The Kenian Equity Bank is set to open three branches in Nairobi that will be
exclusively for women. Target is to significally augment financial support to female entrepeneurs in the next five years. Estimates show that 85 per cent of Kenian businesses in the informal sector and almost half of small and micro enterprises are owned by women. Banks however tend not to see female costumers as a target, and women hardly apply for loans and other services. Together with UNDP
Equity wants to to increase the competitiveness of businesses owned by women.
The current issue of the British magazine
The New Internationalist is devoted to Darfur. I wrote the cover story
War on Women. It is an article on the effect of the mass rapes on women and the rest of the community. The rapists in Darfur, but also in Eastern Congo and other war torn areas, still get away with their crimes. My article strongly pleads that there will finally be put an end to this impunity.
Working as a foreign journalist in Sudan already is not easy. The government doesn't like witnesses. For local journalists the job is even more difficult. That's why colleagues like
Nadra Mahdi deserve support and attention. The Sudanese female reporter writes for the Arabic newspaper Al Watan. In Darfur she notices that refugees rather tell their stories to the international press, because they fear the repercussions and censorship in their country. Nevertheless Mahdi gets the women to talk about for example their fears when they gather firewood away from the camps. Mahdi alsop fights female genital mutilation and gives the tea ladies who are harassed by the police a voice.
The Kenian Equity Bank is set to open three branches in Nairobi that will be exclusively for women. Target is to significally augment financial support to female entrepeneurs in the next five years. Estimates show that 85 per cent of Kenian businesses in the informal sector and almost half of small and micro enterprises are owned by women. Banks however tend not to see female costumers as a target, and women hardly apply for loans and other services. Together with UNDP Equity wants to to increase the competitiveness of businesses owned by women.
The current issue of the British magazine The New Internationalist is devoted to Darfur. I wrote the cover story War on Women. It is an article on the effect of the mass rapes on women and the rest of the community. The rapists in Darfur, but also in Eastern Congo and other war torn areas, still get away with their crimes. My article strongly pleads that there will finally be put an end to this impunity.
Working as a foreign journalist in Sudan already is not easy. The government doesn't like witnesses. For local journalists the job is even more difficult. That's why colleagues like Nadra Mahdi deserve support and attention. The Sudanese female reporter writes for the Arabic newspaper Al Watan. In Darfur she notices that refugees rather tell their stories to the international press, because they fear the repercussions and censorship in their country. Nevertheless Mahdi gets the women to talk about for example their fears when they gather firewood away from the camps. Mahdi alsop fights female genital mutilation and gives the tea ladies who are harassed by the police a voice.
