Articles

Unlocking the potential of African Women in STEM through mentorship

2024-03-12T08:03:27+00:00

Civil engineers and infrastructure professionals can make a huge difference – 72% of the SDG targets are linked to networked infrastructure development. This means the profession can play a leading role in economic growth, environmental protection, social progress, and climate resilience. Diversity in the dynamic world of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) can realise this impact better.

Mentorship empowers African women to lead environmental stewardship

2024-03-08T13:39:28+00:00

The pivotal role of women in climate action often remains unrecognized yet women play a vital role in tackling climate change.

I was born in Kenya’s Uasin Gishu County and home of Mau Forest complex which is one of the water towers of Kenya and raised in Kakamega County - home of the only tropical rain forest in Kenya and UNESCO heritage that has seen destruction affecting water supply in counties around it. Over the years I learnt to appreciate that while climate change affects everyone, it does not affect everyone equally. Vulnerability to climate change is exacerbated by inequity and marginalization linked to gender, ethnicity, low income, and other social and economic factors. When solutions to climate change address these realities, they are more effective.

Decolonizing the WASH-Narrative

2023-11-03T06:47:11+00:00

In 2023, members of the SuSanA Secretariat, Global Steering Committee, Forum Moderators and the Africa Chapter met during the Policy and Practice Forum organized by the Center for Sciences and Environment (CSE). The Secretariat conducted an interview with some SuSanA members on the theme of "Decolonizing the WASH Narrative". This interview touched on the shift in knowledge ownership, representation and collaboration between the global North and South in the WASH sector.

Sanitation champion spotlight: A story of courage, determination and taking up space as a woman in WASH (featuring Eva Muhia)

2023-11-14T13:30:35+00:00

Eva Muhia is a Kenyan WASH entrepreneur and advocate who started her career manufacturing and supplying detergent to schools and institutions then progressively transitioned to WASH. She is the founder and owner of Varet products and Global sanitation environmental programme a NGO focused on advocating for sanitation and menstrual hygiene management. She is also the vice president of PASA and a appointed member of the Nairobi rivers commission.

Root causes of Gender-Based Violence amongst Drought Affected Communities of Musenke Sub-Location, Kajiado County

2023-10-31T13:43:38+00:00

For a long time , the pastoral community of Musenke Sub-Location in Kajiado County has faced myriad of challenges. These challenges are directly and indirectly attributed to changes in weather pattern, under-development, marginalization, government neglect and harmful cultural/societal practices. Such causative factors have resulted to multiple other problems affecting health, gender equality, education, economic status and use of land. In order to better understand the root causes of gender-based violence (GBV) in this community Spring of the Arid and Semi-arid Lands (SASAL) recently conducted a study.

Is Mass Media the High Road to Behaviour Change?

2023-11-10T11:59:15+00:00

“More people have cell phones than toilets”. This oft-repeated statement reminds us of two flabbergasting issues. There are billions of people who still don’t have access to improved sanitation, and that unguided technological advancement drives strange developmental priorities. What is critical is that the disproportion comes at great risk for many. Nearly one million people are killed by water, sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases every year.

“Uncomfortable truths: How Shit Flow Diagrams expose the gaps in urban sanitation systems – and help to close them” (Teaser)

2023-07-17T13:06:50+00:00

“Looking back, one can almost pinpoint the moment when the urban sanitation orthodoxy in Lusaka, Zambia began to falter. It involved a diagram, compact enough to fit on a single sheet of paper, featuring roughly a dozen red and green lines of varying thickness which snaked their way across the page.