Category: General

OTJIWARONGO: Learners of the Orwetoveni Primary School, Karundu Junior Secondary School and Monica Geingos Junior Secondary School on Friday afternoon gathered at Otjiwarongo's central businesses district to celebrate World Wildlife Day. The 2024 World Wildlife Day at Otjiwarongo was jointly organised by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism and Otjikoto B2Gold Mine's environmental department. The three institutions each asked learners questions about the general environment, positions of charging carnivores, relaxed herbivores and names of various trees and animals. CCF lead environmental educator, Ignatius Davids at the event said World Wildlife Day is an important annual occasion at CCF as this provides an opportunity for them to celebrate and raise awareness about the world's fauna and flora. 'Therefore, this day is very important as most of the environmentalists across the world and staff members of CCF who look after a total of about 30 wild cheetahs at the farm would come together yearly and celebrate their achievements in conservations,' he said. The school learners then held dancing competitions under the theme 'Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation.' The three schools also had poster competitions, interactive exhibitions and community engagement initiatives with a purpose to help educate and inspire the local community members here about the importance of preserving and protecting wildlife. Source: Namibia Press Agency

The Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) and the Mastercard Foundation have organised a sensitisation workshop to educate the youth in the Western North Region on a Business in a Box (BizBox) project. The Project is a four-year collaborative initiative between the GEA and Mastercard Foundation, beginning this year to 2027, and sought to equip the Ghanaian youth with the requisite knowledge and skills in entrepreneurship to setup competitive enterprises. The initiative is targeting about 250,000 young people between 15 to 35 years, with 70 per cent being women and 10 per cent Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) across the country. It would be anchored on five pillars, namely Youth skills development, Access to market, Access to start-up, Youth social network, and Institutional strengthening policy and regulatory support. Mrs Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GEA, whose speech was read on her behalf, said the BizBox project was designed to build on the successes of the Young Africa Works progra mme which was implemented between 2020 and 2022 and provided work opportunities for about 94,000 youth across the country. The intervention, she explained, was designed to achieve even more by providing skills development, mentoring and coaching, access to markets and regulatory support to about 250,000 young people, including PWDs. 'The youth are the leaders of change and innovation and they only need the chance to demonstrate their skills, so this situation calls for smart and sustainable initiatives and policies that prioritize their development and integration,' she noted. Mrs Yankey-Ayeh said the project would be instrumental in addressing some of the key challenges the youth faced like lack of entrepreneurship education, limited access to markets and relevant job skills. 'The project will provide a comprehensive framework for our youth to succeed as entrepreneurs and contribute to the growth of Western North Region and Ghana's economy,' she added. Mr Louis Owusu Agyapong, Wiawso Municipal Chief Exe cutive, said the government recognised the pivotal role of the youth in national development, 'so we are committed to fostering the entrepreneurial ecosystem, providing integrated support for young businesses to grow and succeed.' He commended the GEA and Mastercard Foundation for their unwavering commitment towards supporting the youth to develop and contribute their quota towards the country's economic growth. Madam Habiba Sumani, Western North Regional Director of the GEA, stated that the collaborative efforts between the Agency and the Mastercard Foundation through the BizBox Project would ensure the success and sustainability of youth-led businesses in the region. Ms Gloria Mensah, a beneficiary of previous intervention from Bibiani, lauded the implementers of the project, and called on her fellow young people to fully get registered to help improve upon their business ideas. Source: Ghana News Agency

Tunis: "Ways to scale up cooperation between the Ministry of Employment and UNICEF in the employment, vocational training and entrepreneurial leadership sectors" took centre stage on Thursday at a meeting between Employment and Vocational Training Minister Lotfi Dhiab and UNICEF Representative in Tunis Michel Le Pechoux. The employment minister underlined the importance of Tunisian-British cooperation in partnership with UNICEF, which led to the launch of the Second Chance School in Kairouan in January 2024, aimed at getting young school dropouts aged between 14 and 18 back into school, commending the level and quality of cooperation between Tunisia and the UNICEF organisation. The UNICEF representative in Tunis underlined his organisation's commitment to supporting Tunisia's efforts in the field of youth mentoring and the development of joint projects. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Medenine: The ferries from the Island of Djerba to Medenine resumed activities, on Friday morning, around 6:30 a.m. after a suspension of shuttles since Thursday evening due to bad weather conditions, said Director of Ferry Services in Médenine, Farhat Larayedh. The ferries of the Island of Djerba ensure the transport of vehicles and people to Dejrba and other areas of the region. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

KATIMA MULILO: The Zambezi Region Governor, Lawrence Sampofu, says he believes there will be a positive outcome from the sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), arguing it will address the needs and plight of the community. In his welcoming remarks read on his behalf by Kabbe South Constituency councillor John Likando at the consultation meeting here on Thursday, Sampofu acknowledged that NDP5 had lots of challenges and setbacks, and thus urged both the regional and local authorities and the public to actively participate in the interaction and bring desired development in the region through the new plan. 'Our infrastructure are to be developed, in order to create employment. The Zambezi Tourism Waterfront is there, and we hoped it would create job opportunities but now it's turning into a white elephant,' said Sampofu. Chief Executive Officer and Focal Point of the African Peer Review Mechanism office in Namibia, Ambassador Lineekela Mboti argued that Namibia 'has good plans from NDP1 to NDP5, but impleme ntation is the challenge.' 'We must tell ourselves the truth, we are failing to implement our plans. Yes, there are resource challenges and inadequate funding, but we still need to implement our plans,' Mboti urged. The ambassador argued that as the mantra goes on inclusivity, indeed no one should be left out in the formulation and benefiting from the plan. National Planning Commission Deputy Advisor, Habani Munyungano says the main reason the NPC was in the Zambezi Region was to engage in extensive consultations with everyone, from the well-informed man to the grassroots level. 'The findings show that there is a high unemployment rate among the youth, which needs urgent attention, our own youth, we need to take care of them, we are mandated to plan on their behalf, we need them to get them access to health facilities and basic needs,' Munyungano stated. The NDP6 is a six-year plan that will cover 2025-2031. Source: Namibia Press Agency