Category: Science & Technology

HIGHLIGHTS

• Epidemics, cyclones, floods and prolonged drought in the south exacerbated by climate change further compound systematic weakness in Madagascar. This has affected the lives and well-being of children and their families in 2022. UNICEF projects 4.8 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2023. A projected 2.4 million children will require humanitarian assistance, including 479,0003 children aged 6-59 months who are expected to suffer acute malnourishment through the lean season in southern Madagascar.

Increased stress and economic pressure on families expose 533,000 children to violence, abuse and exploitation, including child marriage, child labour and gender-based violence.

• UNICEF will provide a multisectoral, integrated response to address the humanitarian needs of children and their families. Reinforcing the resilience of local communities and systems and aligning with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action will be the backbone of the response.

• UNICEF requires US$41.1 million4 to address the acute needs of 1.5 million people in 2023, including 760,000 women/girls.

KEY PLANNED TARGETS

92,000 children with severe wasting admitted for treatment

759,000 children receiving Vitamin A supplementation

230,000 women and children accessing gender-based violence mitigation, prevention, response

520,000 people accessing a sufficient quantity and quality of water

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND NEEDS

Throughout 2022, Madagascar continued to be confronted with multiple complex crises, including consecutive cyclones that resulted in destruction and damage in the east and southeast regions; prolonged drought affecting the south; and epidemics throughout the country. The socioeconomic impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and climate change-driven extreme weather events, coupled with structural issues, brought the country to a historically high poverty rate, with 81 per cent of people living below poverty line. This includes 1.3 million children. The situation has significantly increased social protection needs while putting basic services under pressure.

The slow recovery from three consecutive failed rainy seasons in the south has left more than 4.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. During the upcoming lean season (January-April 2023), an estimated 479,000 children will be malnourished, including 92,000 experiencing wasting. Around 1.9 million11 are already affected by very difficult access to safe water and sanitation. The water situation is expected to deteriorate further with another season of below-average rainfall during the current rainy season (October 2022 to April 2023), which could create a sixth consecutive below-average harvest.

The particularly intense cyclone season of 2022 affected 423,800 people10 in southeast Madagascar, causing 136 deaths and the widespread destruction of public infrastructure and crops. Consequently, five out of the six districts in these regions were classified as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 3, or crisis level.

While Madagascar is prone to such epidemics as plague, measles and malaria, weak health services struggle to ensure continuity of basic services during crises.

Increased stress and economic pressure on families, exacerbated by the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, further expose 533,000 children to violence, abuse and exploitation, including child marriage, child labour and multiple forms of gender-based violence. Humanitarian crises reduced households’ resilience and potentially pushed them to resort to negative coping mechanisms, which mainly affect women and children. This situation, in turn, is exacerbated by chronic weaknesses of systems for monitoring, preventing and responding to violence, including gender-based violence.

Source: UN Children’s Fund

A modified jumbo jet carrying a Virgin Orbit rocket took off from southwestern England Monday, marking the first attempt to launch satellites into orbit from Western Europe.

Hundreds gathered for the launch cheered as the repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft, named “Cosmic Girl,” took off from Cornwall late Monday. Around an hour into the flight, the plane will release the rocket at 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters) over the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland.

The rocket will then take nine small satellites for mixed civil and defense use into orbit, while the plane, piloted by a Royal Air Force pilot, returns to Cornwall.

If successful, the mission will mark the first international launch for Virgin Orbit, founded by British billionaire Richard Branson. The company, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, has already completed four similar launches from California.

In the past, satellites produced in the U.K. had to be sent to spaceports in other countries to make their journey into space.

Some of the satellites are meant for U.K. defense monitoring, while others are for businesses such as those working in navigational technology. One Welsh company is looking to manufacture materials such as electronic components in space.

“This is the start of a new era for the U.K. in terms of launch capabilities,” said Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the U.K. Space Agency. There was strong market demand for small satellite launches, he said, and the U.K. has ambitions to be “the hub of European launches.”

Annett said it was too early to say whether more missions are planned in coming months.

The mission is a collaboration between the U.K. Space Agency, the Royal Air Force, Virgin Orbit and Cornwall Council.

The launch was originally planned for late last year, but it was postponed because of technical and regulatory issues.

Source: Voice of America

Luanda – Southern African Development Community (SADC) announced the three Angolan winners of the 23rd edition of 2022 Secondary School Essay Competition on Friday.

The SADC Secretariat has allocated USD 1000 as prize money for national winners of the competition as follows: USD 500 for first prize, USD 300 for the second prize and USD 200 for the third prize winner.

The top three winners of 2022 Southern African Development Community (SADC) recently announced are:

In the first place was the student Casimira Pimenta in Angola’s Huambo province from the Secondary School Joaquim Kapango (12th grade), Irina Sardinha from the Commercial high Institute of Luanda (12th grade), and Ecliseaste Ricardo from Polytechnic Institute of Benguela (12th grade).

The competition takes place in two phases, with Irina Sardinha, second ranked in Angola, obtaining 10th place in the regional contest.

In 2022, under the theme: How SADC can increase production capacity in the face of Covid-19´´, 33 newsrooms competed across the country and the top three went to the regional competition.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Secretary of State for Pre-school and Primary Education, Pacheco Francisco, said he was pleased and called for more efforts by the sector in order to evolve and win better places.

To him, the creation of the competition, in 1999, helps young people to deepen their knowledge about the region and create proposals for mitigation, as well as stimulating reflection on the resilience of different sectors.

The ceremony also served to launch the 2023 edition, with the theme: How SADC can promote industrialisation for inclusive, resilient and sustainable economic growth.

The SADC Secondary Schools Essay Competition is a regional competition for students from schools and member countries to provide new opportunities for further knowledge.

SADC currently has 16 member countries.

They are Angola, South Africa, Botswana, DRC, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Eswatini, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Seychelles and Comoros.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

GENEVA — A United Nations study finds 222 million children and adolescents worldwide have had their education disrupted by multiple crises.

Education Cannot Wait, the United Nations global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, produced the study. When the organization was created in 2016, the number of crisis-affected children whose education had been disrupted stood at around 75 million.

ECW Director Yasmine Sherif says multiple crises over the past six years have boosted the number to 222 million among more than 40 countries.

“Conflicts are raging around the world — we know that, but they also are more and more protracted. But the growing record high number of refugees and internally displaced, as a result of conflicts and climate-induced disasters, have also contributed to this number, as have, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sherif said.

The study finds 78.2 million children worldwide have dropped out of school entirely. Education experts say those children are unlikely to resume their education, resulting in a detrimental impact on their prospects and earning capacity.

Sherif says she has visited countries where most children currently are out of school, and she has seen what happens to children in crisis-ridden countries such as Mali, Chad, the Central African Republic and South Sudan.

“When you do not go to school, you are very exposed to being — if you are a boy — forcibly recruited into armed groups, terrorist groups, militia, government groups,” she said. “And, if you are a girl, you are exposed to becoming part of a gender-based violence at homes, sexual violence, trafficking, early marriages, and early childbirth.”

Sherif says the new data must be a wake-up call for all leaders and policymakers as more children are being left behind due to crises. She says the international community must do more to support their educational needs, or there will be far-reaching negative impacts for human and economic development.

Source: Voice of America

PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Responsible Mica Initiative (RMI) is pleased to announce the publication of its 2021 Annual Report detailing the organization’s mission, milestones and key achievements over the course of the past year.

Establishing a fair, responsible and sustainable mica supply chain that is free of child labor remains the ultimate goal of RMI. Since its creation in 2017, RMI has demonstrated the efficacy of its multi-stakeholder, holistic and action-oriented approach. RMI membership has grown to 74 businesses and organizations engaged in the mica supply chain originating in communities in India’s states of Bihar and Jharkhand.

For five years, RMI has coordinated effort of individuals and institutions committed to achieving a collective vision. The impact of RMI’s presence and programs was validated by the responses of communities to the pandemic and can now be seen in mica processing units, in mica-dependent villages covered by RMI’s Community Empowerment Programs and local partners. RMI also saw that more can and will be done to build on this momentum: RMI will extend its programs to 2030 in India, beyond its initial five-year mission, and launch new initiatives in Madagascar.

In India, the heart of RMI’s strategy remains centered on three program pillars supported by multiple stakeholders ranging from local civil society organizations (CSOs) and businesses to RMI members, program partners and government officials. RMI has implemented Community Empowerment Programs (CEPs) in 130 mica-dependent villages, improving the living conditions of more than 50,000 children and adults. An external assessment confirmed the real impact the programs have had. RMI and its CSO partners continued to adapt CEPs to meet community needs that were exacerbated by the pandemic. RMI also developed and piloted a mica traceability platform designed to monitor the progress of all RMI members and to better understand their supply chains. Despite the need of authorities to focus on the pandemic, RMI pursued direct engagements with local governments and completed the design of two models for the formalization of artisanal and small-scale mines in Jharkhand that would create legal frameworks for their operation.

Building on its experience in India, RMI is excited to announce that it plans to allocate resources to address issues encountered by artisanal mica miners in the south of Madagascar. RMI has begun the process of registering in Madagascar and RMI representatives have already met with members of Madagascar’s parliament. MPs recognized RMI’s programs as a powerful resource that could be deployed in the country to address child labor and other workplace issues encountered by its mining communities.

In 2022, RMI will scale-up the implementation of the Global Workplace Standard for Mica Processors in India. This work will be supported by the India-based Manager for Workplace Standards & Sustainability who joined RMI in 2021. The CEPs will be strengthened based on the outcomes of the external impact assessment and expanded in conjunction with other organizations in the region. Two important studies will be undertaken to better understand community needs: the first will estimate the living wage of a typical mica worker in India and in Madagascar and the second will assess the distribution of added value along the mica supply chain. The engagement of government leaders with the support of local business owners will continue to promote the significant impact that a legal framework for the mica industry will have on the entire value chain. Finally, by pursuing efforts to leverage existing members and partnerships and developing new ones, RMI will be able to offer its approach as a tool for change in mica mining communities outside of India, and especially in Madagascar.

About the Responsible Mica Initiative

The Responsible Mica Initiative is a non-governmental organization created to establish a fair, responsible and sustainable mica supply chain in India by promoting responsible sourcing practices, and eradicating child labor and unacceptable working conditions. RMI members are drawn from industries associated with the mica supply chain in partnership with civil society organizations and local stakeholders. The Responsible Mica Initiative is an association, established in accordance with the French Law of 1901 concerning non-profit organizations, with its head office located in 6 rue d’Armaillé, 75017 PARIS – France.

Source: Business Wire