Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

With both big technology players and local partners in Ghana, we’ll be hacking together our “crap map” using existing open source tools and software paired with meaningful offline facilitation around behavior change in sanitation.

Molly Norris of Ideo.org explains the objective of the Crap Map project: “to stimulate collective action to improve community-wide behavior and pressure the public sector and others to make investments in improved sanitation solutions.” On World Toilet Day, it's worth noting that in West Africa, only 37 percent of inhabitants can access a clean toilet, posing important issues of public health and human dignity. The WHO/UNICEF joint monitoring program (JMP) estimates that Eritrea and Niger have the highest ratio of population forced to defecate in the open.

The blog “les Erythréens” has this report [fr]:

Yesterday morning (October 3rd) two Eritrean pilots defected—in their Eritrean Air Force jet—to Saudi Arabia, requesting political exile upon landing at the airport in Jizan.

African Perspectives is an online platform for Africans on the continent or in the Diaspora – that is People of African Descent – to showcase their very own perspective on a given situation, a cultural event in their region, talk and discuss approaches of investments in their country or how developmental projects are being or should be conducted.

Learn about Eritrea from Visit Eritrea blog: “The Visit Eritrea blog is designed to provide readers with a regular update on issues relevant to Eritrea.”

A blogger visiting Juba, Southern Sudan, reports that Eritreans are thriving in the city: “The Eritreans I observed there were cliquish, befriended the SPLM generals, pay bribes generously (so I was told), smuggle in young Eritrean girls and so forth…At one stage I saw over one thousand youngsters at one place partying – a totally Eritrean affair (with Eritrean music, food and all).”

Release Eritrea, a charity based in the UK, is concerned about the plight of Eritrean refugees in Egypt: “In recent days, five Eritreans have been shot by the Egyptian border guards on the border with Israel. They managed to cross the border despite their wounds, but later died in Israel of their injuries, reports coming from Israel confirm.”