By Janet Deutsch Public Affairs Officer  Lusaka — On October 12, 2017, the Embassy of the United States of America awarded $55,000 to six Zambian community-based organizations through the U.S. Embassy Community Investment small grant program.  The grants will expand economic opportunities and improve the standard of living in communities in four provinces. At the signing ceremony which took place at the Embassy, U.S. Ambassador Eric Schultz recognized the commitment and leadership of the grantee organizations working to improve the lives of community members through sustainable projects that also bolster food security and sustainable development locally.  He stated the U.S. Embassy...

Blaming just the teacher or the school for systemic educational problems can have serious negative side effects, warns a new report from the United Nations educational agency. “Education is a shared responsibility between us all – governments, schools, teachers, parents and private actors,” said Irina Bokova, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in a press release. “Accountability for these responsibilities defines the way teachers teach, students learn, and governments act. It must be designed with care and with the principles of equity, inclusion and quality in mind,” she added. The report, titled Accountability in education: meeting...

    Lusaka, Wednesday, 25th October, 2017-The Drug Enforcement Commission in Western Province has arrested one person for unlawful cultivation and trafficking in cannabis contrary to the laws of Zambia. Bob Musialela Nosiku, 31, of Namakena Village in Limulunga District has been arrested for trafficking in forty-three balls of dry loose cannabis weighing 1.84 kilogrammes and cultivation of cannabis plants weighing 500.2 kilogrammes in a field behind his house. Meanwhile, the Commission in Southern Province has arrested Kineta Chigwagwa, a female small scale farmer of unknown age, in Ndongo Village of Kalomo District for trafficking in 165 kilogrammes of loose cannabis....

Unless progress is accelerated, ending child marriage in West and Central Africa will take more than 100 years, with far-reaching, life-altering consequences for millions of child brides and crippling impact on the region’s prosperity, the United Nations children’s agency has said. A new report released Monday from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Achieving a future without child marriage: Focus on West and Central Africa, reveals that, due to rapid population growth and high prevalence of child marriage, even if the current decline rate was doubled, it would not suffice to reduce the annual number of girls married. “We cannot continue to...

18 Sep 2017 – Speakers: Mr. Richard Lui, (Broadcaster, NBC News), Ms. Rosiland Jordan, (UN Correspondent, Al Jazeera), Ms. Hiroko Kuniya, (Special SDGs Editor in chief, The Asahi Shimbun) Moderator: Ms. Alison Smale, (UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications) The SDG Media Zone aims to engage people all over the world in the important conversations happening during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly in New York from 18-22 September. Bringing together well-known personalities and Member States as well as content creators, influencers and media partners, the SDG Media Zone will provide a dynamic space to strengthen the commitment of...