Derek Tobias
(Michigan State University)
Program Manager
Alliance for African Partnership
Education
Energy
Food
Food Safety
Terrorism
AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
+5
USAID Administrator Samantha Power: A New Vision for Global Development
USAID Administrator Samantha Power delivers remarks outlining a bold vision for the future of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and inclusive development around the world. The speech takes place as USAID celebrates its 60th anniversary. Administrator Samantha Power's remarks will be followed by a conversation with 2020 USAID Payne Fellow Katryna Mahoney
By:
Derek Tobias
AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
+5
USAID Administrator Samantha Power: A New Vision for Global Development
USAID Administrator Samantha Power delivers remarks outlining a bold vision for the future of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and inclusive development around the world. The speech takes place as USAID celebrates its 60th anniversary. Administrator Samantha Power's remarks will be followed by a conversation with 2020 USAID Payne Fellow Katryna Mahoney
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By:
Derek Tobias
HEALTH AND NUTRITION
WHO greenlights the world's first malaria vaccine — but it's not a perfect shot
The world's arsenal against malaria just got a fancy new bazooka. But it's not the easiest weapon to deploy, it only hits its target 30 to 40% of the time, and it's not yet clear who's going to pay for it.
The weapon in question is the RTS,S vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline, which on Wednesday got the green light from the World Health Organization for widespread use.
This is not only the first authorized malaria vaccine, it's also the first vaccine ever approved for use against a parasitic disease in humans.
The recommendation comes after RTS,S showed positive results in a pilot program in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. The vaccine cut malaria cases by 40% and reduced hospitalizations of the potentially deadly disease by nearly a third.
Continue reading on NPR website
By:
Derek Tobias
HEALTH AND NUTRITION
WHO greenlights the world's first malaria vaccine — but it's not a perfect shot
The world's arsenal against malaria just got a fancy new bazooka. But it's not the easiest weapon to deploy, it only hits its target 30 to 40% of the time, and it's not yet clear who's going to pay for it.
The weapon in question is the RTS,S vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline, which on Wednesday got the green light from the World Health Organization for widespread use.
This is not only the first authorized malaria vaccine, it's also the first vaccine ever approved for use against a parasitic disease in humans.
The recommendation comes after RTS,S showed positive results in a pilot program in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. The vaccine cut malaria cases by 40% and reduced hospitalizations of the potentially deadly disease by nearly a third.
Continue reading on NPR website
Read more
By:
Derek Tobias
AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
Farm credit giving Omoro and Amuru women farmers a lifeline
OMORO – Dero-she capital, a local community-based organization (CBO) is helping more than 170 rural women in Amuru and Omoro districts to profitably engage in agriculture by extending farm credit to them.
Instead of cash, the organization gives farmers credit in form of services like ploughing and inputs or farm implements like seeds and hand hoes.
Innocent Piloya, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dero-she capital told theCooperator that most times, rural women have agribusiness ideas but lack support to implement them.
“What we do is lend them support like hire a tractor to plough land for them, give them seeds and hand hoes to engage in farming. We also help them look for market for the crops. We then recover the money after they have sold off their harvest,” Piloya said.
“Our organization does not give actual credit to the farmers because the money can end up being diverted elsewhere once received. Much as a farmer may want a hoe or seeds, they might have more urgent needs like transport or treatment so they could end up using the money for a different purpose,” she explained.
Piloya explained further that, before the farm credit is extended to the women, they are trained on good agronomic practices and business skills to help them transform from subsistence to commercial farming before they are given the farm credit.
Continue reading on The Cooperator News website
By:
Derek Tobias
AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
Farm credit giving Omoro and Amuru women farmers a lifeline
OMORO – Dero-she capital, a local community-based organization (CBO) is helping more than 170 rural women in Amuru and Omoro districts to profitably engage in agriculture by extending farm credit to them.
Instead of cash, the organization gives farmers credit in form of services like ploughing and inputs or farm implements like seeds and hand hoes.
Innocent Piloya, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dero-she capital told theCooperator that most times, rural women have agribusiness ideas but lack support to implement them.
“What we do is lend them support like hire a tractor to plough land for them, give them seeds and hand hoes to engage in farming. We also help them look for market for the crops. We then recover the money after they have sold off their harvest,” Piloya said.
“Our organization does not give actual credit to the farmers because the money can end up being diverted elsewhere once received. Much as a farmer may want a hoe or seeds, they might have more urgent needs like transport or treatment so they could end up using the money for a different purpose,” she explained.
Piloya explained further that, before the farm credit is extended to the women, they are trained on good agronomic practices and business skills to help them transform from subsistence to commercial farming before they are given the farm credit.
Continue reading on The Cooperator News website
Read more
By:
Derek Tobias
AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
East and Southern Africa Fertilizer Financing Forum
The Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM), in collaboration with the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) and AFRIQOM, will be hosting the first virtual edition of the East and Southern Africa Fertilizer Financing Forum on Thursday, 28 October 2021.
The event has been themed “Strengthening Regional Collaboration to Finance Fertilizer in the Agribusiness Value Chain”, and will facilitate the identification of opportunities for building and fostering partnerships with sectorial stakeholders in order to enhance access to finance and agricultural productivity in East and Southern Africa.
The East and Southern Africa Fertilizer Financing Forum will bring together regional member countries, regional and international development and commercial financial institutions, farmers, private sector, and non-governmental organizations.
The goal will be for participants to deliberate on potential solutions to existing bottlenecks to fertilizer financing. Delegates will also discuss ways to scale up funding in the region by leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative and other existing success stories.
Click here to register for the event
By:
Derek Tobias
AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
East and Southern Africa Fertilizer Financing Forum
The Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM), in collaboration with the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) and AFRIQOM, will be hosting the first virtual edition of the East and Southern Africa Fertilizer Financing Forum on Thursday, 28 October 2021.
The event has been themed “Strengthening Regional Collaboration to Finance Fertilizer in the Agribusiness Value Chain”, and will facilitate the identification of opportunities for building and fostering partnerships with sectorial stakeholders in order to enhance access to finance and agricultural productivity in East and Southern Africa.
The East and Southern Africa Fertilizer Financing Forum will bring together regional member countries, regional and international development and commercial financial institutions, farmers, private sector, and non-governmental organizations.
The goal will be for participants to deliberate on potential solutions to existing bottlenecks to fertilizer financing. Delegates will also discuss ways to scale up funding in the region by leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative and other existing success stories.
Click here to register for the event
Read more
By:
Derek Tobias
AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
Young Ugandan entrepreneurs get hands-on experience with digital tools
Seven young entrepreneurs belonging to four teams from Uganda participated in a hands-on learning course to familiarise themselves with the solar-powered smart projector kit that they had won through the Access Agriculture Young Entrepreneur Challenge Fund initiative. The smart projector contains the entire library of Access Agriculture farmer-training videos in local and international languages and can be easily updated as new videos become available.
The winners of the Challenge Fund, known as Entrepreneurs for Rural Access (ERAs), are part of a network of innovative young people who design sustainable business models based on using the smart projector in rural areas to bring about a positive change in the lives of farmers, especially women and youth, in their communities through promoting sound agroecological practices.
The course was held at Gudie Leisure Farm, Wakiso district in Uganda as part of the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa (KCOA) project funded by GIZ. It was facilitated by Access Agriculture ERA Entrepreneur coaches based in Uganda, in association with a local partner, The Farmers Media, and colleagues from KCOA project and the Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) network in Uganda.
Simon Negro Adriko, who has been an ERA in Uganda since 2019, was invited to share his entrepreneurship experiences with the newly recruited ERAs. One of the ERAs from AgroMush team who is just completing his studies in Algeria, Azaria Kamusiime, participated virtually in all the sessions.
The training consisted of presentations, classroom and practical field sessions, including:
Group presentations of assignments given by the ERA coach before the training relating to key topics of the sessions
Demonstration of COVID-19 prevention guidelines that ERAs should follow during the training and in their enterprise-related activities
Hands-on experience with the smart projector
Data collection tools to monitor and track performance
Practical field tasks which involved all the elements that they learnt in the classroom – from youth mobilisation to screening of videos using the smart projector and data collection
Session on basic business skills and development of work plans
Continue to accessagriculture.org's website for more information!
By:
Derek Tobias
AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
Young Ugandan entrepreneurs get hands-on experience with digital tools
Seven young entrepreneurs belonging to four teams from Uganda participated in a hands-on learning course to familiarise themselves with the solar-powered smart projector kit that they had won through the Access Agriculture Young Entrepreneur Challenge Fund initiative. The smart projector contains the entire library of Access Agriculture farmer-training videos in local and international languages and can be easily updated as new videos become available.
The winners of the Challenge Fund, known as Entrepreneurs for Rural Access (ERAs), are part of a network of innovative young people who design sustainable business models based on using the smart projector in rural areas to bring about a positive change in the lives of farmers, especially women and youth, in their communities through promoting sound agroecological practices.
The course was held at Gudie Leisure Farm, Wakiso district in Uganda as part of the Knowledge Centre for Organic Agriculture in Africa (KCOA) project funded by GIZ. It was facilitated by Access Agriculture ERA Entrepreneur coaches based in Uganda, in association with a local partner, The Farmers Media, and colleagues from KCOA project and the Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) network in Uganda.
Simon Negro Adriko, who has been an ERA in Uganda since 2019, was invited to share his entrepreneurship experiences with the newly recruited ERAs. One of the ERAs from AgroMush team who is just completing his studies in Algeria, Azaria Kamusiime, participated virtually in all the sessions.
The training consisted of presentations, classroom and practical field sessions, including:
Group presentations of assignments given by the ERA coach before the training relating to key topics of the sessions
Demonstration of COVID-19 prevention guidelines that ERAs should follow during the training and in their enterprise-related activities
Hands-on experience with the smart projector
Data collection tools to monitor and track performance
Practical field tasks which involved all the elements that they learnt in the classroom – from youth mobilisation to screening of videos using the smart projector and data collection
Session on basic business skills and development of work plans
Continue to accessagriculture.org's website for more information!
Read more
By:
Derek Tobias
EDUCATION
Creating Sustainable U.S. - East Africa Partnerships for Disability Inclusion
Professional Fellows Alumni Webinar:Creating Sustainable U.S. - East Africa Partnerships for Disability InclusionThursday, May 27, 2021, 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET
Webinar Description:
The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and Humanity & Inclusion (HI) invite you to join a Professional Fellows alumni webinar on how universities, DPOs, and other disability rights groups in the United States and East Africa can create independent, sustainable partnerships that promote inclusive employment and education in lasting ways.
By interacting with a panel of U.S. outbound and Professional Fellows alumni, attendees will learn:
How universities and disability rights leaders in East Africa can exchange inclusive practices and empower communities.
How to create professional development opportunities and low-cost trainings that let disability professionals in the U.S. and East Africa learn from each other during the pandemic.
How to build expertise in inclusive employment and education among teachers and service providers in East Africa remotely.
Panelists:
Dr. Martin Blair, Executive Director, University of Montana Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
Dr. Margo Izzo, Transition Services Director, The Ohio State University Nisonger Center
Dr. Macdonald Metzger, Director of Outreach, Education, and Interdisciplinary Training, University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration
Elizabeth Shiakamiri, Innovation to inclusion (i2i) Programme Manager, Leonard Cheshire, Nairobi, Kenya
Bijal Lal, Founder and Special Educator, Tujumuishe Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Please Note:
CART transcription will be available for all attendees. Please contact Siddarth Nagaraj (snagaraj@aucd.org) for any accommodations needs or general inquiries.
There is no cost for this webinar.
CEUs are not offered for this webinar.
This webinar will be held on the Zoom Platform. You can test your connection with Zoom before joining the meeting here.
This webinar will be archived.
By:
Derek Tobias
EDUCATION
Creating Sustainable U.S. - East Africa Partnerships for Disability Inclusion
Professional Fellows Alumni Webinar:Creating Sustainable U.S. - East Africa Partnerships for Disability InclusionThursday, May 27, 2021, 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET
Webinar Description:
The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) and Humanity & Inclusion (HI) invite you to join a Professional Fellows alumni webinar on how universities, DPOs, and other disability rights groups in the United States and East Africa can create independent, sustainable partnerships that promote inclusive employment and education in lasting ways.
By interacting with a panel of U.S. outbound and Professional Fellows alumni, attendees will learn:
How universities and disability rights leaders in East Africa can exchange inclusive practices and empower communities.
How to create professional development opportunities and low-cost trainings that let disability professionals in the U.S. and East Africa learn from each other during the pandemic.
How to build expertise in inclusive employment and education among teachers and service providers in East Africa remotely.
Panelists:
Dr. Martin Blair, Executive Director, University of Montana Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities
Dr. Margo Izzo, Transition Services Director, The Ohio State University Nisonger Center
Dr. Macdonald Metzger, Director of Outreach, Education, and Interdisciplinary Training, University of Minnesota Institute on Community Integration
Elizabeth Shiakamiri, Innovation to inclusion (i2i) Programme Manager, Leonard Cheshire, Nairobi, Kenya
Bijal Lal, Founder and Special Educator, Tujumuishe Tanzania, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Please Note:
CART transcription will be available for all attendees. Please contact Siddarth Nagaraj (snagaraj@aucd.org) for any accommodations needs or general inquiries.
There is no cost for this webinar.
CEUs are not offered for this webinar.
This webinar will be held on the Zoom Platform. You can test your connection with Zoom before joining the meeting here.
This webinar will be archived.
Read more
By:
Derek Tobias
