Inbox

Inbox

One in three young people not in work or education

© Matthius G. Ziegler / Shutterstock.com

© Matthius G. Ziegler / Shutterstock.com

Young people make up 40 per cent of global unemployment overall, according to a Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE) report.

They are also four times more likely to be unemployed than adults, and unemployment is ten per cent higher for young women than young men.

A third of the world’s young people are not in employment, education or training, sometimes referred to as NEET. In some countries, many of the unemployed are highly educated but lack vocational skills. Meanwhile, one in four young people are unable to find jobs with salaries above the global extreme poverty line, or US$1.25 per day.

The report cautions that young people’s exclusion from the labour force will contribute to inequality, and warns: “Without a renewed sense of purpose and action from us all, our good intentions outlined in the [United Nations’] Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will ultimately wither – and a generation will be lost.”

S4YE also reports that only 40 per cent of young people expected to enter the job market within the next ten years will be able to obtain jobs that currently exist.

To keep employment rates stable, the global economy will need to generate 600 million jobs over the next decade, or about five million jobs per month.

S4YE cites the financial crisis and global recession as being among primary causes for youth unemployment.

Zimbabwe’s poachers turn to cyanide to kill elephants

Forty elephants were found dead from cyanide poisoning in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park in October.

The Bhejane Trust and the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, which works with the parks agency on animal monitoring and welfare, says that park rangers found the carcasses in two separate locations.

Fourteen tusks were recovered from the elephants, according to parks spokeswoman Caroline Washaya Moyo. She says that poachers, who were responsible for the killings, left some of the tusks behind while they were trying to avoid rangers on patrol.

These are not the first poisonings. In 2013, as many as 300 Hwange park elephants were poisoned when poachers laced salt pans with cyanide.

Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri blames the US ban on Zimbabwean elephant sport hunting for the poaching increase.

“All this poaching is because of American policies, they are banning sport hunting. An elephant would cost $120,000 in sport hunting but a tourist pays only $10 to view the same elephant,” Muchinguri told Associated Press.

Funds from sport hunting, she said, are important for conservation efforts.

Local NGOs ‘starved of funds’

© Chameleon’s Eye Shutterstock.com

© Chameleon’s Eye Shutterstock.com

Local NGOs should receive a greater proportion of international aid funding, as they are often better positioned to deliver effectively on the ground, an aid summit in Geneva heard.

Speaking at the World Humanitarian Summit in October, Stephen O’Brien, the UN humanitarian affairs chief, said: “In Syria, the Arab Red Crescent risk their lives every day to help. In West Africa, during the Ebola outbreak, community leaders succeeded, where international actors had failed, to persuade local communities to change traditional burial practices and help to end the transmission of the disease.”

He told the conference that more than 60 million people around the world have been forced to abandon their homes due to violence and persecution this year, half of whom are children.

At the moment, less than two per cent of all humanitarian funding is given to local NGOs, with the vast majority going to big international organisations.

One source from a local NGO told the Guardian: “Without money, without funding, we are so constricted.

“We are told persistently that the main issue is risk aversion, accountability, corruption. But you can’t do risk management without funding.”

Gareth Price-Jones, senior humanitarian policy and advocacy co-ordinator at Care International, tweeted during the conference: “That’s a critical question – how do you channel $2–5bn to local actors? millions of small grants? bigger risk appetite?”

Summit chief Jemilah Mahmood welcomed a proposal for 20 per cent of funding to go to local NGOs.

Brothers build own web browser

Brothers Anesi and Osine Ikhianosime, aged 13 and 15, have built a web browser that can act as a faster alternative to Google Chrome.

Their creation, Crocodile Browser Lite, has a shorter loading time than Chrome and is better-suited for a broad spectrum of smartphones. The two boys, who hail from Nigeria, had learned to code shortly beforehand, having taught themselves using resources from their school – Greensprings School, part of Anthony Campus, Lagos – and other tools.

Anesi told the website Black Media Scoop: “I learnt to code by myself. I started in 2013, I used sites like Code Academy, Code Avenger and books like Android for Game Development and Games for Dummies”.

A key trait of the boys’ new browser is its ability to run efficiently on lower-end smartphones, whereas Chrome tends to work well only on higher-end models. This could make Crocodile Browser Lite a useful tool for smartphone users in the developing world, where expensive phones are less common.

At the ages of seven and nine, the boys had aspirations of starting their own technology company, and decided to name it Doors – taking inspiration from Microsoft’s Windows. Later discovering the name was taken, they re-dubbed their company Blu Doors, which stuck.

Crocodile Browser Lite is available through Google Play, and currently has more than 50,000 downloads. The boys hope to see that number grow.

Bronze Age warrior discovered in Greece

© Olecorre CC BY-SA 3.0

© Olecorre CC BY-SA 3.0

Archaeologists have uncovered the grave of a Bronze Age warrior in Greece, who was buried around 1500 BC.

Excavations at the ancient city of Pylos, led by a team from the University of Cincinnati in the USA, led to the discovery of the body of a 30-35 year old man with a metre-long bronze sword and a collection of gold jewellery.

The grave was uncovered because it was close to the site of an ancient palace, though the warrior’s remains are several centuries older than the nearby building.

The archaeologists were astonished that the grave had not been discovered earlier, particularly since the top of the walls surrounding it were at ground level.

“It is indeed mind-boggling that we were first,” Jack L. Davis, one of the lead archeologists, told the New York Times. “I’m still shaking my head in disbelief. So many walked over it so many times, including our own team.”

News in brief

Academy breaks silence over deaths

The Sahitya Akademy, India’s leading literary body, has condemned multiple recent killings of writers, after protesters surrounded its headquarters frustrated by the academy’s previous silence. Government investigators say that Hindu extremists were responsible for at least two of the murders.

Sun-powered school

George Mtemahanji is a finalist for the Anzisha Prize, which recognises young entrepreneurs who bring positive change to their communities, for his solar energy venture in rural Tanzania. Mtemahanji, 22, and a friend teamed up with a Swiss organisation to build a solar energy system at an Ifakara school.

Venezuela proposes economic zone

The Venezuelan President discussed the idea of an economic zone for the Caribbean and Latin America at a recent bilateral meeting in St George’s, Grenada. Both countries want to improve food security and reduce reliance on expensive imports.

US ‘witch’ takes ‘warlock’ to court

Lori Sforza, who claims to be a witch priestess and runs a witchcraft shop as well as a pagan church in Salem, Massachusetts, USA, is filing for protection against Christian Day, accusing him of harassment. Day, whose website proclaims is the ‘world’s best-known warlock’, is a former business partner of Sforza’s.

Indigenous sport

The inaugural World Indigenous Games took place in Palmas, Brazil in October.  The United Nations-backed event saw athletes from indigenous groups in New Zealand, Australia, Mongolia, Russia, and across North and South America, among others, compete in various sports.

COMMENTS: (0)

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Amnesty International