Week in Review

Hi everyone and welcome to this week’s review of progress initiatives and studies. This week, we have:

•      The Africa Gathering meeting happened on June 21^st in London. Some of the objectives of the meeting were to showcase the rise of African women in the technology sector in Africa, and to discuss some of the challenges still present around funding and investment for women in technology. A summary of the conference is available here.
•     The launch of OECD’s Perspectives on Global Development: Industrial Policies in a Changing World, the third publication of OECD’s series on Global Development examines the opportunities and challenges for developing countries by the new geography of innovation and production. This blog post by Annelise Prigent, reviews the main points of the study.
•       Supporting Global Progress, UNDP's 2012-2013 annual report showcases the results of its diverse programs around the world. Among the progress highlighted in this report, there's Ethiopia, which has seen a steady progress in the agricultural sector, where the support for small farmers was improved through the creation of the Ethiopian Commodities Exchange, the first of its type in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2012, trading volumes on the exchange rose by 23 percent over the previous year, and earnings grew by 31 percent
•       Reaching Out-of-School Children by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics. Latest data show that there were still 57 million children out of school in 2011, a drop of only 2 million from the previous year. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for more than one-half of all out-of-school children worldwide and has the highest out-of-school rate of all regions; almost more than one in five primary school-age children have either never attended school or left before completing the last grade of primary education.    

•      Food Wastage Footprint: Impact on Natural Resources. The FAO estimates that nearly one third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted every year. This food wastage represents a missed opportunity to improve global food security, but also to mitigate environmental impacts and resources use from food chains.
•    Wikichild’s online discussion on how to measure child well-being in view of future development frameworks has started since June 19^th. ONLY 4 DAYS TO CONTRIBUTE!!! Make your voice heard! It will go on until July 2^nd. Follow the talk on Twitter by clicking here:#childwellbeing.

We hope to see you next week for more progress-themed articles. Stay tuned by following us on Twitter (@wp_africa) and on Facebook (here).