|
|
The Millennium Development Goals have created a hype of excitement and activity in various countries from individual activism, civil society action, and corporate sector response right through to government activity. While it is positive that this template is being upheld now at virtually all levels of socio-economic development globally, some critics still maintain the roadmap is Western-inspired and has absolutely no ownership in the developing world. As they maintain that the MDGs are just one of those prescriptive pseudo-solutions to problems in the developing world, it then becomes imperative for us as Africa to understand whether we really need them, or we should just rebate to our business as usual approach. Especially for the African continent, famed for high rates of poverty, disease and general human suffering, it is important to be able to answer to the questions on why the MDGs and where they fit into our context? So what exactly are we saying about the issues at stake in Africa, or is anything at stake anyway?
Below are a few cases of African stories on what the issues are, and immediately afterwards, the next best thing would be to try and respond to the question as to whether or not the Millennium Development Goals are really needed in the African context, or we also should add our voices to the purported irrelevance and inadequacy critics have accused the MDGs of inherently possessing. You be the judge:
Case 1
In a small village in remote Malawi
The 13-year-old struggles to free herself from the grip of her parents and a few other relatives. They are too strong, however, and soon she is pinned to the ground. They watch as an elderly businessman subdues and rapes her. The schoolgirl’s assailants had gagged her when she tried to shout for help and her parents threaten to kill her if she dares return home. Confused and helpless, she watches her relations bid farewell to the smiling businessman. He has just sealed a deal making the child his wife. It turns out that the “marriage” had been arranged as payment for 4,000 Kwacha (US$36) that her parents owed the man.
The two parties had agreed that the old man have sex with their daughter and even marry her if she so wished. The schoolgirl had escaped the old man’s attention before and fled back home, where she begged her parents to let her continue going to school. She was forcibly returned to the man’s home, her parents this time making sure she would stay.
What are the issues? – The girl’s rights: The right to marry and found a family (Banjul charter Art 18. CEDAW Art. 16, political covenant (Art. 23).”Protection of maternal health is central to enjoyment of family life; the protection of daughters from early marriages, states must provide protection to vulnerable women”.
Adapted from www.africanwomn.net
Case 2
A Slum in Harare, Zimbabwe
“… poverty is leading us young women into casual sex with older man for food and money for survival. I have a child whose father I don’t even know, I met the man at a bar one night at one of the nearby farms, he offered me money in exchange for unprotected sex with him. I had no other choice since I wanted money, and so I obliged. All this was happening in the dark since the place has no electricity. We slept together in some shelter that had no lighting that night, and as soon as we were done the man left. I then became pregnant with a child whose father I will certainly never know.” Extract from an interview with a young slum-dwelling woman
“Lack of proper humane living standards here has increased cases of spread of infectious illnesses because of overcrowding and lack of proper sanitation facilities. Our things are also not secure, hence lots of thefts here. There is also no access to adequate medical assistance as there is only a mobile clinic unit that comes here once a week. We are in dire need of affordable medical assistance”. Extract from interview with a community leader in the slum
What are the issues? Poverty, increasing indulgence in risk-taking behaviour, inadequate health provisions, absence of humane shelter, lack of household security.
Case 3
Current studies estimate maternal rates at 1,300 for every 100,000 live births. Maternal mortality refers to women who die in pregnancy and childbirth. One out of every 200 adolescent girls is also likely to die from complications of motherhood and unwanted pregnancies
District just outside Nairobi, Kenya
Florence Nafula, an attendant at Naivasha Hospital, some 90km west of Nairobi, reported that a 12-year old in the town recently gave birth after her sister’s husband made her pregnant. Her mother refused to sue the man because she felt that her son in-law might divorce her elder daughter and leave her with children to take care of.
What are the issues? Sexual exploitation of the girl-child, disempowerment of women to sustainably contribute to the household income (feminization of poverty).
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
charlton c tsodzo
This user has not written anything in his panorama profile yet.
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
