the submission of membership lists.
Civic and Voter Education: Civic and voter education are important components of successful elections. U.S. support includes funding for the production and dissemination of non-partisan voter education materials and ad campaigns; technical support to plan and prepare a national civic education curriculum; and funding for a national civic and voter education program targeting ten million Kenyans using social and mainstream media, as well as face-to-face training.
Elections Observation: The United States, in close coordination with international partners, is providing assistance for a robust elections observation effort. Together, we are supporting three elections observation missions: the Kenyan Elections Observation Group, a coalition of Kenyan civil society organizations, which will field 9,500 to 12,000 short-term domestic observers and 450 long-term observers; the Carter Center, which will field 14 long-term observers and approximately 30 short-term observers; and a U.S. embassy-based elections observation mission, which fielded 20 observation teams during the political party primaries and will field 35 teams during the general elections.
Elections Security: Particularly in light of the poor performance of police forces during the 2007-2008 violence, the U.S. Government has engaged the Kenyan Government, the IEBC, and civil society to emphasize the need for a clear and well-coordinated elections security plan, and to offer assistance. We have supported local efforts by police and community leaders to develop relationships and plans for addressing tensions and potential violence surrounding the election. At the national level, U.S. contributions to a UNDP basket fund are providing support to the IEBC to improve elections security.
Media: Inaccurate and sensationalist reporting contributed to the violence following the 2007 election. The U.S. Government is funding nationwide programs to help professionalize the media and strengthen the reporting skills of journalists. This support is designed to help the Kenyan media’s understanding and accuracy of reporting on elections and electoral processes. We are also supporting programs that build journalists’ capacity to investigate and report on local issues, including sensitive matters such as land reform, devolution, and local violence. To complement the work with the media, we are also assisting civil society in their efforts to engage with the media and to monitor hate-speech and other inflammatory rhetoric.
Political Parties: The U.S. Government is providing assistance to Kenya’s political parties to help them become more professional, comply with the new election laws, and embrace the spirit of inclusiveness envisioned in Kenya’s constitutional reforms. This assistance includes training for more than 9,000 individuals from major political parties in methods of developing party policies and platforms and to improving grassroots outreach and recruitment, especially of women and youth. It also provides training for 1,200 potential election candidates. U.S. assistance supported the formation of the Inter-Party Youth Forum, which brings together youth representatives to the major political parties; many of the members will also be candidates for office in the county or national elections.
Conflict Prevention and Mitigation: The ability of communities and local security services to prevent and mitigate conflict, including through early warning and early response mechanisms, will be important during the March elections. We are supporting programs in potential hotspot areas of the Rift Valley and Coast Province to deter elections-related violence by strengthening linkages among diverse Kenyan organizations. Strengthening theses connections enables these organizations to promote constructive participation in the election, defuse political tensions, and strengthen early warning and response mechanisms. We are also supporting small-scale social and economic development activities that provide opportunities for people of different backgrounds to work together toward common goals. Our extensive work with civil society includes support for local District Peace Committees, youth, and women to disseminate peace messages through personal contacts, and through traditional and social media. Finally, the U.S. Government is coordinating contingency planning with humanitarian assistance organizations for response to the possibility of large-scale election-related violence as well as ensuring that humanitarian analysis is incorporated into election preparation planning.
Youth Engagement: Seventy-five percent of Kenyans are under 35 years of age. Kenyan youth were both perpetrators and victims during the 2007-2008 post-election violence. The United States government’s Yes Youth Can! program supports Kenyan youth leadership, livelihoods, and empowerment. The program has supported formation of 20,000 village youth councils and assisted 500,000 youth in registering for national identity cards, which are necessary for voter registration. Other efforts include contributing funding to a civic education campaign and a series of peace concerts specifically targeting youth in the run-up to the election.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
