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Women's land rights and livelihoods key to Africa trade

The African Union’s blueprint for transforming the continent wants to see fully empowered women with equal access and opportunity in all spheres of life. The ambition is for African women to have equal economic rights, including owning and inheriting property such as land, signing a contract, and...

Africa Is Soo Rich In Farmland – So Why Is It Still Hungry?

It’s been more than two months since it rained in Nakuru County, Kenya, and Jane’s bean crop is long gone. Her only hope on her small plot of 0.8 hectares is the maize crop – but it will also be gone if it doesn’t rain in the next two weeks. In a normal year, it would have rained for three...

AFRICA BEING PUSHED TO THE LIMITS: How the bid to meet IMF requirements creates a fertile ground for inequality

African countries started their Covid-19 recovery period in a very parlous economic state. Poor people’s income fell sharply during the pandemic and according to UNECA , the pandemic forced 55 million into poverty in 2020. At the same time, Africa’s debt burden has accelerated to crippling levels...

Why Africa needs 365 days of Action Against Gender-based Violence

A cursory look at media coverage of how African nations marked the 16 Days of Activism depicts a continent that is fully aware of a bad situation that is getting worse. In many instances, government leaders explained what they were doing to tame gender violence and highlighted the challenges...

Protect rural women’s land rights and they will pull Africa’s economy out of the COVID-19 pandemic

Ask any small holder farmer in Africa about their experience with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and you are more likely to sample a story of personal economic decline than a near-death health experience with COVID-19. Movement restrictions imposed by governments to slow down the coronavirus...

Is the Security of Tenure for Women Secured in the 'Africa we Want'?

What is the position of women in Africa 57 years after the formation of the African Union? How would the world look like if women had secure access, and control of their land, and natural resources? Would the food crisis be managed differently during emergencies, like the big one we are now living...

Care Burden on Africa's Women and Girls was Always Tough, but COVID -19 has made It Tougher

The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening the global development narrative of ‘leaving no one behind.’ This particularly, for the more than 420 million Africans who live below the global poverty line, many of whom are women and girls.This pandemic has laid bare what has for too long been invisible: the...

Valerie Mukangerero (53 yrs) walks to her pineapple farm in Rwamurema village, Eastern Rwanda, Kirehe District. Credit: Aurelie Marrier d'Unienville / Oxfam

Securing land rights for women: A critical pathway to realising gender equality in Africa

In Africa, land is an indispensable asset, yet, unnuanced, land belongs to men. This is despite women growing 70 percent of the food that feeds the continent. The World Bank estimates that just under 13 percent of African women claim sole ownership of land, compared to 36 percent of African men.

The World Economic Forum on Africa

The World Economic Forum on Africa Meeting (WEF Africa) is arguably the premier meeting of business and governmental leaders that takes place on the African continent – one that is particularly influential in setting the region’s economic agenda. This year is of particular importance because of the...

Climate Finance for Agriculture Learning Event, 14-17 2019

In May 2019, for the first time several Oxfam country colleagues met up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for ‘The Climate & Agriculture Finance Learning event.’ Participants were able to learn from each other’s experiences, to hear from external experts, and to begin to think about opportunities for...

The future is equal