Nigerian stakeholders get FPMAWG

NaijaAgroNet:

The Nigerian stakeholders have setting up the Family Planning Media Advocacy Working Group (FPMAWG) as part of efforts at advancing their commitments on issues of family planning in the country, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The FPMAWG executive committee includes Chioma Umeha – Chairperson, Angela Onwuzoo - vice chairperson, Mayuwa Adeniran – Public Relations Officer (PRO), Bukola Ajiboye – Secretary, Ijeoma Ukazu - Assistant Secretary, and Appolonia Adeyemi as Financial Secretary.

Setting up the FPMAWG in Lagos, the Associate Director of Reproductive Health and Family Planning (RH/FP) at Pathfinder International office in Nigeria, Dr. Habeeb Salami, defined advocacy as “organized, deliberate, systematic, and strategic process intended to bring about a new or revised social or economic policy or programme.”

He also said that advocacy involves setting of actions undertaken by a group of committed individuals or organizations to introduce change or obtain support for specific policies, programmes, legislation, issues or causes, precisely on Family Planning.

Salami urged FPMAWG to seek to draw and sustain the attention of critical decision makers at national, state and local and community levels on an issue of common interest to an individual, or a group of individuals or organizations, with the goal of getting these issues addressed in a mutually beneficial manner.

FPMAWG, he said, is a group of committed individuals who share a common social, political and economic interest over an issue.

“Willing to work together to change the FP situation,” he said.

Salami equally pointed out that advocacy groups could be very influential, but their influence is informal because they do not hold or control power, but try to influence people who either hold power or who may hold power, such as a candidate for an elective office, to support the positions the group is committed to.

“Advocacy groups are important players in local, state, federal, and even international social economic milieu,” he said, thus as diverse as the people and ideas they represent.

He urged for partnership with like-minded individuals or groups, noted that essentially, FPMAWG should advocate to national and local leaders that Family Planning needs high-level attention and improvements in quality and access.

Therefore, he encouraged FPMAWG to ensure the usage of the power of the media through deploying various platforms.

“Influence and make the political, policy, legal and community environments more suitable for FP,” he said.

Positing that qualities of a good and effective media AWG is predicated on the passion which he described as critical, even as membership is constituted from diverse team who are truly and genuinely committed to FP and willing to push for a change in that direction.

In her acceptance speech, the FPMAWG chairperson, Mrs Chioma Umeha assured stakeholders that her team will be up and doing in contributing their quotas to improved family planning in the country and solicited for support and understanding of all, especially the international partners.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Pix: A cross session of stakeholders at the inaugural meeting.

UN agencies, policy makers, private sector pool efforts

NaijaAgroNet:

The United Nations agencies, policy makers, private sector are pooling efforts  to boost sustainability of food security and nutrition, reports NaijaAgroNet.

This was contained in the latest report's findings, released in Bangkok at the Asia-Pacific Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition, recently.

The symposium has drawn some 250 parliamentarians, policy-makers, academicians, researchers, students, civil society, the private sector and development partners from countries across the region and beyond.

Experts will discuss policies and programmes that can enable better production, processing and distribution of food, as well as more effective ways to promote better nutrition and healthier diets. The symposium is convened by FAO in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the World Bank.

The symposium was opened by FAO's Special Goodwill Ambassador for Zero Hunger in the region, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, who called upon the participants to work together to find solutions. "The world has committed to zero hunger and improving nutrition as a key outcome of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. We must look at improving our current systems of production and patterns of consumption, and set a course of action."

The FAO report also highlighted a call for more innovations to stem food loss and food waste, in a cost-effective manner, which could also play an important part in improving overall food systems.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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LDRI supports AU efforts to end hunger, poverty, reduce inequality – Nyaggah

NaijaAgroNet:

The Local Development Research Institute (LDRI) has asserted support for the African Union (AU) member states in their efforts to end hunger, poverty and reduce inequality, reports NaijaAgroNet.

The Executive Director, LDRI, Mr. Muchiri Nyaggah made this known in Abidjan, Cote D’Iviore in a chat with NaijaAgroNet during a three-day workshop hosted by the Africa Media Initiative (AMI) in collaboration with World Bank.

He said that LDRI, which commenced operation in 2015, is an action-oriented think-tank whose work contributes to the efforts of African governments to end extreme poverty, end hunger and reduce inequalities.  

According to him, with 65 per cent of Africa’s labour force employed in the agriculture sector with estimation of contributing approximately 30 per cent of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), coupled with the increasing need to achieve food sufficiency for some 1.5 billion people by 2020, it is certain that agriculture will be pivotal to achieving these objectives.

LDRI, he said, focuses on the role of agricultural transformation in ending hunger, poverty and inequality especially the capability of states to have and use data/statistics in decision-making on the continent.

The strategic objectives of LDRI for the next four years, Nyaggah said, strengthening the Africa data ecosystem for planning, monitoring and review of interventions to drive agriculture transformation in Africa.

Also, he said, LDRI supports inclusive processes for evidence-driven policy on agriculture transformation in Africa and tend to build capacity of stakeholders to make their data openly accessible to others.

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Scientists drive efforts for cleaner energy

NaijaAgroNet:

Scientists have mapped the movement of electrical charge through a material known as a metal organic framework or ‘MOF’ to improve on cleaner energy efforts, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to scientists at The Manchester University, United Kingdom, MOF was designed to host charge in future vehicle fuel cells which offer a greener alternative to traditional combustion engines.

By using a combination of X-ray and neutron techniques, NaijaAgroNet gathered that scientists now have a better understanding of the flow of charge in the material, and could begin to design more efficient fuel cells in pursuit of cleaner energy.

NaijaAgroNet reports that fuel cells convert the chemical energy of a fuel into electricity by means of a chemical reaction, and there are a variety of fuel cells available, with polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells currently used most widely.

In addition, NaijaAgroNet gathered from experts that the performance of a fuel cell depends on the electrolyte, the porous material at the centre of the cell which controls the flow of charge - to boost its efficiency, hence scientists are developing smart membranes with new materials to produce more charge.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that a team from The University of Manchester linked up with others, including the University of Nottingham, have mapped the atomic structure and workings of the metal organic framework using intense X-rays at the UK’s Diamond Light Source ‘super-microscope.’

Media Relations Officer, The University of Manchester, Joe Paxton, told NaijaAgroNet that these scientists then used neutrons to map the flow of charge, known as proton conduction, in the material for the first time.

The results, also published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, found that the protons move freely within a sphere, rather than the more common ‘jump diffusion between sites’ mechanism. This new knowledge will enable the design of improved proton conducting materials by optimising the pathway that the protons take.

Drs Sihai Yang and Martin Schröder, group leaders from The University of Manchester, said, “The success of this work will not only create new knowledge on metal organic frameworks, but also enable the building of next generation fuel cells that operate at a wider temperature range and with higher efficiency. This will help bring this technology into a reality.”

Dr Claire Murray from Diamond Light Source, said “This represents really beautiful chemistry in a new and exciting area of research. Up until now, metal organic frameworks have been mainly used for gas absorption, but scientists hope to be able to exploit proton conductivity for the production of green energy fuel cells that can operate at high temperatures and in dry conditions. Because the X-rays we generate are so intense, researchers can reveal the structure of materials in very fine detail, enabling the detection of tiny changes that could impact on their performance.”

Now the team have cracked the mechanism behind proton conductivity in the material, they have returned to the laboratory to use this information to design and study new materials with increased conductivity.

Remmy Nweke/ED, Ops 

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