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Gambian women fleeing female genital mutilation threat – The Point Newspaper, Banjul, The Gambia

September 5, 2013

Peter Singhatey Uncategorized Africa, FGM, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Gambian women fleeing female genital mutilation threat – The Point Newspaper, Banjul, The Gambia

via Gambian women fleeing female genital mutilation threat – The Point Newspaper, Banjul, The Gambia.

Fear of female genital mutilation (FGM) is grounds for seeking asylum in the UK, but campaigners say that hundreds of women have had such applications rejected. Newsnight’s Sue Lloyd-Roberts spoke to two women from The Gambia whose applications failed, and travelled to their home country to test their cases on the ground….

Modern life means children miss out on pleasures of reading a good book | Books | The Observer

July 9, 2013

Peter Singhatey Education Education, People & Society, peter singhateh, Research Leave a comment

Modern life means children miss out on pleasures of reading a good book | Books | The Observer

via Modern life means children miss out on pleasures of reading a good book | Books | The Observer.

Hulton Getty

Reading for pleasure is declining among primary-age pupils, and increasing numbers of “time poor” parents are dropping the ritual of sharing bedtime stories with their children once they start school.

Research presented to the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield last week found that, while parents read to pre-schoolers, this later tails off, and by the final year of primary school only around 2% read to their children every day. Once children can read competently, parents tend to step back, and this usually happens at the age of seven or eight.

The report, entitled Is Children’s Reading a Casualty of Modern Life?, also found that 82% of teachers blame the government’s “target-driven” education policies for the fact that fewer children are reading for pleasure…

Fighting female genital mutilation in Africa – Features – Al Jazeera English

June 18, 2013

Peter Singhatey African Center for Strategic Studies Africa, FGM, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh, WHO Leave a comment

Fighting female genital mutilation in Africa – Features – Al Jazeera English.

On the International Day of the African Child, the suffering caused by female genital mutilation is under the spotlight with the controversial practice widely condemned by rights and health organisations.

According to the World Health Organisation , there are about 140 million girls and women around the world currently living with the consequences of the practice. The majority of these females are in Africa, where it is routinely done in 28 countries.

An estimated 101 million girls 10 years old and above have undergone varying forms of genital mutilation in Africa. A study by child rights and development organisation Plan International in Mali in 2010 found more than half of all fathers and one-third of mothers wanted their girls excised…

The curious case of Africa’s Progress and the missing Millennium Development Goals – By Susana Edjang | African Arguments

May 21, 2013

Peter Singhatey Articles on Africa Africa, Gambia, MDGs, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

The curious case of Africa’s Progress and the missing Millennium Development Goals – By Susana Edjang | African Arguments.

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that have driven the global development agenda, since September 2000, when Kofi Annan, then Secretary-General of the United Nations, and 191 member states surprised the world by unanimously agreeing and making, the Millennium Declaration.

The Millennium Declaration was both a surprising and encouraging outcome for global progress. Not long before the Millennium Declaration was signed, just the previous year, 1999, world leaders failed to launch “the Millennium Round” of trade negotiations during the Word Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Seattle. High, middle- and low-income countries could not find it in themselves to agree a global trade agenda that would benefit citizens in rich and poorer countries. In contrast, the MDGs were aspirational and unanimously adopted. They presented a vision of the world very difficult to disagree with; a world with less hunger; with education for all, without unnecessary deaths of women and children from diseases and misfortunes that could easily be prevented. Despite this rosy picture, however, the MDGs faced criticism from the start. They were criticised for being too driven by a pro-aid agenda favoured by the “Triad” — the United States, Europe and Japan — that with support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) had pushed through the Millennium Declaration. Through aid disbursed to achieve the MDGs, these donor groups were said to increase their influence over national policies in aid recipient countries…

Children who walk to school ‘are ahead of the rest’

April 30, 2013

Peter Singhatey Irish News Education, Exercise, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

Children who walk to school ‘are ahead of the rest’ – Family News & Advice | Parenting, Marriage & Kids | The Irish Tim – Tue, Apr 30, 2013.

Post Celtic tiger, walking to school might seem a nice alternative to being dropped at the gates daily in a gleaming 4×4. But apart from the obvious physical benefit of a bit of basic exercise, is there another advantage to making our children exercise their bodies? Apparently so. It also helps them exercise their brains.

A recent Dutch study of 20,000 children aged 5-19 proved that those who cycled or walked to school performed better on tests demanding concentration, the effects of which lasted up to four hours after they began the school day.

The study showed that the impact of early morning exercise was greater than the effect of diet – including a good breakfast. But more than the short-term impact of improved concentration, the research showed that the cumulative effect of walking or cycling to school was the equivalent to someone half a year further on in their studies…

BBC News – UK Peace Index highlights rate of fall in violent crime

April 25, 2013

Peter Singhatey Uncategorized Peace & Security, People & Society, peter singhateh, UK Peace Index Leave a comment

BBC News – UK Peace Index highlights rate of fall in violent crime.

For its inaugural index, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), which defined peace as “the absence of violence or fear of violence”, used Home Office data on crime, such as public disorder offences and weapons crime, and police officer numbers.

It found the violent crime rate was down by about one quarter – from 1,255 per 100,000 people in 2003, to 933 in 2012. This was a more rapid fall than the average decrease across western Europe for that period – although not more rapid than all other European countries, as was stated in earlier reports on the BBC News website.

These reductions came despite a 6% drop in the number of police officers per 100,000 people, it said…

British Dairy Farmer Creates Pure Milk Vodka | TIME.com

April 12, 2013

Peter Singhatey Health People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

British Dairy Farmer Creates Pure Milk Vodka | TIME.com.

While U.K. retailers are rationing baby milk powder and breast milk is being turned into jewelry, it seems that milk in all forms is proving to be a hot commodity. And now one British dairy farmer is using the white stuff to make vodka.

Jason Barber has created the world’s first pure milk vodka from a herd of 250 grass-grazed cows at his farm in West Dorset, England, according to the Daily Mail.
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/04/12/british-dairy-farmer-creates-pure-milk-vodka/#ixzz2QEfNeSEo

It’s time for gender to be integrated into every level of the development process – By Thembi Mutch | African Arguments

March 27, 2013

Peter Singhatey Articles on Africa Africa, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh Leave a comment

It’s time for gender to be integrated into every level of the development process – By Thembi Mutch | African Arguments.

Without a mainstreaming of women in the development process, we’ll just go round in circles. It’s getting boring now: the endless TV footage of men in suits making decisions about women in Africa. We need a change.

In the immigration office in Tanzania, Lydia, a mid level civil servant says, “Look around us: I can say there are no female managers here. The problem is not just gender discrimination, it is favouritism. You get a management job here if you are friend or family of the president. Merit and brains are not rewarded, especially not if you are female, in` fact they are regarded as problems – you’re less easy to manipulate.”