My Ghana Electronic Desk

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Policymakers, businesses, CSOs and partners joined the Council on Health Research and Development Group (COHRED), to stimulate research and innovation for health and development last week, from April 24 to April 26, 2012 in Cape Town, South Africa. In a three-day discussion dubbed Forum 2012 on the theme, “ Beyond aid...research and innovation as key drivers of health, equity and development’ panellists – including Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology, South Africa, deliberated on how systems can be put in place to help countries design their own effective and self-sustaining health and development solutions through research and innovation. According to a press release on the forum, Minister Naledi Pandor, started the discussion by highlighting how investment into health research is important, not only for the African continent, but for the global community. It quoted her as citing the alarming presence of tuberculosis throughout the world

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Rev. K.O. Appianing launching the Fund while the District Youth Leader applauds The Russia Worship Centre assembly, Dansoman Area of the Church of Pentecost in Accra, has launched an empowerment fund, to address issues of unemployment and the lack of proper education among the church’s youth. The two main objectives of the fund are to support the education of brilliant but needy students as well as the acquisition of employable skills by needy persons in the church. In an overview of the fund during its launch in Accra April 22, 2012, the youth leader of the church, Elder Attah Arhin, said it is targeted at brilliant but needy students in primary schools, Junior High schools, Senior High schools and tertiary institutions as well as employable skills trainees, youth in viable trades and youth in apprenticeship. He explained that the decision to set up the fund, was informed by the fact that although over 60% of the church’s 1,000 member congregation

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE A KIA Rio fuel efficient car Commemoration of this year’s World Environment Day (WED) to be led by Brazil the host country, has been launched with five cars offered for grabs for holding the five best activities and projects during the day. For this year’s WED themed Green Economy: Does it include you? , which is the single biggest day for positive action on the environment worldwide, held on June 5 every year, people across the world have been challenged to pledge an environmental activity for the day, and help break the record for the greatest number of activities registered in WED’s four decade history. According to a press release issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) last week, the five fuel-efficient cars unveiled by Goodwill Ambassadors Gisele Bündchen, Don Cheadle and other celebrities, have been donated by KIA and will be awarded to the best WED projects from five categories. These are People , for the biggest number of

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), yesterday April 23, 2012, launched an inaugural Global Food Policy Report, the first in a new annual series in Washington D.C. USA. The Report provides a comprehensive overview of major policy changes at the global, regional, national, and local levels, as well as their significance for food and nutrition security. It also makes the case for keeping food policy issues high on the global agenda and can serve as a reference to policymakers and stakeholders as they undertake discussions on global development. Announcing the maiden food policy through   a press release, the IFPRI said although in 2012 there will be continued high and volatile food prices, increased oil prices, the threat of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change such as drought in the Sahel, and financial crises in the US and Europe - all of which have and will continue to affect the food and nutrition security of the p

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTEThe New Partnership for Africa’s Development Planning and Coordinating Agency (NEPAD Agency), as part of implementation of the second phase of the African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (ASTII) Initiative, will from April 23 to 27 hold a training workshop. Being organised in collaboration with the South African Department of Science and Technology through the HSRC’s Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (CeSTII) and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), the workshop will be held at the Southern Sun Newlands Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa. Participants to the workshop have been drawn from close to 40 African countries and will include experts from Ministries responsible for Science and Technology and National Statistical Offices. Announcing the workshop through a press release issued April 19 in Johannesburg, the NEPAD Agency said it will focus on training in the production of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) ind

BY EDMUND SMITH-ASANTE Ghana’s former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, will be chairing the second Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) High Level Meeting at the World Bank in Washington, DC, USA, scheduled for Friday, April 20, 2012. Ex-President Kufuor is leading the august meeting, by virtue of the fact that he is the current Chair of the SWA Partnership which is at the forefront of the meeting. Commenting on Friday’s meeting, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, said “The dream of universal access to sanitation and water is within our reach, but it will require a tremendous increase in political will, adequate resources and coordinated efforts to get us there.” The biennial meeting, which is geared towards tackling the world’s sanitation and water headaches at the highest governmental level, was first held on April 23, 2010 in Washington. The ministers meeting in Washington and the SWA partners are thus hoping that the 2012 meeting will build upon the success of the first High Level M