In August 2024, the United Nations (UN) in Tanzania presented the results of its second comprehensive assessment on gender equality and women’s empowerment, demonstrating significant strides made in mainstreaming Gender within the UN system.

The UNCT-SWAP Gender Equality Scorecard is a critical tool for ensuring internal accountability and driving improvements in gender mainstreaming practices within the UN system by assessing the dimensions of UN planning, coordination, programming and results for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The 2024 Gender Equality Scorecard for Tanzania sheds light on the UN system’s collective efforts to mainstream gender.

“I am very proud of our achievements”, said the UN Resident Coordinator for Tanzania, Mr. Zlatan Milisic, noting that with the analysis, the UN in Tanzania is equipped to focus and allocate resources to catalyze and achieve gender equality results outlined in its current United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF).

Remarking on the achievements, Ms. Hodan Addou, UN Women Tanzania Representative said: “The significant progress we’ve made is through the dedication and collaborative spirit of our entire UN team in Tanzania to deliver on results for gender equality and women’s empowerment.”

The Scorecard report revealed a marked improvement in gender mainstreaming practices since the previous report in 2018. Currently, 80 per cent of indicators in Tanzania meet or exceed performance standards, surpassing other countries in the region where the continental average is 40 per cent. The assessment further reveals that resource allocation towards gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations in the current United Nations Sustainable Cooperation Framework 2022-2027 have surpassed the 70 per cent global target, with 77 per cent dedicated to sub-outputs prioritizing gender equality as a significant or principal objective.

UN Women’s coordination role is central to these efforts, supporting accountability for advancing women’s rights and opportunities.

In Tanzania, UN Women has facilitated collaboration among UN agencies on gender mainstreaming, fostering partnership opportunities, and joint action on priorities for gender equality through coordination platforms such as the UN Gender and Human Rights Coordination Mechanism, which brings together Gender Focal Points within the UN to engage in joint programming.

The UN in Tanzania will continue to champion gender equality and women’s empowerment by strengthening mainstreaming efforts, promoting gender parity, and being unequivocal in its commitment to Leave No One Behind. 

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

Sudan’s deepening humanitarian crisis caused by nearly 16 months of war has left countless women and girls subject to sexual violence and rape and tens of thousands of children at risk of death from hunger, UN aid teams said on Tuesday.

Speaking from Sudan, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder described meeting a senior medical worker at a hospital outside Khartoum who had “direct contact with hundreds, hundreds of women and girls, some as young as eight years old, who have been raped. Many have been held captive for weeks on end.”

The medic from Al Nao hospital in Omdurman also spoke “of the distressing number of babies born – born after rape – who are being abandoned now”, the UNICEF spokesperson continued, during an update to journalists in Geneva via videolink from the wartorn country.

Countless horrors

He maintained that “countless atrocities” upon children had gone unreported, often as a result of very limited access.

He also warned that without action, tens of thousands of Sudanese children may die over the coming months, “and that is by no means a worst-case scenario…if there is a measles outbreak, if there is diarrhoea, or if there are respiratory infections, then the terrifying outlook for children in Sudan dramatically worsens.

“In the current living conditions, with the heavy rains and the flooding, these diseases will spread like wildfire.”

Echoing that grim update, the UN migration agency, IOM, agreed that flooding had added to the daily challenges facing millions of people whose lives have been uprooted by a battle for control of the country by rival militaries beginning in April 2022, stemming from the overthrow of long-time President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

Famine fears realized

At the start of the month, global food security experts at the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC) reported famine conditions in parts of North Darfur including Zamzam camp near Al Fasher town.

The camp is home to half a million displaced people confronted by extreme food scarcity, which has fuelled malnutrition and death. An additional 13 areas are on the brink of famine.

“The scale of devastation brought by the escalating violence in El Fasher town is profound and harrowing,” the IPC report’s authors noted, amid “persistent, intense and widespread clashes [that] have forced many residents to seek refuge in IDP camps, where they face a stark reality: basic services are scant or absent, compounding the hardship of displacement.”

According to IOM, almost all internally displaced persons across Sudan – 97 per cent – are in localities with acute levels of food insecurity or worse.

Staggering displacement

Worryingly, latest data from the UN agency shows that displacement continues to soar, with more than 10.7 million people seeking safety within the country and many displaced twice or more. Fighting in Sennar state alone displaced over 700,000 people last month with 63 per cent of this number originally displaced from other states, the majority from Khartoum.

Speaking from Port Sudan via video to journalists in Geneva, IOM’s Chief of Mission in the country, Mohamed Refaat, said that more the one in three of Sudan’s internally displaced have come from Khartoum. “That’s almost the whole capital of the country has been displaced, so imagine the scale of displacement,” he said.

Citing ongoing aid access obstacles which have prevented UN humanitarians and partners from reaching some of the most vulnerable civilians in Sudan, the IOM officer said that a large number of civilians remain “trapped” in a “very hostile war environment” and with no access to health care services. Many have had to walk large distances in a bid to secure food amid “skyrocketing” prices. “There is a shortage in everything,” Mr. Refaat explained, highlighting how “militias” had also seized control of various locations, restricting the movement of non-combatants.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN News.

As part of the International Youth Day celebrations, we congratulate 582 South Sudanese youth aged 15-29 who graduated from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Youth Empowerment Activity (YEA) training on August 12 in Juba.

USAID’s Youth Empowerment project collaborated with civil society organizations and volunteer youth trainers targeting 317 females and 265 males, aged 15 to 29. The four-month program included numeracy and literacy strengthening and work experience to build life and employability skills. Participants also received training on sexual reproductive health information and how to use non-violent advocacy and action to address personal and community conflicts.

The graduates from Juba join the more than 7,000 youth who have participated in YEA.  By the end of this year, close to 14,000 youth will have benefited from this USAID program across South Sudan.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy in South Sudan.

Government is moving to decommission the Kiteezi landfill following its collapse and eventual death of over 23 persons.

The Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Hon. Lillian Aber made this revelation while presenting a statement to the House chaired by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa on Tuesday, 13 August 2024.

The Kiteezi landfill in Kasangati Town Council, Wakiso District has been the primary waste disposal site for Kampala since 1997 receiving 2,500 tonnes of waste daily.

Its collapse on 10 August 2024 has highlighted the need for a sustainable and safer waste management strategy.

Aber said that government will move to decommission the Kiteezi landfill citing the pressing need to prevent any further loss of life or environmental damage.

“The tragic events have underscored the critical vulnerabilities in our waste management system. As a result, the government has decided to fast-track the decommissioning of the Kiteezi landfill,” she said adding that, ‘a 200-meter buffer zone around the landfill has been preserved and we are flattening the garbage hill to stabilize the area as we phase out operations’.

She added that the government is actively pursuing alternative sites for waste disposal.

 “We have identified potential sites in Menvu, Nansana and Busumamura in Kira Municipality,” Aber added

These sites, she noted, are expected to replace Kiteezi and help mitigate the impending waste crisis in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA).

AUDIO Aber

The minister revealed that they are looking at adopting modern waste management practices.

“Our focus is on implementing incineration and recycling methods to ensure that waste disposal is sustainable and environmentally friendly. We are committed to transforming how we manage waste in Uganda to prevent such tragedies in the future,” Aber said.

Kyadondo East Member of Parliament, Hon. Muwada Nkunyingi said the tragedy was a disaster waiting to happen as earlier warnings had fallen on deaf ears.

Nkunyingi stated that there are reports of gas extraction at the landfill which may have caused the accident.

AUDIO Nkunyingi

He added that it was disheartening to see people who were killed by the disaster being termed as land encroachers. He called for a comprehensive support to the people affected by the disaster.

The Minister for Kampala City and Metropolitan Affairs, Hon. Minsa Kabanda said it’s premature to talk about compensation when there are people believed to be still buried.
She disputed the information that gas was being extracted from Kiteezi.

AUDIO Minsa Kabanda

Ora County MP, Hon. Lawrence Songa said that the Committee on Climate Change had earlier advised the city authority to fast-track the decommissioning of the landfill but that, no action was taken.

Songa said that they had recommended that investors be invited to turn the waste into gas, but this was not done. He also highlighted that Uganda loses over Shs1 trillion annually due to waste-related issues.

“What we have in Kitezi is a dumping site, it is not a landfill. I do not see any landfill in Uganda with full engineering technology, which we are not doing,” he said.

The Third Deputy Premier, Rt Hon. Rukia Nakadama said the emergency rescue programme is ongoing and will be expedited by mobilising equipment from different partners to ensure that light is availed for a 24-hour rescue mission.

Deputy Speaker Tayebwa said that initially Parliament would have put up a committee to investigate the matter but acknowledged that other processes were now ongoing. He said as the presiding officer, his focus is on the people who are still stuck in the landfill.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.