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04 April 2024
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Story Lunga Luthuli
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Photo SUPPLIED
Dr Juliet Kamwendo champions gender-inclusive climate action in Africa. Her expertise at the recently held AFR100 workshop highlighted vital steps towards sustainable and equitable development.
Dr Juliet Kamwendo, Lecturer and Programme Director for Gender Studies in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State, is spearheading efforts to integrate gender considerations into Africa's climate restoration agenda. Reflecting on her involvement, Dr Kamwendo stated, "This is particularly crucial, as women make up almost 50% of the population in Africa, and the depletion and degradation of land affect them disproportionately."
She recently served as a gender expert at the AUDA-NEPAD AFR100 workshop in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 25 to 29 March 2024. This initiative aims to restore forests and degraded land across Africa by 2030, with a focus on gender equality.
The workshop emphasised the integration of gender perspectives into the AFR100 project, acknowledging the disproportionate impact of land degradation on women. Dr Kamwendo's expertise highlighted the need to empower women in climate change interventions, addressing existing gender inequalities exacerbated by environmental degradation.
“Women – who are primarily responsible for household food security and water provision – bear the brunt of environmental degradation, leading to increased workloads, reduced income opportunities, and heightened vulnerability to climate-related disasters. Furthermore, the loss of forest cover and biodiversity further exacerbates the challenges faced by women, particularly in rural areas where they depend heavily on natural resources for their livelihoods,” added Dr Kamwendo.
Her participation highlights academia's crucial role in fostering inclusive and sustainable development, emphasising interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle complex environmental challenges. Through initiatives such as AFR100, stakeholders are working towards a more resilient and gender-responsive future for Africa.
Evolution of information and communication technology discussed as part of Darwin lecture series
2009-09-04
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Lectures on the evolution of the information and communication technology were recently presented by the University of the Free State's (UFS) Departments of Communication Science, Chemistry, Physics and Computer Science and Informatics. The lectures form part of the lecture series entitled The story of life and survival to celebrate 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin presented by the UFS, Central University of Technology (CUT) and the National Museum. The lectures focused on communication in a manufacturing environment, the knowledge explosion and the broadband universe. It was preceded by an exhibition and demonstrations of various information and communication technologies, which was visited by about 1 000 secondary learners from schools in and around Bloemfontein. Here are, from the back: Prof. Jorrie Jordaan, CUT, Prof. Pieter Meintjes, Department of Physics at the UFS, Prof. Jannie Swarts, Department of Chemistry at the UFS and Ms Mercia Coetzee, Department of Communication Science at the UFS.
Photo: Lacea Loader |