Full Coverage: West Africa

30.12.2005 The world today is shaped by the advancements in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The relevance of ICT to the development of individual, organisations, nations and the entire world cannot be over emphasised. Nigeria has come to realise the fact that no modern economy can be sustained without integral ICT and has adopted the technology towards the growth of our economy.

29.12.2005 In this article Kady Souley Boncano shares her experience of how radio made her a star in her country in a week's time. She describes the changes Niger has undergone in last few years and the way radio has affected women's life in Niger.

28.12.2005 Ghana has entered a phase of accelerated economic expansion over the last three years with real GDP growth now averaging 5.2 percent as against a former average of 4.4 percent. Despite this acceleration in growth, the pressures from a more liberalized global economy are mounting; and in response to increased global competition, the Government of Ghana has identified information and communication technology (ICT) services along with agro-processing, tourism and other value-added sectors as key to further economic growth.

22.12.2005 A broader understanding of the concept of literacy to move beyond the capacity of reading and writing, integration of ICT and education issues across various government departments, shared vision between the funding agencies, implementers and beneficiaries, contextualizing the projects to the needs of the beneficiaries are some of the recommendations of the report on Information Technologies and Education for the Poor in Africa

22.12.2005 Liberia's national electoral commission dismissed George Weah's fraud case, and international mediators convinced the popular footballer-cum-presidential candidate not to appeal the decision to Liberia's Supreme Court. Weah said the decision was based on his desire "to see the Liberian people achieve durable and genuine peace."

21.12.2005 The final report for the USAID funded Mali CLIC project is now
available.

19.12.2005 Contempt of court proceedings have been started against Shell Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for failing to comply with a court order to stop flaring gas immediately in an area of Delta state. The court had ruled that flaring was a "gross violation" of the rights to life and dignity.

19.12.2005 On the heels of its first peacetime election in 14 years and a court announcement that the vote was essentially free and fair, Monrovia's Inquirer newspaper is reminding Liberians that they must look to themselves to secure their future.

16.12.2005 This online training will review the United Nations Convention of Human Rights framework particularly its provisions for peace, security and good governance. It will also examine the theoretical and practical bases for the provisions in a bid to find out their practicability.

16.12.2005 Earlier this year a debt cancellation package was agreed for 18 of the world's most impoverished countries, but now the IMF has announced a final test must be passed by six of them to qualify for the January write-off. Africa Action wants you to join them this week in telling the IMF that more delays cost more lives!

15.12.2005

© Lutheran World Relief

Lutheran World Relief has received a $640,104 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help nomadic communities in Niger avert food crises through new, innovative approaches that help bring vulnerable populations back from the brink of hunger.

15.12.2005 On a whirlwind trip to the U.S. that was supposed to be low-key but has turned out to be anything but, Liberia's next president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf spoke with AllAfrica.com, pledging to set realistic goals, put everyone to work, communicate openly with the people, and run an inclusive government.

15.12.2005 n the heart of sub-Saharan Africa's most-crowded metropolis, in a dimly lit Internet café thumping with Nigerian music, clusters of two and three teenage boys hover around aging computer screens. They use their Nike T-shirts and baggy jeans to wipe sweat off their brows and palms as they intently craft deceptive e-mails and scour the Web for foreign e-mail addresses.

08.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 8 (OneWorld) - Firestone, a multinational rubber manufacturing giant known for its automobile tires, has come under fire from human rights and environmental groups for its alleged use of child labor and slave-like working conditions at a plantation in Liberia.

07.12.2005 Elderly widows in northern Ghana often find themselves made scapegoats for life's tragedies, writes Jeevan Vasagar for the Guardian.

07.12.2005 Much of the chocolate found on supermarket shelves continues to be produced under appalling conditions—despite years of public outrage and consumer demand for change. But smaller chocolate companies are showing that there is another way.

06.12.2005 The British government has drawn sharp criticism from development charities for taking a debt repayment from Nigeria which dwarfs the UK's entire annual aid budget for the African continent.

01.12.2005 Kolmekymmentä tyttöjen ympärileikkauksia harjoittavaa ammattilaista on kieltäytynyt leikkauksista Norsunluurannikon taloudellisessa pääkaupungissa, Abidjanissa. Länsi-Afrikassa sijaitsevan maan naisista ja tytöistä liki puolet joutuu silpomisen uhreiksi, tyttöjen ympärileikkauksia vastaan kampanjoiva UNICEF ilmoittaa.

01.12.2005 Circumcision practitioners in the Ivorian financial capital, Abidjan, have publicly laid aside their blades, knives and scissors following an ongoing campaign in the West African country to eradicate the practice, estimated by UNICEF to affect 40 percent of women living there.