By Charlie B Chilufya, S.J. On 8th March 2022, JENA, through its affiliate member organisation, the Zimbabwe-based Jesuit NGO, Silveira House, met with the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee of the Zimbabwean Parliament in Harare to discuss some of the best ways African countries like Zimbabwe could employ to fully benefit from the recent Special...
Category: Governance
Post
A Missed Opportunity? The Timid Outcome of the 2022 African Union-European Union Summit
Fernando C. Saldivar, S.J. The Sixth African Union – European Union (AU-EU) Summit concluded in Brussels on 18 February 2022 after two days of deliberations between leaders from the two continents. Given that this marked the first occasion for AU and EU heads of state to come together since 2017 there were high hopes on...
Post
JENA Lauds Donor Nations’ Support
Press Release The Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network – Africa (JENA) has welcomed the international community’s generous gesture to support poorer countries’ recovery efforts in the wake of the prolonged COVID-19 crisis. On Wednesday last week, the World Bank announced a $93 billion replenishment package of the International Development Association (IDA) to help low-income countries respond to the COVID-19 crisis and build a greener, more resilient, and inclusive future. “The donor contribution to the IDA,...
Post
Omicron: Holy Anger from Africa!
By Charles B. Chilufya, S.J A couple of days ago, the champion of justice ,equity and humanity, Dr. Ayoade Alakija of the African Union’s Vaccine Delivery Alliance expressed the anger that so many of us are feeling in the face of this predictable moral failure by nations to do what can easily be done to eliminate the coronavirus. She was...
Post
COP26: Final Hours’ Scramble for a Deal
By Charles B. Chilufya, S.J The COP26 climate talks are about to close today, in less than a couple hours, after two weeks of deliberating, negotiating, and a bit of protesting. Negotiators are still scrambling for a final deal. A draft deal was published this morning but negotiators are still at it to settle on an agreement....
Post
Financing Climate Change Adaptation – A Critical Piece of the COP26 Puzzle
By Fernando C. Saldivar, S.J. World leaders are currently gathered in Glasgow, Scotland for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference. It is no exaggeration to say that COP26 is the most important multilateral conference on the environment in a generation and may represent our last chance to collectively address climate change through mitigation and...
Post
COP 26: Please Open Your Hearts!”
Charles B. Chilufya, S.J. “Please open your hearts…” so went the strong and passionate call from the 26-year-old Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Muthuti as she spoke to the world leaders yesterday on the first day of the world leaders’ summit of the COP 26 hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. She moved our hearts to...
Post
Can COP-26 Integrate Economics, Development, Climate and Global Justice?
By Charles B. Chilufya, SJ As nations start an important conversation on climate in Glasgow starting today, Monday 1st November, we are worried that conversations around climate action and development often take place in silos and are often driven by myopic economic and national interest. Climate action and development and even poverty eradication are inextricably...
Post
COP26: Can this be an Opportunity for African Countries to Shape the Climate Agenda?
Charles B. Chilufya, S.J. There is every hope that 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) will go beyond the usual rhetoric we have seen from previous meetings as countries prepare to launch an adaptation goal and adopt strategies for achieving such a goal. Can this also be an opportunity for African countries...
Post
Small Country, Big Voice – The Gambia at the Frontier of International Human Rights Litigation
Fernando C. Saldivar, S.J. Global Policy and Advocacy Officer – Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA) The Gambia is the smallest country within mainland Africa, entirely surrounded by Senegal with the exception of its western coast on the Atlantic Ocean. From east to west it extends approximately 330 km and less than 50 km...
The Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network Africa (JENA) is a diverse community of faith-inspired Jesuit NGOs, also known as Social Centre’s, related Jesuit Institutions, individual Jesuit peace and development activists and scholars driven by a vision of a just, poverty-free, peaceful and ecologically regenerative Africa.