Flanders invests €12 million in development co-operation
The Flemish government has earmarked €12 million for projects across Africa concerned with climate change and women’s health
Lowering mortality rates
Three projects to fight climate change in Africa will receive a total of €5 million. Half of that goes to the World Food Programme’s action to tackle food shortages in Malawi.
The Africa Climate Change Fund, which receives €2 million, is working to prepare for the effects of climate change. And the World Agroforestry Centre receives €500,000 to develop an interactive online map of the top 50 centimetres of soil in Malawi to allow farmers to make suitable choices of crops.
A project for the training of midwives in Mozambique will receive €1.3 million towards the financing of the United Nations Population Fund’s efforts to increase the number of trained medical personnel, extending it from Cabo Delgado province into Tete province.
“With this major injection of Flemish funding,” said Bourgeois, “we want to create a catalyst effect and encourage other donors to invest in this project. By supporting local people and training them to become qualified medical personnel, we will be able to help reduce the high infant and mother mortality rates in Mozambique.”
Other projects include sectoral support for agriculture in Malawi via the Multi Donor Trust Fund, and the Accelerating Women’s and Girls’ Rights Project in Mozambique, run by ActionAid Mozambique, which aims to empower young women and girls by teaching them about their rights and bringing them together in a network of girls’ clubs.
Funding also goes to a project to raise awareness of the vaginal ring in preventing HIV. The programme, run by the International Partnership for Microbiocides, covers Malawi, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Photo: Groundnut farmers in Malawi
©Swathi Sridharan/Wikimedia
