Africa Renewal: April 2015

Cover Story

Students from the Midwifery School of El Fasher, North Darfur, commemorate International Women’s Day. Photo: UN Photo/Albert González Farran

Gender equality still within reach

Some progress made, but challenges remain
Zipporah Musau
By Zipporah Musau

Also

Miners in a lift cage at the Chambishi copper mine in Kitwe, Zambia. Photo: Panos/Sven Torfinn

How healthy is Africa’s sovereign bond debt?

Analysts caution against accumulating too much
Masimba Tafirenyika
By Masimba Tafirenyika
Beatrice Yardolo, right, Liberia’s last Ebola patient, walks out of the Chinese Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Monrovia, Liberia, at the beginning of a short ceremony celebrating her survival and release from the ETU on March 5. Photo: UNMEER/Simon Ruf

Ebola: A bumpy road to zero transmission

Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone remain vigilant as infections decline in the three countries
Kingsley Ighobor
By Kingsley Ighobor
Sam Kahamba Kutesa, President of the United Nations General Assembly’s sixty-ninth session. Photo: Africa Section/Paddy Ilos

If you want to liberate your body, liberate your mind

— Sam Kutesa
Masimba Tafirenyika
By Masimba Tafirenyika
The logo of the International Decade for People of African Descent

African-Americans resettle in Africa

Ghana is the first African country to open its doors to people of African descent from all over the world – but bureaucracy takes a toll
By Efam Dovi
Photo: UNHCR/R. Julliart

Refugees turn to Ethiopia for safety and asylum

Country now hosts the largest number of refugees in Africa
Sulaiman Momodu
By Sulaiman Momodu
Aeneas Chuma, the International Labour Organization regional director for Africa. Photo: Abate Damte

Africa grapples with a jobless growth

— Aeneas Chuma
Franck Kuwonu
By Franck Kuwonu
Angolan elite enjoy the import of expensive cars as a boy looks on while waiting to fill his container with fuel.  Alamy/Zute Lightfoot

Is Africa the new face of rising wealth and opulence?

Big money and lavish lifestyles mark newly-minted millionaires
By John Njiraini

Gender

Awurabena Okrah, CEO and founder of Winglow, a textile and fashion business in Accra, Ghana. Many women are venturing into business. Photo: Panos/Nyani Quarmyne

Investing in women’s employment essential for economic growth

Jocelyne Sambira
By Jocelyne Sambira
UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Kyung-wha Kang (centre) during her visit to the Central African Republic in February 2015. Photo: OCHA/C. Illemassene

Women seek greater role in rebuilding the Central African Republic

Zipporah Musau
By Zipporah Musau
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women. Photo: UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

Progress towards gender parity still slow, uneven

— Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Zipporah Musau
By Zipporah Musau
Young women study in a science laboratory at Mogadishu University, Somalia. Photo: Panos/Sven Torfinn

Millions of girls remain out of school

The gender gap has narrowed, but progress is starting to stall
Franck Kuwonu
By Franck Kuwonu
Actors in a skit depicting violence against women. The vice is on the increase in Zimbabwe and other countries in Africa.Photo: Joseph Mathenge

Humiliation: The latest form of gender violence

Groups ask men and boys to shun the practice
By Sally Nyakanyanga
Swearing-in of Members of Parliament and other government officials in Kigali, Rwanda. Photo: Paul Kagame

A celebratory rise in women’s political participation

Number of women legislators inches upward in Africa
Kingsley Ighobor
By Kingsley Ighobor
Women, Peace and Security meeting in Addis. Photo: African Union Commission

Looking beyond the rhetoric of an African Union year for women

and Ndidi Anyaegbunam
What women want in 2015 - the Year of Women’s Empowerment
By Ecoma Alaga and Ndidi Anyaegbunam
Women, Peace and Security meeting in Addis. Photo: African Union Commission

Looking beyond the rhetoric of an African Union year for women

and Ndidi Anyaegbunam
What women want in 2015 - the Year of Women’s Empowerment
By Ecoma Alaga and Ndidi Anyaegbunam
Women leaders and representatives of Kenya’s electoral body, the police and the UN sit at the Women’s Situation Room in Nairobi, Kenya that used diplomacy to help reduce electoral violence during Kenya’s last general elections. Photo: Joseph Mathenge

Women’s Situation Room: Africa’s unique approach to reducing electoral violence

How an innovative real-time intervention in Kenya used women’s strengths to protect voters and help keep the peace before and after voting day
By Jane Godia
Podcast