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Looking to cell phones to deliver aid in [Niger]
Wall Street Journal -- After a crisis, aid workers have found that giving a limited amount of money to the poorest people can help them buy food and weather the storm. But especially in remote or unstable places, doling out cash can be a logistical challenge. Enter the mobile phone. Workers in Niger are testing a system that allows people to store credits on cell phones and transfer the money to vendors to buy things like millet and rice. It might sound more complicated or expensive than physically giving out money, but it doesn’t require things like armed guards and trucks regularly travelling hundreds of miles with bundles of cash…

Leaders accused of breaking their promises as AU talks start
Daily Nation -- African leaders have not kept their promises and are failing their citizens, according to a new report released today as Heads of State arrive in Kampala for the African Union summit. The “State of the Union” coalition is the first of its kind set up to monitor how African governments are delivering on their development commitments — from increasing investment in health care and agriculture to improving human rights and tackling corruption. Drawing on studies from 10 key AU nations, the report paints a picture of unfulfilled agreements, missed targets, and failure to invest in the development of the continent. Most of the landmark announcements made at previous AU Summits are far from being implemented. A scorecard issued with the report rated South Africa as the best performer of the 10, closely followed by Algeria, Egypt and Senegal, but it noted that all the governments have a lot more to do. Nigeria and Cameroon came last...

Why women are the economic backbone of Rwanda
CNN -- Six days a week Bernadette Ndizigiye puts her skillful hands to work. Stretched out on the floor of an empty classroom in Kigali, Ndizigiye and 20 other women weave baskets to earn their keep. Her job at the Agaseke Project, a government run cooperative, has earned Ndizigiye a steady wage, her first savings account, and a taste of financial empowerment. "I can pay school fees for my children. I can buy them clothes and food and when I go out to the street people can see that I am really smart," she said. Women like Ndizigiye are the economic backbone of today's Rwanda. The 1994 genocide left behind a population 70 percent female and when the bloodshed stopped it was women who picked up the pieces and started to rebuild...

Access to Water is Transforming Life in Rural Areas
allAfrica -- Kalla Niang, 12, is highly self assured and energetic. She is busily preparing herself for high school, an opportunity that, until recently, would not have been available to her. She lives in the village of Darou Ngaraf in northern Senegal. Like many girls in rural Senegal, Kalla and her sisters are responsible for many daily chores, including drawing water from a communal well that is located far from their village. "My sisters and I had to rise before dawn to fetch water, and we were very often late for school," she said. "We always arrived very tired because drawing and carrying water is not easy." Lack of energy and time for an education was not the only danger that Kalla and the other villagers faced by not having access to a reliable source of water. Drawing water from unregulated sources of water put them at risk of diarrhoea and malaria...

Lites
Fighting corruption with tattoos
Historic 200% Capital Increase Recommended for African Development Bank
AU, Nepad And AfDB Launch Reinvigorated PIDA in Kampala