Africa Biogas Partnership Program

The Africa Biogas Partnership Program has reached the end of its funding period and is now finalized.

Fair Flowers: the journey of the rose

Development aid organisation Hivos’s Power of the Fair Trade Flower publicity campaign last autumn turned the spotlights on horticultural production in Africa. More particularly it shed light on the plight of women workers, who account for the majority of the sector’s workforce. In this special edition, P+ describes ‘The journey of a rose’. 

The journey of the rose: fair flowers

The journey of the rose: fair flowers September 8, 2013

People empowering change

Sumba is one of many thousands of unknown islands in the Indonesian archipelago. It has beautiful beaches and pristine mountains, but also poverty-stricken inhabitants with no prospects of economic or social development. Until, that is, Hivos put the island on the map in 2011 in an ambitious experiment: Iconic Island Sumba, aiming for 100% renewable

Former Hivos employee is first openly gay black African MP

In May 2014, a former Hivos employee, South African politician and activist, Zak Mbhele made history by becoming Africa’s first black openly gay Member of Parliament.

Civil society participation in the Sustainable Energy For All initiative

This paper provides a ‘snapshot’ of the civil society experience of SE4ALL to date in order to understand the entry points for – and some of the challenges – of participation.

Do not wait, innovate!

Disrupt/Media Tunis as it happened The Disrupt!/Media! ideathon co-organised by Hivos and the Tunisian coworking space Cogite from 17 to 18 October was an intense – but fun – experience for the 35 participants and everyone involved. This was the second event of the Disrupt Series set up by Hivos’ Mideast Creatives programme to support

Imprisoned for protesting – Hivos supports Egyptian women activists

Hivos, together with over 220 other women’s and human rights organisations, is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of seven female human rights activists from Egypt. They were arrested on June 21, 2014 during a public protest against the new Egyptian  Protest and Public Assembly Law. They are accused of breaking this repressive law and

Biodigesters to improve milk production in Bolivia

Biodigesters provide a source of renewable energy and organic fertilizer that will be used in Bolivia to increase the production and quality of milk. With financial support from Hivos and the technical support of SNV, this project will benefit more than 900 dairy farmers who provide milk for ANDIL (Asociación Nacional de Industrias Lácteas), the

CINERGIA keeps boosting film industry in Central America

To encourage filmmakers, the Audiovisual Promotion Fund for Central America and Cuba, CINERGIA, held its annual ‘Encuentros Cinergia’, a space for directors and producers to present their film projects to a jury through pitching sessions and private screenings. During the closing night of the encounter, CINERGIA awarded scholarships and grants for to the most promising

IM-Defensoras wins the prestigious Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award

Hivos is proud to announce that the Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras) has received the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C. IM-Defensoras is a network of some 350 women’s rights initiatives founded in April 2010 by Just Associates (JASS, Mesoamerica and global) and a number

Reflecting back on Istanbul’s Internet Governance Forum

The 9th edition of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), held in Istanbul at the beginning of October, marks a significant turning point regarding how the global dialogue on Internet Governance (IG) has evolved since the forum was first launched in 2006. In these nine years, the forum has gone from a mere talk shop to a major

Arts Collaboratory supporting art projects at COP 20 in Peru

From 1 to 12 December 2014, Lima will host the Twentieth Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 20). Peru will receive about 15,000 attendees representing 195 countries and stakeholders from international organisations, civil society, private sector and the media. Coinciding with COP20, Hivos’ Arts Collaboratory programme will

Costa Rica hosts the Open Goverment Partnership Regional Meeting

The Open Government Partnership Regional Meeting for the Americas is an event that brings together civil society organizations and NGOs, policy leaders and representatives of industry for a series of workshops, presentations and panel discussions focusing on OGP developments in Latin America. Hivos is co-organizing the event, along with the governments and civil society of

Art and civic activism merge in the 2015 Hivos South America calendar

Art and civic activism merge in “Desatando” (untying), the 2015 calendar produced by Hivos’ regional office in South America. It is a collection of  illustrations created in a process that brought together five artists and nine representatives of Bolivian civil society organizations. They are all fighting for the decriminalization of abortion and the legalization of

IGMena Pre-event: Internet Freedom – Rights and Responsibilities

The day before the Arab Internet Governance Forum (Arab IGF) held this year in Lebanon, 26-27 November 2014, Hivos, in cooperation with the UNESCO and the Maharat Foundation organized a workshop at the American University of Science & Technology (AUST) in Beirut. The event entitled, “Internet Freedom: Rights and Responsibilities” was an opportunity to pinpoint

Joint Public Statement: Syria – No word on four abducted activists from Douma

A year on, no information on the Douma Four The prominent Syrian human rights defenders Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Khalil, Wa’el Hamada and Nazem Hamadi – the Douma Four – remain missing a year after their abduction, 71 organizations** said today, including Hivos. The four were abducted in Douma, a city near Damascus under the control of

Hivos initiative to bring girls closer to technology

Hivos in Central America has launched a follow-up to its earlier campaign “Tenía que ser Mujer” from March 2014. Called “Tenía que ser mujer… creadora” (It must have been a woman – creator), the new initiative aims to celebrate a brighter future for this and new generations of women by bringing girls closer to technology. The report

The final run for collaborative spaces on Zoomaal

Not too long ago, Hivos’ Mideast Creatives programme posted about the collaborative spaces challenge we worked on through our partner Zoomaal, the Arab crowdfunding platform, to support the creation and growth of such spaces in Arab countries. The challenge resulted in a very competitive battle. In the end, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria and Iraq qualified

Hacking to protect the Amazon

New technologies have the power to change lives in powerful and creative ways. Hivos supports social initiatives that employ ICT technologies for social good, such as the Jakarta Open Data Challenge (#HACKJAK) and the Cuyahuani 2.0 Ayamara hacker community project. This time, we have joined efforts with Digital Democracy to empower marginalized communities in the Amazon

#ChildNotWife – Saiedet Souria’s campaign against underage marriage

As the civil war in Syria rages on, millions of Syrians have lost their loved ones, home, income and security. In addition to these enormous challenges, many Syrian girls also face the danger of underage marriage. Many Syrian parents, often in a dire financial situation, feel forced to marry off their daughters, or see marriage

Call for experimenting and prototyping is now OPEN!

The Hivos Media and Accountability Program has launched its second call for proposals open to civil society organizations (CSO), social change groups, media, research institutes, associations and private enterprises working on transparency and accountability issues in Latin America. Topics of the call include: transparency and accountability, democratic processes (e.g. election monitoring), citizen engagement, journalism (citizen

Syria: Free Human Rights Defenders Held 3 Years

Detained Arbitrarily, and Tortured On the third anniversary of their arrest, Hivos joins 70 other human rights groups in urging the Syrian government to immediately free the prominent Syrian human rights defenders Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zitani and Hussein Gharir.  The three men have been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty on the basis of their human rights

DataBase: open data and investigative journalism

The Costa Rican digital newspaper AmeliaRueda.com officially launched DataBase during the Amelia Rueda radio program aired February 9th. DataBase is a platform combining data journalism with investigative journalism and tech development to make public information more accessible to citizens. This initiative supported by the Hivos Media & Accountability Program in Latin America, aims to promote

Call for women’s political participation in the Middle East, as crises worsens

A strong appeal for women’s involvement in peace negotiations in Iraq and Syria was made to Dutch Foreign Minister Koenders by two Hivos partners from the region on February 17, 2015. Suzan Aref from the Iraqi Women Empowerment Organization, together with a leading member of the Syrian Women’s Initiative for Peace and Democracy, discussed the

Disrupt!/Books!/ in Amman: disruptive ideathon for a publishing start-up

Do you want your book to be published? Do you have a disruptive idea for a publishing start-up? Maybe it is a book idea that you believe readers all over the Middle East are waiting for? Or maybe it is a new app that allows for dynamic reading of Arabic eBooks? It could even be

Facción, the activist media platform for Latin America

More than 50 organizations from 15 Latin American countries give life to Facción, an independent communication network supported by Hivos. Facción reports on events that mainstream media mostly do not cover. The government repression of Mexican teachers, the violence against women promoted by Bolivian television and the protest against the imprisonment of women who have

Living Wage Edition

Living Wage Edition March 11, 2015

Open call to attend second edition of ‘ELLA’ in Bolivia

The city of Cochabamba, in Bolivia, will host the II Encuentro Latinoamericano de Mujeres (Latin American Women’s Meeting.), ‘ELLA 2015’. This event first took place in 2014 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and was attended by more than 300 participants from 15 countries  making it a historic first edition. From the 7th to the 10th of

2015 Iran Cyber Dialogue Addresses Opportunities and Challenges

Hivos partner ASL 19 hosted the third annual Iran Cyber Dialogue (ICD) on 5 and 6 March in Valencia, Spain. The conference brought together government actors, civil society members, journalists and technical experts to discuss the state of Iran with respect to technological infrastructure, Internet policy, and human rights. Host ASL 19 (Article 19 in

DataBO, Bolivia’s first data accelerator

The open data philosophy is starting to become known in Bolivia through the DataBO project, the first data accelerator in the country. Supported by Hivos and Oxfam, this initiative is promoted by La Pública, a digital newspaper aimed at contributing to a culture of transparency and accountability. There are only a few initiatives in Bolivia

SieteXGuatemala: seven films, seven visions of Guatemala

“Remember to not forget”… Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana On April 9th, Hivos Central America released the film SietexGuatemala (Seven for Guatemala) in a packed theater at the Historic Centre of the City of Guatemala. The film is a series of short films by renowned filmmakers portraying

Zoomaal’s Made-by-Many Challenge

Hivos, in partnership with the British Council, is proud to announce Zoomaal’s launch of the ‘Made-by-Many’ Challenge to support creative and cultural events and festivals that have a social or economic impact with an innovative twist. Events and festivals from Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Yemen now have the

P+: Living wage

Workers’ pay on Kenyan flower farms needs to double or even triple to attain the level of a living wage. But besides benefiting workers, is higher pay also better for the businesses? Partly yes, research suggests. But higher costs are unavoidable. So who should foot the bill? There’s only one answer to that as far as the rose growers are concerned. “If consumers want to see higher wages, they should be prepared to pay more for a bunch of roses.”

63 Human rights organisations mark birthday of Razan Zaitouneh

Hivos joins their renewed call for the release of the ‘Duma Four’ To mark the 38th birthday of missing human rights defender and lawyer Razan Zaitouneh, head of the Violations Documentation Centre in Syria (VDC), winner of the 2011 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Award of RAW in WAR (Reach

“I eat green”, a campaign for healthy eating

Do you know why it’s better to consume green products? This is just one of the important questions about sustainable food answered by the “Yo como verde” ­(I eat green) project, an initiative promoted by Hivos in Costa Rica and Guatemala. “Yo como verde” is a digital information campaign aimed at promoting a culture of

In memory of Ammar Al Shahbander

On the evening of 2 May 2015, prominent Iraqi human rights activist Ammar Al Shahbander was killed during a terrorist attack in a lively commercial district in Baghdad. A car bomb exploded in the street targeting innocent people, our partner amongst them. Hivos is overwhelmed with grief and shocked by this tragedy. Ammar was the

Hivos’ support for LGBT rights garners recognition in Bolivia

Hivos has received an award for its contribution to the fight for LGBT rights in Bolivia. Hivos received this award on 29 April 2015 during the “Iguales ante la Ley” (Equal before the Law) Awards ceremony organized by Capacitiación y Derechos Ciudadanos, or Training and Citizen Rights (CDC in Spanish) in La Paz. The purpose

Hivos promotes the debate on sustainable and healthy food products

Over 200 people attended the “Hacia un consumo sano y nutritivo: Dietas sostenibles en Bolivia”, or “Moving toward healthy and nutritious consumption: Sustainable Diets in Bolivia” Forum, organized on 29 April 2015 by Hivos and the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade (IBCE in Spanish). The event enjoyed the backing of the Ministry of Rural Development

Foreign Minister of the Netherlands in Guatemala

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Albert Koenders, paid a working visit to Guatemala as part of his official visit to Latin America. At the request of the Dutch government, Hivos organized a dialogue between the authorities and representatives of civil society during Koenders’visit. The Minister’s official visit to Guatemala aimed to strengthen

Writers of two continents meet in Nicaragua

“Freedom of words” is the slogan for the third edition of “Centroamérica cuenta”, a meeting of storytellers that started on May 18th in Nicaragua. This one week-long event, supported by Hivos, will gather together writers from Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Freedom of expression is the focus of this third edition.

Hivos’ Global Fund Technical Assistance Workshop

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has selected Hivos as a preferred organisation to provide Technical Assistance (TA) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). TA aims to ensure that all those who are affected by the three diseases play a meaningful role in GFATM processes, and that these barriers are

Colourful workplaces?

As a supporter of LGBTIQ+ rights for over twenty years, Hivos believes that international companies can become important allies in our endeavours to create a world in which LGBTIQ+ persons are no longer ignored, stigmatised and discriminated against, but instead are recognised and respected.

The ‘Ingenious Women’ contest

To promote women’s use and development of renewable energy technologies, Hivos and the Global Gender Bureau of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have launched the “Ingeniosas” (Ingenious Women) contest. This initiative seeks to recognize and expand the role of women in developing and implementing clean sustainable energy solutions in Latin America. “Ingeniosas”

Agricultural diversification bears fruit in Cuba

The development of environmentally friendly, economically viable and socially just agricultural production is indeed possible. The project “Articulación Agroecológica” has demonstrated this in five municipalities in Cuba. This initiative, supported by the European Union, Hivos, Cosude and the Ministry of Agriculture of Cuba, started in 2011 with the aim of providing farmers alternatives to traditional

Demanding Supply

What role will ordinary people play in energy systems of the future? IIED and Hivos asked leading energy thinkers for their views which we present in this paper.

Red de activismo digital de lenguas indígenas

Hay un movimiento emergente en América Latina en el que cada vez más los pueblos indígenas están utilizando los medios digitales como una forma de comunicarse y expresarse en su lengua materna.   En el centro de estos esfuerzos están usuarios indígenas de internet que han aceptado la responsabilidad de asegurar que su lengua y

Costa Rica is “Dancing with the Planet”

Public space can become the ideal platform for building communities and engaging citizens to pursue ambitious collective goals. The project “Bailando con el Planeta” (dancing with the planet) uses playful, creative and original means to recover public spaces in Costa Rica and promote citizen’s awareness of the importance of generating alternative and renewable energy. This

National consultation in Bolivia builds its HIV country proposal

An inclusive, transparent and participatory consultation process in Bolivia  prepared the country proposal for the Global Fund funding to fight HIV / AIDS. The Global Fund has changed its funding model to increase its impact, and one of the eligibility requirements of the new funding model is an inclusive and participatory process. The Bolivia dialogue

Afro-descendant women come together looking for equality

Close to 300 Afro-descendant women from 22 countries arrived in Nicaragua in June to bring to life the ‘Cumbre de Mujeres Lideresas Afrodescendientes de las Américas’ (first meeting of Afro-descendant women leaders of the Americas). The objective of this event, supported by Hivos and the Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas, or Network of Afro-Latin American Women,

The “Ingenious Women” contest announces its winners

A proposal from Costa Rica and another from Nicaragua have won the “Ingeniosas” (Ingenious Women) contest, which rewards innovative women in the area of renewable energy in Latin America. “Ingeniosas” was organized by Hivos and the Global Gender Bureau of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to promote the creative and innovative role

Syria: Human rights defender Mazen Darwish finally released from prison

Hivos welcomes the news that lawyer and journalist Mazen Darwish has finally been released after more than three years in prison. He was arbitrarily detained since February 2012 for promoting freedom of expression and monitoring gross human rights violations committed in Syria. His wife,Yara Badr, told the AFP on 10 August that his release is

Be part of the LGBTI political leadership meeting in Honduras

Honduras will host the meeting of LGBTI political leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held on the 2nd & 3rd of October in the city of Tegucigalpa. Registration for this event is now open. The meeting, which has the support of Hivos, aims to be a space for reflection, dialogue and exchange

Girls vs. princesses, a game to combat gender stereotypes

Dodging high heels, tight dresses and Prince Charming’s kiss are some of the objectives of the game “Girls vs. Princesses”, an initiative of PICA, who has launched this project with the support of Hivos. The game, which can be downloaded free from Google Play Store, seeks to combat gender stereotypes. The protagonist is a young

New platform to link Latin American smallholders with global supply chains

Under the name SAFE (‘Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Environment’), a new platform for Latin America and the Caribbean will enable 150,000 regional smallholder farmers to benefit more from their participation in national and global supply chains and develop their resilience to climate change and other external threats. The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of

#VIHINFOgt hackathon tackles HIV in Guatemala

August 22 was the official launch of #VIHINFOgt, a hackathon that aims to use the data and tech revolution to open up information about the healthcare sector in Guatemala. Hivos, TEC and CES/UVG came together to launch the initiative and promote transparency and access to information on HIV in key populations affected by HIV epidemic.

Zabadani Women Initiative: “Stop the Violence”

As the ongoing violence and destruction leaves its traces throughout the country, many Syrian citizens continue to strive for peace, safety and justice. One of the many impressive initiatives undertaken by the Syrian people comes from Zabadani, a strategically located city near the Lebanese border that has been witnessing intense fighting between the Syrian regime,

Stakeholder Feedback Round for Clean Cookstoves Carbon Programme Central America (4C-Carbon)

Hivos is designing a carbon finance mechanism to make clean cookstoves affordable and available to low income households across Central America. The Clean Cookstoves Carbon Programme Central America (4C-Carbon) was developed as a greenhouse gas emission reduction programme to be certified under The Gold Standard, also known as a ‘Programme of Activities’ (PoA). The first

Creating shared value in the rose supply chain

This study done by True Price aims to explore how to close the living wage gap involving the entire rose supply chain. 

Citizen-alert app wins Green Start-up Weekend in Bolivia

The Green Startup Weekend held in August in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, looked to promote sustainable and responsible business projects in environmental management. Organized by the Foundation Work Enterprise (FTE) and supported by Hivos, this weekend-long activity brought together young people from various trades and professions to work on innovative ideas to build businesses with the

#HackPúblico: supporting state transparency

Can you imagine a group of hackers working at a public entity’s office?  Well, supported by Hivos, this is already a reality in Bolivia, thanks to the #HackPúblico project promoted by La Pública through its open data initiative #DataBO.   #HackPúblico seeks to build bridges between technological communities, civil society and the public sector. The

Building a Consensus for Tolerance in the Middle East

Women’s groups from seven countries agree to work together and share expertise. Images of refugees desperate to reach Europe come to us daily on our TV screens, newspaper pages and Twitter and Facebook feeds. We see images of desperation and tragic death when the journey to safety and new beginnings is cut short by the

Coworking in the Mediterranean: driving force behind region’s creative economy

Where: Cogite Coworking Space, Tunis, TunisiaWhen: October 8 to 11, 2015Hosted by: Hivos Mideast Creatives Across the Mediterranean region, a diverse collection of young men and women are seizing the opportunity to spread a new movement of creative spaces. Initially born out of necessity, there are now over one hundred shared workspaces across the region, 88% of which were established

Syria: Disclose Whereabouts of Detained Freedom of Expression Advocate

Release Bassel Khartabil, Held Unfairly since 2012! Hivos joins 30 other international organizations in calling on Syria’s authorities to immediately reveal the whereabouts of Bassel Khartabil, a software developer and defender of freedom of expression.  Syrian authorities transferred Khartabil, who has been detained since 2012, from `Adra central prison to an undisclosed location on October 3, 2015. Khartabil

Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet wins the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize

Hivos would like to congratulate the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for having been awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize. As the Norwegian Nobel Committee stated, the Quartet won this prize for its important role in establishing peace and stability in Tunisia, by creating “an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was

Women are key to creating lasting peace, from rhetoric to real action on the ground

Hivos travelled to New York this week to participate in the High-Level Review of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security that is taking place on the eve of the resolution’s 15th anniversary. In this visit, organised as part of Women on the Frontline programme, Hivos joined forces with Karama to advocate

Biogas and household air quality Cambodia

This study was set-up with the aim to quantify the health impact of NBP by measuring the reduction of hazardous pollutants, CO and PM2.5 of households that use biogas and matching households in terms of family size, socioeconomic conditions and cooking conditions without a biodigester.

#OGP15: Is ‘Open Government’ really open?

From 27 to 29 October 2015, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) holds its global summit in Mexico. National governments and representatives from civil society, NGOs, media and research organisations will meet to discuss ‘how openness can improve public services, realise rights, drive economic growth, reduce poverty and make governments more accountable to the people they

Seminar: Child Marriage during Democratic Transition and Armed Conflicts

With the support of HIVOS, the Arab Institute for Human Rights and ABAAD MENA Organization launched today a 3-day regional seminar on “Child Marriage during Democratic Transition and Armed Conflicts”, also in collaboration with the Democratic Forum for Women in Transitional Societies – Amina Forum Lebanon. This seminar focusses on the marriage of underage girls, which has significantly

Hivos celebrates its work in South America and announces new headquarters

What challenges do we predict for the future of civil society? How do we present the continuity of the work of civic organizations? These were the questions guiding the seminar held by Hivos in South America, which brought representatives of various partner organizations working in the region together in Bolivia. The two-day meeting in October

Indigenous inhabitants share experiences in socio-environmental monitoring of their territories

The Bolivian Amazon provided  the stage for the third international meeting of “Sharing Socio-environmental Monitoring Systems”, attended by indigenous representatives from Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador.   The event, supported by Hivos, was held from October 25-29 in Rurrenabaque (Beni) with the aim of intensifying exchanges amongst the monitors, technicians and civic organizations working on environmental

Inter-American Court orders reinstatement of Honduran judges and magistrate

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights published a sentence in the López Lone and others vs Honduras case in favor of three judges and a magistrate who, in their fight for democracy and rule of law, were dismissed from their positions for dissenting against the coup that took place June 28, 2009 in Honduras. This

Cultures seek to set themselves in motion after a historic congress

Historic is the only word to describe the Cultura en Movimiento (Cultures in Motion) congress, the first meeting of the actors who give life to the arts and culture in Bolivia. More than 300 people, including artists, cultural agents, academics, activists and authorities in the area participated in the event which took place in October

Learning from practice: A case study of the multi-actor Sumba Iconic Island initiative

In order to learn from previous experiences, Hivos examined its role(s) and performance in various multi-actor initiatives. This case study recounts the experiences of the Sumba Iconic Island multi-actor initiative established by Hivos in 2010.

Are you in? 100% renewables, zero poverty

There is a growing movement of leaders from villages, cities and businesses around the world who are not waiting for national governments to act, but are getting their own communities on track to a 100% renewable energy powered future to deliver the just, equitable, healthy and prosperous world we need. This report features a range

Combatting gender-based violence (GBV) in Lebanon

Today marks the UN International Day of Elimination of Violence against Women, an opportunity for civil society organisations and political activists to galvanise action to end violence against women and girls around the world. According to the United Nations, 35% of women and girls globally experience some form of physical and/or sexual violence in their

Indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon in Netherlands to denounce impact of oil companies

Indigenous representatives and environmental activists came to the Netherlands to report on the conflicts between indigenous communities in the Amazon and the oil companies active in the area.  Aurelio Chino, leader of the Peruvian Quechua communities along the Pastaza River, and Humberto Piaguaje, leader of Ecuador’s Secoya indigenous tribe, made their voices heard in the

MENA region needs innovative ways to end violence against women

‘Prevention’ is the 2015 theme of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign. Violence against women is one of the most widespread human rights violations in the world. Many of the responses to address violence against women have focused mainly on supporting victims. Such strategies are crucial, but at the same time there

On #HumanRightsDay We remember Libyan Human Rights Activist Salwa Bugaighis

On this International Human Rights Day, we take the opportunity to remember the brave Libyan activist Salwa Bugaighis, who believed deeply in human rights, women´s rights and equality for all, and who paid the ultimate price for her convictions. Salwa was one of the founders of the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace, and played a

Open Source Seed Systems

Aim To increase the availability of nutritious and climate-resilient seeds and to ensure farmers have freedom of choice by preventing exclusive or monopolistic rights on knowledge and genetic resources for food and agriculture. Where East Africa and Southern Africa Why Seed diversity, crucial for food security and nutritious diets, is decreasing dramatically as industrial agriculture

Green and Inclusive Energy

Green and Inclusive Energy was part of a five-year-long strategic partnership between ARTICLE 19, Hivos, IIED and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which ended in 2020. On this page you will find all evaluation documents. In the new Amplifying Voices for Just Climate Action program, we continue to strengthen civil society to influence climate

Digital Defenders Partnership

An open society ensures that individuals feel safe and free to express themselves. And that they have the information and opportunities to make informed decisions. Therefore we work to increase the safety of human rights defenders under (digital) threat or attack, and improve  digital emergency response networks. Why rights defenders need protection online Internet has

Beekeeping for Biodiversity and Income Generation

Aim To use and promote commercial beekeeping as an example of how to develop a business model that combines economic development with protection of biodiversity hotspots. Where Guatemala Why Traditional agricultural activities like slash-and-burn agriculture often damage the natural environment, especially in vulnerable ecosystems and biodiversity hotspots like nature reserves. Beekeeping, meanwhile, represents an eco-friendly

Voice

Voice, an innovative grant facility consortium led by Oxfam Novib and Hivos, supports marginalized or discriminated rightsholders and groups in their efforts to demand more responsive and inclusive societies.

Right Here Right Now

The Right Here Right Now program aims to allow young people – including young LGBTI+ persons – to live their lives without discrimination and improve their access to comprehensive sex education and youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services. Where Hivos focus areas: Bolivia, Honduras, Kenya, Uganda, the Caribbean region and Zimbabwe, and

Sustainable Diets for All

Sustainable Diets for All was part of a five-year-long strategic partnership between ARTICLE 19, Hivos, IIED and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which ended in 2020. On this page you will find all evaluation documents. Aim To make more sustainable, diverse, healthy and nutritious food available for low-income citizens in target countries. Where Indonesia,

Carbon Finance

Hivos is happy to announce that it has transferred its successful carbon finance programs to longstanding partners Yayasan Rumah Energi (YRE), Biogas Solutions Uganda Ltd. (BSUL), and African Bioenergy Programs Ltd. (ABPL). These organizations have become fully independent entities and will implement national biogas programs and associated carbon finance programs in Indonesia, Uganda and Kenya.

Open Up Contracting

Open Up Contracting was part of a five-year-long strategic partnership between ARTICLE 19, Hivos, IIED and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which ended in 2020. On this page you will find all evaluation documents. &; Aim To ensure citizens have equal and inclusive access to public goods and services and can meaningfully engage in public

IA4RA Raumoco Watershed

Aim To contribute to the sustained adoption and scaling up of sustainable food, water and energy-efficient technologies for 500 vulnerable households in six villages in the Raumoco watershed Indicators Where Raumoco Watershed, Lautem Municipality, Timor-Leste Why Unsustainable farming practices such as shifting cultivation, biomass burning, free grazing by livestock, cutting of trees for firewood and

Eight Hivos Tiger Award films premiering at IFFR 2016

As many as 106 films will have their world premiere at the 2016 Rotterdam International Film Festival (27 January to 7 February), with more than 260 filmmakers from 50 countries attending. This year, Hivos is proud to once again be the main sponsor of the festival, which is known for its distinctive and innovative programming.

Position paper: Attaining living wages in international supply chains

In this Position Paper, Hivos provides a brief overview of the importance of attaining decent wages and its approach towards achieving living wages in global supply chains.

Civil society involvement in SEforAll processes – survey findings 2016

From its inception in 2012, the SEforAll initiative envisioned a multi-stakeholder approach to creating sustainable energy solutions. At the core of the initiative is diverse partnerships. Meaningful participation by civil society organizations and community-based organizations  is widely recognized as being essential. This survey examines the depth of this participation in a variety of countries.

Book Review: “Greening the palm oil sector through smallholders”

Hivos’ lessons learned on sustainable palm oil The original title is Menghijaukan Sektor Sawit Melalui Petani: Lesson-Learned Hivos untuk Isu Sawit Berkelanjutan. The book was officially launched in Jakarta on January 26th, 2016  with the support of Indonesia’s Institute of Sciences (LIPI). The event was attended by Biranchi Upadhyaya, Director of Hivos Southeast Asia, the

Indonesia’s First National Coconut and Palm Sugar Industry Workshop

In Indonesia, coconut and palm sugar are potential sugar sources for more than 255 million people. Coconut and palm sugar are used in many food industries such as soy sauce, traditional food, bread and others. In the last 5 years, the coconut and palm sugar industry has developed rapidly in Indonesia, with the export market

Berta Cáceres: a lifelong commitment and a noble spirit

On this International Women’s Day, a day meant to pay tribute to and support women and their achievements everywhere, we unfortunately are also mourning the tragic murder of a world-renowned environmental and human rights defender Berta Cáceres, killed in her home by unknown assailants shortly after midnight on March 3rd. Berta Cáceres was the coordinator and co-founder

‘Things we don’t talk about’ in Egypt

Today marks International Women’s Day, an excellent opportunity to celebrate the work of our partner civil society organisations that promote women’s rights. Around the world, men and women are openly challenging situations that impede women’s equal position in society. Hivos’ Women on the Frontline (WoF) programme strengthens women’s organisations across the Middle East and North

‘Women’s Week of Action’ in Timor Leste

International Women’s Day is an excellent moment for Hivos Southeast Asia, together with our partners Fokupers and Acbit, to remind people about the long struggle women in Timor Leste have endured to arrive at what is a much better situation today. By celebrating this achievement on March 8 with our ‘Women’s Week of Action’, we

Syria: Fears for Life of Free Expression Advocate

Update 17 March 2016: 31 international organisations, including Hivos, renew their call for Bassel’s release on the fourth anniversay of his detention (see the joint statement in the right sidebar) +++++++++++++++++ November 19, 2015Bassel Khartabil, a defender of freedom expression being held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance may be facing a death sentence, 36 local and

Shining a light on South Americas shellfish during earth hour

On March 19th, Hivos joined Earth Hour from South America. Instead of turning the lights off, the intention was to shine a bright light on an urgent matter and invite thousands of people to take a virtual tour of the mangroves of the region’s Pacific coast. We are talking about the harvesting of black cockles,

Interview with Hivos partner and Four Freedoms laureate Mazen Darwish

Edited and translated version of original interview in Dutch by PZC Just over a year ago, our long-standing partner Mazen Darwish, director of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, was languishing in a Syrian prison for the simple reason that he fought for freedom of expression. The lawyer and journalist was released

Hivos: A glance into 2020 from Latin America

Right before dawn on April 26th, Hivos General Director Edwin Huizing put on a pair of colorful glasses and gazed at dozens of people who waited silently in their seats. His intention was to lead them in symbolic time travel to the year 2020. “I have the privilege to take you to the year 2020,”

The future is calling us from Latin America

Right before dawn on April 26, Hivos General Director Edwin Huizing put on a pair of colorful glasses and gazed at dozens of people who waited silently in their seats. His intention was to lead them in symbolic time travel to the year 2020. “I have the privilege to take you to the year 2020,”

Brightening the classrooms in East Sumba

A renewable energy collaboration with EKOenergy Initiated in 2010, Hivos’ Sumba Iconic Island (SII) project aims not only to provide  access to electricity to the 650,000 inhabitants of Sumba Island in Indonesia, but  also to reduce reliance on expensive and environmentally harmful fuels such as diesel and kerosene. Although regulations, distribution of authority and geological conditions are

New website on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Southern Africa

Where would you go if you wanted to link up with people working on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Southern Africa? For many years, Hivos has been working on SRHR issues, with a strong focus on people’s rights to (bodily) self-determination, freedom of choice and health. Now there is a space for

Zimbabwe’s Village Heads Receive Training on Constitution

Traditional authority is predominant in rural Zimbabwe. It plays a key role in defining rules and regulations that shape citizenship among an estimated 70 per cent of Zimbabwe’s population. However, many of the traditional leaders, like many people in Zimbabwe, have little to no knowledge of the supreme law of the land that was adopted almost three

LGBTI Honduran community in danger

Waking up to the news of a friend’s death is sadly quite common in Honduras. The chances increase exponentially, however, if this friend dedicated his or her life to the defense of natural resources, human rights or belonged to the LGBTI community. On June 3rd, we faced this reality once more when we learned about

Royal Quinoa: Unique and Sustainable

Walking into a room in Uyuni Bolivia and not feeling cold is an unusual experience. With an average June temperature below zero degrees Celsius, the air feels chilly even at massive events. Nevertheless, this 2nd of June, during the forum “Royal Quinoa: Towards a Participative Agenda in Bolivia”, a wave of warmth spread throughout the

New ways to protect the world’s most valuable ecosystem

From 2010 to 2015, Hivos was involved in CoCooN (Conflict and Cooperation over Natural Resources in Developing Countries), a WOTRO-financed programme dedicated to finding new ways to end the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. CoCoon brought together scientists, indigenous leaders and environmental activists from several Amazonian countries to conduct research. Participants investigated the legal possibilities

Bridges regional campaigns for migrant domestic workers

On June 16, International Domestic Worker’s Day, Hivos is focussing attention on the range of abuses domestic workers from Southeast Asia face in the Gulf Region every day: non-payment of salaries, forced confinement, food deprivation, excessive workloads, and instances of severe psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. Especially now in the month of Ramadan, their working

Unlocking climate finance for decentralised energy access

The study was commissioned by Hivos as part of the our policy and advocacy work on climate change, green energy and energy access. The study provides an overview of present climate finance flows towards decentralised energy access projects in order to gauge its potential for providing energy access to the poor, to identify what barriers

Hivos Southern Africa Conducts MFS Reflection Event

Hivos Southern Africa recently conducted a one day workshop to reflect and learn from five years of implementing the second phase of the Dutch government funded co-financing system known as “Medefinancieringsstelsel”, or ‘MFS’, between 2011-2015. Twenty Alliances of Dutch co-funding agencies (CFAs) were awarded €1.9 billion by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NL MoFA)

Citizen Media Clubs Empowering Rural Communities

A Hivos Southern Africa-supported citizen media project run by Plumtree Development Trust (PDT) is empowering communities in rural Plumtree to set their own development agendas and influence positive change concerning issues of community interest. Anchored on citizen journalism, citizen media clubs, off-air radio and Bulk SmS platforms, the innovative project has empowered 20 wards from

Citizen Participation Lacking in Budgeting Processes

A new study by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) reveals a lack of citizen participation in the budgeting process by the Bulawayo City Council. The study, “A Social Surgery of the Budget Making Process at Local Government Level: Bulawayo City Council in Perspective,” shows that citizens are not involved in the stages of budget

Hivos, Norway Launch Malawi Cultural Fund

Hivos Southern Africa has partnered with the Embassy of Norway to launch the Cultural Fund of Malawi aimed at stimulating the arts and culture sector in Malawi. The launch of the Euro 481,313 cultural fund, which has already attracted many actors in Malawi’s cultural sector, marks the beginning of a new era in the funding

Hivos position paper: Attaining living wages in international supply chains

Hivos position paper: Attaining living wages in international supply chains July 12, 2016

Green & Inclusive Energy: A global challenge

This two-page document briefly describes what the Green & Inclusive Energy program is all about. From challenge to solutions to what we – and our partners – do.

New measurement tool to quantify health hazards of cooking with firewood

Household air pollution caused by using firewood and charcoal for cooking is a silent but pervasive killer. Inhaling harmful particles causes premature deaths and serious illnesses, such as lung cancer and child pneumonia. The WHO estimates that this results in 4.3 million premature deaths annually, mainly in low and middle-income countries. Now, thanks to a

A lab for social change in Latin America

What happens when people from the private sector, academia, journalism and activism join forces to pitch ideas for solving a social problem? Although we cannot claim that they always find an answer, what we do know is that these encounters, called “civic laboratories”, address a collective need to change society for the better. This month,

ZEIC Project Seeks to Enhance Electoral Process in Zambia

The Zambia Elections Information Centre (ZEIC), a project co-funded by Hivos Southern Africa and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), has been monitoring the electoral process in Zambia. The overall goal of the project is to facilitate effective information management for a credible, peaceful, free and fair 2016 general election in Zambia, taking place

Sex Rights Africa Network Joins #90DaysofCONSENT Campaign

The high age of consent on average 16-18 years for adolescents and youth to access sexual reproductive health services (SRHS) has proven a barrier to timely interventions in countries across Sub- Saharan Africa.  Although a high age of consent is meant to protect adolescents, the data and evidence shows that vulnerability of adolescents and youth to

Cultural Fund Aims to Support Arts Sector in Malawi

In June, Hivos Southern Africa in partnership with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Malawi launched the Cultural Fund of Malawi (CFM) aimed at contributing to a dynamic, free and diverse cultural sector for improved living standards, economic growth and poverty reduction in Malawi. The CFM, which has a total budget of Euro 481,313, will run

We celebrate 25,000 biodigesters built in Cambodia

By the end of July 2016, the National Biodigester Programme (NBP) in Cambodia had built 25,115 biodigesters with 130,500 direct beneficiaries in its 14 target provinces. To celebrate the successful programme’s accomplishment, the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) hosted a 25,000 Biodigesters Celebration presided over by H.E Veng Sakhon, Minister of Agriculture,

AMH Conversation Spotlights Corruption in Zimbabwe

Corruption in Zimbabwe has become endemic within its political, private and civil sectors. According to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2015, Zimbabwe is ranked at 150 out of 168 countries. Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It can be classified as grand, petty and political, depending on the amounts of money

Harare News Fosters Community Reporting

A community newspaper titled, “Harare News,” has been at the forefront of providing community-based news reporting in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. The free, monthly community newspaper and online media hub cover places, people and events that are important to the citizens of Harare. Informed citizens are crucial, but information is worthless if it is biased,

Her Zimbabwe gives voice to women’s issues through digital journalism

Since 2015, Hivos Southern Africa has been supporting Her Zimbabwe to augment its capacity to create and share content on gender and rights issues in alternative and engaging formats. Creating more media spaces to access information and share opinions through high-quality, independent journalism is important to Hivos. Freedom of speech is the main measure of

National Survivor’s Conference in Timor-Leste

The first-ever national survivor’s conference held in Dili, Timor Leste, on 11-12 August 2016 was attended by more than 200 people, including survivors from 12 municipalities, government officials, INGOs, local NGOs, foreign embassies and the media. Biranchi Upadhyaya, the Director of Hivos Southeast Asia, opened the conference, followed by an address by the Social and

Africa Strategic Partnership on Green Inclusive Energy Launches in Zimbabwe

NEWS:The Strategic Partnership Green and Inclusive Energy programme in Africa which will run from 2016-2020 recently launched with a conference held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe from 5-9 September, 2016. Hivos Hubs in Southern Africa and East Africa together with the Global Office organized the five day kickoff meeting with partners to co-create and finalise a

Citizens Question Cyber Crime Bill in Zimbabwe

Hivos Southern Africa Hub has been providing support to Alpha Media Holdings, a leading newspaper publisher in Zimbabwe, to conduct dialogues on critical issues facing Zimbabwe. Funding for the conversations is provided by the Embassy of Kingdom of Netherlands (EKN) under the Human Rights Fund (HRF). Hivos Southern Africa in partnership with Alpha Media Holdings (AMH)

Food Diversity Can Boost the Health and Wealth of Zambia

Hivos Southern Africa congratulates the people of Zambia for a peaceful election that resulted in the election of Edgar Lungu as Zambia’s sixth President. Today, Zambia faces many challenges, one of which is high rates of malnourishment. As Hivos, we are concerned at the state of the country’s food system which has a strong focus

Hivos HIV Bolivia project is extended and receives top rating

Hivos’ HIV Bolivia Project has received a 2018 extension and a top A1 rating given by its donor, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in their most recent evaluation. This is not the first time that the project has received the Global Fund A1 rating. The same project has been receiving the

Landscape Approach to Mitigate Climatic Shocks in Malawi

Yosef Banda, a Malawi smallholder farmer, like many farmers in Southern Africa, did not produce enough maize in the 2015-2016 farming season. Climatic changes have been wrecking havoc in the region resulting in farmers facing hunger due to worsening droughts. Approximately 70 percent of the people in Southern Africa live in rural areas and depend

Future food leaders cook up innovative solutions at Terra Madre

During this year’s Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin from 22-26 September, Hivos partnered with Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN) and Food Hub to offer a side event for young food activists from around the world.  Together we offered tools, examples and inspiration for future food leaders against a backdrop of the many transitions

Towards Making Safe Abortion A Reality

The Regional Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Fund, established by Hivos and the Ford Foundation, is a regional fund committed to supporting initiatives that establish, protect and advance Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for all people living in Southern Africa, especially women and children. The right to accessing a safe legal abortion is integral

Zimbabwe Drags Feet Implementing New Constitution

Zimbabwe adopted a new Constitution in 2013, putting an end to the post-war Lancaster House Constitution that had been used as the country’s supreme law since 1980. However, since 2013, very little progress has been made in aligning the country’s laws to the new constitution. The fact that the current constitution and the notion of

Promoting Safe Abortion in Southern Africa

Hivos Southern Africa is currently spearheading a regional advocacy campaign on safe abortion in partnership with Students and Youth Working on reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT). SAYWHAT facilitates students and youth to discuss sexual and reproductive health challenges and further develop advocacy initiatives. Funding for the project is provided through the Hivos Southern Africa Sexual

Age of Wonderland 2016

At the invitation of Age of Wonderland six artists, designers and other creatives (from Africa, Asia and Latin America) will have a close look at the relationship between big and open data, technology, economy and social innovations. In cooperation with Dutch professionals, they are researching and developing ideas and scenarios surrounding big data, and will

Climate Change Disrupts Renewable Energy Project in Eastern Zimbabwe

The Chitoro river – vital in supplying water that powers the Chipendeke Micro Hydro Scheme in this remote, rural village in eastern Zimbabwe – is in a sorry state, to put it bluntly. It is filled with sand, a deteriorating ecosystem and only a trickle of water seeping from its riverbed. For the past two

Beyond Fire: How to achieve sustainable cooking

This report aims to become a tool for policymakers to understand what is at stake and suggest concrete steps to drive this transition towards universal sustainable cooking. With the right legal framework, concerted policy attention and public support, achieving universal cooking can become a reality and we will be able, finally, to go beyond fire.

Green and Inclusive Energy Partners Experience Benefits of Micro Hydro

Hivos Southern Africa in partnership with Practical Action and Zimbabwe Environmental Regional Organisation (ZERO) recently organised a learning tour to a community energy project in the Eastern Highlands, Zimbabwe. The community outreach exposed Hivos’ partners under the Green and Inclusive Energy (GIE) programme, journalists and creatives to the successes and challenges that face community-based renewable energy projects. The

Hivos Southern Africa Supports #HappyFlow Campaign

Sanitary wear is considered a luxury item that is often sold at prohibitive prices for the majority of girls and women living in Southern Africa. As a result, girls who are menstruating are reluctant to go to school if they cannot afford sanitary pads or may engage in transactional sex to pay for them. Many

Hivos Southern Africa Spearheads #AgeofConsent to Access Health Services

The age of consent in terms of accessing sexual reproductive health (SRH) services such as contraceptives and HIV counselling and testing is not provided for in laws and policies in the majority of countries in Southern Africa. This has created barriers for young people to access SHR services. To address this critical barrier preventing youth

Women on the Frontline’s activists tell their stories on the big screen

In partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Women on the Frontline programme is honoured to have organised the ‘Women on the Frontline: THEIR STORIES’ film screening, the second in a series of screenings around the world. Three films depicting the experiences of three activists from Syria, Iraq, and Yemen were

The Green Climate Fund must change course to have a real impact on lives

(Note: the Green Climate Fund Board is meeting from 12 – 14 October 2016 Quito, Ecuador) Sulis Setiawati plucks some fresh vegetables from a field and smiles: “Thanks to the solar irrigation, farmers can now grow a range of fresh vegetables when in the past they had to survive from growing corn and maize.” She

Zambia needs to say goodbye to the maize mono diet

Zambia is a potentially rich country, with a predominantly young population, abundant land, water and minerals. However, this country is somewhat surprisingly dangling at the bottom of the 2016 Global Hunger Index.    Nagging challenge Malnutrition has actually been a nagging challenge for the people of Zambia for quite a long time now, without much improvement.

Mixing more voices into food policy

This blog post is written by: Busiinge C. Amooti, Head of Information Unit, Kabarole Research and Resource Centre (KRC), Uganda  Bill Vorley,Principal Researcher Sustainable Markets Group, IIED, United Kingdom Felia Boerwinkel, Coordinator of the Hivos-IIED Food and Energy Labs, Hivos Global Office, the Netherlands How an innovative ‘Food Change Lab’ in Uganda is bringing together a

We must all remain critical and combative at COP22

The fact our planet’s climate has been affected beyond repair by human intervention is one of the most thoroughly researched and well-established scientific findings of all time. If we are to even partially avoid crippling future generations with debts and dangerously degraded environments, then we need thorough action as soon as possible. A solution was

Mayan spirituality at Age of Wonderland

Bringing together thinkers and creative doers from throughout the world: that is what Hivos, Baltan Laboratories and Dutch Design Week’s Age of Wonderland programme does. The aim of Age of Wonderland at the Dutch Design Week is to devise innovative answers to problems, like inequality and environmental degradation. Mayan philosopher and spiritual leader Branly Lopéz from Guatemala –

Hivos Southern Africa Fosters SADC Free Sanitary Wear Online Petition

The #HappyFlow campaign is lobbying for free sanitary wear to be distributed in public schools and public spaces in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The campaign is premised on the idea that sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) matter, therefore every human who experiences menstruation has a right to sanitary wear. Katswe Sistahood,

Why Sustainable Food Matters in Zambia

Climate change is already having an impact on agriculture with severe implications for food security, according to a new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The report “The State of Food and Agriculture: Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security” states that smallholder agriculture, which is predominant in Zambia, is particularly vulnerable to climate

Zimbabwe Engages in Sustainable Energy for All Validation Process

The Green Climate Fund must change course to have a real impact on lives

12 October 2016 – blog post by Mareike Britten, Advocacy Officer for Renewable Energy at Hivos Global Office Sulis Setiawati plucks some fresh vegetables from a field and smiles: “Thanks to the solar irrigation, farmers can now grow a range of fresh vegetables when in the past they had to survive from growing corn and

‘Open source’ seeds key to addressing hunger

One of the most celebrated United Nations events, the World Food Day was marked on the 16th of October this year. Even as we celebrated World Food Day to promote awareness and action against hunger, malnutrition and poverty; 1.5 million Kenyans are still starving. Not enough done to halve the number of hungry Kenyans The

Building Value Chain Key to Chipendeke Micro Hydro Success

The Chipendeke Micro Hydro scheme is located approximately 80 kilometers south of Mutare, Zimbabwe’s fourth largest capital city. It provides a compelling example of how building the renewable energy value chain is essential to providing sustainable, renewable energy access to a remote, rural area. (A ‘value chain’ is the whole series of activities that create and

Why the Lebanese presidential election was not a laughing matter for women

Why the Lebanese presidential election was not a laughing matter for women November 7, 2016 The 31st of October was not a particularly good day for Lebanese women. An overhead visual of the Lebanese parliament reminded us of the stark reality that we have only 4 women MPs, that’s 3 % of the total number

#HappyFlow Lobbies Southern African Parliamentarians for Free Access to Sanitary Wear

In Southern Africa, as in many parts of Africa, menstruation, which should be a sign of transition into womanhood, poses a threat to young girls’ development. Because menstruation is regarded as a taboo, and the cost of sanitary wear and towels is beyond the reach of many, young women and girls are forced to suffer

Why the Lebanese presidential election was not a laughing matter for women

The 31st of October was not a particularly good day for Lebanese women. An overhead visual of the Lebanese parliament reminded us of the stark reality that we have only 4 women MPs, that’s 3 % of the total number of MPs, one of the lowest percentages in the world. Not only did we have

Food Waste: our contribution to Climate Change

Did you know that 60 percent of the people in the world throw out perfectly good food because of its expiry date or because they no longer want to consume it? According to data from the Government of Jakarta, each citizen wastes 0,5 kg of food a day, which means Jakarta produces approximately 7500 tonnes

#HappyFlow Campaign Calls Southern African Legislators to Action On Free Sanitary Wear

The #HappyFlow Campaign recently presented a Call to Action for the provision of free sanitary pads in schools to members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum of young women activists from DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Katswe, through the Pepeta Africa, a network of young women SRHR activists, recently presented a

Strides towards 100% renewable energy at COP22

Before COP22, Hivos stated that this year’s Climate Conference needed to integrate the discussion on SDG7 (Energy Access for All) with countries’ climate commitments and climate finance. Now, at the end of the November 2016 conference in Marrakech, we are encouraged to see that 48 climate vulnerable countries showed great leadership and made bold commitments

A Glass Half Full

Latin America is suffering from an epidemic. It seems very contagious, but it does not affect the entire population equally. Neither water nor air borne – it is basically unpredictable. We are talking about violence against women, a widespread problem that is not new, but only very recently becoming visible. According to the UN, one

Women on the Frontline in Syria

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence November 25, 2016 marks the beginning of the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, an international campaign which commences on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (Nov 25) and concludes on International Human Rights Day (Dec 10). In the context of

MEMORIA – Timor Leste as a Land of Memory

MEMORIA is a 35 minutes-long short film based on a true story in Timor Leste directed by Kamila Andini and produced by Hivos Southeast Asia and Treewater.  Most of the actors are non-professionals and also survivors of Gender-Based Violence in Timor Leste, such as sexual violence during the 1975-1999 conflict with Indonesia and domestic violence. 

The Living Wage Lab celebrates its first birthday

On 26 November 2015, Hivos and Fairfood gathered Dutch stakeholders from the agro-food sector to develop and experiment with innovative solutions for living wages in their supply chains.

Trauma Healing Module: changing the future and improving lives

Healing from the trauma of sexual violence is not easy, especially when it stays with one for years. The healing efforts are done mainly by the individual, who in most cases needs help from others. For this reason, a manual for counselors helping sexual violence survivors in Timor Leste has been written by Theresia Sri

Important Message from Sumba to the World at COP 22

Blog post by Agusmantono, Hivos advocacy officer South East Asia “If you want to see how 100% renewable energy has been put into practice in the field, please take a look yourself in my village in Sumba, Indonesia. Everyone who comes today is welcome”, said Umbu Janji. He made his invitation to the appreciative laughter

Important Message from Sumba to the World at COP 22

Baca postingan blog dalam Bahasa Indonesia “If you want to see how 100% renewable energy has been put into practice in the field, please take a look yourself in my village in Sumba, Indonesia. Everyone who comes today is welcome”, said Umbu Janji. He made his invitation to the appreciative laughter and applause of participants

Suspended by the church because of HIV

Munya (23) works as a street vendor, selling perfumes and deodorant in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. After his first-ever relationship broke up, he found out he was HIV-positive. It was thanks to Hivos that Munya was able to access testing and treatment. On World Aids Day, he overcomes his somewhat shy nature to tell us his personal

Bridges helps move the decent work agenda forward

The Bridges project (formerly known as Shelter Me) is a unique initiative in the Gulf region, in which Migrant-Rights.org and Hivos collaborate to improve the employment relationship between employers and their domestic workers. Part of our approach is to work with international businesses to develop a Code of Conduct to support and guide their staff

Why cooking deserves more attention

Blog post by Eco Matser, Hivos Green & Inclusive programme director One fifth of women around the world cook on wood or charcoal stoves. This is not only bad for their health – it causes 4.3 million premature deaths per year according the World Health Organisation – but it is also the single biggest source

Nexos a light for human rights

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can.” Peter-Derrek Hof, Dutch Ambassador for Central America, repeated these words by Martin Luther King to officially launch Nexos, a Human Rights Program in Central America implemented by Hivos for the Embassy of the Netherlands. The initiative aims at raising awareness, strengthening the rule of law, increasing general

EMMA organisation’s mission to help Yezidi women who flee IS

Behar Ali is a woman with a mission. As a young woman, she lived through the infamous poison gas attack on Halabja in the late eighties in Iraq. When Saddam Hussein started another campaign of violence against the Kurds in the mid-nineties, Behar fled to the Netherlands where she specialised in women’s rights. After the

Why we need Women Empowered for Leadership in Lebanon

“There is no abstract mass of Lebanese citizens; there are Lebanese male citizens and Lebanese female citizens.” – May Mikdashi, “A Legal Guide to being a Lebanese Woman” Why Lebanon? Lebanon has always had the image and reputation of being the most open and liberal country in the Arab world. Lebanese women in particular are

Biogas Indonesia

In 2020, preparations were finalized to transfer Hivos’ Southeast Asia hub to the local entity Yayasan Humanis dan Inovasi Sosial. Aim To create a market-oriented sector of domestic biogas in Indonesia as a local sustainable energy source by developing a commercial, market-based approach that provides job and business opportunities for masons and local partner organizations in

Sustainable Agriculture in Cuba

PAAS helps develop a resilient and sustainable Cuban agro-food system that contributes to local development and a healthier food culture. It promotes healthy eating habits and improved access to healthy and nutritious food in 22 municipalities of Cuba. Why has Cuba embraced organic farming? Cuba currently imports some 80 percent of the food it consumes.

Hivos Southern Africa’s Internet and Human Rights Innovation Challenge

As part of the Human Rights Day 2016 commemoration in Zimbabwe, the Dutch Royal Embassy and Hivos Southern Africa invited innovators and human rights practitioners to participate in an Internet and Human Rights Innovation Challenge (IHRC). We asked innovators to share ideas on how to effectively use the internet to advance human rights in Zimbabwe.

Tackling corruption in Malawi through Open Contracting standards

Open Contracting offers the government of Malawi the biggest hope in winning its war against corruption according to a new report by Hivos Southern Africa and Article 19. The report indicates that governments worldwide spend an estimated USD 9.5 trillion annually on public contracting and calls for the need to commit to open contracting standards

Alpha Media Holdings Conversation: Women’s Empowerment and the Quota System in Zimbabwe

Alpha Media Holdings Conversation: Women's Empowerment and the Quota System in Zimbabwe January 19, 2017 The issue of women’s representation in Zimbabwe’s eighth Parliament came under the spotlight at the Alpha Media Holdings conversation titled: “Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Progress in Zimbabwe: New Constitution and the Women’s Quota,” held  December in Harare. The discussion

Want to organise an event on International Open Data Day? Apply now!

On Saturday, March 4th 2017 it is International Open Data Day. Do you want to solve problems by the use of open data? Apply now for funding to organise an event!

Building strong partnerships to stop TB-HIV in the Philippines

Above: Official signing of the MoU between Hivos, KNCV and the DOH; in presence of Dutch Amb Marion Derckx / Credit: Andre Villanueva from KNCV As programme officer for the Hivos HIV & Human Rights Programme, I joined our team in Manila this January for the launch of our newest project. During the course of

Landmark occasion for LGBTI rights

How often can you say you’ve attended a ‘historic event’? Not too often, but I think the consultation of – here’s a mouthful –  the Independent Expert on Protection against Violence and Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (UN IE SOGI) qualifies as one. This is the first time ever that an official

Armyworm Maize Attack: A Case for Sustainable Food Production Strategy in Zambia

Maize – Zambia’s most favoured crop – is under attack from alien armyworms. The pest has already invaded more than 10 percent of farms in the country. The army worms are caterpillars that “march” across the landscape in large groups feasting on young plants, leaving devastation in their wake. In Zambia, maize is the primary

On Internet Freedom and Access in Zimbabwe

As Hivos, we fully believe that freedom of expression and the media is a basic requirement for citizens to stay informed, express an opinion and become civically involved in society. Across the globe, the internet has been growing as a medium of communication, facilitating freedom of expression and economic development. In countries where the internet

Action 24 Launches Green Discussions Targeted At Youth

Action 24, a Hivos Southern Africa partner under the Green and Inclusive Energy (GIE) programme, launched the Green Discussions Forum in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Green Discussions Forum is targeted at stimulating young people in Zimbabwe to actively take part in promoting the green agenda in Zimbabwe. Action 24 seeks to empower young people on issues

Women’s representation in the Lebanese media

Women’s representation in the Lebanese media February 7, 2017 Overcoming poor representation and gender stereotypes Hivos WE4L Lebanon Partner Maharat Foundation’s report following its gendered-based election media monitoring in the May 2016 Lebanese municipal elections shows how women political opinion-makers and leaders continue to be weakly represented in the Lebanese audio-visual media. During the launch

Action 24 Launches Green Discussion Forum in Zimbabwe

Action 24, a Hivos Southern Africa partner under the Green and Inclusive Energy programme, launched the Green Discussions Forum in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city. The Green Discussions Forum is targeted at stimulating young people in Zimbabwe to actively take part in promoting the green agenda in Zimbabwe. Action 24 seeks to empower young people on

New oases for collaboration: coworking in remote Tunisia

Co-authored with Ferdinand Francken, LEAD programme Coordinator, Ministry of Foreign Affairs The economic perspectives of young people in many developing countries are extremely poor, and unemployment rates staggering high. Even when jobs are available, there is often a mismatch between the skills young people can offer and those required by employers. In some of these countries,

Legal victory for LGBT activists in Lebanon gives hope despite small step

On 26 January 2017, Lebanese LGBT activists celebrated a significant victory. For the fourth time in the past eight years, a Lebanese judge ruled that homosexuality was not illegal, applying a liberal interpretation of the Lebanese penal code. The abolition of the legal article in question, no. 534, which criminalizes sexual acts contradictory to the

It’s not all doom for climate change in Africa: Burkina tells the story

Sub-Saharan Africa alone has been more vulnerable to the effects of climate change more than ever. The Intergovernmental panel on climate change predicts that by 2020, crop yields may fall up to 50 per cent and 75-250 million people could be affected by increased water shortages. This poses a significant risk for the generations to

Flower farm workers are yet to benefit from the sector despite increased revenues

Approximately, 250 million roses will be produced for Valentine’s Day globally. Kenya is the lead exporter of rose cut flowers to the European Union with a market share of 38 per cent as of 2015.  In 2016, Kenya’s earnings from cut flowers rose 18 per cent to Sh53.3 billion from Sh45.1 billion in the previous

Blog: Flower farm workers are yet to benefit from the sector despite increased revenues

In 2016, Kenya’s earnings from cut flowers rose 18 per cent to Sh53.3 billion from Sh45.1 billion in the previous year. While the sector has seen strides in the provision of safe and healthy working conditions, adherence of companies in payment of minimum wage and complicacy of certification regulations, much more is yet to be achieved in terms of social responsibility for the workers.

Women’s representation in the Lebanese media

Overcoming poor representation and gender stereotypes Hivos WE4L Lebanon Partner Maharat Foundation’s report following its gendered-based election media monitoring in the May 2016 Lebanese municipal elections shows how women political opinion-makers and leaders continue to be weakly represented in the Lebanese audio-visual media. During the launch of the report on 20 October 2016, a discussion

Bottom-up innovation

Address by Edwin Huizing at the City Maker session organised by Hivos during the SIX Wayfinder conference on social innovation in London on 16 and 17 February. Today we celebrate the social innovation field’s tenth birthday. To our mind this should start with celebrating the ingenuity and inspiration of people to face power in creative ways.

The story of energy access

How Energia and Hivos work with partners to effect global change by focusing on local, sustainable solutions. The projects in this booklet work every angle and across sectors to solve the issue of energy access. Ranging from off-grid “first mile” communities to government buildings in capital cities where energy legislation is passed, these projects empower

Why Media Matters to Sustainable Food in Zambia

Hivos Southern Africa Hub held a meeting to update journalists on the importance of media reportage on food consumption and production related issues in Zambia. Hivos Southern Africa is currently implementing the sustainable foods programme in Zambia aimed at fostering a radical rethinking of food production and consumption that recognises ecosystems as the foundation of

Journalists Undergo Green and Inclusive Energy Training in Zimbabwe

Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), a Hivos Southern Africa Hub partner conducted a training to raise awareness of green and inclusive energy issues among selected journalists in Zimbabwe. The training comes against a background of little to no coverage of green and inclusive energy related issues in Zimbabwean media. According to a baseline study

Zimbabwean Journalists Urged to be Security Conscious

A Hivos Southern Africa Hub partner under the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands funded project, Human Rights Fund, Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe, has urged journalists to be always conscious of the profession’s safety and security measures  to minimise risk to life and limb as they conduct their lawful professional duties. Speaking at

Organisational change at the Hivos South Africa office

As part of a process of becoming a fully independent organisation, the Hivos South Africa office will cease operating under the Hivos Foundation and will change its name to Hlanganisa Institute for Development SA. Hivos Foundation has supported civil society development in over 25 countries since its establishment in 1968, working together for a world

Women Empowered for Leadership Launches in Malawi

Hivos Southern Africa Hub launched the Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L) programme in Lilongwe, Malawi on February 14 with what turned out to be a very passionate panel discussion on “Collaborating for Increased and Effective Participation by Women in Politics and Public Administration.” Few women hold decision-making positions within the social, political and economic arenas

Age of Wonderland’s 100 days of learning makes its mark on Hivos East Africa

How do you break societal norms to be creative in spaces that are unfamiliar? These were some of the thought-provoking conversations that evolved during Hivos East Africa’s 100 days of learning. Convened by the Age of Wonderland on 16 February 2017, the two-day event featured discussions on how to foster inspiration, trust and learning. Age

Human Rights Fund Partners Review Progress amid Global Shifts

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Zimbabwe have been facing huge challenges due to limited funding and a lack of new, creative and innovative strategies to address longstanding problems that inhibit the enjoyment of human rights among citizens in the country. Against this background, Hivos South Africa, in partnership with the Embassy of the Kingdom of

Call for Concept Notes: Community Media Fund

The Bloomberg Media Initiative  Africa, in partnership with Ford Foundation, are seeking concept notes for the Community Media Fund that will strengthen the existing media landscape in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa and contribute to governance reforms. Are you involved in any initiatives or projects aimed at strengthening the role of community media in promoting

Maximising Social Media Content, Context & Digital Storytelling Among CSOs in Zimbabwe

The expansion of social media use in Zimbabwe has meant it has become an important medium through which Zimbabwean civil society organisations can reach out to the public when promoting and protecting human rights. The social protests that rocked Zimbabwe in July-November 2016 were also a clear testimony to the potential of social media in

Empowering Female artists in the creative sector

Joy Mboya is the Executive Director of the GoDown Arts Centre, which is widely recognised as a hub providing artistic spaces for Kenyan artists and a range of programmes for local audiences in Nairobi, Kenya. She has wide experience in the Kenyan cultural sector, having served in various capacities within film, theatre, music and art.

I am a farmer converted to an environmentalist

51-year-old housewife Mumbi Kinyua calls herself an environmental conservationist. Representing farmers from her community at the Ministry of Agriculture in Kenya, Mumbi has been able to capitalise on her position to champion the use of biogas in engendering good and sustainable agricultural practices. ‘’I am an empowered farmer who now calls herself an environmentalist. Biogas

I am a Sex Workers’ Activist

Peninah calls herself a sex worker and women’s rights activist. As the Founder and Director of Bar Hostess Empowerment and Support Programme (BHESP) she is amongst the change makers who have been championing for the rights of sex workers for close to 17 years now. ‘’I believe sex work is work. What inspires me every

I am the Chief Mechanic of Creatives Garage

She calls herself a shy, eccentric daydreamer who loves what she does in the artistic spaces. Liz Kilili is the ‘Chief Mechanic’ at the Creatives Garage. This is a hub that was born from a quest to engage in cultural activism and enable creatives to venture into social innovation. To date, her overall leadership has

Equal rights apply to all human beings regardless of their sexual orientation

Esther Adhiambo sees her position in society as a mother, aunt, sister, leader and mentor. She has been in the Lesbian Bisexual and Queer (LBQ) movement for close to 8 years now, having previously worked at the Persons Marginalised and Aggrieved Kenya (PEMA Kenya) organisation and now at the Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination (INEND).

I am a Feminist

Nyambura Gathumbi, Hivos East Africa’s Programme Manager for Women’s Empowerment, prides herself on being a feminist. Having worked in the women’s rights sphere for almost 10 years now, she has seen the struggles that women have had to endure over the years, and this she notes is what drives her every day to make things

Young People Key to Uptake of Renewable Energy

Young people at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) expressed dismay at the lack of funding opportunities to scale up their renewable energy innovations. “We’ve many ideas but we need money to make them see the light of day. Zimbabwe is a third world country. It is poor and there are no opportunities for us

Celebrating women’s achievements in creating a gender-inclusive green society

On International Women’s Day 2017, Hivos celebrates the achievements of our programmes and partners in driving change for women and helping accelerate gender parity across the world. Together we are creating a gender inclusive green society, where women and men have equal access to – and control over – renewable energy and sufficient, nutritious and

The Global Gag Rule’s impact on Kenya’s reproductive health sector

Within the first week of assuming office, US President Donald Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, also known as the Global Gag Rule. Simply, this policy prohibits any entity that receives US Government (USG) funding from carrying out any abortion-related activity, regardless of the source of funds.  This Mexico City Policy is a partisan affair

Open source seeds’ first ideathon in Nairobi

Drought and the climate changing patterns cannot be separated from food security. These are some of the factors that have given rise to the open source seeds initiative globally. With the changing rainfall partners, farmers will need access to a wide variety of climate-resilient seeds which many times are not always ‘free’. The Open Source

Renewable Energy Carries Potential to Propel Zimbabwe

Harnessing Zimbabwe’s abundant renewable energy resources is key to helping the country support its development strategies and leapfrog towards low-carbon socio-economic progress. Energy is increasingly being recognised as a pre-requisite for human development: it’s surprising that it took the world so long a time to acknowledge this reality. Fortunately, it is now enshrined in the

Women, land ownership and food security in Uganda

Last week, the world celebrated the International Women’s Day. While tremendous gains have been made economically, socially and politically in the last decade for women, a lot more still needs to be done. Take for example the role of women in food production. Over the weekend, The New Vision newspaper, Uganda, highlighted a story noting

Much work remains in fight against child marriage in Malawi despite progress

Malawi has put a final legal nail on the coffin of child marriages by making a historic amendment to the Constitution to fully outlaw child marriage. The legal development followed more than fifteen years of undaunted advocacy that eventually resulted in Malawi’s President, Peter Mutharika, signing the Marriage and Family Relations Bill into law in 2015, raising

If Women Stop, Power Stops

Blog post by Melina Campos, Hivos advocacy officer Latin America When we talk about energy we tend to think about cables, megawatts and engineering. But energy is something simpler and more vital than that. According to the Spanish Language Usage Dictionary compiled by Maria Moliner, energy means “greater or lesser ability of someone or something

Call for quote / proposal for communication strategy for Women Empowered for Leadership programme

Deadline: 31 March 2017 IntroductionHivos invites you to send a quote and brief proposal for an assignment to develop a project-related communication strategy and set the first steps in realizing it, resulting in a number of deliverables within three months time. BackgroundWomen Empowered for Leadership (WE4L) is a five-year programme (until 2020) managed by Hivos and

Empowering women through bio-digesters

Ethiopia has built more than 15,000 bio-digesters since 2009. They have changed the lives of women not only by providing clean energy, but also by freeing up their income to invest in profitable businesses. Women and girls play critical roles in supplying household fuels in countries like Ethiopia, where 95 per cent of households depend

Idea Jam 1: Agrifood Issues and Solutions

Idea Jam is an integral part of the Social Entrepreneurship Support Initiative, a six-month pilot project spearheaded by Hivos and Coworkinc aiming to support social entrepreneurs through capacity building. Started in February, Hivos and Coworkinc will conduct Idea Jam “pressure cooker” sessions and pop-up consultation hours at Coworkinc on a monthly basis. Hivos’ decision to

Put migrant domestic workers higher on the international Human Rights agenda

Just one day at the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61) showed me that this year’s theme, ‘Women’s Economic Empowerment in the changing world of work’, may finally bring some well-deserved attention to the feminization of migration and the plight of women in domestic work. But – will this attention

Transvida

Photographs by Ángel Damián Reyes / Text by Ángel Damián Reyes and Alonso Jiménez The HIV Costa Rica project we participate in wouldn’t be the same without Transvida (Translife in English), our partner organization. Their methods of HIV care and prevention in trans women represent a new frontier in terms of innovation and creativity, as

Calling all open contracting champions and innovators…

Photo: Bert Kaufmann Calling all open contracting champions and innovators! March 14, 2017 #OCGlobal17, Amsterdam, 28 & 29 November 2017 Open contracting is one of the most exciting areas in modernizing government, fighting corruption, reforming markets and fostering business innovation and entrepreneurship. Better, smarter and fairer government contracting will have a huge impact on citizens’

Hivos Director of Operations Tours Projects in Zimbabwe

Hivos Director of Operations Sanne Nolst Trenité recently toured selected projects in Harare, Zimbabwe and also held a townhall-type meeting with all staff in the Southern African region. Members of staff for Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe had an opportunity to interact and engage with the DOO on the trajectory of the organizations as well

Women’s Economic Empowerment through Tanocraft

Tanoker is a learning community in Jember, East Java, Indonesia. This community is doing their best to develop the potential of local women and children through creative activities. One of these is the “Learning and Tourism Village of Ledokombo” programme in Jember, in which Tanoker supports the villagers to make souvenirs for tourists visiting the

Alliance2015 for Syria

Today, March 15 2017, marks the sixth year of the conflict in Syria. This conflict has resulted in the largest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time. The numbers are massive: almost 50% of the entire Syrian population are uprooted from their homes; five million have fled the country since 2011 and over six million

Calling all open contracting champions and innovators…

Open contracting 2017: #OCGlobal17, Amsterdam, 28 & 29 November Open contracting is one of the most exciting areas in modernizing government, fighting corruption, reforming markets and fostering business innovation and entrepreneurship. Better, smarter and fairer government contracting will have a huge impact on citizens’ lives everywhere.  Hivos and ARTICLE 19, together with The B team,

Pro-active disclosure can help curb flawed procurement processes in Kenya

In the past couple of weeks, news about fraudulent tendering processes have been making headlines. The scourge of flawed procurement processes has unfortunately denied many Kenyans crucial services such as health, education, water and infrastructure amongst others.

Call for concept notes

  About Community Media Fund The role of media and journalism is not confined to news organisations, broadcasting companies or governments—within Africa, a large and growing community media sector is linked to enterprises, civil society, educational institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that focus on issues of transparency, accountability and governance. The Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa

An event that shall never be repeated

On March 8, while the world celebrated women’s historical fight for equality and equity on International Women’s Day, almost 60 Guatemalan girls were locked up and burned alive inside the “Hogar Seguro Virgen de la Asunción” shelter, located in San José Pinula, Guatemala. At present, 40 have died, many others remain missing and some survived.

Why Southern Africa Needs to Focus on Green and Inclusive Energy

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Energy and Power Development, Samuel Undenge, recently announced at the 48th Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) meeting in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe that the region will add 30 000 MW to the region between 2017 and 2022. Addressing delegates at the meeting, Undenge lamented the slow pace of commissioning of new projects but hoped

The real people affected by lack of access to energy must not be forgotten in the COP process

Looking back on my overwhelming first time attending a Council of the Parties (COP) at COP22 in Marrakech last November, it was filled with so many meetings, side panels, negotiations and networking opportunities that it was easy to overlook the real people affected by lack of access to energy. Acronyms were flying all over the place,

Kajiado County; a champion for renewable energy usage

You can almost see nothing inside the Manyatta (a home, often temporary of the Maasai/Samburu people). The window and only ventilation is the size of two adult hands. There is fire burning probably to keep the place lit up and warm given it is a rainy day. Even with the choking darkness one cannot fail

Why Ditching the Start-Up Pitch Is Good for Innovation

The start-up pitch, which involves making a rapid fire presentation of an idea followed by a question and answer session involving selected judges, is increasingly a waste of time and non-efficient in propagating the tech start up ecosystem in Zimbabwe. The start-up pitch is based on the traditional business planning methodology and ignores the fact

Kajiado County; a champion for renewable energy usage

Blog post by Caroline Wahome, communications officer Kenya You can almost see nothing inside the Manyatta (a home, often temporary of the Maasai/Samburu people). The window and only ventilation is the size of two adult hands. There is fire burning probably to keep the place lit up and warm given it is a rainy day.

The real people affected by lack of access to energy must not be forgotten in the COP process

Blog post by Maimuna Kabatesi, Advocacy officer Energy in Kenya Looking back on my overwhelming first time attending a Council of the Parties (COP) at COP22 in Marrakech last November, it was filled with so many meetings, side panels, negotiations and networking opportunities that it was easy to overlook the real people affected by lack

Ensuring farmer’s access to open source seeds systems in Kenya

‘’Farmers, too, have a voice in food security.’’ This comment represents some of the conversations during an open source seeds forum in Nakuru County on 15 to 17 March 2017 convened by Hivos East Africa, Bioversity International, Genetic Resources Research Institute and Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management – Africa. The forum drew participation from

Understanding Gender-Energy Nexus Key to Renewable Energy Uptake

The heavy focus on technical aspects of renewable energy projects tends to overlook the vital gender aspects that can make or break the uptake of projects. In many cases, energy projects are treated as gender neutral based on the assumption that energy bottlenecks and solutions impact men and women in similar ways.  The failure to

Doña Ángela, the water lady

Lea la versión en español de este blog acá. It’s three in the morning, when most people are asleep and haven’t even started thinking about the chores of the day, let alone water, a resource many of us take for granted. But not doña Ángela*. She is already up and making her way to Matagalpa,

Internet freedom is a human right

The city of Valencia hosted the 3rd Internet Freedom Festival from 5-10  March 2017. The festival brought together a diverse group of over 1200 people from 114 countries to discuss issues related to privacy, anonymity, access to information and policy and advocacy for Internet freedom.  Internet Freedom in Africa was widely discussed with the issues

Civil Society Organisations Urged to Integrate Social Media into Communications Matrix

Hivos Southern Africa has urged civil society organizations (CSOs) to integrate social media into their communications matrix as this provides a valuable opportunity for them to reach their communications goals and new audiences more efficiently. While media polarisation in Zimbabwe has been a contentious issue over the years, so many gains have been brought by

Community Media Fund Call for Proposals

Call for Concept Notes for the Community Media Fund in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa The role of media and journalism is not confined to news organisations, broadcasting companies or governments—within Africa, a large and growing community media sector is linked to enterprises, civil society, educational institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that focus on issues

Action 24 Convenes COPS 22 Feedback Meeting

The Zimbabwean government is currently finalizing the ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which it signed last year. The Paris Agreement is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020.  At a Conference of the Parties (COP) 22 Feedback Meeting

Age of Wonderland: 100 Days of Learning in Dar es Salaam

I was part of an inspiring half-day session named 100 Days of Learning, organised by the Age of Wonderland program on Valentine’s Day. An initiative to foster social innovation by facilitating co-creation between creatives in Africa, Latin America and Asia and the Netherlands. The event was organized by Guavay Tanzania, and held at Buni-COSTECH, Dar

Stop sexual harassment project: a model sexual harassment policy for the flower sector in Eastern Africa

The sexual harassment policy was developed collaboratively with participating farm management, trade unions, non-governmental organizations, certification bodies and workers. It was bench marked on international and national laws policies and best-bet practices.

Women’s Political Participation as Novelty

Man to woman the evening of March 8: “Your day is over, time to go back to the kitchen”. *laughter* It’s easy to assume that this type of sexist humour just comes out of typical male cafés in Lebanon. But this joke was used by seasoned Lebanese television host Marcel Ghanem in a tweet to

Women’s Political Participation as Novelty

al Participation as Novelty March 28, 2017 Man to woman the evening of March 8: “Your day is over, time to go back to the kitchen”. *laughter* It’s easy to assume that this type of sexist humour just comes out of typical male cafés in Lebanon. But this joke was used by seasoned Lebanese

Hivos Southern Africa brings Green & Inclusive Energy to the stage

For the first time ever, a play about energy-related issues was put on in Zimbabwe at Harare’s Theatre in the Park, where some 100 spectators gathered to  watch “Look No Further.” The play tells the story of an old woman who is reluctant to embrace new technology because it is against her tradition and culture.

No civil society, no energy access for all

Why civil society’s contribution is crucial in ensuring energy access for all To eradicate poverty and combat climate change we need universal access to clean and affordable energy. This is also included as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG7). However, over the last years energy access has not speeded up but slowed down, especially

Hivos calls on all sectors at SEforALL Forum to accelerate energy access

From 3-5 April, Hivos is participating in the Sustainable Energy for All Forum (SEforAll forum) in New York. The Forum is the landmark gathering celebrating the global sustainable energy movement. It brings together over 1,000 high-level representatives from government, business, civil society and helps drive action towards achieving universal access to affordable, clean and reliable

No civil society, no energy access for all

Blog post by Eco Matser, programme manager Green and Inclusive Energy programme Why civil society’s contribution is crucial in ensuring energy access for all To eradicate poverty and combat climate change we need universal access to clean and affordable energy. This is also included as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG7). However, over the

New research commissioned to assess the impact of bio-slurry

One of the biggest components of Hivos East Africa’s successes has been the integration of Research and Development (R&D) to inform the upscaling of proven models. The Renewable Energy programme has been keen to use R&D to inform interventions such as the development of markets for green energy services like biogas. On 3 March 2017,

Harnessing Solar Energy in Zimbabwe Needs to Be Inclusive

Hivos Southern Africa welcomes a recent announcement made by Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Minister of State, Faber Chidarikire, that 300000 rural households are set to be solar powered under a $4 million facility aimed at eliminating use of non-renewable energy sources. The project, which is modelled around a prepaid system, will initially target 24000 households, and

Harnessing Solar Energy in Zimbabwe Needs to Be Inclusive

Blog post by Masimba Biriwasha, communications officer Southern Africa Hivos Southern Africa welcomes a recent announcement made by Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland West Minister of State, Faber Chidarikire, that 300000 rural households are set to be solar powered under a $4 million facility aimed at eliminating use of non-renewable energy sources. The project, which is modelled around

Sectors call to join forces to achieve energy access in high-level meeting

During a strategic meeting held at the fringes of the third Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) Forum, taking place in New York from 3-5 April, high-level representatives from governments, private sector companies and civil society called for intensified partnerships between sectors in order to accelerate progress towards decentralized renewable energy access – specifically for low income

LifeCo UnLtd trains Hivos Southern Africa in Social Entrepreneurship

Leading South African social enterprise, LifeCo UnLtd, took Hivos Southern Africa staff through the fundamentals of leadership and innovation in order to foster a culture of innovation within the hub. The training came in handy for Hivos Southern Africa, which is currently exploring how to position itself as a social innovator. LifeCo UnLtd tackles inequality

Pro-active disclosure can help curb flawed procurement processes in Kenya

In the past couple of weeks, news about fraudulent tendering processes have been making headlines. The scourge of flawed procurement processes has unfortunately denied many Kenyans crucial services such as health, education, water and infrastructure amongst others. While discussions in public discourses lightly delve on proper mechanisms to fight corruption; billions of tax payers’ money

Hivos Southern Africa hosts Creative Hub Think Tank

Hivos Southern Africa will be hosting a brainstorming workshop on the state of creative hubs in Southern Africa on April 11, 2017 at Moto Republik in Harare, Zimbabwe. The aim of the Creative Hub ThinkTank is inform Hivos Southern Africa’s work with regional cretaive hubs going forward.  Creative hubbing is a worldwide trend and there

News update April 2017

Students from the Bislig Elementary School listen to World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim at their newly-repaired classroom in Bislig, Tanauan City in Leyte province, Philippines on July 13, 2014. News update April 2017 April 11, 2017 Call for Proposals and partner selection The Hivos and ARTICLE 19 programme Civic Engagement for Open Contracting

Talking Can Help With Depression Among Young People

The World Health Day commemorated annually on April 7 was this year themed:  Depression: Let’s Talk. For Africa, the theme was highly appropriate highlighting a pervasive problem that is largely shrouded in silence, especially among adolescents, and needs to be urgently brought out into the open to save lives. According to a recent report by

Civic Engagement for Open Contracting Program launched

The Civic Engagement for Open Contracting Program was formally launched in the Philippines on January 24, 2017. This was done in conjunction with a meeting that sought to validate findings and results of the Philippines scoping study and provide inputs before the annual Philippine country plan was implemented.  The Civic Engagement for Open Contracting programme aims to

Communique from Hivos Southern Africa’s workshop on Creative Hubs

Creative Hubs from Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe met at Moto Republik Creative Hub in Harare, Zimbabwe, on April 11, 2017 for a Creative Hub Think Tank workshop. The theme was Room of Open Minds (R.O.O.M). Using the ‘World Café’ workshop methodology, the objective of the one-day gathering was for creative hub convenors and

Creative Hub Managers Analyse Southern Africa Hub Culture

Creative hub managers from Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe met at Moto Republik in Harare, Zimbabwe on April 11, 2017 to deliberate on the state of creative hubs in Southern Africa. The one-day meet up provided an opportunity for the managers to reflect on how they can better serve their communities while ensuring sustainability

Hivos condemns the detention, torture and killing of suspected gay men in Chechnya

At the beginning of April, the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta published a report in which senior government sources confirmed the mass detention of more than a hundred gay men in Chechnya since February because of their sexual orientation. Human rights organisations and activists have also reported that gay men are being held in “camps” where they

Ensuring energy access for all: Why civil society’s contribution is crucial

The key to achieve universal energy access is diverse partnerships. We need all sectors of society – public, private and civil society – to do their part and work together. This report demonstrates specifically the role of Civil society organisations in ensuring energy access for all.

PSAf conducts media training on women’s participation in leadership in Zambia

Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf), with support from Hivos Southern Africa, conducted a media training on women’s participation in leadership in Lusaka on 11 and 12 April that brought together print and electronic media practitioners from across Zambia. The training is part of the Women Empowered for Leadership Programe which PSAf is implementing for Hivos

Tasty and Hip: A New Generation of Indonesian Cooking

New collaboration between Hivos and GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition) When you ask people what comes to mind when they think of “sustainable food”, they generally say things like health, nutrition or the environment. Sometimes they also mention affordability, safety and diversity. Surprisingly, taste is often missing from this list. In fact, sustainable food

Biogas and bio-slurry: why Mr Sialim is smiling

Mr. Sialim’s face looks radiant when he welcome us to his home in Keputran Village of RT005 RW003 Sukoharjo, Pringsewu, Lampung. Even though he has just returned from his fields, Mr. Sialim showed his hospitality and led us into his residence. He did not even mind when we asked his wife, Mrs. Martini, who was

Call for Proposals: Community Media Fund

Call for Concept Notes for the Community Media Fund in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa The role of media and journalism is not confined to news organisations, broadcasting companies or governments—within Africa, a large and growing community media sector is linked to enterprises, civil society, educational institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that focus on issues

To achieve energy access in Kenya, electrification must go hand-in-hand with other energy interventions

Over the past two years, the government of Kenya has set out on an ambitious plan with regards to electrification of both households and public institutions through grid extension, resulting in astronomical jumps in connectivity of both schools and households. As of June 2016, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (MoEP) reported that 95 per

Whose story counts in energy access?

Rachel Kyte, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, steps on the podium and smiles into a huge hall filled with hundreds of people suited up for the occasion. She takes up the microphone, and and with that simple gesture opens the three-day sustainable energy conference whose title is projected on a gigantic screen above her:

To achieve energy access in Kenya, electrification must go hand-in-hand with other energy interventions

Blog post by Maimuna Kabetesi, programme manager Green Inclusive Energy Kenya Over the past two years, the government of Kenya has set out on an ambitious plan with regards to electrification of both households and public institutions through grid extension, resulting in astronomical jumps in connectivity of both schools and households. As of June 2016,

Uganda Biogas Programme registered by Gold Standard

On April 20, the Uganda Biogas Programme (UBP) received an official registration under Gold Standard. The registration is an important milestone for the programme that, since its founding in 2014, has constructed more than 6,000 household biodigesters in the country. Each biodigester reduces emissions of CO2. Through a rigorous certification processes to verify emission reductions

Whose story counts in energy access?

Blog post by Merit Hindriks, communications officer Green & Inclusive Energy programme Rachel Kyte, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, steps on the podium and smiles into a huge hall filled with hundreds of people suited up for the occasion. She takes up the microphone, and and with that simple gesture opens the three-day sustainable

Ketebul Music: Kenya has an identity to offer in the music scene

Morning musings with Ketebul Music Hivos East Africa is predominantly known in the region as being amongst the pioneering organisations that have supported the arts and film scene for close to 10 years. This support to the creative economy sector is part of our freedom of expression portfolio that seeks to bolster co-working spaces where

Panos supports media fellowships to promote positive coverage of women leaders

Following a media training workshop that was held in Lusaka on 11 and 12 April 2017, Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf) is implementing a media fellowship programme to support journalists to provide in-depth and issue based content that promotes positive profiles of women leaders. The media training and fellowships are part of the Women Empowered

DARU: Firefighting at Jakarta Fire Department’s Fingertips

The hype around “Smart Cities” has influenced discussions on urbanism worldwide. Locally in Indonesia, the concept of smart cities is becoming more popular, and cities across the country are starting to integrate and harness technology for more efficient and smarter public administration. Making All Voices Count in Indonesia believes that the power of technology alone

Reporting on renewable energy in Kenya is far from adequate

Kenya has approximately 139 radio stations, 60 publications – four of which are daily newspapers – and about 2 million online news consumers. Despite having a vibrant media, coverage of issues such as renewable energy and development work in general remains low as politics and entertainment are allocated much of the space. It is in

A reflection of morality with regards to Sexuality Education in Kenya

The recent survey on Kenya’s teens demanding condoms has led me to reflect on societal failures. Let us for one minute shelve the blame game and focus on the adolescent girl and boy, in school and out of school, who is clearly inadequately reached and served with quality sexual reproductive health services, commodities and information.

The right to online anonymity

Human rights should be considered proportionally in any governmental policy related to the Internet in a way that will hopefully spur the private sector to follow. The Internet has become an essential platform for the exercise of free speech, especially in oppressive environments where freedom of expression, freedom of association, and/or freedom of assembly are

Hivos Southern Africa Press Release: World Press Freedom Day 2017

Hivos Southern Africa (Hivos) joins journalists, artists, open internet and free expression activists in the region and beyond in commemorating this year’s World Press Freedom Day on Wednesday 3 May 2017.   This year’s UNESCO theme, ‘Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s Role in Advancing, Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies’  aptly captures the democratic importance of all

Food systems solution platform launched in Buikwe, Uganda

  Buikwe District is located in the central part of Uganda. With approximately 98,000 households engaged directly or indirectly in small-scale farming, agriculture is the district’s main economic activity. Buikwe residents face myriad challenges every day, among which malnutrition, a wide income gap between producers and co-producers in rural and urban centres, inadequate extension services, poor

Bio-slurry transforming the coffee sector

Philip Mutahi Ngunjiri is a commercial coffee and dairy farmer in Nyeri County. He learned about biogas through the Kenya Biogas Program’s (KBP) Biogas Extension Service Providers based in the region and immediately got interested in installing one. “It cost me a total of Ksh 66,000 (equivalent to 571 USD) to install this 6-cubic-meter digester

With biogas, I can focus on other money-making activities

Grace Nyambura Gachuki, a dairy farmer in Kiambu County, used to refill the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) tank every three weeks. This was in addition to using charcoal and firewood to take care of all the household’s fuel needs. She had seen biogas digesters on TV, but got a better idea when her neighbour installed

Biogas alleviates health problems

Mirriam Wachuka lives in Bahati, Nakuru County with her husband and grandchild. She owns two dairy cows that enabled her to install a 6-cubic-meter biogas digester in May 2016. She had seen one on TV, but thought it was an expensive affair. Then one day at the community centre, her friends told her more about

Bio-slurry increases farm productivity

Alfred Karanja of Kiambu County prides himself in being a biogas digester owner because of its many benefits. He purposely installed a bio-digester to take advantage of the organic manure (“bio-slurry”) that is produced as a by-product, as well as gas for cooking and heating. His family no longer has to fetch firewood, and the

Show your solidarity with LGBTI people worldwide on IDAHOT!

The International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT) is observed every year on May 17. It aims to stimulate international events that raise awareness of the human rights violations suffered by of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. For IDAHOT 2017, Hivos wants to draw global attention to the difficult situation lesbians, gay

Hivos Stages an Intervention at HIFA 2017

Hivos Southern Africa put up an open lounge and stage at the Harare International Festival of the Arts 2017, Zimbabwe’s premier arts showpiece. Hivos’ concept was an open lounge and space featuring a range of artistic performances where audiences had an opportunity to have close interaction with artists. The Harare International Festival of the Arts

IDEAJAM 2: Women-in-Power edition

IDEAJAM 2: Women-in-Power edition May 16, 2017 The second IDEAJAM was held on 18 April 2017 with the theme of gender sensitivity in social enterprises and organizations. The Business Model Canvas Workshop: Women-in-Power Edition focused on building gender-sensitive social enterprises and applying a business model to organizations and campaigns that increases their sustainability. “IDEAJAM” is

When did we start hating?

As we commemorate this year’s International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), I am reminded of the daily struggles and realities that sexual and gender minorities have to deal with. While East Africa nations enjoy their status as progressive nations in the 21st century and have included sustainable development goals in their national agendas,

Hivos Southern Africa Taps Popular Culture to Increase Awareness of Renewable Energy

Mid-afternoon in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city. Scores of visitors troop to the Ministry of Energy and Power Development exhibition stand at Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), attracted by one of Zimbabwe’s top internet sensations, Rolland Lunga aka Boss Kedha. Boss Kedha, an online comedian, immediately welcomes the visitors and invites them to take a

Women Empowered for Leadership Launches in Malawi

Women Empowered for Leadership Launches in Malawi May 17, 2017 Hivos Southern Africa Hub launched the Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L) programme in Lilongwe, Malawi on February 14 with what turned out to be a very passionate panel discussion on “Collaborating for Increased and Effective Participation by Women in Politics and Public Administration.” Few women

Panos Monitors Representation of Women in Zambia’s Media

Panos Monitors Representation of Women in Zambia's Media May 17, 2017 Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf), with support from Hivos Southern Africa, is conducting a monthly content analysis to monitor the media’s coverage of women in Zambia. The initiative is part of the Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L) project, in which PSAf is a partner,

Women in Zimbabwe Face Barriers to Equal Participation in Politics

Women in Zimbabwe Face Barriers to Equal Participation in Politics Even though progress has been made in increasing the participation of women in politics in Zimbabwe, women’s participation in government at all levels, from the local to the national, remains extremely low. Increasing women’s representation in the government will not only empower women, but is

Diversified Diets a Must for Zambia

There is a need to promote the consumption of a variety of foods in Zambia, according to Frank Mechielsen, Hivos’ Senior Sustainable Diets for All Programme Manager. In Zambia, many people cannot access healthy and diverse foods. To complicate matters, the Zambian government has traditionally concentrated on promoting the cultivation of maize at the expense

Hivos Southern Africa Shines at HIFA

Hivos Southern Africa dished out a feast of arts, attracting massive audiences at the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) held from May 2 to 7 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Leveraging on its long history of supporting the arts sector in Zimbabwe, the Hivos Southern Africa exhibition stand featured a potpourri of artistic activities including

Hivos East Africa and partners host a Family Reception for Kenya’s LGBTI Community

Marked on 17 May every year, the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT) raises awareness on hate crimes, acts of persecution and hatred faced by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people worldwide. On the eve of IDAHOT, 16 May 2017, Hivos East Africa together with the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK),

Hivos Southern Africa Highlights Sustainable Diets for All (SD4ALL) at Agritech Expo Zambia 2017

Hivos Southern Africa Zambia Hub’s Sustainable Diets for All (SD4All) participated in the Agritech Expo Zambia held in Lusaka, Zambia on 27 – 29, 2017. Agritech Expo Zambia is a business-to-business platform for agricultural professionals and institutions, from small-scale farmers to commercial enterprises, to engage and conduct business with some of the world’s leading suppliers

Hivos Recognises Zambian Government Efforts in Promoting Sustainable Diets

HIVOS Southern Africa has commended government’s efforts in promoting good health through healthy diets and exercise, to help reduce the number of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country. Hivos Southern Africa Regional Advocacy Manager, Sustainable Foods, William Chilufya, in an interview yesterday applauded government for establishing a social determinants department under the Ministry of Health

Rethink Required to Boost Nutritional Value and Sustainability of Zambia’s Food System

Zambia needs to rethink its food and agriculture system in order to improve diversity in both food production and consumption, according to the new report “Sustainable Diets for All: Agriculture, food systems, diets and nutrition in Zambia”. The report finds that every US dollar of investment in proven nutrition interventions could potentially generate around USD18

Every smart entrepreneur has a secret weapon

I made my way through the small alley that leads to their new office and workshop in Beirut. Clean white marble tiles, sparkling white walls and the smell of paint everywhere showed the place was clearly still under construction. When it’s up and running next month, it will be the third physical space of Atelier

Obstetric Fistula: A Silent Killer Among Women and Girls

Hivos joins the rest of the world in commemorating International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, commemorated annually on 23 May 2017. Obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder that is caused by prolonged obstructed labor in the absence of timely and adequate medical care, leaving a woman incontinent (lacking voluntary

Hivos Southern Africa Conducts Outcome Harvesting for Women Empowered for Leadership partners in Zimbabwe

Hivos Southern Africa conducted a training on outcome harvesting targeted at partner organizations in the Women Empowered for Leadership project in Zimbabwe. Twenty participants underwent the training and expressed enthusiasm at learning how to effectively conduct outcome harvesting processes. The Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L) is a five-year programme running from 2016-2020 managed by Hivos

Hivos Southern Africa Conducts Outcome Harvesting for Women Empowered for Leadership partners in Zimbabwe

rica Conducts Outcome Harvesting for Women Empowered for Leadership partners in Zimbabwe May 24, 2017 Hivos Southern Africa conducted a training on outcome harvesting targeted at partner organizations in the Women Empowered for Leadership project in Zimbabwe. Twenty participants underwent the training and expressed enthusiasm at learning how to effectively conduct outcome harvesting

Women Empowered for Leadership Programme Launches in Zimbabwe

Hivos Southern Africa launched its Women Empowered for Leadership Programme (WE4L) in Zimbabwe on April 27, 2017 at its regional offices in Harare, Zimbabwe.  The launch was attended by women leaders from political, civil society and business sectors. Renowned Zimbabwean business woman Mrs Rudo Boka-Mutambanengwe was the key note speaker.  In her remarks, Mrs. Boka-Mutambanengwe

Women Empowered for Leadership Programme Launches in Zimbabwe

or Leadership Programme Launches in Zimbabwe May 29, 2017 Hivos Southern Africa launched its Women Empowered for Leadership Programme (WE4L) in Zimbabwe on April 27, 2017 at its regional offices in Harare, Zimbabwe.  The launch was attended by women leaders from political, civil society and business sectors. Renowned Zimbabwean business woman Mrs Rudo

El acuerdo

En diciembre del 2015 tuve la oportunidad de presenciar uno de los momentos más sublimes de mi vida: 195 países negociaron para finalmente llegar a un acuerdo climático durante la COP21. De pie, al final de la sala donde se llevaban a cabo las negociaciones, fui testigo del inicio del cierre de las reuniones técnicas

Cervical Cancer: A Forgotten Tragedy

Cervical cancer is a cancer that arise from the cervix. It is due to an abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body (the cervix is the lower, narrow part of the uterus or the womb). Almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by

SDGs promise a lot for women; but what have we achieved?

In September 2015, Governments adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (commonly referred as the Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs) as a response to eradicate poverty. Each year, countries are encouraged to review their progress in implementation of the SDGs. This year, Kenya is among the 44 countries (of which seven are African states) that

Blog: SDGs promise a lot for women; but what have we achieved?

In September 2015, governments adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (commonly referred as the Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs) as a response to eradicate poverty. Each year, countries are encouraged to review their progress in implementation of the SDGs.

Food safety: fresh fruits and vegetables in Kenya’s domestic markets

The role of fresh fruits and vegetables in nutrition is well recognized and in recent years, Kenyan consumers have increasingly embraced healthy diet options, therefore consuming more of fresh fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables contain micronutrients, fibres and plant proteins which are important for daily diet, and therefore are integral to a diversified nutritious

Hivos’ response to US withdrawal from Paris Agreement

Hivos strongly condemns Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. It shows the Trump Administration is in total discord with reality and isolates itself from the rest of the world. And although Trump believes otherwise, the first to suffer from this action is the American people as it is totally contrary to their best

Hivos Director of Operations Tours Projects in Indonesia

Hivos Director of Operations Sanne Nolst Trenité toured a number of Hivos projects and partners in Indonesia at the end of April until early of May this year. For staff at Hivos Southeast Asia, her visit provided opportunities to meet her and discuss developments important to Hivos with her. Interaction, engagement, inspiration, acceleration and support were

Ethiopia projected as the fastest growing economy in Africa but lacks a minimum wage

The World Bank on June 7, 2017 projected Ethiopia as the fastest growing economy in Africa. In a report, Global Economic Prospects: Sub-Saharan Africa, the bank predicted Ethiopia to be at 8.3 per cent followed by Ghana and Tanzania at 7.2 and 7.8 respectively. Does this forecasted growth, however, mean better living standards for its

Blog: Ethiopia projected as the fastest growing economy in Africa but lacks a minimum wage

The World Bank on June 7, 2017 projected Ethiopia as the fastest growing economy in Africa. In a report, Global Economic Prospects: Sub-Saharan Africa, the bank predicted Ethiopia to be at 8.3 per cent followed by Ghana and Tanzania at 7.2 and 7.8 respectively. Does this forecasted growth, however, mean better living standards for its citizens? Ethiopia is yet to set a minimum wage for its workers.

Open Source Seed Systems improve farmers’ access to diverse seeds

Agriculture forms the backbone of Tanzania’s economy, providing employment to about 80 percent of the population and contributing to 24.5 percent of the country’s GDP. Despite its contribution to food security and livelihoods, the sector faces a number of challenges related to productivity, among them farmers’ access to seeds. This is one of the reasons

Raising our voice

Read this interview in Spanish here. I am Angélica Choc, a Maya-Q’eqchi ‘ native1 human rights defender and defender of El Estor community of the Izabal Department in Guatemala. I am a woman who calls out and defends the land because I do not want to leave this place, as I was born here, this is

Stop Child Labour signs gold chain agreement with government, companies and CSOs

Edward Huizing, executive director of Hivos, which coordinates the Stop Child Labour coalition, signed the International Responsible Business Conduct (IRBC) Agreement for a responsible gold value chain on June 19, together with Philips, Fairphone, IUCN NL, FNV and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. By signing the agreement, facilitated by the Social and Economic Council of

Leap frog: Rainforest Alliance and UTZ announce merger

Poisonous frogs are one of the planet’s most brightly colored animals. Depending on the species, they can be yellow, copper, gold, red, blue, green, black or a combination of those colors. More than enough choice for the designers of the new Rainforest Alliance seal, although a red frog might be the obvious choice as a

Malawi: Freedom of information and public contracting

Malawi’s new Access to Information Act signifies a new dawn particularly on the road to enabling increased disclosure in public contracts. Assented in February 2017 by President Peter Mutharika, many Malawians welcomed the move and this signalled a shift in opening up public access to government information. This means, citizens can now access information from

Impunity around girls and women must end!

First Sustainable Food Systems conference held in Pretoria

From 21 to 23 June, over 150 representatives from governments, private sector and civil society gathered in Pretoria, South Africa, for the first global conference of the 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Food Systems (SFS). Hivos, together with the other co-leads of the programme (WWF, and the governments of Switzerland and South Africa),

Hivos condemns arrests of human rights defenders in Istanbul

On 6 July in the middle of the night, we received the news that all the participants of a digital security training organised by Hivos in Turkey had been arrested and placed in incommunicado detention. The arrestees include a trainer from Germany, a trainer from Sweden, the director of Amnesty International in Turkey, and individual

Young Women optimistic about their future leadership pursuits

istic about their future leadership pursuits July 6, 2017 Demotivated and pessimistic groups of young women from Bulawayo and the greater Matabeleland region never anticipated having platforms where they could have open discussions with established leaders. Instead they were used to hearing words which made them feel like second-rate citizens. However, the Women’s Institute for

Women's Mentorship Program roars to life

orship Program roars to life July 6, 2017 Emerging female leaders have been encouraged to work in one accord so as to reach their desired goals despite their diverse backgrounds and to take advantage of the recently launched mentorship programme in becoming successful leaders. This was highlighted during a two day Mentorship Program conducted

Workplace diversity and inclusion in the 21st Century

What is workplace diversity? This is the question we sought to answer on 5 July 2017 when we congregated in Nairobi with various stakeholders across sectors during the launch of the colorful workplaces programme. I must say I was quite nervous when we were putting this event together. I wondered how it would be received

Human rights defenders arrested in Turkey are innocent. Take action!

On the evening of 5 July, we received the news that all the participants of a digital security training organised by Hivos in Turkey had been arrested and placed in incommunicado detention. This is the first time such a thing has happened to Hivos. The detainees include a trainer from Germany, a trainer from Sweden,

Open contracting at the Africa Open Data Conference

The second Africa Open Data Conference is being held in Accra, Ghana from 17 to 21 July 2017 at the Accra International Conference Centre. This year, various African countries will be represented through government leaders, industry executives, civil society, telecommunications organisations, researchers, data journalists, students, innovators, entrepreneurs, donors, investors, farmers, health care workers and others. The core

Hivos East Africa condemns extrajudicial killing of Ugandan human rights activist

Hivos East Africa has received reports about the extra judicial killing of Mr. Erasmus Irumba, Coordinator of the Twerwaneho Listeners Club (TLC). TLC is an NGO based in the Rwenzori region of western Uganda. It promotes human rights advocacy through weekly radio programmes on human rights education and social accountability. Erasmus’ day to day work at

Biogas has transformed my household

Wilberforce Namanya is a farmer in Bushenyi District in Western Uganda.  Wilberforce and his family live on a hilly unfertile rocky land. Farming on this piece of land has been difficult for a long time.  The Namanyas had always dreamt of becoming commercial farmers but this was thwarted by the nature of the land on

‘Bio-slurry is the life line of my farm’

James Namara is a retired public servant living in Ntungamo district. James constructed his biogas plant in 2010.  Since that time, he has been using bio-slurry to fertilize his farm.  He developed a lot of interest in the bio-slurry use and production that he has now become a model farmer in his district. He emphasizes

Detention of the ‘Istanbul Ten’ extended by seven days

The detention on remand of two trainers from Sweden and Germany hired by Hivos and eight human rights defenders, including Amnesty International’s director in Turkey, has been extended by seven days. The Istanbul Ten’, as they are now referred to in the media, are being held in a police prison in Istanbul, in five-person cells.

No más persecución contra activistas en Honduras

El 11 de julio nos notificaron que David Valle, defensor de derechos humanos y miembro de la Asociación Somos CDC, sufrió un intento de asesinato en su casa en Tegucigalpa la noche del 10 de julio. Somos CDC es una organización socia de Hivos a través de varios programas y aliada en las luchas de

Kenya’s transgender human rights defender

The Transgender Education and Advocacy (TEA) organisation recently obtained official registration by the NGO Coordination board in Kenya, a step towards ensuring they operate legally without fear of intimidation.This journey started when a landmark ruling in 2014 by the High Court of Kenya ordered the NGO Coordination Board to register the group. Hivos East Africa’s Communications

More Needs to Done for Zimbabwe to tap Climate Financing

Though the reality of climate change is widely acknowledged in Zimbabwe, the country which is currently facing socio economic challenges has limited resources to implement measures to tackle the challenge. To complicate matters, there is little to no knowledge of climate finance mechanisms that are available globally. Where knowledge of the finance mechanism exists, there

Turkish prosecution of arrested human rights defenders and trainers is outrageous

Hivos strongly condemns the charge Early this morning, eight human rights defenders, including the director of Amnesty International Turkey, and two trainers arrested on 5 July in Istanbul during a Hivos-funded online security and information management training, were officially charged with assisting a terrorist organisation by the Turkish authorities. The charge states, without grounds, that

Reflections from the recently held Human Rights Funders Network Conference in New York

Last week, I spent time in spaces that I really liked. Mainly because we were discussing issues that are very dear to me but also getting to interact with some of the most inspiring people within the human rights movement globally. Human rights under siege in most countries What I liked most about the meetings

Taking Green and Inclusive Energy to the Citizens

Hivos Southern Africa in partnership Action 24 and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate held a community awareness tour on green and inclusive energy. The theme of the roadshows titled: “Green and Inclusive Energy Advocacy Public Outreach & Awareness” was aimed at increasing community awareness and uptake of renewable energy technologies at the community

Women Leaders Commit to Mentoring New Crop of Leaders

The Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) organized a two day leadership retreat in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe as part of Hivos’ Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L) programme. The meeting brought together female leaders in fulfillment of earlier commitments to contribute to a mentoring programme for aspiring women leaders in business and politics.  At the retreat, women leaders

Hivos and Welthungerhilfe Launch Cooperation in Food and Lifestyle Fund

Hivos CEO, Edwin Huizing, and Welthungerhilfe Secretary General, Dr. Till Wahnbaeck, launched the two organisations’ cooperation in funding the newly-established Hivos Food and Lifestyle Fund in Harare, Zimbabwe. The Hivos Food and Lifestyle Fund is a lean investment fund, leveraging the networks and reputation of Hivos and Welthungerhilfe to create a superior investment pipeline. The

Food Entrepreneurs in Southern Africa Undergo Ideation Boot Camp

Hivos, WeltHungerhilfe and Hivos Impact Investments partnered to train and invest in 14 food entrepreneurs from four Southern African countries: Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The aim of the #Disrupt!Food business incubation and competitive ideation boot camp held in Harare, Zimbabwe was to support and strengthen the value propositions of entrepreneurs who have an

Women Leaders Commit to Mentoring New Crop of Leaders

mit to Mentoring New Crop of Leaders July 21, 2017 The Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) organized a two day leadership retreat in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe as part of Hivos’ Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L) programme. The meeting brought together female leaders in fulfillment of earlier commitments to contribute to a mentoring programme for

Food and Lifestyle Entrepreneurs in Southern Africa Pitch Ideas for Scaling Up

Thirteen food and lifestyle entrepreneurs from Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe pitched their business ideas in front of a four-panel jury, potential investors, NGOs and members of the public at Hivos Southern Africa HQ on June 16, 2017. The jury used the following criteria to judge the pitches: strength of the business case, potential

Every Girl Deserves A Chance

At age 15, Tanaka (not her real name) was forced into sex work in order to fend for herself. Now aged 17, Tanaka has been through what can be simply described as hell, something a child like her ought never to experience. She fell pregnant hardly a year after she started engaging in sex work,

With More Support, Chipendeke Micro Hydro Project Set to Grow

The sound of water rushing in small waterfalls over the jagged rocks is soul soothing, if you care to it listen closely enough. The damwall like structure known as the intake weir constructed to harness water required to power the Chipendeke micro-hydro scheme gives the water a sudden force to rush over the rocks as

An Upward Climb: Five Years Chasing the Sun

Five years ago to the day, I started working for the Open Government Partnership (OGP) as “independent civil society coordinator.” It has been an incredible privilege to help shape OGP into a platform that really brings civil society to the heart of government. Through my work, I’ve had a front row seat to see civil

What’s in your cup?

Did you know that the coffee in your cup has travelled a long way? As you smell the aroma and take a sip do you have thoughts of the diminishing food security? Upon my recent visit to Uganda, these thoughts were at play during my six hour trip from Kampala to Bushenyi District in Western Uganda.

Six ways for citizens to assert power beyond the ballot box

Elections are key milestones for democratic engagement, and referendums such as the UK’s Brexit poll are innovative ways for citizens to be more directly involved in the decision-making process. But voting provides only a limited taste of the variety of ways citizen can participate in government. The real antidote to citizens’ feeling of disenfranchisement lies

Energy’s Vital Role As An Enabler of Healthcare Delivery in Malawi

Universal health and universal access to energy are both global and Malawi development goals. However, not enough attention is given to their interdependence and their strong relationship. There are grave consequences of energy poverty on health indicators. Hivos Southern Africa’s partner under the Green and Inclusive Eenergy programme, Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN), trained community groups at

Eye on Malawi extractives

At the end of April, Moore Stephens submitted the final version of Malawi’s first Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative report to the Multi-Stakeholder Group. Over the last two months I have shared the top ten insights I gleaned from the report and 10 questions I have after reading the report. In the final column in this series, I explore ten

Advancing opportunities for Women to transform their economies with Open Contracting

The High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development Goals was held from 10-19 July 2017 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.  43 countries submitted voluntary national reviews and over 2458 stakeholders reportedly attended. As a stakeholder to the event, Hivos East Africa co-hosted one of 147 side events together with the African Women’s

Renew’N’Able Malawi Conducts Training-of-Trainers for Non-Energy CSOs

More than 90 per cent of the population in Malawi depends on biomass source of energy, only 10 per cent has access to the national grid power system covered by Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM). This negatively influences several development sectors including health, education and economy, and hugely affects the environment. Renew’N’Able Malawi (RENAMA), a Malawian non-governmental organization, is implementing

Green Inclusive Energy Excites District Health Office in Malawi

The Chitipa District Health Office (DHO) in Malawi is excited with the Green Inclusive Energy (GIE) project which Community Energy Malawi (CEM) is implementing in the district. The DHO lamented at the lack of technical backstopping on solar PV and other renewable energy systems installed at health centres in the district.  “We have several partners

Absence of Energy Cripples Health Service Delivery

Community Energy Malawi (CEM) is currently working in a rural and remote area to promote uptake of green and inclusive energy with support from Hivos Southern Africa. The project area is Balaka District, located in the south of Malawi. The district covers an area of 2,193 square kilometre representing 2.4 percent of the total land area

Food diaries: Food choices and dietary patterns among households in Western Uganda

Kabarole District situated in South Western Uganda is endowed with a rich climate and fertile soils. The district contributes large amounts of food not only for the Rwenzori region – where Kabarole is situated – but other regions and neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, Tanzania, Congo and Sudan. The irony, however, food and nutrition insecurity,

Green Inclusive Energy Excites District Health Office in Malawi

Guest blog post by Chawezi Gondwe, CEM The Chitipa District Health Office (DHO) in Malawi is excited with the Green Inclusive Energy (GIE) project which Community Energy Malawi (CEM) is implementing in the district. The DHO lamented at the lack of technical backstopping on solar PV and other renewable energy systems installed at health centres in

Activating Citizen Engagement on Green & Inclusive Energy Through Roadshows in Malawi

Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO) conducted nine roadshows in Zomba and Machinga districts in Malawi as part of a mass awareness campaign to promote the use of clean and sustainable energy. With support from Hivos Southern Africa, YONECO is implementing a project called: “Stimulating Citizen and Public Engagement in Green and Inclusive Energy for Sustainable Development.”

Activating Citizen Engagement through Roadshows in Malawi

Blog post by Jonas Kachikho, YONECO Youth Net and Counselling (YONECO) conducted nine roadshows in Zomba and Machinga districts in Malawi as part of a mass awareness campaign to promote the use of clean and sustainable energy. With support from Hivos Southern Africa, YONECO is implementing a project called: “Stimulating Citizen and Public Engagement in Green and

Our New Hivos Residency Program @ Impact Hub Jakarta

Hivos response to sexual harassment allegations within Ushahidi

In response to the recent allegations regarding sexual harassment at Ushahidi, Hivos adds its voice to all parties involved to take a firm stand in this matter and show zero tolerance for all forms of sexual harassment in the workplace. Hivos believes in work environments that are safe, where staff feel valued and contribute without

2016 Hivos Global Annual Report

We are proud to present our 2016 global Annual Report (pdf). It describes what we achieved with our partners in 2016 through programmes and projects that aim to make our societies greener and more open. Citizen agency, government responsiveness, energy and health access For example, one of our largest programmes, Making All Voices Count, has

Hivos Southern Africa Green Inclusive Energy Partners in Malawi Review Progress

Lilongwe, Malawi – Hivos Southern Africa and its partners in Malawi under the Green and Inclusive Energy (GIE) programme conducted a progress review of the programme since its launch in September 2016. Partners in GIE Malawi include Community Energy Malawi (CEM), National Association of Business Women (NABW), Malawi Health Equity Network (MEHEN), Renew ‘N’ Able

Malawi Review Progress

Lilongwe, Malawi – Hivos Southern Africa and its partners in Malawi under the Green and Inclusive Energy (GIE) programme conducted a progress review of the programme since its launch in September 2016. Partners in GIE Malawi include Community Energy Malawi (CEM), National Association of Business Women (NABW), Malawi Health Equity Network (MEHEN), Renew ‘N’ Able

We mourn Bassel’s death and honour his courage

Syrian Hivos partner executed three years after his detention Last week, Bassel’s wife and closest family members announced his death was officially confirmed by the Assad regime. For me and his other friends this was extremely sad to hear, although after two years without any news about or from him, the chances he was still

Africa: Growing Regional Open Contracting Community and Engagement

From 17-21 July 2017, open data experts from Africa convened in Accra, Ghana for the second Africa Open Data Conference (AODC). Drawing participants from governments, techies, small businesses, journalists, civic technologists, entrepreneurs, researchers, students, IT solution providers, NGOs, development partners and others; discussions focused on advances in open data, lessons and engage in dialogue for

Hivos invites you to the upcoming CivicTechFest in Taipei on 11 September 2017!

CivicTechFest Hivos invites you to the upcoming CivicTechFest in Taipei on 11 September 2017! August 14, 2017 We’re proud to announce that Hivos is one of promoting partners for the #CivicTechFest, Asia’s first Impacts of Civic Technology Conference (TICTeC@Taipei) alongside WCIT 2017. Join us for from September 11th in Taipei, for the week-long festival around Civic Tech, Open

CoFFEE is Cool

The bitter truth about the East African Coffee sector Today, most African youth seems uninterested in working in the coffee sector as they see it as an “old man’s” hobby. However, the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) states that it is women who form the majority of the world’s estimated total of 25 million coffee farmers.

Spotlighting Women’s Energy Needs in Malawi

The National Association of Business Women (NABW) held a meeting to introduce the Green and Inclusive Energy project to the Mchinji District Executive Council in Malawi . Forty-two stakeholders from government departments and non-governmental organisations participated in the meeting. NABW is one of Hivos Southern Africa’s partners under the Green and Inclusive Energy programme in

Stop intimidating civil society organisations in Kenya

Hivos condemns the unwarranted attempts by the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Co-ordination Board at intimidating civil society organisations in Kenya. Their attempts to de-register the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AFRICOG) are unlawful and must be understood as part of an ongoing broader agenda to delegitimise civil society, clamp

Supplier and service provider pre-qualification categories FY 2017/18

Hivos is an international development organisation guided by humanist values. Together with local civil society organizations in developing countries, Hivos wants to contribute to a free, fair and sustainable world in which all citizens have equal access to opportunities and resources and can participate actively and equally in decision-making processes that determine their lives, their

Africa: Growing Regional Open Contracting Community and Engagement

Africa: Growing Regional Open Contracting Community and Engagement August 17, 2017 Hivos East Africa together with Afroleadership, Article 19 East Africa, Connected Development, Development Gateway, Open Knowledge Network (School of Data) and The Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) organized two key sessions: A Follow the Money full day track and a  side event during the main session dubbed, ‘Advancing Open Contracting in

Kenyan women moving into leadership after the 2017 elections

Kenyan women moving into leadership after the 2017 elections

ng into leadership after the 2017 elections August 20, 2017 Now that the 2017 elections are behind us (or so we assume), it is important to reflect on some of the issues emerging from the polls that are dear to us. One of those being women in leadership. Last year when the debate

Exploring energy issues for women entrepreneurs in Guatemala

Guest blog by Danielle Huffaker A small team of Hivos team members and representatives from our host partner in Guatemala, Alterna Impact, went on a learning adventure on July 28 to meet with Guatemalan women entrepreneurs and learn about their needs and experiences around renewable energy. In our team were Raquel Chacón and Kattia Quirós from

A better world begins with women

My father is from Nigeria. In 1967, a terrible civil war broke out in his region. Biafra wanted to proclaim it independence, to which the Nigerian state reacted with bloody slaughter and systematic starvation. Millions of Biafrans died, and images of malnourished children shocked the world. My father fled to Zambia where he was received with

Nutritional gardens to improve diets at and beyond schools

A recent report by the National Planning Authority in Uganda has revealed that the country is still among those where levels of hunger remain high (NPA, 2017). According to this report, the daily diet of Ugandans only comprises 1,860 calories instead of 2,200, which indicates the country may not attain Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Two.

The sustainable power of women

Why Open Contracting

“Every year, governments spend huge sums of money through contracts, on everything from pencils and paper to building major infrastructure projects such as airports. Open contracting is the bricks and mortar of public benefit, where taxpayers’ money gets converted into schools, roads and hospitals, into things that ordinary people really care about.”

Open Contracting Global Principles

“The Open Contracting Global Principles gather norms and best practices for disclosure and participation in public procurement. They serve as a guide to advance open contracting around the world.”

7 simple steps to open contracting

“There are many ways to get started with open contracting. From committing to more disclosure, to publishing, using, and analyzing government contracts, to monitoring implementation of the approach.”

Policy recommendations: Towards more transparent & efficient contracting

” Addressing this gap is what the EU-funded, large-scale project DIGIWHIST does. This policy paper presents key data challenges in public procurement and proposes recommendations to improve the state of data and data use for better outcomes.”

An Implementer‘s Guide for Open Public Procurement Data

“A well-functioning central public procurement platform should contribute to achieving value for money in public procurement as well as increase integrity throughout the public sector.”

What is open data?

“Open data impacts everybody. Through it we can improve how we access healthcare services, discover cures for diseases more efficiently, understand our governments better and, of course, travel to places more easily.”

The Open Data Handbook

“This handbook discusses the legal, social and technical aspects of open data. It can be used by anyone but is especially designed for those seeking to open up data. It discusses the why, what and how of open data – why to go open, what open is, and the how to ‘open’ data.”

The Responsible Data Handbook

“This book is offered as a first attempt to understand what responsible data means in the context of international development programming.

Who benefits from civic technology?

” It shows the variations in usage of civic tech across four core countries (US, UK, Kenya and South Africa), and records the attitudes of users towards the platforms they are using. The report identifies a number of areas for further research based on the data collected, and concludes with a discussion on the implications of the findings that should provide much food for thought to civic technologists, governments and philanthropic organisations.”

The Open Data Study

“This research, commissioned by a consortium of funders and NGOs (including the Information Program) under the umbrella of the Transparency and Accountability Initiative, seeks to explore the feasibility of applying this approach to open data in relevant middle income and developing countries. Its aim is to identify the strategies used in the U.S. and U.K. contexts with a view to building a set of criteria to guide the selection of pilot countries, which in turn suggests a template strategy to open government data.”

Open Data Impacts

A collection of case studies on how open data is impacting the world–improving government, empowering citizens, creating opportunity and solving public problems.

Investigative Journalism Manuals

“The below guides focus on investigative journalism and provide case studies and examples from around the world. Most are available for free, unless indicated otherwise.”

The Data Journalism Handbook

“The Data Journalism Handbook is produced by the European Journalism Centre and Google News Lab, with support from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.”

Follow the Money: A Guide to Tracking Corruption – English

“Knight Fellow Paul Radu created a digital handbook designed to help investigative journalists track corruption across borders. The handbook provides an array of tools for investigative journalists that will help them give the public a better understanding of regional and global criminal networks. The manual includes techniques in cross-border investigative journalism and lists of websites and databases with information about commercial enterprises worldwide.”

Resources for Investigative Journalists

“The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is at the forefront of the news revolution. Our programs empower journalists and engage citizens with new technologies and best practices. ICFJ’s networks of reporters and media entrepreneurs are transforming the field. We believe that better journalism leads to better lives.”

OCCRP Investigative Dashboard

“The Investigative Dashboard is operated by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a not-for-profit network of award-winning investigative reporting teams. We help journalists anywhere to trace people, companies and assets across the globe.”

Open Up Guide: Using Open Data to Combat Corruption

“The Open Up Guide provides practical help for governments wanting to use open data to combat corruption. The guide has been developed by Transparency International-Mexico, Open Contracting Partnership and the Open Data Charter, with support from OD4D, building on input from government officials, open data experts, civil society and journalists.”

Key OECD anti-corruption documents

A collection of resources and tools on anti-corruption from the OECD.

Fighting corruption in the public sector

OECD Resources for fighting corruption in the public sector. “‌‌Corruption in the public sector hampers the efficiency of public services, undermines confidence in public institutions and increases the cost of public transactions. Integrity is essential for building strong institutions resistant to corruption.”

8 practical recommendations against corruption

“Transparency International – Greece (TI-G) has put forward eight practical recommendations against corruption”

Protection Manual for Human Rights Defenders

“The purpose of this new manual is to provide human rights defenders with additional knowledge and some tools that may be useful for improving their understanding of security and protection. It is hoped that the manual will support training on security and protection and will help defenders to undertake their own risk assessments and define security rules and procedures which suit their particular situation.”

The Holistic Security Manual

“This manual is the first to adopt an explicitly ‘holistic’ approach to security and protection strategies for human rights defenders. This means that rather than looking separately at the importance of our digital security, psycho-social well-being and organisational security processes, it attempts to integrate them and highlight their interrelatedness.”

Front Line Defenders Resources for HRDs

Front Line Defenders’ Resources for Human Rights Defenders – Handbooks, Training Manuals & Workbooks

Guide to international Freedom of Information laws

Guide to International Freedom of Information laws by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Legal Leaks Guide for journalists on how to access government information

“This toolkit is designed for journalists working in any media – newspapers, radio, and television – as well as bloggers and other information professionals who need to get access to information held by public bodies for their stories. The toolkit is for journalists making requests in their own country or considering filing a request in another country.”

JSON basics

“JSON is a simple, text-based way to store and transmit structured data. By using a simple syntax, you can easily store anything from a single number through to strings, arrays, and objects using nothing but a string of plain text. You can also nest arrays and objects, allowing you to create complex data structures.”

API basics

“An API – application programming interface – at its most basic level, allows your product or service to talk to other products or services. In this way, an API allows you to open up data and functionality to other developers and to other businesses. It is increasingly the way in which agencies and companies exchange data and services, both internally and externally.”

Open Contracting Journey in 7 Steps

“Open contracting is a journey. These seven steps have helped innovators around the world to transform their contracting processes and create impact. Change is never easy. Feedback, learning, and iteration are important parts of this process.”

Map: How Open Contracting is taking hold

“Explore where open contracting is taking hold. Who is publishing open contracting data. Who has committed to implementing data. And how is open data being used.”

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) Technical Assessment Template

“This template is designed to help you identify the available sources and quality of data and information for Open Contracting disclosure, and to map out technical options for data publication.”

OCDS Mapping Template Guidance

“In this guidance we’ll walk through a worked example of mapping the fields from a single table in a fictional e-GP system to OCDS using the mapping template.”

OCDS Show Tool

“OCDS Show helps publishers validate the information by checking that it appears as it should. For developers, it is a reusable component to speed up development of procurement exploration tools and for anyone digging into a JSON file in the OCDS format, it provides fast, visual insight.”

OCDS Validator

“This tool helps you to: Check that your OCDS data complies with the schema; Inspect key contents of your data to check data quality; Access your data in different formats (spreadsheet and JSON) to support further data validation.”

OCDS: Documentation

“The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) enables disclosure of data and documents at all stages of the contracting process by defining a common data model. It was created to support organizations to increase contracting transparency, and allow deeper analysis of contracting data by a wide range of users.”

OCDS Support and governance

“The Open Contracting Data Standard help-desk is available to support you in implementing or using OCDS, and to assist in the ongoing development of the standard.”

OCDS Getting Started

“OCDS was designed with a focus on public procurement of goods, works and services, but can be extended for use in other contexts. Extensions for Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Extractives concessions are under development. Read more about getting started…”

OCDS Schema Reference

“In this section you will find the full JSON schema along with the release package and record package schemas which act as envelopes when publishing using OCDS.”

OCDS Implementation Guidance

Comprehensive OCDS implementation guidance

How Budeshi can help Nigeria track public services and tackle corruption using open data

“A few months ago, my team at the Public Private Development Centre launched a project called Budeshi which means “open it” in Hausa language.” Written by Seember Nyager, Executive Director PPDC , 29 Feb 2016

Open it to fix it: How Nigerians are shedding light on public deals with data

“Decades of profits from a thriving oil industry have made Nigeria one of Africa’s biggest economies, and yet ordinary citizens have largely failed to benefit. There remains a stark disconnect between the public services Nigerians are promised and those they get, despite the huge increases in government spending that they have seen in their lifetime.” Story written by Sophie Brown.

Learning Insights: Measuring results from open contracting in Ukraine

“What Ukraine is doing with Prozorro and its open contracting procurement reforms is groundbreaking and hard. Measuring and tracking the impacts from those reforms is also difficult.” Written by Kathrin Frauscher, Karolis Granickas and Leigh Manasco , 19 Apr 2017

Did the London Summit Make a Difference to Open Contracting?

Gavin Hayman, Executive Director of the Open Contracting Partnership, provides today’s guest post. “One year later, how well have these countries have followed through on their commitments, and how much of a difference open contracting has made in combating corruption in public procurement?”

Syria – Justice for the thousands of victims of enforced disappearances

Hivos and the undersigned civil society organisations commemorate the victims of enforced disappearances in Syria and support their families, urging the international community to support their demand to ensure justice, truth and reparation and the immediate release of all those enforcedly held in secret detention. As the world marks today the International Day of Victims of

Towards living wages in African horticulture value chains

On August 24 2017, the Hivos Women @ Work Campaign in Southern Africa convened its stakeholders from the horticulture sector in Malawi for the first time to discuss the issue of living wages. Low wages are a persistent problem in many global supply chains, so this is a key issue for the Women @ Work

How open contracting can empower women to transform their economies

How open contracting can empower women to transform their economies August 31, 2017 More than 2,000 people gathered in New York recently to tackle the ambitious challenges set by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for everyone. Among other things, achieving the goals depends on closing the

Towards living wages in African horticulture value chains

On August 24 2017, the Hivos Women@Work Campaign in Southern Africa convened its stakeholders from the horticulture sector in Malawi for the first time to discuss the issue of living wages. Low wages are a persistent problem in many global supply chains, so this is a key issue for the Women@Work Campaign, which aims to improve working conditions for women.

GENDER LINKS LAUNCHES 9TH EDITION REGIONAL BAROMETER

Gender Links, Hivos’ partner under the Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L), launched the 9th edition of the SADC Gender Protocol Barometer as part of the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance. The colorful launch at the Sheraton Hotel was a side event of the 37th SADC Summit hosted by South Africa in its capital Pretoria. Representatives from

Gender links launches 9th edition regional barometer

ches 9th edition regional barometer September 1, 2017 Gender Links, Hivos’ partner under the Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L), launched the 9th edition of the SADC Gender Protocol Barometer as part of the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance. The colorful launch at the Sheraton Hotel was a side event of the 37th SADC Summit

Voice: insights from one year of grant-making

There are a few critical moments in the lifespan of a grant-making programme: Those moments in which you need to press pause, contemplate the journey so far, and look back at your achievements and challenges. After one year of grant-making, filled with work on designing and refining four different types of calls for proposals, reviewing

Women push for protection of heritage sites to stop illicit financial flows

otection of heritage sites to stop illicit financial flows September 6, 2017 Pretty Moyo is one of the women who are advocating for the protection of heritage sites in Ward 9. She and seven other women from across Umzingwane District have received district administrator’s buy-in to the protection of heritage sites to

A baseline study of women in Lebanese politics

Today, women in Lebanon are fighting for equal access to opportunities and rights without prejudice against their gender, their expectations and their careers. This fight requires attention for and analysis of the deep-rooted patriarchal structures that by their very nature exclude women. When Lebanese women decide to become politically active, they are faced with many

Addressing corruption within growing populism in Kenya

The recent historic ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court judge: Justice David Maraga on the hotly contested elections spurred the country on a new level of ‘a redeemed democracy’. A definition of democracy that I have questioned now that the country is on the ‘global limelight’. Unknown to many, beyond irregularities that marred elections was also

Hivos Southern Africa Activates Citizens on Green and Inclusive Energy

For most of the people who trooped over to the Hivos Southern Africa exhibition stand at the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show 2017, the opportunity to charge their cell phones at the mobile solar stations proved to be quite novel. Solar Mobile Charging Systems Excites Citizens The ZAS is Zimbabwe’s premier agricultural trade exhibition that attracts approximately

Out of work and into school

‘Gold from children’s hands.’ Sounds nice, even poetic, but what kind of reaction does this statement elicit when you connect it with child labour? It is estimated that up to two million Ugandan children have been forced into child labour, mostly through conflicts often leading to internal displacement. On the 2017 World Day against Child

Emerging Trends for Creative Hubs in Southern Africa

Hivos Southern Africa conducted a baseline study to look at the state of creative spaces in Southern Africa (namely Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe). The main aim of the study was to enable Hivos to understand more about the operations and challenges of creative hub spaces in Southern Africa. In addition, the study aimed to investigate the

Food choices and diversity: From the farm to the plate

Healthy eating habits and practices have been replaced by unhealthy and consumption of less diverse and less nutritious foods.  The compromised eating trends are incidentally an occurence among both low and high income populations. Among the latter it is attribued to among other reasons climate change which has affected agricultural productivity amidst competing households economic

#DisruptFOOD! Inspires Entrepreneurs in Southern Africa

Hivos Southern Africa hosted a three day event on 14-16 June, 2017 to launch the collaboration between Hivos, Hivos Impact Investments and Welthungerhilfe in the Hivos Food and Lifestyle Fund. The three day event was divided into three parts that included a press conference, an ideation bootcamp and the official launch itself. Firstly, a press

Energy that meets the needs of everyone

Even with the expansion of national grid systems and tapping into renewable energy, it’s been argued that Africa’s energy systems are not meeting the needs of the poor. In Ethiopia, the argument is not too far-fetched, against a population of 104 million people, how do you meet the energy needs of everyone especially for those

Journalists in Malawi, Zimbabwe Trained on Climate Change and Renewable Energy Reporting

Hivos Southern Africa partnered with ClimateTracker.org to train journalists in Malawi and Zimbabwe to effectively report on climate change and renewable energy. Climate Tracker is a global organisation focussed on supporting young journalists around the world to write game-changing articles on Climate Change and Energy. In the last two years, Climate Tracker has facilitated trainings

Renew’N’Able Malawi & Yoneco Conduct a Joint Radio Programmme for GIE

In the spirit of partnership, as Renew’N’Able Malawi’s (RENAMA) Advocacy and Communications Officer for Green and Inclusive Energy (GIE) project, (which is being implemented with support from HIVOS International), had a joint radio program with Youth and Net Counselling’s radio presenter, Jonas Kachikho, on YONECO FM. The two organizations, together with three others, Community Energy

Young People As Drivers of Sustainable Foods in Zambia

From time immemorial, Zambia’s agriculture system has concentrated on promoting the same type of crop year in, year out. The dominance of maize appears to be a direct result of the country’s policy focus. Since independence, Zambia has promoted maize production by consistently supporting farmers through the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). There has been

Outcome Harvesting Introduction

Outcome Harvesting Introduction September 21, 2017

Outcome Harvesting Presentation

Outcome Harvesting Presentation September 21, 2017

Guidance for Outcome Harvesting – Open Contracting

Guidance for Outcome Harvesting – Open Contracting September 21, 2017

Self-Assessment Template – Open Contracting

Self-Assessment Template – Open Contracting September 21, 2017

Methodology for Open Contracting Scoping Studies

Methodology for Open Contracting Scoping Studies September 21, 2017

Civic Engagement for Open Contracting – first lessons learned

Civic Engagement for Open Contracting – first lessons learned September 21, 2017 A reflection on the programmatic approach and the role of infomediaries to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability in public contracting and other public money flows. By Daniel Dietrich The Open Contracting programme of Hivos and ARTICLE 19 is a five-year programme (2016-2020) within

Freedom of expression under siege in Uganda

Hivos East Africa condemns the recent police raids on Action Aid Uganda, Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies (GLISS) and Solidarity Uganda. Ahead of the age limit debate in parliament, a series of raids, arrests, threats and intimidation of citizens and civil society organisations have continued to escalate the shrinking civic space in Uganda.  The

Today we speak as one

On September 22, websites of international NGOs and regional and local organizations all over the world turned their home pages blank. So did Hivos. We were protesting against the oppression of active citizens and organizations who want their voices to be heard, who want to gather or demonstrate peacefully. We went silent in solidarity with those

Biogas: an alternative ‘powering’ lives

Globally, it’s estimated around 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity; Africa’s population alone accounts for almost half of that figure. Sadly, the use of traditional biomass as fuel for cooking and a reliance on expensive diesel-powered, polluting generators have been the norm in Africa. While it’s been argued that access to energy propels socio-economic

Model sexual harassment policy

This is a model sexual harassment policy that companies can use as the basis to draft their own sexual harassment policy. The policy was made by partners of the Women@Work Campaign.

Hivos Guidelines: Theory of Change Thinking in Practice

Hivos Guidelines: Theory of Change Thinking in Practice September 28, 2017

Open Contracting in Tanzania – At a glance

Open Contracting in Tanzania – At a glance September 28, 2017

Open contracting lessons from 15 countries: A synthesis report

Open contracting lessons from 15 countries: A synthesis report September 28, 2017

Open Contracting in Malawi – At a glance

Open Contracting in Malawi – At a glance September 28, 2017

Open Contracting in the Philippines – At a glance

Open Contracting in the Philippines – At a glance September 28, 2017

Open Contracting in Kenya – At a glance

Open Contracting in Kenya – At a glance September 28, 2017

Open Contracting in Indonesia – At a glance

Open Contracting in Indonesia – At a glance September 28, 2017

Open Contracting in Guatemala – At a glance

Open Contracting in Guatemala – At a glance September 28, 2017

Hivos Open Contracting programme presentation slides

Hivos Open Contracting programme presentation slides September 28, 2017

Blog: How to make sure open contracting data gets used

Blog: How to make sure open contracting data gets used September 28, 2017

What companies in Kenya can do to tackle LGBTI discrimination

From social good to inclusivity Increasingly companies are realizing that they exist beyond making profits and have a key role to play in improving the lives of the people they serve or interact with-whether it’s their customers, employees or the society at large. We have seen companies such as Safaricom, the telecom giant taking strong

Hivos hosts Female Independent Candidates

Hivos hosted a Female Independent Candidate Dialogue organised by Women Politician’s Incubator Zimbabwe (WOPIZ) and Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU). The dialogue held on Wednesday 27 September 2017 aimed to give female independent candidates a platform to meet fellow candidates, the media and potential partners and discuss ways to increase their visibility and voter mobilisation.

Hivos hosts Female Independent Candidates

Hivos hosts Female Independent Candidates September 30, 2017 Hivos hosted a Female Independent Candidate Dialogue organised by Women Politician’s Incubator Zimbabwe (WOPIZ) and Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU). The dialogue held on Wednesday 27 September 2017 aimed to give female independent candidates a platform to meet fellow candidates, the media and potential partners and discuss

Personal Story: Never working anywhere else again!

It’s 6:00 am and it’s still a bit dark. In the distance, the peak of Mount Kenya can be seen just above the morning mist. You can hear the sounds of a family in a small wooden house. The Gichuki family is starting their daily morning ritual.

Wonder Woman of Waingapu: Born to be a Leader

As the only female staff working at RESCO, a renewable energy service company established under the Sumba Iconic Island platform, Jetty Arlinda Maro, 26, has to work twice as hard as her male colleagues to prove her capacity. Unlike those men, she is not only responsible for electrical installations, she is also the facilitator and

Buumba Malambo: the ups and downs of an African female leader

Buumba Malambo: the ups and downs of an African female leader October 7, 2017 Twenty-four-year-old Buumba Malambo (above to the right) is one of the youngest Ward Councillors in Zambia. She is a subnational Ward Councillor of Magoba Ward of Kafue District in Lusaka province located 44 km from Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Kafue

A SNAPSHOT: “What is happening with women’s Participation and Public Administration”

Hivos under the Women Empowered for Leadership program held a linking and learning event on the 6th and 7th of October 2017 at the Meikles Hotel in Harare. The Linking and Learning event brought together partners from the implementing countries; Jordan, Lebanon, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe under the theme “Women in Leadership: Working with political parties to

Wonder Woman of Waingapu: Born to be a Leader

Blog post by Amy Lumbal Gaol, communications officer Hivos South East Asia As the only female staff working at RESCO, a renewable energy service company established under the Sumba Iconic Island platform, Jetty Arlinda Maro, 26, has to work twice as hard as her male colleagues to prove her capacity. Unlike those men, she is

World Food Day

Uganda’s food production has been on a steady decline owing to climate change coupled with a growing population. The shifting scale of food production has brought with it extremities such as malnutrition and hunger in sub-regions such as Karamoja, Teso and Lango. As we commemorate World Food Day (WFD), the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) states

Change the Future of Migration – Invest in Food Security and Rural Development

Migration is fast emerging as a key topic and a nuanced understanding considers it as a livelihood diversification strategy for individual aspirations thus viewed as part of wider development. On the other hand and imperatively, its occurrence for others is often due to limitation of choices resulting from adverse political, environmental and economic situations, and

New Hivos and IIED film calls for life beyond maize in Zambia

A new six-minute film describes the cultural influences and policy challenges facing Zambia as the country strives to promote dietary diversity despite being heavily reliant on maize as its primary source of food. Although government policies aimed at improving access to sufficient and nutritious foods are in place nationally, inequality means many Zambians, and women

Blog: Citizen monitoring matters to open data on procurement: A perspective from Nepal

Blog: Citizen monitoring matters to open data on procurement: A perspective from Nepal October 16, 2017 Written by Sarala Maharjan I have been involved in community-based monitoring for three years, so I was excited to start practicing our monitoring approach this year to open up procurement data about community development projects, such as roads, bridges, drinking

100 Days of Learning – final edition of Age of Wonderland

100 DAYS OF LEARNING is the 2017 programme – and final edition – of knowledge platform Age of Wonderland, a global learning programme initiated by Hivos and Baltan Laboratories in 2014. This year, innovators, scientists, engineers, artists, designers, social entrepreneurs and thinkers from around the world were invited to share stories and ideas gained from

Hivos member of Global Fund CRG Strategic Initiative

In its efforts to support the involvement of key populations, community-based organisations, and civil society in the response to Tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria epidemics, the Global Fund has selected a new group of Technical Assistance providers within its Community, Rights & Gender (CRG) Strategic Initiative. We are proud to announce that Hivos has been

Baseline survey on violation of women labour rights in the horticulture sector in Kenya

FIDA Kenya in partnership with Hivos conducted this baseline survey to investigate compliance with women labor rights in the horticulture sector in Kenya. The findings of the survey confirmed that various horticulture employers continue to violate women labor rights.

Renewed programme website   

Renewed programme website    October 17, 2017 The Open Up Contracting website has a new look and feel! The website features comprehensive information about Hivos and ARTICLE 19’s programme taking place in seven countries spread across Latin America, Asia and Africa. You can read about the programme countries, the pioneering partners and their ambitious projects

Introducing our partners in Guatemala

Introducing our partners in Guatemala October 17, 2017 Following our introduction of our infomediary partners in Indonesia and the Philippines last quarter, in this edition we would like to introduce the organisations working to make open contracting a reality in Guatemala. Their projects in the construction, media, and public health sectors are bringing social and

Event: Open Contracting 2017 – 28-29 November, Amsterdam

Event: Open Contracting 2017 – 28-29 November, Amsterdam October 17, 2017 Open contracting is vital to modernise government, fight corruption, reform markets and foster innovation and entrepreneurship. Better, smarter and fairer government contracting – enabled by the active participation of citizens – can improve lives everywhere. Hivos and ARTICLE 19, together with The B team,

Paula Yaacoubian: “I’m an advocate for women and a believer in their capacities.”

“I’m an advocate for women and a believer in their capacities.” October 17, 2017 WE4L Lebanon Partner Maharat Foundation interviews prominent female Lebanese journalist Paula Yaacoubian on women in the media and how she faces patriarchal attitudes in her line of work. Originally published on: 19-09-2017 By Maharat- Ilda al-Ghousain Translated from the

A new era for bio-digester technology in Africa

Declaration of Ouagadougou endorsed by 11 West and Central African Countries  The International Conference on Biodigester Technology concluded on 12 October 2017 in Ouagadougou with the President of Burkina Faso, His Excellency Roch Marc Christian Kaboré presiding over the public reading of the “Declaration of Ouagadougou” concerning the promotion and dissemination of biodigester technologies in

Why we need the women’s quota in Lebanese elections

ld banners in Arabic that read :” Enough with the marginalisation of the Lebanese woman, support the women’s quota,” ” No democracy without the contribution of half of the society, support the women’s quota,” as they rally in front of the Parliament House in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008. Lebanese women

Deeply mourning the loss of a colleague and friend

With utter sadness we received the news that our dear Greenpeace colleague and friend, Carolina Nyberg-Steiser, died in an airplane accident in the Amazon region last Tuesday.   Carolina was a very dedicated, key member of a global team for the All Eyes on the Amazon programme, led by Hivos and Greenpeace, aimed at stopping the

Hivos Transparency, Accountability & Citizen Engagement

Hivos Transparency, Accountability & Citizen Engagement October 19, 2017

Energy Access Outlook 2017: too rosy an outlook?

“Universal energy access by 2030 is now within reach”. The title of the International Energy Agency (IEA) press release announcing the Energy Access Outlook 2017 report, released on 19 October, sounds promising. The IEA’s detailed analysis of the status of energy access in the world attributes its optimism to growing political will and declining costs

Facilitating International Climate Finance Flows to Kenya’s Decentralised Renewable Energy Sector – policy brief

In Kenya, decentralized energy solutions receive only 2% of the total investments in the energy sector, a fraction of what is needed to achieve universal energy access. This policy brief gives recommendations on how to unlock more finance for DRE. From creating an enabling environment for private sector participation to promoting energy for productive use.

Energy Access Outlook 2017: too rosy an outlook?

Blog post by Rita Poppe, Advocacy Officer Green & Inclusive Energy programme &; “Universal energy access by 2030 is now within reach”. The title of the International Energy Agency (IEA) press release announcing the Energy Access Outlook 2017 report, released on 19 October, sounds promising. The IEA’s detailed analysis of the status of energy access

Revival of traditional foods dominates food celebrations in Kabarole

The call for the revival of indigenous traditional foods dominated the World Food Day celebrations in Kabarole district, Uganda.  The celebrations, organised by Hivos and Kabarole Research and Resource Centre, were held under the theme ‘Reviving the production and consumption of traditional and indigenous food varieties for better health, food security and rural development’. Local

Making politics matter for women and youth in Lebanon

Politics has a bad reputation in Lebanon. But one Hivos partner is working to encourage women’s political participation by addressing political apathy and disinterest in young people. Instead of being the process and practice through which we improve our lives, it is viewed by many citizens as a ‘dirty business’, corrupt and dishonest. It is a

Lebanese women in parties have capacities but face sexist attitudes

One of the key challenges in working with political parties on gender equality and women’s political participation is dealing with backlash from defensive male party members who feel that their power is threatened. In a recent townhall meeting held  on 9 September 2017 with the West Bekaa Women’s Committee  branch of the Lebanese Kataeb party, 

A call to all poverty alleviation changemakers!

Blog post by Eco Matser, manager Green & Inclusive Energy programme Absent from the many headlines we regularly see in the media, is news about the millions of rural poor citizens spread across Africa, Asia and Latin America who still lack access to even the most basic energy services. This is unacceptable. Most energy access investments

A call to all poverty alleviation changemakers!

Absent from the many headlines we regularly see in the media, is news about the millions of rural poor citizens spread across Africa, Asia and Latin America who still lack access to even the most basic energy services. This is unacceptable. Most energy access investments not benefiting the poor The World Bank, together with others,

Introducing Hivos Southeast Asia’s Residency Fellows: Moloka and SiMaggie

The fellows for our new Residency Program are here! Hivos Southeast Asia and Impact Hub Jakarta have picked Moloka and SiMaggie to join the program. Through this 3-month Residency Program, these enterprises will be nurtured and provided access to relevant actors in the ecosystem and will enjoy free access to a coworking space, networking opportunities,

Istanbul 10 released, Hivos very relieved

On Wednesday evening, after a twelve-hour plus hearing, the Turkish judge ruled that two human rights trainers and six human rights activists belonging to the so-called Istanbul 10* may await their trial in freedom. Hivos is relieved that the trainers Ali Gharavi and Peter Steudtner and the others can return home to their families after

Blog: Out of the drawer: Why we need to regain trust in contracts

Pixabay Blog: Out of the drawer: Why we need to regain trust in contracts October 26, 2017 Written by Sally Hughes “Trust is in crisis around the world. The general population’s trust in all four key institutions — business, government, NGOs, and media — has declined: To rebuild trust and restore faith in the system, institutions

Forum for Young Indonesians: sufficient and healthy food for all

The world global food system faces unpredictable challenges. By 2050, the world’s population is estimated to reach 9.8 billion people. This continuous increase in population growth and consumption  will lead to a significant increase in malnutrition, diseases and even deaths if we do not put a sustainable food system in place. At the Forum for

Blog: Four ways to make open public contracting more relevant

Blog: Four ways to make open public contracting more relevant November 7, 2017 Written by Joseph Asunka Governments spend billions of dollars each year buying goods and services from private providers for the public benefit. Unfortunately, opaque public contracting often facilitate diversion of significant amounts of these resources into private pockets, severely undermining the quality

Rev. Matale challenges women leaders as she retires

enges women leaders as she retires November 8, 2017 As Reverend Dr. Suzanne Matale steps down as the General Secretary of the Council of Churches of Zambia (CCZ), she reflects on a decade promoting justice, fairness and equality. Reverend Dr. Suzanne Matale “Coming here was not the easiest of things,” she recalled.  “People

Hivos and ENERGIA at Climate Conference COP23

Two years after the signing of the Paris Agreement, the 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) held from 6 to 17 November in Bonn, Germany, will focus on advancing the aims and ambitions set forth in Paris. It will draw attention to the progress in development of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of governments and the

Blog: Nine years in open contracting: the threats, challenges and what pushes me to carry on

Blog: Nine years in open contracting: the threats, challenges and what pushes me to carry on November 13, 2017 Written by Joe Ching’Ani Advocating for an end to corruption and increased transparency and accountability is demanding at the best of times. It’s even harder if you are in a scandal prone, poor African country with

EU Financial Instruments for Access to Energy

This study aims to provide insights into the approaches and instruments adopted by the EU to promote access to energy, and their ability to reach the poor and remote areas and contribute to SDG 7. It looks at EU’s financial instruments to leverage private finance in view to promote universal access to energy.

Family vital in grooming girls for future leadership

rooming girls for future leadership November 20, 2017 By FRANCIS LUNGU PARTICIPATION of women in every sphere of leadership should start at family level with parents and guardians inculcating traits that will mold a girl child into aspiring for leadership roles in all life endeavours. Family being an important aspect in one’s

Co-creating solutions for dealing with sexual harassment

By Fauzia Mohammed The question as to whether it is a permissive society, a blind eye by the community, an ill-bred culture or weak policies at institution level that has prompted sexual harassment incidences to sky rocketing numbers remains unanswered. Regrettably, sexually inappropriate remarks towards women at work places, educational centers and society at large

Kenya’s first National Fashion Council

Kenya’s creative sector has often been referred to as a sleeping giant. While the country’s economy is the biggest in Eastern Africa, its growing fashion and creative industry continues to face serious challenges in regional and global expansion. The Kenya fashion sector is currently disjointed with different value chain players participating in their own silos

Ending impunity against journalists in East Africa

Defending the rights of journalists, enabling freedom of the press and protecting freedom of expression are crucial building blocks of democracy. However, press freedom is increasingly under siege around the world, with ever more journalists facing threats of violence or imprisonment for carrying out their duties. In Kenya, the situation is not any different. The

“I am claiming my place in the political space” – Euthrasia Duro

my place in the political space” – Euthrasia Duro November 22, 2017 The story of Councillor Euthrasia Duro, 29, a first term Councillor in Redcliff Town Council representing Torwood  is one of a young woman defying all odds to claim her place in the  political space, which is largely male dominated. Despite

Blog: From transparency to data use: rising to open contracting’s next challenge

Blog: From transparency to data use: rising to open contracting’s next challenge November 23, 2017 Written by Andrew Mandelbaum At Development Gateway, we are investing in open contracting because we believe in the value it brings to both governments and citizens. Over the past several years, we have conducted over 10 open contracting assessments, developed

Championing transparency by following the money

Championing transparency by following the money November 23, 2017 By Melissa Ruggles “The transparency of multilateral organisations is inadequate. Access to financial data of multilateral organisations is limited.” That is the major outcome of the recent study published by Cordaid, Hivos and the Open State Foundation. They found that it is still not possible to track money flows to and from

Championing transparency by following the money

Update 30 November 2017: At the end of the Open Contracting Global Summit on 29 November, Transparency International and its partners Hivos, CoST – the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative, Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) and Article19, launched the Clean Contracting Manifesto. The aim is to implement the whole lifecycle of public procurement in keeping with the highest possible standards of transparency, accountability and efficiency to safeguard

A Moment of Silence #16Days16Voices

ce #16Days16Voices November 25, 2017 &; #16Days16Voices DAY 1 Hivos joins the rest of the world in the commemoration of 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV), a time when we stop and reflect on GBV and how we are working towards making it end, how society deals with victims and

Victimised through the click of a mouse #16Days16Voices

h the click of a mouse #16Days16Voices November 26, 2017 DAY 2 In a digital society, friends and enemies are made all over the world via social sites and relationships are solidified or broken by ‘hashtags’ or ‘selfies’. While online media has served many well, there has been a tragic global increase of its misuse through online

Victimised through the click of a mouse #16Days16Voices

In a digital society, friends and enemies are made all over the world via social sites and relationships are solidified or broken by ‘hashtags’ or ‘selfies’. While online media has served many well, there has been a tragic global increase of its misuse through online victimization and gender targeted attacks. Perpetrators no longer need to look in the

A Moment of Silence

Hivos joins the rest of the world in the commemoration of 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV), a time when we stop and reflect on GBV and how we are working towards making it end, how society deals with victims and in what new forms it has shown itself in a continuously evolving

Open Contracting for the Future: Three Frontier Issues

Open Contracting for the Future: Three Frontier Issues November 27, 2017 By Andrew Mandelbaum (Development Gateway) and Daniel Dietrich (Hivos) The future of open contracting depends on the ability of governments and citizens to open up the entire public contracting cycle, create feedback channels, and use open contracting data to improve procurement results. But there

Social norms…A propagate of GBV? #16Days16Voices

0;A propagate of GBV? #16Days16Voices November 27, 2017 Day 3: Culture and religion play a big role in how society reacts towards Gender Based Violence (GBV). Patriarchal systems stem mainly from cultural and religious values and as such in their observance and practice make it difficult for members of society that experience GBV to seek punishment

Ending Child Marriage Key Priority in Southern Africa

Hivos Southern Africa in collaboration with Gateway Health Institute and the AIDS Foundation South Africa hosted a Networking Learning Discussion on Early and Forced Marriage. The dialogue titled: Child Marriage and Sugar Daddies held on Thursday 9 November 2017 featured youths from different institutions in South Africa. The main aim of the dialogue session was to

Social norms…A propagate of GBV? #16Days16Voices

Culture and religion play a big role in how society reacts towards Gender Based Violence (GBV). Patriarchal systems stem mainly from cultural and religious values and as such in their observance and practice make it difficult for members of society that experience GBV to seek punishment for perpetrators. Women often are the ones to justify domestic violence

“Transparency means nothing without active citizens and independent media”

On 28 November 2017, Edwin Huizing, executive director of Hivos, opened the Open Contracting Global Summit together with Gavin Hayman, director of the Open Contracting Partnership, María Zuleta, vice chair of the Open Contracting Partnership’s advisory board, and Hans Docter, director of Sustainable Economic Development at the Dutch foreign ministry. He welcomed the attendees with

“Transparency means nothing without active citizens and independent media”

On 28 November 2017, Edwin Huizing, executive director of Hivos, opened the Open Contracting Global Summit together with Gavin Hayman, director of the Open Contracting Partnership, María Zuleta, vice chair of the Open Contracting Partnership’s advisory board, and Hans Docter, director of Sustainable Economic Development at the Dutch foreign ministry. He welcomed the attendees with

Dear Bullet….By Sixolile Mbalo #16Days16Voices

;.By Sixolile Mbalo #16Days16Voices November 28, 2017 Day 4: Hivos caught up with Sixolile Mbalo; a survivor, author and GBV champion, at a conference in South Africa. Sixolile shares how she took back her life and made the best out of her situation. She shares how sharing her story has freed her from its negativity and

Closing the energy gap by 2030

The COP23 in Bonn ended nearly two weeks ago, and during the event a number of commitments were made and initiatives sparked. Among them was the launch of the People-Centered Accelerator on the 14th of November, announced by Rachel Kyte of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) alongside ENERGIA’s Sheila Oparaocha and Frontier Markets’ Ajaita Shah.

Sexual Violence in the workplace #16Days16Voices

y weeds in the collapsed Sher Karuturi farm, Sexual Violence in the workplace #16Days16Voices November 29, 2017 Day 5 The negative impacts of sexual harassment at the workplace manifest through physical and social challenges including loss of, self esteem and poor performance. In addition, the victims’ social and marital lives are affected adversely.

Dear Bullet….By Sixolile Mbalo #16Days16Voices

Day 4: Hivos caught up with Sixolile Mbalo; a survivor, author and GBV champion, at a conference in South Africa. Sixolile shares how she took back her life and made the best out of her situation. She shares how sharing her story has freed her from its negativity and her work helping others reclaim their lives after

Workplace policies that promote gender equality and fight HIV/AIDS

Through the Women @ Work programme, Hivos and our local partners work together to improve the labour conditions for women working at international farms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Within this programme, we pay special attention to preventing gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS at the workplace as a means to increase women’s socioeconomic empowerment and wellbeing

Police attacks on journalists #16Days16Voices

journalists #16Days16Voices December 1, 2017 Day 7: Journalism entails venturing into dangerous situations to obtain the story. Many journalists risk their lives to cover issues that most would shy away from. In most countries like Zimbabwe, journalism schools have equal representation of women and men, however this does not translate to women

Blog: Workplace policies that promote gender equality and fight HIV/AIDS

Through the Women@Work Campaign, Hivos and local partners work together to improve the labor conditions for women working at international farms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Within this program, we pay special attention to preventing gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS at the workplace as a means to increase women’s socioeconomic empowerment and well being in general.

Hivos out in force during #16Days of activism

Hivos out in force during #16Days of activism December 2, 2017 Hivos believes that all women and girls should have control over their lives and be able to actively participate in social, political and economic spheres, so we work tirelessly with various human rights instruments in support of communities’ and countries’ efforts towards gender equality.

GBV and its effects on children #16Days16Voices

ts on children #16Days16Voices December 3, 2017 Day 8: Children bear the brunt of domestic violence and in some cases are the direct victims of this violence. Children who grow up in abusive households tend to suffer greatly psychologically and in cases of direct abuse physically as well. Hivos caught up with

The plight of the urban vendor #16Days16Vendors

urban vendor #16Days16Vendors December 4, 2017 Day 10: Meet Fadzai Chidambo, a street vendor in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe. Fadzai like many others has taken to selling her wares in the city as a way of making money to take care of her family. In today’s feature Fadzai shares the

Men breaking the silence #16Days16Voices

silence #16Days16Voices December 5, 2017 Day 11: There have been increased cases of men coming forward to report GBV, however socially it is still difficult for men to come forward and admit that their partner or colleague has assaulted them. The availability of more victim friendly Here is a testimony shared by

Challenging negative gender stereotypes of women in Lebanon

ive gender stereotypes of women in Lebanon December 6, 2017 By Noura El-Turk and Doreen Khoury Hivos partner launches media campaign highlighting the social obstacles to women’s empowerment & calls women to action to challenge stereotypes. “Children are your sole responsibility alone.”  “Your importance lies in your family.”  “Who will clean if not you?”

#MeToo: My Stories of Sexual Harassment

s of Sexual Harassment December 6, 2017 by Salma Jamal from Jordan (Translated from the original Arabic version. Original publication date: 17 October 2017)  I can’t remember how old I was when I first heard my mother’s story of her cousins ​​and the loss of their only brother. I do not recall many

Kafa's #MeToo Campaign…Our Struggle for Social Justice

o Campaign…Our Struggle for Social Justice December 6, 2017 by Nay El-Rahi from Lebanon (Translated from the original Arabic) About two weeks ago Lebanese NGO KAFA launched a #MeToo campaign in Lebanon to encourage young women to share their stories of sexual harassment. The campaign already exists in many countries around the world and

Diversity. Bottom-up energy. Real outcomes: Open contracting after OCGlobal17

Diversity. Bottom-up energy. Real outcomes: Open contracting after OCGlobal17 December 7, 2017 By The #OCGlobal17 conveners: Open Contracting Partnership, Hivos, The B Team, the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST), and Article 19* What a ride! We’re still on a high from #OCGlobal17, our global gathering of open contracting innovators and champions. For the 200 people from

Graciela Pérez Rodriguez wins 2017 Human Rights Tulip

The 2017 Human Rights Tulip has been awarded to Mexican human rights defender Graciela Pérez Rodriguez. Dutch foreign minister Halbe Zijlstra presented her with the prize this afternoon in The Hague, two days ahead of Human Rights Day (10 December). Between January and August this year alone, over 2,400 people were reported missing in Mexico.

Striving for an inclusive labor market in Jordan

nclusive labor market in Jordan December 11, 2017 by Noura el-Turk and Doreen Khoury Honouring women in the Jordanian Banking and Insurance Sectors: The Leila Baqili Conference &; Hivos and the Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI) in Jordan organised the Leila Baqili Conference on women in the banking and insurance sectors on 14

Kabarole District in Uganda moves to boost food production and improve nutrition

The second People’s Summit on Food was held on November 30 and December 1, 2017. It was hosted by Uganda’s Fort Portal Municipality, in cooperation with Kabarole Research and Resource Centre (KRC), IIED and Hivos, and brought together politicians, farmers, street vendors, civil society, church leaders, nutritionists and youth. Conversations at the Summit focused on how to change

Multilateral organisations fall short on transparency

Multilateral organisations fall short on transparency December 14, 2017 The transparency of multilateral organisations is inadequate. That is the major outcome of the recent study published by Cordaid, Hivos and the Open State Foundation. We found that it is still not possible to track money flows to and from many multilateral organisations, organisations that (should) set the global example for how

Want to know what happened at the Open Contracting Global Summit? Have a look for yourself!

Want to know what happened at the Open Contracting Global Summit? Have a look for yourself! December 18, 2017 The Open Contracting Global Summit took place at the end of November in Amsterdam.  Read here about the outcomes and check out the videos below to learn more about what happened, and what Hivos and many

Looking for health and value: Bandung’s food street vendors and their customers

Health is unfair. This was the conclusion that Sterhen “Saska” Akbar, Project Coordinator of Riset Indie, came to at the end of the Knowledge Café discussion at the Bandung Food Change Lab talk show and exhibition, held from 23 to 24 November 2017 in Bandung, Indonesia. This activity is part of Hivos and IIED’s Sustainable

Bandung Food Lab: healthy food and innovative street food tools

The Bandung Food Change Lab – an exciting new social change process for a fairer, greener local food system in Bandung, Indonesia – has produced five innovative prototypes that could address common, yet often overlooked, issues affecting how low-income groups access affordable food from street vendors. On 23 November at a Knowledge Café event, the

Diversity. Bottom-up energy. Real impact. The state of open contracting.

Diversity. Bottom-up energy. Real impact. The state of open contracting. December 19, 2017

Open Contracting Summit key takeaways and follow ups

Hivos, 2017. Open Contracting Summit key takeaways and follow ups December 19, 2017 By Daniel Dietrich On 28-29 November 2017, around 200 of the best and brightest leaders and innovators from over 37 countries joined the open contracting global summit.  Hivos is proud to have been co-hosting the Open Contracting Global Summit 2017 #OCGlobal17 together

Brooklyn Coalition:Best Practices Decentralised Renewable Energy

The best practices show how actors—SELCO India, Schneider Electric, and the Kenyan, Dutch and Nepalese governments—have contributed to the increase of energy access with decentralised renewable energy and what measures were taken to deliver the results.

No need for GMOs: Uganda’s rich biodiversity already provides solutions to the country’s food problems

 The Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) Bill puts the future of Uganda under threat: Slow Food offers a different way forward. “In Uganda, Slow Food continues to embrace, implement and disseminate agroecological practices as the legitimate solution to the problems of the current food system; it works on initiatives that defend the non-renewable wealth of food biodiversity

Zambian aspiring female councilors ready to take on their male counterparts

female councilors ready to take on their male counterparts December 21, 2017 Aspiring female councilors from across Zambia came together last week for a 2 Day retreat in the capital Lusaka. The group of 30 women comprised also of former councilors who where interested in running for council seats that they had previously

Women@Work

Women@Work was part of a five-year-long strategic partnership between ARTICLE 19, Hivos, IIED and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which ended in 2020. On this page you will find all evaluation documents. Aim To improve labor conditions for women working in global horticulture supply chains (flowers, fresh vegetables, beans, avocados and chilies) through fair

Hivos Residency Fellows Moloka and SiMaggie share start-up food business experiences

Hivos Residency Fellows, Moloka and SiMaggie, were invited to speak at ‘Impact Night November’ hosted by PLUS (Platform Usaha Sosial) and Jakarta Social Entrepreneurs at Impact Hub Jakarta. The event itself is part of a regular series aimed at strengthening the social entrepreneurship ecosystem through learning and networking sessions on various business topics. In line

Eight titles selected for 2018 Hivos Tiger Competition @ IFFR

This year’s selection of films competing for the Hivos Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR) from 24 January to 4 February includes seven world premieres and one international premiere. The prestigious Hivos Tiger Award includes a cash prize of €40,000, to be divided between filmmaker and producer. An international jury of five filmmakers and

Hivos announces the Colourful Workplaces Conference

Hivos, Workplace Pride and Sullivan Marketing are organising a one-day conference on diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The conference will take place on 8 February 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya. Globally companies are beginning to embrace diversity and inclusion, as studies have shown that more diverse teams perform better, are more creative and innovative. Inclusive

Hivos Sustainable Diets for All programme holds the first ever SD4ALL Media Awards in Zambia

The Zambian diet is mainly composed of cereals, predominantly maize, starchy roots and, to a lesser extent, fruit and vegetables. Cereals provide almost two-thirds of the dietary energy supply. According to the National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC), one of the major causes of malnutrition is the mono diet practice. Mono cropping in Zambia The

Young women have health rights too

Malawi: Female Aspiring Councilors Optimistic in 2019 Elections

piring Councilors Optimistic in 2019 Elections January 17, 2018 By Zenak Matekenya Extracted from: allafrica.com Mzimba — There is light at the end of the tunnel for aspiring women councilors in Mzimba District following the introduction of Women Empowerment for Leadership (WE4L) Project aimed at ensuring that more women are elected. Through the project,

Long struggle for women empowerment through elected positions

women empowerment through elected positions January 17, 2018 Source: Mana Online Written by  Sarah Munthali Mchinji, January 04, 2017: Having enough female representation in elected positions would always be a long and difficult journey to women empowerment in Malawi. In all the five general elections the country has had, it has proved

Tender wars in Nairobi

Real fixes for Nairobi County Procurement Hivos is gravely concerned by reports of public contracting and procurement anomalies reported to be occurring within the Nairobi City County Government. At the heart of the reported issues lie lack of transparency and public accountability in the use of public funds for the procurement of public goods and

Hivos brings International Film Festival Rotterdam to Harare – live!

On 26 January, Zimbabwe – through Hivos Southern Africa – will become the first Sub-Saharan African country to live stream films from the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). IFFR 2018, the 47th edition of the film festival, takes place from 24 January to 4 February 2018 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. IFFR offers a high quality

Want to organise an event on International Open Data Day? Apply now!

Want to organise an event on International Open Data Day? Apply now! January 22, 2018 On Saturday, March 3rd 2018 it is International Open Data Day, coordinated by Open Knowledge International. As last year, Hivos, ARTICLE 19 and Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) are proud to announce a Open Data Day 2018 mini-grant scheme for transparency

Tender wars in Nairobi

Tender wars in Nairobi January 22, 2018 Written by Stephanie Muchai, Hivos Real fixes for Nairobi County Procurement Hivos is gravely concerned by reports of public contracting and procurement anomalies reported to be occurring within the Nairobi City County Government. At the heart of the reported issues lie lack of transparency and public accountability in

Meat laced with formalin: How safe is the food we consume in Uganda?

Media reports in Uganda two weeks ago revealed that butchers are using formalin to extend the shelf-life of meat. Formalin — a substance meant to preserve dead bodies has become popular in butcheries as it also keeps flies away raising the question of food safety in Uganda. As a result, a few people were implicated

Women Leadership Project

This brochure shares more information about the Women@Work Campaign’s program ‘Women Leadership Project’, about promoting gender equality and decent work in the horticulture sector in East Africa.

Terms of Reference: Consultancy to facilitate a Project Development Workshop in Lodwar

About Hivos Hivos is an international organisation that seeks new solutions to persistent global issues. With smart projects in the right places, we oppose discrimination, inequality, abuse of power and the unsustainable use of our planet’s resources. We cooperate with innovative businesses, citizens and their organizations. We share a dream with them of sustainable economies

Hivos: Media shutdown in Kenya an affront to press freedom

Hivos condemns the shutdown of free to air television stations in Kenya (Nation TV, Kenya Television Network, Inooro TV and Citizen TV) and Inooro radio station on 30 January. This shutdown was ostensibly to stop live broadcasts of the ‘swearing in’ of Kenya’s opposition leader. Kenya held its Presidential election in August 2017. A repeat

“Please review the Biosafety Act, Mr Museveni”

President Yoweri Museveni has asked Ugandan parliamentarians to review the National Biosafety Act, 2017. In a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, the president stated his many concerns about the Act: “naming it the Law-Biosafety Act while it actually talks about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs); the rights of Uganda Farmers that for generations have developed, managed,

Towards a living wage – Gap benchmark analysis of roses grown in Kenya, Ethiopia and Zambia

Towards a living wage – Gap benchmark analysis of roses grown in Kenya, Ethiopia and Zambia February 4, 2018

Why NGOs must turn their communication style upside down …

 … but at the same time stay true to their values When we look at the way organisations communicate, we often see that NGOs, like Hivos, are particularly fond of imposing their own worldview on their audiences. The language and narratives they use rarely really resonate with viewers, readers and listeners, but rather reflect the

Winners of Hivos Tiger Awards at IFFR 2018

The Hivos Tiger Award is the most prestigious award of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). In the Hivos Tiger Competition, an international jury chooses a winner from eight nominated films. A Special Jury Award is also given. The competition was founded in 1995 with the aim of discovering, raising the profile of and rewarding

Why NGOs must turn their communication style upside down …

… but at the same time stay true to their values Blog post by Merit Hindriks, communications officer Hivos When we look at the way organisations communicate, we often see that NGOs, like Hivos, are particularly fond of imposing their own worldview on their audiences. The language and narratives they use rarely really resonate with

We must be very cautious about using Genetically Modified Organisms

We invest in a world where entrepreneurial local people are developing new solutions for some of the most challenging problems of our time. There are many other options for sustainably increasing food production and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers that we should look at first before considering investing in GM technology. While acknowledging the

Green Entrepreneurship: helping end youth unemployment

(Photo by Tamara Kaunda for our partner IIED.) Entrepreneurs in the ‘green’ sector, by definition, provide environmentally-friendly products and services. But sometimes what defines ‘green entrepreneurs’ is the fact that they provide their products or services through an environmentally-friendly process or with the help of clean technologies – as in eco-tourism, for example. Because of

Towards a Living Wage

This report demonstrates that many workers at farms that produce roses for the large Dutch retailers receive a lower wage than the wage that one can reasonably live off. The average wage gap per rose amounts to 1,3 euro cents. This means that on average, 13 euro cents is needed per bouquet of ten roses to reach a living wage for the workers producing the roses.

Reflecting on Nairobi’s Colourful Workplaces Conference

The front line in the battle for Human Rights of LGBTI people has reached Africa’s workplace In 2014, I was struck by a CNN interview with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, then Nigeria’s finance minister, in which she was asked about her country’s new draconian anti-LGBT law which had been signed just two months before. The “Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act”  criminalized public

Hivos at Global SDG7 Conference

In support of the review of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 on access to energy during the UN High-level Political Forum (HLPF) later this year, the first in a series of preparatory meetings will be held from 21 to 23 February in Bangkok. This Global SDG7 Conference brings together stakeholders from governments, UN systems and

Clean Contracting Manifesto

Clean Contracting Manifesto February 16, 2018

Hivos: The Ugandan government must guarantee safety and security for human rights actors

On 9 February 2018, eight unidentified persons broke into the offices of Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) and attacked two security guards with machetes, leaving them both hospitalized in a critical condition. This incident repeats an almost choreographed pattern of harassment and intimidation as it closely resembles the break-in of 2016. It can

Affirmative action on government procurement opportunities in Kenya

Hivos East Africa has released the findings of a study that was commissioned to analyze the impact of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) initiative. AGPO seeks to empower women, youth and persons with a disability through public procurement business opportunities by giving these groups 30 per cent of all procurement initiatives without competition

Dutch approach for clean cooking solutions

Dutch public and private actors join hands to tackle inhouse air pollution by promoting Clean Cooking Solutions. Together we strive for healthy living conditions, especially for women, and less environmental damage due to deforestation. This approach offers great opportunities for carbon market development and innovations geared towards the cleanest solutions.

Communicating Decentralised Renewable Energy to Financiers and Senior Policymakers

Effective engagement requires communicators to recognise and reflect the worldview of their target audience. Attempts by Non-Governmental Organisations to project their own motivations are rarely successful. In this report we have therefore sought to find language that accurately reflects the values and motivations reported by people from our audiences.

Hivos announces the State of Renewable Energy Roundtable

Hivos,- through the  Green and Inclusive Energy programme– and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Nairobi (SOJ) are embarking on a long-term collaboration to increase the frequency and quality of reporting on green and inclusive energy issues in Kenya. This will be done in a number of ways, including building

Announcing the 2018 International Open Data Day mini-grant winners!

On Saturday, March 3rd 2018 it is International Open Data Day. As last year, Hivos, ARTICLE 19 and Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) are funding a mini-grant scheme for local #ODD18 initiatives that focus on approaches, data and technology to ‘Follow the Money’ to track and analyse public money flows for transparency and accountability work in countries from the global south and in tricky environments.

East Timorese Women Survivors are Heroes

In late November 2017 as part of the UN’s 16 Days of Activism to End Violence against Women, Hivos Southeast Asia’s partner Asosiasaun Chega Ba Ita (ACbit) launched a month-long, multi-media awareness campaign showcasing the journeys of Timorese women who are survivors (not victims) of gender-based violence. This campaign, called Civil Society and Good Governance

Seeds Are the Soul of Agriculture

Hivos in collaboration with Welthungerhilfe, Hivos Impact Investments and SEED are holding a three day bootcamp to get more social entrepreneurs involved in delivering high quality open source seed products to small holder farmers. The three day Disrupt!SEEDS! event from 28 February to 2 March 2018 at the Gallery Delta in Harare is a business

The media needs to report more on renewable energy

Hivos East Africa’s Green and Inclusive Energy Programme and the University of Nairobi’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SOJ) on February 21, held a roundtable with the aim of increasing quality and frequency of reporting on renewable energy in Kenya. The discussion attracted approximately 200 participants and drew speakers from different stakeholders in the renewable

“Here is where we remember”: human rights victories in Central America

Lea esta noticia en español. Photos by Mynor Hernández, Capiusa. Over 40 human rights and international cooperation organizations and Guatemalan State representatives gathered on February the 13th lo launch the campaign “Here is where we remember” (Aquí se recuerda, in Spanish), an initiative aimed at commemorating human rights victories in Central America. The project is

Do you want to know who we partner with in Asian countries?

Do you want to know who we partner with in Asian countries? March 3, 2018 Do you want to know what these local frontline organisations are doing to champion greater transparency of public contracting processes and reduce corruption? Have a look at the videos below to get an impression of some of our partners and

Gender Equality, taking steps towards 50-50

taking steps towards 50-50 March 5, 2018 Gender Equality and the work towards its attainment worldwide has been a bitter sweet journey. Brave women and men have stood up against partriachy and the numerous societal bariers that have impeded equal participation. Sadly for many decades after the movement to attain gender equality started,

Warrior for women’s and children’s rights in East Java

During the week of 8 March – International Women’s Day – Hivos is sharing stories of some of the amazing and powerful women we support worldwide. This year’s theme is: “Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”. Prominent Muslim feminist Her full name is Farha Abdul Kadir Assegaf, but she is popularly known as Farha

Call for Proposals: Sustainable Diets for All

About Hivos  Hivos is an international development organization that seeks new solutions to persistent and emerging global issues. With smart projects in the right places, we oppose discrimination, inequality, abuse of power and the unsustainable use of our planet’s resources. Our primary focus is achieving structural change and impacting lives. We do this through cooperating

#SheLeads: Salantei Leburkash leading change in the Samburu Community

During the week of 8 March – International women’s Day – Hivos is sharing stories of some of the amazing and powerful women we support worldwide. This year’s theme is: “Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”. The Samburu tribe is a proud cattle-keeping community in Kenya widely known for their colourful dress and cultural

Women’s Manifesto Launched

to Launched March 8, 2018 By Chido Valerie Sibalo (Gender and Media Connect_Programme Officer) Harare SPEAKER of Parliament Jacob Francis Mudenda on the 6th of March 2018 called on for more concerted efforts in all spheres of life towards achieving 50-50 gender representation particularly in politics and other key positions of decision making, as

Celebrating Women’s Empowerment All Over the World

The annual International Women’s Day calls for a PressforProgress on gender stereotypes, visibility of women, and celebration of women’s achievements. In the area of energy entrepreneurship, women often have to work twice as hard to show their worth and do not receive the credit they deserve for being innovative change makers. Hivos’ partner ENERGIA supports

Using technology to empower women, Jordanian Youth develop new initiatives

to empower women, Jordanian Youth develop new initiatives March 8, 2018 By Noura El-Turk The Sisterhood is Global Institute – Jordan (SIGI) organised the Technological Summit, in collaboration with Hivos as part of the Women Empowered for Leadership (WE4L) program with the title, “Youth Participation in Public Affairs”. The summit took place from

Connie Tinoco: the woman who brought light to Rocky Point

During the week of 8 March – International Women’s Day – Hivos is sharing stories of some of the amazing and powerful women we support worldwide. This year’s theme is: “Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”. Connie Tinoco is a woman farmer in Rocky Point, a town on the southeast Caribbean coast of Nicaragua

The Beirut International Women Film Festival 13-18 March 2018

ational Women Film Festival 13-18 March 2018 March 9, 2018 As part of the Women Empowered for Leadership programme, Hivos is supporting the 2018 Beirut International Women’s Film Festival which opens on 13 March and ends on 18 March. Organised by the Beirut Film Society, The Beirut International Women Film Festival (BWFF) brings

Women in the 21st century: Right to be!

From global movements like #MeToo to the Women’s March, one thing has become clear: women can no longer be ignored. In this month- during and after International Women’s Day, Hivos East Africa joins the rest of the world in shedding a spotlight on women who are rarely celebrated for their boldness and resilience in advocating

Sergio Montealegre

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Contact our Programme Manager – Open Contracting PHL

Naledi Katsande

Regional SRHR Graduate Intern

Aneth David

Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Ambassador for Tanzania, Guest blogger

Tafadzwa Tseisi

Guest Blogger and participant in the Social Media for Human Rights Training

Silvia Ulloa

Contact our Project Officer, SAFE Platform

Ángel Damián Reyes

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer – HIV Costa Rica Project

Mendi Njonjo

Mendi Njonjo is a feminist and a fervent champion of environmental justice. She has over 25 years’ experience supporting non-profit and grant-making organizations in their fund management, strategy development and policy formulation. She has set up and implemented programs that use technology to encourage good governance and prevent conflict, that promote women’s right to bodily

Kahlille Seranilla

Nay Al-Rahi

Lebanese journalist, researcher, and gender specialist

Caroline Wahome

Contact our Strategic Partnerships Communications Officer

Lucas Chacha

Contact our Programme Manager, Coffee Programmes

Benedict Ishabakaki

Voice Programme Officer, Tanzania

Hope Muli

Contact our Regional Project Manager, Open Contracting

Stephanie Muchai

Contact our Open Contracting,Country Engagement Developer

Linnet Awor

Contact our East Africa Advocacy Officer

Veronica Kaitano

Contact our Women Empowered for Leadership Project Officer in Malawi in

Ketty Simasiku

Contact our Women @ Work and Women Empowered for Leadership Country Engagement Officer / Project Manager in Zambia

Sally Akinyi

Contact our Regional Communications Officer

Agusmantono

Contact our Advocacy Officer Green and Inclusive Energy Hivos SEA

Doreen Khoury

Hivos MENA’s WE4L Project Officer in Lebanon and Jordan

Anne Majani

East Africa Programme Officer for Green Foods and Productive Landscape

William Chilufya

Mareike Britten

Advocacy Officer for Renewable Energy at Hivos Global Office

Tazia Teresa Darryanto

Contact the Southeast Asia Voice Programme Manager

Peter Chinoko

Contact our WE4L Southern Africa Programme Development Manager

Karen Hammink

Contact our Global Office Sexual Rights & Diversity Prog. Development Mgr.

Ria Ernunsari

Contact our South East Asia Country Engagement Developer for Making All Voices Count

Precious Netsai Njerere

Contact our Communication Officer for Global Fund KP Reach (Southern Africa Hub)

Ms Ellen Hagerman

Contact our Sexual Rights & Diversity Prog. Mgr (Southern Africa Hub, South Africa office)

Ms Sithembile Chiware

Contact our KP Reach Prog. Director (Southern Africa Hub)

Loyd Norella

Contact our ISEAN-Hivos / Global Fund Prog. Director (Southeast Asia Hub)

Theresia Iswarini

Contact our Minority Rights Project Officer in Southeast Asia

Ellen Hagerman

Contact our Open Society Project Manager in Johannesburg

Victoria Ndungu

Contact our Monitoring and Evaluation/Carbon Credit Advisor

Varyanne Sika

Contact our Making All Voices Count, Country Engagement Developer

Jonathan Huseman

Contact our Advocacy Officer

Sheila Oparaocha

Contact our ENERGIA International Coordinator and Programme Manager

Lelo Koinange

Contact our East Africa Regional Operations Manager

Moses Otsieno

Contact our East Africa Prog. Development Mgr.for Freedom of Expression & Transparency and Accountability

Business Development Officer for Women’s Empowerment, Southeast Asia

Contact our BDO Women’s Empowerment in Southeast Asia

Edith Gathoni Kirumba

Contact our Green Foods and Productive Landscapes Programme Manager in East Africa

Anna Kiebert

Contact our Open society Junior Programme Officer

Maimuna Kabatesi

Sylvia Musalagani

Junior Programme Officer

Ruth Kimani

Contact our Voice Programme Officer for Kenya

Wesley Wakun’uma

Contact our Green Society Project Coordinator in Zambia

Carlos Paniagua

Contact our Junior Programme Officer for Green Society

Rob de Groot

Contact our Renewable Energy Programme Development Manager

Lorena Yañez

Contact our Women’s Empowerment Program Development Manager

Daniela Montero

Contact our Junior Programme Officer

Reginald Mapfumo

Contact our Southern Africa Green Energy Manager

Will Janssen

Contact our Open Society Programme Director

Anastasia Gavrili

Francisco Bascopé

Merit Hindriks

Green Society Communication Officer at Global Office

Andra Jacob

Contact our Junior Programme Officer for Mideast Creatives

Dody Priambodo

Chantal Verdonk

Geoffrey Nyamota

Contact our 4S@Scale Programme Mananger

Repelita Tambunan

Miranda

Kennedy Mugochi

Kennedy Mugochi is an international development expert who has worked tirelessly towards achieving a free, fair and sustainable world for over 15 years. Through the various portfolios he has held, Kennedy has contributed to critical development in Southern Africa through innovation and program development relying on the inclusive participation of communities in the region. He

Regional Office Southern Africa Programme Officer LGBT Rights

Contact our Regional Programme Officer in Harare

Soneni Ncube

Contact our Zimbabwe Domestic Biogas Programme Officer

Ndumiso Mpofu

Contact our Sustainable Food Programme Development Manager

Zeph Kivungi

‎Contact our Prog. Development Mgr.for Green Energy & Finance

Juan Espinoza

Andrew Odete

Contact our East Africa Women@Work Coordinator

Federico Rojas Moya

Karel Chambille

Contact our Open Society Monitoring & Evaluation Officer

Anthony Wafula Nyongesa

Contact our Transparency, Accountability and Freedom of Expression Programme Manager

Mideast Creatives Project Manager

Juliette Verhoeven

Contact our Programme Officer for Human Rights, Gender and Sexual Rights in MENA

Lluviana Páez Barreto

Contact our Programme Officer

José Alfonso Malespín

Contact our project coordinator

Karim Boussak

Contact our MENA Programme Project Officer

ONAEM

Contact our partner

Diane Rodríguez

LGBT activist

Mario Valori

Contact our Programme Officer

Proyecto mARTadero

Contact mARTadero

Lorena Yáñez

Contact our Programme Officer

Manine Arends

Raquel Chacón

Contact our Renewable Energy Programme Development Manager

Pablo Alvarez

Contact our Regional Programme Officer

Nyambura Gathumbi

Contact our East Africa Programme Manager for Women’s Empowerment and Sexual Rights and Diversity

Jean Marc Sika

Contact our ABPP Fund Manager

Irene Ratih Ertiningtyas

Contact our Open Society Junior Programme Officer

Cultural Productions Programme Officer

Contact our Cultural Productions Programme Officer

Boniface Kiome

Contact our Prog. Development Mgr.for Food & Landscapes and Open Seed Prog.

Programme Officer LGBT Rights/MSM & HIV

Corporate Prog. Officer LGBT Rights/MSM & HIV

Ingrid Sosa

Contact our Director Assistant in Guatemala

Harrie Oppenoorth

Contact our Senior Advisor Energy and Climate Change

Ana Sofia Ruiz

Contact our Transparency & Accountability / Freedom of Expression Program Development Manager

Susana Rochna

Contact our Regional Programme Officer

Tambudzai Madzimure

Contact our Zimbabwe Women’s Empowerment Project Manager

Sofie Ovaa

Contact our Stop Child Labour Campaign Coordinator

Harry Clemens

Contact our Programme Officer for Carbon Finance and Renewable Energy

Eco Matser

Contact our Global Office Climate Change, Energy and Development coordinator

Tanja Lubbers

Tanja Lubbers has 25 years of experience in international cooperation and communication for change and social innovation. She started her career as a foreign affairs editor at VPRO, one of the public broadcasters in the Netherlands. Her work took her to the Balkans, where she produced a television series for VPRO. Then she decided to

Internet Freedom Programme Officer

Contact our Internet Freedom Programme Officer

Lucy Mung’ala

Lucy is a queer feminist with over 17 years of work experience in international development, focusing on health, gender, diversity, and inclusion. She’s currently the Strategy and Impact Lead in one of Hivos’ three impact areas: Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. In this role, she provides strategic vision and leadership to influence policy and programmatic

Sandra Winarsa

Contact our Project Manager Green Energy (Sumba)

Getting Social Media to Work for CSOs

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) need to undergo fundamental shifts in their organizational communications culture to benefit fully from social media technologies, according to a guidebook recently published by Hivos Southern Africa with support from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Zimbabwe. According to the guidebook, the rapid growth of social media use

Youth find solutions for rural income generation using Solar Mini-grids

Ketumbeine and Komolo villages are two distant communities in the Northern Zone of Tanzania. They did not have access to energy before Power Corner and Rafiki Power arrived on the scene and installed solar powered mini-grid stations from 2016 -2017. The arrival of these decentralised energy sources has led to a gradual start-up of budding

Communique on 50/50 advocacy campaign and women’s manifesto launch

50 advocacy campaign and women’s manifesto launch March 15, 2018   Under the theme: Constitutionalism, gender equality and the future of women’s leadership in Zimbabwe The entire gender machinery gathered at the HICC, the Speaker of Parliament, Hon Mudenda, Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Chairperson, Hon Mutsvangwa, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus and

Zim push for gender equality escalates

er equality escalates March 15, 2018 By Bridgette Ndlovu (Women’s Institute for Leadership Development_WILD) Zimbabwean women are pushing for gender equality in parliamentary, political party and local government leadership, a call that has seen at least 14 political parties signing to achieve 50/50 representation in political party candidates and endorse the Women’s

The National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW)

ission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) March 15, 2018 The National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) strives to ensure equality between women and men in all aspects. The gender equality issue is an important issue, as it is directly related to the respect, protection and fulfillment of human rights set forth in the various

Indonesia: Transparency in government procurement

Indonesia: Transparency in government procurement March 19, 2018 This blog appeared first in Bahasa. You can find the original version here. Written by Agus Sunaryanto, Vice Coordinator of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) Government procurement transparency Indonesian President, Joko Widodo has on several occasions stressed the importance of utilising information technology in the procurement of goods

Open Up Contracting and Adaptive Learning

Open Up Contracting and Adaptive Learning March 20, 2018 Open contracting is a relatively new agenda for Hivos and ARTICLE 19 as well as for many of our local partners. It’s important to acknowledge that the Open Up Contracting programme and its partners are in a joint learning process together. We test and learn from

Financing and inclusivity of renewables in East Africa

Day two On day one at the Sustainable Energy Forum for East Africa (In Kigali, Rwanda) there was a lot of chat about challenges facing the energy sector including of course, the money. On day two, the programme got deep into the status of financing and scaling up investments into sustainable energy in East Africa.  United

Abshiri Project in Jordan tackles women’s challenges in reaching leadership positions

n Jordan tackles women’s challenges in reaching leadership positions March 21, 2018 By Noura El-Turk Abshiri is a new project launched by Jordanian NGO Drabzeen, a Hivos partner in the Women Empowered For Leadership programme. It aims to encourage and strengthen women’s representation, participation, rights and leadership position. The Abshiri project seeks to

Call for Mid Term Review of WE4L Program

Review of WE4L Program March 21, 2018  CALL CLOSES 31 MARCH 2018

Open Data Day 2018 Celebrations in Cambodia

Open Data Day 2018 Celebrations in Cambodia March 22, 2018 Guestblog contributed by Open Development Cambodia Earlier this month, on March 3rd, several initiatives around the world celebrated International Open Data Day. Hivos, ARTICLE 19 and Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) funded a mini-grant scheme for local #ODD18 initiatives. One such event took place in Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh, Cambodia – From Cape

Open Data Day 2018 Celebrations in Kenya

Open Data Day 2018 Celebrations in Kenya March 22, 2018 Guestblog contributed by ELDOHUB Earlier this month, on March 3rd, several initiatives around the world took place to celebrate International Open Data Day. Hivos, ARTICLE 19 and Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) contributed with a mini-grant scheme to local #ODD18 initiatives. One such event took place in Eldoret, Kenya. Read their guestblog

Communique on 50/50 advocacy campaign and women’s manifesto launch

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Working with political parties to promote gender equality

id=”286″ id=”post-754″ class=”wp-post-content-block ” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/BlogPosting” itemprop=”blogPost”> Working with political parties to promote gender equality March 22, 2018 HIVOS Linking and Learning Report – Final Narrative Report Download

Zimbabwe baseline report

id=”287″ id=”post-756″ class=”wp-post-content-block ” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/BlogPosting” itemprop=”blogPost”> Zimbabwe baseline report March 22, 2018 Download

Shemurenga, the Zimbabwe Women’s Movement 1995-2000

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Call for Mid Term Review of WE4L Program

id=”292″ id=”post-764″ class=”wp-post-content-block ” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/BlogPosting” itemprop=”blogPost”> Call for Mid Term Review of WE4L Program March 23, 2018 CALL CLOSES 31 March 2018 Download

Empowered Women Improve Rural Livelihoods

Women’s Condition in Sumba Approximately one hour east of Tambolaka airport, you can find the Renewable Energy Kiosk, Yofi Mayu Delo. Sitting down in front the kiosk, Mama Margaretha, a 44-year old mother of four, winces as she recalls her life journey. “My parents, and especially my father, did not give his blessing when I

Human rights defenders and UN Special Rapporteur on Philippine terrorist ‘hit list’

Human Rights Defenders and UN Special Rapporteur on Philippine terrorist ‘hit list’ March 26, 2018 Hivos and ARTICLE 19 are alarmed and worried about the news that the Philippine government has declared a list of 600 people to be ‘communist terrorists’. The list names the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples,

Members

Kenya’s high court rules out forced anal testing

Hivos welcomes the decision of the Court of Appeal of Kenya which declared forced anal testing as a way of determining sexual orientation unlawful, torturous and a gross violation of people’s right to privacy. Hivos also congratulates the National Gay and Lesbians Human Rights Commission (NGHRC) in Kenya who against many odds stood for what

Joint Communique Issued by WE4L Zambia Partners on interface with Finance Minister

id=”296″ id=”post-774″ class=”wp-post-content-block ” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/BlogPosting” itemprop=”blogPost”> Joint Communique Issued by WE4L Zambia Partners on interface with Finance Minister March 28, 2018 Download

Constitution of Zimbabwe 2013

id=”297″ id=”post-776″ class=”wp-post-content-block ” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/BlogPosting” itemprop=”blogPost”> Constitution of Zimbabwe 2013 March 28, 2018 Download

Tackling sexual harassment in East African flower farms

“Do you like sex?” Eunice Waweru asks a group of women who work at a flower farm in Naivasha, Kenya.  Everyone is shy and avoids eye contact with Eunice. “I like sex”, she says. This is Eunice’s way of starting a conversation on sexual harassment. She is in the farm to sensitize workers on the ever taboo subject of sexual harassment.

Women empowerment commitment from Mwanakatwe

commitment from Mwanakatwe April 5, 2018 Minister of Finance, Hon Margaret Mwanakatwe has committed to supporting women empowerment in her role as Minister. Mwanakatwe shared her commitment at an interface meeting with Women Empowered for Leadership partners in Zambia on the 26th of March 2017. The meeting held as a breakfast meeting at

The Arab Network for Civic Education holds workshop on Gender Sensitive Community Initiative

for Civic Education holds workshop on Gender Sensitive Community Initiative April 6, 2018 By Noura El-Turk As part of the Women Empowered for Leadership programme, the Arab Network for Civic Education (ANHRE) held a workshop to launch the Gender Sensitive Community Initiative. This initiative aims at encouraging women in 9 local communities

Blogs

Hivos receives £300,000 from the UK Postcode Lottery

Hivos’ programme with Greenpeace, All Eyes on the Amazon, is very pleased to receive £300,000 in funding from the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery in the UK. In 2017, Hivos and Greenpeace received a 14.8 million euro contribution from the Dutch National Postcode Lottery’s Dream Fund to run and implement All Eyes on the

AGPO Research findings full report

AGPO Research findings full report April 11, 2018

Agroecology: a new direction towards truly sustainable food systems

The current dominant agricultural model has run out of steam. It’s high time to replace it with one that is not only sustainable, but also efficient, inclusive and respectful of the planet and the people who produce and consume food. This was the conclusion of the FAO’s (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations)

WE4L Theory of Change (TOC)

id=”300″ id=”post-782″ class=”wp-post-content-block ” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/BlogPosting” itemprop=”blogPost”> WE4L Theory of Change (TOC) April 11, 2018 Download

Zambia 2016 Election monitoring – A gender perspective

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Frontline support from Hivos East Africa for Utunzi – a human rights frontrunner

“We will not enjoy security without development, we will not enjoy development without security, and we will not enjoy either without respect for human rights.” This famous quote on human rights by the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, signifies a critical global commitment to the fight against discrimination. LGBT+ persons in particular are amongst those

Impact area

Opinion

Malawi CSO Baseline report

id=”309″ id=”post-797″ class=”wp-post-content-block ” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/BlogPosting” itemprop=”blogPost”> Malawi CSO Baseline report April 19, 2018 Download

Citizen generated evidence for a more sustainable and healthy food system

When communities generate evidence themselves, they aremore effective in lobbying and advocating for their priorities. So theydepend less on others to set their agenda.

Innovating for Social Change: Hivos Strategic Plan 2016 – 2020

This concise strategic plan guides the strategic decision-making processes, it guides Hivos in how and where best to spend our energy and our resources. A complementary business plan provides information on how operations are structured and organized.

Hivos: Put an end to killings and censorship in Nicaragua

Puede leer este pronunciamiento en español, aquí. Within a three-day span, Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega issued legislation by decree that reduced pensions for retired people and increased contributions for workers and employers. This set off peaceful protests on April 18 by retirees, students and other groups in Managua. In response, the government’s paramilitary forces “Juventud

Program

Post

Hivos Contributing to the First Review of SDG7

Leading up to the first official review of SDG7 in July, a major milestone was reached with the launch of 27 policy briefs to support the review process. In addition, a summary for policy makers captured the SDG7 progress and highlights decentralised renewable energy as crucial for advancing SDG7 implementation.   Since the Sustainable Development

Homepage

A citizen-led approach to food research and policy making

By Natalie Lartey (in photo above) and Bill Vorley, IIED Food policies that are based on evidence and advocacy delivered by citizens are more likely to benefit the people most affected by these policies. At this week’s City University Food Policy Symposium, we heard how connecting people to policy can help secure healthy and more

Hivos at SEforALL Forum in Lisbon

With the theme, “Leaving No One Behind”, this year’s SEforALL Forum will take place at a critical moment for accelerating progress on universal energy access under SDG7. During the Forum, Hivos will organise and take part in inspiring sessions alongside policy makers and practitioners to harness the potential of decentralised renewable energy solutions, which are

Can Emerging Political Actors and Women make Headway in Lebanon’s 2018 Parliamentary Elections?

tical Actors and Women make Headway in Lebanon’s 2018 Parliamentary Elections? April 27, 2018 Please click here to go to original link. On the 26th of April 2018, Lebanon Support hosted a round table on emerging political actors and women’s participation in Lebanon’s 2018 parliamentary elections. The session aimed at discussing the findings

News and views

Who we are

Hivos was founded in 1968, inspired by humanist values. Our founders held the conviction that development work should be secular, as true cooperation presumes respect for differing beliefs. In our first ever brochure, our founders wrote that “necessary changes should spring from communities themselves – from people at the base of society.” These convictions are

Where we work

Hivos has regional hubs in Latin America, East Africa, Southern Africa, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA). On the map below you can see where we implement which programs. Besides our country-based work, we advocate with our partners for policies to promote the just, inclusive and life-sustaining societies we believe in at numerous regional,

Stories of change

SAYARAN – Call for Articles

all for Articles April 30, 2018 Within the framework of the Women Empowered for Leadership programme, Hivos has the pleasure to announce the launch of Sayaran, a public opinion platform in Jordan and Lebanon for women and gendered opinions on public issues. We hope to attract young, alternative, and critical submissions, but we

Programs

Sustainable Agriculture, Food and Environment (SAFE) Platform

SAFE is a multi-stakeholder platform, powered by the IDB Lab and managed by Hivos, that aims to make coffee and cocoa landscapes more people-centered and inclusive through sustainable, climate-smart agricultural practices. Why do we support smallholder farmers? More than half of the food produced in Latin America comes from smallholder farmers, many of whom still

Our impact areas

Hivos focuses on the following three impact areas because they are where major social and political transitions take place and where we, with our track record, can achieve real impact: Gender Equality, Diversity & Inclusion; Climate Justice, and Civic Rights in a Digital Age.

Gender-sensitive media training in Lebanon

media training in Lebanon May 2, 2018 WE4L partner holds workshop on women’s representation and media coverage Noura El-Turk On 17 and 18 March 2018 Maharat Foundation organized a workshop in Beirut for student journalists on gender-sensitive media representation with media trainer and prominent local  journalist Layal Abou Rahal. Through role-playing and team exercises,

All Eyes on the Amazon

All Eyes on the Amazon supports Indigenous Peoples and local communities in their fight against deforestation. The program combines state-of-the-art-technology with local knowledge.

Women Empowered for Leadership

Women worldwide experience serious obstacles that limit their chances to seek leadership positions in civic organisations, political parties and public institutions. This hinders their ability to put their needs, ideas and priorities on the political agenda and have them taken into account by political and policy decisions.

How we work

Building movements: Five strategies for change Hivos has developed five strategies for promoting the voices and choices of marginalized people, while strengthening civil society. Which strategy we apply, and when, greatly depends on the context and the local organizations we work with. What all our strategies have in common is our expertise in grant making,

“We Are Here to Work for Energy Access”

In the opening remarks at last week’s SEforALL Forum, CEO Rachel Kyte urged more than 900 participants to push for progress to reach SDG7. We have much to celebrate but at the current pace, we will not achieve universal energy access by 2030. The number of people gaining access to energy is growing but is

History of the Women’s movement and its possible future

men’s movement and its possible future May 11, 2018 By Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe “Throughout history, women have made extraordinary contributions to their societies. Though some of these women are not well known, they have been trail blazers in the history of the women’s movement” Dr Sekai Holland Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe,

Storytelling – An Important Skill for Our Partners

Facilitator: “Why do we write?” “To tell the stories of others and inspire,” answered a participant during the opening session of the Narrative Writing and Media Outreach training. I attended a fascinating two-day training that Hivos conducted as part of a project funded by the Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. This one-year project entitled ‘Good

A Year of Progress for Decentralised Renewable Energy

In the past year, Hivos has made significant progress in the path toward universal energy access and decentralised renewable energy. We are now proud to share the major results from our Green and Inclusive Energy Programme. Two advocacy battles won Taking stock of several years of intense advocacy work, Hivos and its partners IIED and

The road to respect

Puede leer este blog en español aquí. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines phobia as “an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation”. Since childhood, we have accumulated fears, phobias, and other emotions. It is also possible that we may have learned to see the world from a binary perspective,

Authenticity: Bringing Your ‘Full’ Self to Work

While on a flight from Washington DC to Copenhagen, I sat next to a charming middle aged African American lady who just started working as an event planner for a large tech company in San Francisco. During the conversation, I mentioned I was coming back from a conference where I presented a report on Lesbian

IDAHOT: Celebrating bold and brave LGBTI initiatives worldwide

On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia, IDAHOT, we celebrate that homosexuality was officially erased from the International Classification of Diseases as a psychological disorder in 1990. While we have made some progress in addressing barriers associated with sexual rights, discrimination against LGBTI+ people is still increasing. Worldwide, millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and

Hivos Lebanon WE4L partners hold a series of townhall meetings on the  “Electoral Law and Women’s Political Participation”

L partners hold a series of townhall meetings on the  “Electoral Law and Women’s Political Participation” May 20, 2018 By Noura El-Turk Hivos WE4L partner Lebanese Association for Democratic Election (LADE) held a townhall meeting on the  “Electoral Law and Women’s Political Participation”  at the American National School in Zahle on 10 April

BOOST

The BOOST program is continued as GreenWorks. Aim To enable grassroots social entrepreneurs to create the positive change they envision for their communities. This year’s edition aims at BOOSTing inclusive employment in North Africa. Where Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia Why High unemployment, reduced freedom of expression and lack of financing opportunities for small and medium enterprises

Resource Of Open Minds (R.O.O.M)

Freedom of expression is the main measure of openness in a society, but globally the space for free expression is shrinking, which in turn reduces the diversity and independence of makers, media, content, channels and audiences. 

Story of origin

When Hivos was founded in 1968, its founders were inspired by principles such as individual freedom, personal responsibility and self-determination. They held the conviction that development work should not be linked to missionary work, and true cooperation presumes respect for differing beliefs. In our first ever brochure, our founders wrote that ‘necessary changes should spring

Our organization

Hivos is managed by an Executive Board, made up of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anne Jellema, and Chief Operations Officer (COO) Michel Farkas. The Management Team includes the heads of the Strategy and Impact Department and the Business Development Department, the directors of our four regional hubs, and some other management positions. The directors of

Statutes and regulations

Statutes, regulations and salary scheme In keeping with the requirements of the Dutch CBF accreditation, Hivos regularly publishes updated version of it statutes, regulations, and salary scheme. Hivos articles of association (pdf, 14.6 MB) Hivos Audit Committee regulations (pdf, 7 KB) Hivos legal status regulations (pdf, 107 KB) Hivos remuneration committee regulations (pdf, 8 KB) Hivos