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By Paul Ndiho
January 3,2012

Mali has recently taken steps to its shea trees into wealth that will benefit millions. The fruit from these trees can be used to make soaps and other cosmetic products that are popular in foreign markets
Mamou Coulibaly and Fatumata Tangara know all about the benefits of the shea tree. Like thousands of other women in Mali they’ve been gathering its fruit for years, in order to produce soaps and other products. The Shea tree grows wild throughout this vast country but, here in Kimeni, it remains a source of natural wealth that is not being utilized to the fullest.
Women in Mali face many challenges in transporting the shea fruit to a place where it can be stored and processed.
Mamou is fortunate because she can borrow her husband’s cart, but others aren’t so lucky.

“If we could change anything, it would be the transport. Buying carts would be a great help.”
“One of our biggest constraints is we have nowhere to store the fruit at home.”
The challenges remain even after the Shea tree has been delivered to a processing center. Néné Traoré works in Segou in southern Mali at the “Sibulon Ba” co-operative.
This center uses 800 liters of water per day. And it all has to be pumped from the ground, 10 liters at a time, and carried to where the women work. It’s an energy sapping process and often leaves women too tired for the remaining labor intensive tasks.
“The two problems we are confronted with here are the water situation and the fact we have to mix everything by hand.”
A new project is seeking to help women become more productive, so they will be able to make the business more profitable. It’s run by the governments of Mali and Luxembourg in conjunction with UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. The center employs 20 women who process the Shea fruit gathered by more than 2500 women spread across 32 area villages. Just a year ago, the center could only produce 100 kilos of soap per day – now it can produce 600. And the emphasis is on quality as well as quantity: a better product means a better life for the workers.
“The soap has changed greatly. Before we didn’t know what was in it. Now we make soap that is purely vegetable, and we know that it is good for our health so we know what is going into it.”
Higher productivity means higher wages for the workers, allowing the women to spend more of their money where it matters most.
“Since taking this job my life has changed. When I wasn’t earning, my life depended on others. Now I earn my living I can organize and I am in control of my life.”
At this local school in Dioila the classes are full. More children are able to attend class if their parents are able to pay the required fees and don’t need to call on the young to work and assist the family financially.
“They no longer take their children out of school for domestic work. The family income has increased. They use all sorts of means so that they have enough money to live. Girls used to be withdrawn from school to produce the mill by hand. Now, with the mill machines, girls are no longer made to do it. They can study normally in class. In fact, they’re the best performers.”
The support given to the women outside the capital is part of a government policy to combat poverty in rural areas of the country.
“Women work with shea in all forms, from the north to the south and from the east to the west. Nowadays there’s a question of quality with shea that we are trying to improve that with the new techniques. “
The co-operative based in Dioila produces goods that are sold at this shop in Bamako. And it’s not just domestic consumers the project is targeting but they also have new client in France. Analysts are hoping that the more value the women of Mali can add to their product, the more profit they’ll be able to make. And if the improvements here can be duplicated across the country, many other women in Mali may have something in the future.

By Paul Ndiho
December 22, 2011
According to the United Nations, the Democratic Republic of Congo has the highest incident of domestic rape of any country in the world. A recent study finds that nearly two million women currently living in DRC have been raped. Now, a hard-hitting short film depicts rape, murder and mutilation in the Congo, but transposed to a white European setting, in order to shock people into taking a stance against conflict minerals in Africa.
The movie “Unwatchable” starts with a young blonde girl in a white dress, picking flowers next to a large country manor somewhere in rural England.
In the film, the characters are white and its plot – a gang of soldiers break into a posh country mansion, and proceed to rape, murder and mutilate.

It was made on behalf of the charity Save the Congo to illustrate the effects of the illegal minerals trade in DRC, and its associated horrors of war and violence.
“Essentially what Unwatchable does is that it brings the issues happening in the Congo into our homes and sitting rooms in Britain and across the world. It makes it much more personal. It kind of bridges the difference between, Africa, the Congo is seen as this distant place and this far away land. Issues happening in the Congo Africa simply doesn’t matter to people in Britain.”
Since its release, the film has prompted both complaints about its graphic content and praise for its uncompromising approach. Co-director Marc Hawker says that the scenes were so horrific, even the actors found them hard to film.
“It was a really hard film to make I mean the teenage girl was traumatized by what happened. I mean the whole crew when we filmed the rape scene, we filmed the rape scene in just one cut because that was all that anybody could take and we had a support group for the teenage girl, for the mother afterwards because we knew they would be pretty upset by what was going on. But the soldiers, the actors that played the soldiers as well were extremely upset.”
Hawker is quick to point out that the scenes played out in the film are a reality for hundreds of men, women and children who live in fear of the conflict engulfing their homeland.
More than eight years after the formal end of a war that killed millions and drew in six other African countries, rebel groups and the Congolese army continue to battle for control of mine sites deep in the hills of eastern Congo.
Tampa says he hopes people who watch the film will support global efforts to stop conflict minerals, cutting off money to rebel groups and helping bring peace to the region.
“If we can stop the blood mineral market, if Europe can essentially take measures that stop blood minerals from Congo entering in to the market that would affect the financial means of rebel leaders to buy weapons and other equipment to carry out their campaigns”.
In 2010, U.S. lawmakers took steps to force companies to disclose whether they use minerals such as gold or tungsten coming from places like the DRC. Electronics firms such as Apple and Hewlett Packard are not waiting to see the fine print in the law, and say they are no longer sourcing from the region, having launched their own industry drive against such conflict minerals.

By Paul Ndiho
December 14, 2011
A Ugandan company is turning what otherwise might end up in the trash into some very useful products, and quickly becoming the leading producer of environmentally-friendly products in the region.
For the conservation-minded, plastic bags are a blight on the environment causing waste in landfills and harmful pollution in the oceans. But ORIBAGS INNOVATIONS offers an eco-friendly alternative to the polythene bag. It manufactures a type of biodegradable paper bag, and other products from agricultural waste. Rusia Orikiriza is the CEO of Oribags Innovations.

“We are Liability Company meant for profit and we are into recycling of agricultural waste, such as banana fiber, pineapple waste, and everything that is regarded as waste as long as it’s not metal and aluminum. We do produce paper, its handmade paper and we craft the products like, eco bags, visitor’s books, art paper, every kind of cards and also being a social enterprise, we do community programs geared at helping women in the community.”
Orikiriza says her company turns agricultural by-products and other paper waste into decorative and professional paper stationery, manufactured in harmony with nature and personalized to the client’s needs.
“If we are making a paper bag, after drying the paper, we have to smoothen it because if it dries under normal sun, the paper will be very hard and strong and so we use rollers to smoothen it and make our paper smooth. Then after that we do the measurement according to the standard size of a client. And then after we’ve done that we do the printing because they must be personalized according to the clients address, logo, or a specific trendy word that you need on the Eco bag.”
Oribags have been recognized as eco-friendly by the United Nations Environmental Program and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. And its future in the competitive marketplace looks promising. Since its founding in 2008, the company has already substantially expanded its presence outside the local community.
“Currently we supply supermarkets and embassies which have already embraced the utilization of the Eco bags.”
Rusia Orikiriza’s innovative products are not only helping the environment, her company is helping empower women through skills development programs for entrepreneurs.

By Paul Ndiho
December 7, 2011
Uganda’s inflation rate has soared from single digits to more than 30 percent over the last few months, its highest level in years. Voice of America’s Paul Ndiho recently spoke with the central bank governor of Uganda, and asked him how the government is coping with the problem.
The International Monetary Fund had predicted solid economic growth for Sub-Saharan Africa this year. The IMF said Africa’s prospects were high, but a slowing global economy poses some risks. Analysts say that if the economic situation in high income countries continues to deteriorate significantly, sub-Saharan countries might be at risk. The Governor Central Bank of Uganda, Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, attributes his country’s soaring inflation to external events but says there is little he can do to tackle inflation.
“Inflation for the last seven months has been unusually high. We have not had this kind of inflation for fifteen years but it’s largely attributed to external shocks, in particular the sudden steep rise in world oil prices, as well as world food prices. These prices have caused inflation to rise to almost 20% which has not happened before. Because this inflation is external, so-called due to “supply shock,” central bank instruments cannot do anything about it.
Mutebile is regarded as an official who gives foreign investors confidence in Uganda. Appointed in 2001, he spearheaded reforms in Uganda’s troubled banking sector. He was recognized at this year’s “African Banker Awards” for being the architect of Uganda’s economic revival.

“They told me that I was Central Governor of the year, because of what I have done as the governor, for what I have done for the banking sector in general. It is the best news that has happened to Uganda’s banking system for a long time, in this award and I’m sure it will create a lot of confidence in the system.”

Tumusiime Mutebile has lived an eventful life in Uganda. In 1972, he was forced to flee the country after he gave a speech, publicly criticizing the expulsion of Asians from the country. His childhood friend and former schoolmate, Shaka Ssali, host of VOA’s flagship live TV Talk Show, Straight Talk Africa, describes Governor Mutebile as disciplined and hard working.
“What I can say frankly is that, if I can walk back in memory lane and see us sit in Kigezi High School Primary in Kabale. I’m not surprised when I look back, and I see him now as the Governor of the Ugandan Central Bank, the reason being very simple. Because, clearly even at that time, he was one of those kids that you would have said, he was most likely to succeed.”
Mr. Ssali says that he expected that Mr. Mutebile would become a top civil servant in Uganda.
“The only thing that surprises me about Mutebile frankly is that I should have expected him perhaps to be the President of the Republic of Uganda. Short of that, to be a Politician, Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs and ending up really serving people rather than being a civil servant.”
Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebil is serving his third term as the Governor of Bank of Uganda. In June 2011, he was quoted by the Financial Times News paper in a rare critic of President Museveni, saying Mr. Museveni continued embrace of “elements of Marxism” was undermining the economy. He says that the Ugandan government’s spending remains a serious problem.
“The biggest challenge is government spending. It’s not easy to keep the government’s spending in check, especially when you have every ministry wanting to spend left, right and center.”
Mutebile is cautiously optimistic about the discovery of oil in western Uganda, and says the resource could bring a relief to the struggling economy.
“When revenues start flowing, it will be a welcomed break from this period of no money. However, I must warn you that I don’t see this coming soon. The first oil in large quantities will not start flowing until about three years from now so we have three years to wait.

Mr. Mutebile has his critics in Uganda, some of whom are demanding his resignation following revelations that he authorized President Museveni to withdraw 744 million dollars to buy fighter jets and other hardware from Russia. Opposition lawmakers say the procurement required parliamentary approval.

By Paul Ndiho
November 30, 2011
Environmentalists say the African continent has warmed about half a degree Celsius over the last century. And some argue that Climate change is a key development issue for Sub-Saharan Africa given the region’s widespread poverty and unique geography. Earlier this year, The World Bank and other partners launched Connect 4 Climate (C4C) campaign, using the social media to reach out a community that cares about climate change. The goal is to raise awareness about climate change with a special focus on Africa. I recently talked to Teddy Ruge, Social Media strategist, connect 4 climate campaign.