United Nations Development Programme

• The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), the leading philanthropy empowering young African entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries, has announced the successful entrepreneurs in its tenth selection for the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme.
• The Tony Elumelu Foundation has disbursed US$100,000,000 directly to young African entrepreneurs, who have created over 400,000 direct and indirect jobs, contributing significantly to Africa's economic growth and development.
• Since inception in 2010, the Tony Elumelu Foundation has pioneered an innovative approach to seeding, capacitising and networking young entrepreneurs across Africa.
• To learn more about the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme "Decade of Impact" please see here ( https://apo-opa.co/3IULYeS ).

• There are conflicting figures about its population but it is home to about a million inhabitants living in poor and informal housing built on the Lagos Lagoon.
• The incentives distributed in Makoko by the government (such as fishing nets and powered engines) go mostly to the men.
• I was interested in how the women managed to keep their businesses going without much education, information or financial support.
• Understanding this could be useful in designing ways to help them, and others like them, to improve their lives.

Surviving challenges that keep Makoko women down

• One hundred women in the Otodo Gbame and Oko Agbon fishing communities within Makoko and the nearby Asejere fish market participated in the study.
• The education levels of the women interviewed ranged from no formal education to 12 academic years (secondary education).
• Among the women with no formal education, 51% were fisherwomen, 30% were fish processors, and 19% were fish traders.
• The women reported often being bullied by their husbands to hand over their money, or having to hide it from them.
• Most of the women were financially constrained by inadequate working capital to pursue their fish business and insufficient state support.

Pathways that can work for Makoko women fisherfolk

• Formal and informal cooperatives or associations could be registered, making it easier to get recognition and support from the state.
• For this to work effectively, members would have to follow their cooperative’s particular social values, objectives and rules about loan repayment.
• For example, I have observed a UN Development Programme which succeeded in boosting agricultural productivity by providing skills training to women.
• Improving access to financial capital and the social well-being of women fisherfolk should also focus on the limiting or harmful gender norms and relations deeply rooted in culture.

Ayodele Oloko receives funding from Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) -German Academic Exchange Service.

• With its temperate, semi-humid continental monsoon climate, the Yellow River Delta is an important stop for millions of migratory birds.
• Wignaraja also praised the bird and wetland preservation efforts undertaken by Dongying, where the Yellow River flows into the Bohai Sea.
• One of the measures taken is increasing funds to support ecological restoration projects regarding water supplements, cordgrass treatment, and offshore biodiversity conservation.
• The birdwatching season event, which spans for nearly two months, includes a photography competition, a birdwatching competition and conferences focusing on biodiversity and bird protection.

• The sixth CIIE, like previous editions, comprised the Business Exhibition, the Country Exhibition, the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, a slew of supporting activities as well as people-to-people cultural exchange events.
• The sixth CIIE also welcomed over 750 trade missions.
• The sixth Hongqiao International Economic Forum, which included 22 sub-forums, had a record attendance of more than 8,000 participants.
• So far, more than 100,000 square meters of exhibition area has already been booked for the seventh CIIE in 2024.