Human Development Zone: Recent Episodes
Edzai Zvobwo
This show hosts movers and shakers from around the world and looks into challenges and succeses in the Human Development space towards attaining the SDGs. This includes education, health and eradication of poverty. We invite experts from all over the world to share their insights with our listeners.
In this episode, Edzai Zvobwo of The Education Support Forum (TEDSF) chats with Michael Mutekeri , Founder of Regina Analytics. Regina Analytics is focusing on disease control for citrus crops using tensorflow-based artifcial intelliegence.
Bright Simons of mDegree, talks about the need for #Africa to focus on #creation capacity so that it can copy and enhance technologies from elsewhere.
"The ability to copy requires the ability to create", Bright Simons. #Innovations
TEDSFLearn https://tedsf.org/learn has launched a #course on entrepreneurship and invites you to take part in the course as a student and also as a reseller through its #AffiliateMarketing offering, make money online today. https://tedsf.org/learn/courses/mgli-035-entrepreneurship-101/
The Education Support Forum (TEDSF) speaks to Tinashe Mpasiri on his efforts in fighting for women's rights. #WomenMonth #WomenDay
Now that steps have been taken by African nations to create a single market, do we have the fundamentals in place to succeed? Should we imitate the China playbook? If not what should we do make sure we are relevant in the global trade value chain?
The APRM will host their inaugural International Youth Symposium from the 1st to the 2nd of July 2019 in N’djamena, Chad. The symposium will be under the patronage of His Excellency Idriss Deby Itno.
Stanley Dube aka DJ Wildfire believes that accountability is at the centre of African renaissance. He says as long as the leaders protect wrong-doers and do not adhere to the founding values of the African Union then we are going nowhere fast. WHat are your opinions?
We have had about #AfricaRising and how Africa can #Leapfrog - For this to happen, we as the children of this continent have to change our attitutde. We have to align our mindsets we our lofty ideals. We have to realise that attitude is the fuel that propels action. African can rise from the ashes and conquer if we truly work towards it.
How come most African youths don't know about #Agenda2063 aspirations? Is enough being done to promote the Agenda 2063 idea to the people of the continent outside the development practitioners' space?
Tutu Fellows call upon the Zimbabwean government to release all civic leaders and activists who have been arrested and detained over the protests. The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellows (“Tutu Fellows”), of the African Leadership Institute, are a diverse group of civic, political and business leaders from 40 African countries who are concerned with the governance and development of the African continent. #Zimbabwe #ZimbabweShutDown #EvanMawarire #EmersonMnangagwa
Every year there are reports of learners committing suicide as a result of failure of their high school exit matric exams. It shouldn't be like that. #MatricResults2018 #AngieMotshekga #SouthAfrica
https://tedsf.org/motivational-speech-there-is-life-after-matric-failure/
TEDSF spoke to Thembi Ngoma on her initiatives in education. Thembi shared her ambitions for changing the education system to be more relevant for both teacher and learners. She is also head of a Montessori school in Johannesburg.
Previously Sello was the Head of Information Communications and spokesperson for the South African Human Rights Commission. Sello participated in the post-1994 transformation of the National Archives, including providing archival support for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and is a former Director of the South African History Archive (SAHA) at Wits University.
Sello serves on the boards of SAHA and the Open Democracy Advice Centre and is a founding member and member of the Advisory Council of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC). He is also a member of the editorial team for #NelsonMandela
The Education Support Forum spoke to Leanne Jansen-Thomas of Equal Education who outlined Minister Motshekga’s Norms and Standards delinquency.
Most recently, Minister Motshekga’s disregard for the Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure is evident in the disastrous “plan” to fix Limpopo school toilets, that she and Limpopo Education MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe drafted as ordered by the Polokwane High Court, in the Komape Court Case. In the “plan” Motshekga and Kgetjepe say that it is only possible to begin to fix Limpopo school toilets in 2026, a decade after the Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure stipulates that plain pit latrines ought to have been eradicated! The “plan” makes no attempt to create emergency interim measures, such as cordoning off dangerous spaces, or providing portable toilets. Our response to the “plan”, filed with the High Court, can be found here.
Earlier this month, the Constitutional Court dismissed Minister Motshekga’s application for leave to appeal against our school infrastructure judgment victory – as news reports revealed that a 5-year-old survived a near drowning in a pit latrine at Daligongo Primary in the Eastern Cape. Minister Motshekga and the nine Education MECs were not only appealing the escape clause aspect of the judgment, but also fighting against having to make school infrastructure plans and progress reports publicly available within a reasonable time.
No more excuses, fix our toilets now!
Today we demand an end to Minister Motshekga’s unfathomable and inexcusable refusal to recognise the criticalness of the Norms and Standards for School Infrastructure in realising dignified and safe school toilets for children from poor and working class communities. Talk is cheap.
The Education Support Forum spoke to Hastings Anelka Banda who emphasized that the youth have to read and understand policy if they are to have a seat at the political and business tables where decisions are made.
The Education Support Forum's Edzai Zvobwo spoke to Sonwabise Sebata the Head Of Communication at Thomson Reuters on how the company has put SDG attainment at the core of their business model. They are on a mission to inform, connect and empower Africans through trustworthy information and news.
The Education Support Forum speaks to Verosha Naidoo of ESRI South Africa about the GIS Day celebrations held in Midrand, Johannesburg. She tells us how ESRI SOuth AFrica is contributing to the SDGs through digital maps. https://www.esri-southafrica.com/
We spoke to Oludotun Babayemi of CODE. Founded in 2012, Connected Development [CODE] is a non-government organization [NGO] whose mission is to empower marginalized communities in Africa. We strengthen local communities by creating platforms for dialogue, enabling informed debate, and building capacities of citizens on how to hold their government accountable through Follow The Money.
CODE provides marginalized and vulnerable communities with resources to amplify their voices with independence and integrity while providing the communities with information that ushers social and economic progress. To enhance effective democratic governance and accountability, CODE creates platforms [mobile and web technologies] that close the feedback loop between citizens and the government. With global expertise and reach, we focus on community outreach, influencing policies, practices, and knowledge mobilization.
CODE’s commitment to participatory capacity & community building and monitoring and evaluation creates effective and sustainable programs even within the most challenging environments.
Nataliey Bitature is the Head of Operations at Musana Carts, street vending carts which provide clean energy, safe food and a path into the formal economy to micro businesses on the go. She has previously founded two service businesses in Kampala: Tateru Properties and Handymen Uganda. Nataliey has extensive field and boardroom experience across East Africa after working with The Simba Group for several years, overseeing Real Estate Management, Telecommunications and Renewable Energy projects.
She has an undergraduate dual honors degree in Business Management and Education from Keele University, UK, and a Master’s of Social Entrepreneurship from Hult International Business School in San Francisco. Nataliey was named as one of World Economic Forum’s Top 5 African Innovators for 2016. #Goalkeepers
African Internship Program champion, Daniel Antwi is interviewed by Edzai Zvobwo on The Education Support Forum's Human Development Zone show. #Goalkeeper
Esther Agbarakwe is the founder of the Nigerian Youth Climate Coalition and an international climate change campaigner with experience working on environmental sustainability, social and environmental policy analysis, biodiversity conservation, justice and reproductive health and rights.
She currently works as a communication advisor for the Association for Reproductive and Family Health. Agbarakwe is also the youngest chair and convener in the General Assembly of ActionAid Nigeria with the responsibility of driving ActionAid’s policies and programs in the country. Previously, she worked as an international advocacy fellow (population, health, environment and climate change) at Population Action International, Washington DC, USA. She has led several youth representations to major climate change and development conferences including Rio+20, Durban Conference and COP17. She has also worked on other projects with UN Commission on Sustainable Development, UNICEF and the Society for Family Health.
Agbarakwe is one of the Youngers of the Elders+Youngers initiative involving notable leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Gro Harlem Brundtland. She is also a Commonwealth Youth Climate fellow, Atlas Corps international fellow and Dekeyser & Friends Foundation Academy awardee. She holds a graduate certificate in Sustainable Development from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, USA and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from University of Calabar, Nigeria.
We speak to Gates Foundation #Goalkeeper Sinethembe Zonke.
Sinethemba is a political risk consultant who has spent seven years doing political intelligence and analysis with pan African strategic advisory company, africapractice. He has observed and followed political and economic trends across Africa and the Southern African region, working on political analysis reports for a range of clients dealing with regulatory and policy challenges. Sinethemba has advised clients operating in a variety of sectors including mining, FMCG, agriculture and ICT. In the past four years, Sinethemba has travelled and worked in Zambia, advising clients involved in the agriculture and mining industries. He has focused on issues of mining policy, such as resource nationalism, mineral royalty taxes and wider political influences in the mining sector.
In the agricultural space, Sinethemba worked on two donor-funded projects, one focused on Food trade in the East and Southern African region, and another project focused on climate smart agriculture. Sinethemba has written a number of analytical pieces published on various media platforms including The Star, Ventures Africa and Huffington Post. He has commented as a political analyst on various broadcast platforms including SABC, ETV, 702 and Power FM.
An interview with Mathebe Zvobwo CA (SA) of Amai Capital on entrepreneurship and job creation in South Africa.