RECYCLERS in the Vale of Glamorgan have been turning their tinfoil into trees.
The Vale council has become the first in Wales to sign up to a scheme which promises to grow fruit trees in Malawi.
The scheme aims to grow a fruit tree in the African country for every ton of aluminium drinks cans and foil recycled over the next two years.
The more Vale residents recycle, the more trees will be grown, with an overall target of 85,000 trees.
Recycling aluminium is good for the environment, because it is 20 times more efficient than making it from the raw material, bauxite.
Vale residents can recycle their aluminium cans at the kerbside by using the council’s free collection service which also enables them to recycle paper, glass, clean plastic and cardboard.
The initiative is being run by not-for-profit organisation Alupro, in partnership with British charity Ripple Africa. The scheme will help to tackle de-forestation and establish new businesses for fruit drying and juicing in Malawi.
About half the new trees – producing guava and paw paw fruits – will be grown from seed in 75 existing nurseries.
Ruth Meeke, of Alupro, said: “This is a very exciting development for the area, tackling three of the main problems people face – poverty, nutrition and deforestation.
“Growing high-value trees means that they will not be chopped down for firewood, which is a major cause of deforestation, leading to poor soil and crop failure.”
Councillor Rob Curtis, the Vale’s cabinet member for visible services, said: “All people have to do to make sure this all happens is to recycle all their aluminium drinks cans using the council’s free kerbside collection service and their foil in the special banks at our bring sites.”
Friday, 17 August 2007
IFC Investment, Advisory Services to Help Malawi’s NBS Bank Increase Lending to Smaller Businesses
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, announced today that it will work with Malawi’s NBS Bank on increasing lending to smaller businesses, which face difficulties in accessing credit across much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The $3 million loan is provided under an IFC program that boosts lending to smaller businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa by investing in and providing advisory services to local banks. Loans will be drawn from a finance facility of up to $200 million that has been approved by IFC’s Board for the entire program.
“NBS Bank constantly strives to offer an innovative range of products for our clients,” said John Biziwick, NBS Bank’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our collaboration with IFC will enable us to better serve micro, small, and medium enterprises and reach a larger number of businesses across Malawi.”
IFC is currently considering 20 banks in 17 African countries in the first round of the initiative. Each investment will be coupled with an extensive package of advisory services from consulting companies that IFC has selected based on their expertise in promoting lending to smaller firms. NBS is the second bank to work with IFC under the program, following an agreement in March 2007 with Burkina Faso’s Banque Agricole et Commerciale du Burkina.
IFC’s advisory services to NBS will focus on expanding the bank’s range of loan products, raising its credit risk management practices, and helping increase its reach to smaller businesses.
“Small and medium enterprises drive the economies of many African countries, and increasing support to them is one of IFC’s strategic priorities in the region,” said Thierry Tanoh, IFC Director for Sub-Saharan Africa. “Our support to NBS will help entrepreneurs in Malawi realize their potential and provide new opportunities for smaller businesses.”
“Limited access to finance is a key constraint to private sector growth in Africa, especially for smaller firms that have minimal influence on policy reform,” said Jyrki Koskelo, IFC Director for Global Financial Markets. “IFC is pleased to work with NBS to address some of these impediments, enabling smaller businesses to grow further and contribute more fully to economic development.”
The $3 million loan is provided under an IFC program that boosts lending to smaller businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa by investing in and providing advisory services to local banks. Loans will be drawn from a finance facility of up to $200 million that has been approved by IFC’s Board for the entire program.
“NBS Bank constantly strives to offer an innovative range of products for our clients,” said John Biziwick, NBS Bank’s Chief Executive Officer. “Our collaboration with IFC will enable us to better serve micro, small, and medium enterprises and reach a larger number of businesses across Malawi.”
IFC is currently considering 20 banks in 17 African countries in the first round of the initiative. Each investment will be coupled with an extensive package of advisory services from consulting companies that IFC has selected based on their expertise in promoting lending to smaller firms. NBS is the second bank to work with IFC under the program, following an agreement in March 2007 with Burkina Faso’s Banque Agricole et Commerciale du Burkina.
IFC’s advisory services to NBS will focus on expanding the bank’s range of loan products, raising its credit risk management practices, and helping increase its reach to smaller businesses.
“Small and medium enterprises drive the economies of many African countries, and increasing support to them is one of IFC’s strategic priorities in the region,” said Thierry Tanoh, IFC Director for Sub-Saharan Africa. “Our support to NBS will help entrepreneurs in Malawi realize their potential and provide new opportunities for smaller businesses.”
“Limited access to finance is a key constraint to private sector growth in Africa, especially for smaller firms that have minimal influence on policy reform,” said Jyrki Koskelo, IFC Director for Global Financial Markets. “IFC is pleased to work with NBS to address some of these impediments, enabling smaller businesses to grow further and contribute more fully to economic development.”
Malawi, UN embark on drug abuse programme in schools
Malawi and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) prevention on Friday embarked on a programme to train educators on how to stop drug abuse in the country’s public primary and secondary schools.
The aim of the programme is to reduce drug abuse and related HIV/Aids among young people in the country.
Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Ernest Malenga said in Lilongwe the drug problems to be addressed by the programme mentioned are related to the high incidents of drug abuse among the youth places the government considers a safe and disciplined learning environment.
"This is one of the critical elements to the successful delivery of quality education and ensures that drugs should not undermine the standards of quality education in Malawi," he said.
According to recent studies, primary and secondary students, as young as 11 years old, were busing drugs, with marijuana being the most popular substance of abuse, followed by alcohol.
The minister said the ultimate goal is for the local schools to operate in a drug-free environment so that no smoking and drinking is permitted within the school premises.
UNODC representative Sophia van Rensburg said the programme would help to curb drug abuse in Malawi’s schools.
Van Rensburg therefore urged government to role out the programme to private schools of the country as well.
The aim of the programme is to reduce drug abuse and related HIV/Aids among young people in the country.
Home Affairs and Internal Security Minister Ernest Malenga said in Lilongwe the drug problems to be addressed by the programme mentioned are related to the high incidents of drug abuse among the youth places the government considers a safe and disciplined learning environment.
"This is one of the critical elements to the successful delivery of quality education and ensures that drugs should not undermine the standards of quality education in Malawi," he said.
According to recent studies, primary and secondary students, as young as 11 years old, were busing drugs, with marijuana being the most popular substance of abuse, followed by alcohol.
The minister said the ultimate goal is for the local schools to operate in a drug-free environment so that no smoking and drinking is permitted within the school premises.
UNODC representative Sophia van Rensburg said the programme would help to curb drug abuse in Malawi’s schools.
Van Rensburg therefore urged government to role out the programme to private schools of the country as well.
Malawi inflation eases further on good harvest
Good maize harvests continued to help tame inflation in Malawi, with the headline number easing to 7.4 percent year-on-year in July from 7.7 in June, the National Statistical Office said.
Food inflation, which accounts for 58.1 percent of the impoverished southern African country's Consumer Price Index (CPI), dipped to 6.7 percent from 6.8 in June, the NSO said late on Thursday.
The data follows a decision by the Reserve Bank of Malawi earlier this month to cut its bank rate to 17.5 percent from 20, citing falling inflation and improvement in economic fundamentals.
Inflation fell to single digits for the first time in four years in January and has continued to ease during the course of 2007.
Malawi is enjoying a bumper maize harvest for the second consecutive year, partly attributed to a government policy to reintroduce input subsidies scrapped in 1996.
According to official data, the country has a surplus of 1.3 million metric tonnes of maize this season, up from 400,000 metric tonnes in the 2005/06 season.
Food inflation, which accounts for 58.1 percent of the impoverished southern African country's Consumer Price Index (CPI), dipped to 6.7 percent from 6.8 in June, the NSO said late on Thursday.
The data follows a decision by the Reserve Bank of Malawi earlier this month to cut its bank rate to 17.5 percent from 20, citing falling inflation and improvement in economic fundamentals.
Inflation fell to single digits for the first time in four years in January and has continued to ease during the course of 2007.
Malawi is enjoying a bumper maize harvest for the second consecutive year, partly attributed to a government policy to reintroduce input subsidies scrapped in 1996.
According to official data, the country has a surplus of 1.3 million metric tonnes of maize this season, up from 400,000 metric tonnes in the 2005/06 season.
Bishop-elect impasse in Lake Malawi nearer a solution
THE IMPASSE in the diocese of Lake Malawi took a significant step towards resolution last week when the first synod to be held for six years voted to pass the matter of the non-confirmation of the Bishop-elect, the Revd Nick Henderson, for review by a Central African Provincial Court.
The extraordinary meeting was chaired by the new Dean of Central Africa, the Rt Revd Trevor Mwamba, Bishop of Botswana. “This has been a long saga, but, by the grace of God, I hope that by the end of the year at the earliest, we may be holding an elective assembly for the next Bishop of Lake Malawi,” he said on Wednesday.
Mr Henderson, the Vicar of All Saints’, Ealing, who had worked for 18 years with the diocese of Lake Malawi, was elected bishop on 29 July 2005 and was to have been consecrated on 9 October that year.
Objections were lodged by five Anglicans from the Nkhotakota region, led by the late Canon Rodney Hunter, the former librarian of Pusey House, and the Revd Denis Kayamba, who was inhibited by the previous Bishop, the Rt Revd Peter Nyanja, for opening a branch of Forward in Faith.
A Court of Confirmation on 29 November 2005, presided over by the Archbishop of Central Africa, the Most Revd Bernard Malango, and comprised of provincial bishops, declined to confirm Mr Henderson because his “active association as the general secretary of the Modern Church People’s Union (MCU) made him unsuitable for confirmation because this actively demonstrated that he was not of sound faith”.
Mr Henderson had been petitioned by clergy to succeed Bishop Nyanja. He had supplied a CV and a manifesto, and had written to Archbishop Malango for advice before accepting the nomination. He was supported by the Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Revd Peter Broadbent, who said that to insist that membership of an organisation like MCU should be grounds for blocking a duly elected bishop “smacks of McCarthyism” (News, 9 December 2005).
Archbishop Malango put the retired Bishop of Lusake, in Zambia, the Rt Revd Leonard Mwemba, in temporary charge of the diocese. There have been two years of turbulence, violence, accusations and counter-accusations of plots and conspiracies. Last week’s Synod meeting followed a six-hour meeting of all parties, called by Bishop Mwamba, a lawyer by trade, in June.
“All those at loggerheads came together on that occasion. I sat there from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon just listening, listening, listening,” he said. “Everyone agreed that the way forward which would make them happy was review by the Provincial Court.”
Synod members argued that the original grounds for removing Mr Henderson appeared “spurious and contradictory and uncanonical,” especially given that Bishop Mwamba himself is due to give a paper, “Anglicanism from an African perspective”, at the MCU’s international conference in 2008.
It was also noted that the Bishop of South Malawi, the Rt Revd James Tengatenga, had for the past five years been a member of the international editorial board of the MCU’s journal.
The holding of a Synod meant that elections could also be held for representatives to September’s Provincial Synod, and to the electoral colleges that will elect the new bishop and the new archbishop, after Archbishop Malango’s retirement next month.
“The meeting was held in a spirit of love, joy, and peace, but also of unity and purpose that the diocese should move forward in focusing on issues that are of paramount importance in bettering the lives of our people,” said Bishop Mwamba.
Mr Henderson said on Tuesday: “The persistence of the people in Lake Malawi, particularly the laity, has paid off after their long struggle. Bishop Trevor Mwamba is a new dean, and it looks like he is a new broom. He is very well thought of in the diocese and is determined to resolve the problem and to resolve it properly.”
Challenge to government. Church and civil society organisations in Malawi have called on the government to hold talks with the opposition in order to end a crippling stand-off between them that has resulted in the country being unable to confirm the national budget for 2007/8.
The extraordinary meeting was chaired by the new Dean of Central Africa, the Rt Revd Trevor Mwamba, Bishop of Botswana. “This has been a long saga, but, by the grace of God, I hope that by the end of the year at the earliest, we may be holding an elective assembly for the next Bishop of Lake Malawi,” he said on Wednesday.
Mr Henderson, the Vicar of All Saints’, Ealing, who had worked for 18 years with the diocese of Lake Malawi, was elected bishop on 29 July 2005 and was to have been consecrated on 9 October that year.
Objections were lodged by five Anglicans from the Nkhotakota region, led by the late Canon Rodney Hunter, the former librarian of Pusey House, and the Revd Denis Kayamba, who was inhibited by the previous Bishop, the Rt Revd Peter Nyanja, for opening a branch of Forward in Faith.
A Court of Confirmation on 29 November 2005, presided over by the Archbishop of Central Africa, the Most Revd Bernard Malango, and comprised of provincial bishops, declined to confirm Mr Henderson because his “active association as the general secretary of the Modern Church People’s Union (MCU) made him unsuitable for confirmation because this actively demonstrated that he was not of sound faith”.
Mr Henderson had been petitioned by clergy to succeed Bishop Nyanja. He had supplied a CV and a manifesto, and had written to Archbishop Malango for advice before accepting the nomination. He was supported by the Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Revd Peter Broadbent, who said that to insist that membership of an organisation like MCU should be grounds for blocking a duly elected bishop “smacks of McCarthyism” (News, 9 December 2005).
Archbishop Malango put the retired Bishop of Lusake, in Zambia, the Rt Revd Leonard Mwemba, in temporary charge of the diocese. There have been two years of turbulence, violence, accusations and counter-accusations of plots and conspiracies. Last week’s Synod meeting followed a six-hour meeting of all parties, called by Bishop Mwamba, a lawyer by trade, in June.
“All those at loggerheads came together on that occasion. I sat there from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon just listening, listening, listening,” he said. “Everyone agreed that the way forward which would make them happy was review by the Provincial Court.”
Synod members argued that the original grounds for removing Mr Henderson appeared “spurious and contradictory and uncanonical,” especially given that Bishop Mwamba himself is due to give a paper, “Anglicanism from an African perspective”, at the MCU’s international conference in 2008.
It was also noted that the Bishop of South Malawi, the Rt Revd James Tengatenga, had for the past five years been a member of the international editorial board of the MCU’s journal.
The holding of a Synod meant that elections could also be held for representatives to September’s Provincial Synod, and to the electoral colleges that will elect the new bishop and the new archbishop, after Archbishop Malango’s retirement next month.
“The meeting was held in a spirit of love, joy, and peace, but also of unity and purpose that the diocese should move forward in focusing on issues that are of paramount importance in bettering the lives of our people,” said Bishop Mwamba.
Mr Henderson said on Tuesday: “The persistence of the people in Lake Malawi, particularly the laity, has paid off after their long struggle. Bishop Trevor Mwamba is a new dean, and it looks like he is a new broom. He is very well thought of in the diocese and is determined to resolve the problem and to resolve it properly.”
Challenge to government. Church and civil society organisations in Malawi have called on the government to hold talks with the opposition in order to end a crippling stand-off between them that has resulted in the country being unable to confirm the national budget for 2007/8.
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