(Posted 17th November 2022)
CCA MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
Winston & Strawn Launches Free, Online Course to Help First-Generation and Diverse Law Students Succeed in Law School
Winston & Strawn LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP announced the launch of the Winston & Strawn Law School Experience, a free, virtual course created to help first-generation and diverse pre-law and law students enhance their academic performance in law school. The Winston & Strawn Law School Experience addresses the fact that many first-generation and diverse law students confront inequitable access to resources (including tutoring, mentoring, and networking) that are key building blocks for success in law school and the legal profession. This program aims to correct that by providing a methodology for developing the aptitudes that law schools expect and require… Read more>>
Flutterwave partners Flytime on festival to honor rich cultural heritage
Business Day
The Flytime Group partnered with Flutterwave, Africa’s payments technology company, to present FLYTIME FEST2022 at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos on December 21st, 22nd, and 24th, to provide a dynamic entertainment lineup that honors the rich tapestry of Nigerian popular culture, both past and present. As part of the collaboration with FLYTIME FEST, Flutterwave, a global company with strong Nigerian roots, will power all payments during the festival… Read more>>
U.S.-AFRICA RELATIONS
Accelerating Adaption Action in Africa
U.S. Department of State
The Governments of the United States of America and Egypt co-hosted an event in conjunction with President Biden’s visit to COP27. COP27 President Sameh Shoukry and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry presided over the event, which focused on the two governments’ efforts to accelerate climate adaptation action and support in Africa. Secretary Kerry emphasized the United States’ commitment to help vulnerable countries and communities in Africa adapt to and manage the impacts of climate change, as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE)… Read more>>
US midterm elections deserve Africa’s attention – but not for reasons of foreign policy
The Conversation
Africans normally pay little attention to American elections when the presidency is not at stake. But the midterm polls – such as the 8 November 2022 one – deserve Africa’s attention. During midterms, US voters elect 435 members of the House of Representatives for a two-year term and one-third of the senators, the 100-member upper house, who serve for six years. The two houses are collectively known as the US Congress. Some governors, and other officials, including those responsible for elections of the 50 states, also seek a mandate during this period… Read more>>
US Africa Command Leader Visits Madagascar
U.S. Department of State
Combatting transnational crime is a goal shared by the U.S. government and Malagasy security forces, government, and civil society. To advance that goal, Brigadier General Peter Bailey, Deputy Director for Strategy, Engagement, and Programs at the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) met with the Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Richard Rakotonirina on Thursday, November 10 to discuss shared Malagasy and U.S. concerns about maritime security, illegal unregulated, unreported (IUU) fishing, human trafficking, theft of natural resources, and the humanitarian crises caused by droughts and cyclones… Read more>>
AGRIBUSINESS
WHO urges ‘Immediate’ Food, Medical Aid for Tigray
VOA
The World Health Organization called Wednesday for a massive influx of food and medicines into Ethiopia’s Tigray region, saying desperately needed aid had not yet been allowed in following the cease-fire combatants reached last week…Read more>>
Microsoft Collaborates with IFC to back sustainable agribusiness in Africa
Zawya
Microsoft, through its Africa Transformation Office (ATO), partnered with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support digital transformation in the agriculture sector in Africa, according to an emailed press release on November 15th. Under the partnership, digital agriculture products will be introduced to back the African agribusinesses and bolster food security in the continent…Read more>>
ENERGY
Europe’s Failure to Meet its Climate Change Goals Should Not Be Africa’s Problem | Opinion
Newsweek
News from Europe that a vast windfarm is being demolished to make way for a new open-pit coal mine is the reprehensible double standard we in Africa have come to expect. As Europeans switch their coal-fired plants back on while still demanding fossil-fuel generation remains beyond the pale for Africans. It makes a mockery of Western commitments to climate targets and their promises to help speed African development all in one breath… Read more>>
Opinion | Muhummadu Buhari: How not to talk with Africa about Climate Change
Washington Post
Part of my nation is underwater. Seasonal flooding is normal in Nigeria, but not like this. Thirty-four of the country’s 36 states have been affected. More than 1.4 million people have been displaced. Together with drought-driven famine in the Horn of Africa, cascading wildfires across the North and wave upon wave of intensifying cyclones in the South, climate disasters in Africa form the backdrop to this year’s U.N. Climate Change Conference (known as COP27) in Egypt…Read more>>
G20 Seat to Help Africa Push Rich on Climate Pledges, Sall says
Bloomberg
The African Union expects to officially join the Group of 20 nations this month, providing the continent with another seat at the table with some of the world’s biggest polluters as it confronts the fallout from global warming…Read more>>
Gabon Targets a Huge Payday with Carbon Credits
The Wall Street Journal
The African nation of Gabon, one of the most densely forested on earth, is launching the world’s biggest sale of carbon-offset credits. The plan could net the country billions of dollars and upend the fast-growing market for carbon credits…Read more>>
HEALTH
Cholera Outbreaks Kills 214 – Malawi
VOA
Cholera has killed 214 people in Malawi but infections from one of the country’s worst outbreaks in a decade have started to abate after peaking last month, the health ministry said on Wednesday… Read more>>
Uganda confirms Ebola case in country’s east as outbreaks expands
Reuters
An Ebola case has been confirmed in Jinja in eastern Uganda, the country’s health minister said on Sunday, the first time the outbreak has spread to a new region of the country from central Uganda where cases have been confined so far… Read more>>
INFRASTRUCTURE
African, Global Partners Launch Alliance for Green Infrastructure
Busiweek
The African Union, the African Development Bank Group and Africa50—in partnership with several global partners—have launched the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA), an initiative to help scale and accelerate financing for green infrastructure projects in Africa. The collaborating global partners working with the African Union, African Development Bank and Africa50 are the African Union Development Agency, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the French Development Agency, The Rockefeller Foundation, the US Trade and Development Agency, the Global Center on Adaptation, the Private Infrastructure Development Group, and the African Sovereign Investors Forum… Read more>>
South Africa is slowly collapsing
BusinessTech
The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) has published its 2022 Infrastructure Report Card, painting a bleak picture of the state of roads, rail, water and other infrastructure in the country. SAICE has been publishing the report since 2006 as a guide for analysts, educators, policymakers and the general public to understand the status of infrastructure in South Africa, as well as the various challenges facing each sector… Read more>>
IFC Appoints Suri As Director, Infrastructure, Natural Resources in Africa
Leadership
International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced the appointment of Sarvesh Suri as its new Regional Industry director for Infrastructure and Natural Resources in Africa. Suri, who brings more than 20 years of global investment and development expertise to his new role, will drive IFC’s strategy to connect more people and businesses in Africa to sustainable infrastructure… Read more>>
ICT
ATU, ICT ministers underscore importance of a digital economy for Africa’s growth
Vanguard
The African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Information Communication Technology Ministers in Africa have both agreed that said that adopting digitalisation of systems in the continent will bring about digital economic growth in African countries… Read more>>
IFC Starts Venture Platform to Fund Tech Startups in Africa, Pakistan
Bloomberg
The World Bank Group’s private-sector arm said it will invest $225 million in a venture-capital program to fund technology startups in Africa and the Middle East. The International Finance Corp. will also invest in companies in Pakistan and Central Asia, it said in a statement. It will make “equity or equity-like investments,” according to the statement… Read more>>
Ethiopia restarts sale of Ethio Telecom stake, new telecoms licence
Reuters
Ethiopia has reactivated the process of selling a 40% stake in state-owned Ethio Telecom and a separate plan to issue a second full telecoms licence, the finance ministry and telecoms regulator said on Wednesday.
The telecoms industry is seen as the big prize in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s push to free up the economy, but efforts to lure investment have been hit by a nearly two-year war in northern Tigray that has killed thousands and uprooted millions…Read more>>
TOURISM
Africa Sees Return of Stolen Artifacts as Boost for Diaspora Tourism
Skift
Museums are among the most visited locations around the world, with the world top’s 100 art museums attracting 71 million visitors in 2021 — a 31 percent rise from the year before. They’re also lucrative as museums contribute annually an estimated $50 billion to the U.S. economy alone. And African officials believe they would get a tourism boost from the return of objects they argue were stolen from the continent. Although it’s not their primary motivation in fighting for their repatriation, African authorities envision those artifacts being tourist attractions at museums. Up to 90 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s material cultural legacy, including sound recordings and photographs, is located outside of the continent… Read more>>
Uganda seeks Kenya partnership in deal to boost tourist numbers
The East African
Uganda’s tourism players are reaching out to Kenya in a controversial bid to help bridge market access challenges for Kampala’s hospitality offers. The players in Kampala see Kenya’s coastal exposure to the world as a starting point where tourists arriving in Kenya can go on to visit Uganda on the same visa while using Uganda Airlines as a connecting carrier. But that could bring new threats to Kenya’s own local sites, as well as affect market share for Kenya Airways, which has for years dominated the Kenya-Uganda route… Read more>>
