In 2005, Congress passed the overwhelmingly bipartisan Water for the Poor Act, sending a strong signal to the Administration that both parties believe that water and sanitation for the poor is a strategic priority for US foreign policy. The Administration was to come back with a strategy within 180 days.

As we approach World Water Day on March 22, CARE, NRDC and WaterAid have published a report card on how well the Act has been implemented seven years down the line. The bad news is that a strategy has still not been released. The good news is that there are signals that it could be released soon. Leadership from Secretary Clinton and USAID Raj Shah has given new life to solving one of the world’s great crises.

In the absence of a strategy, USAID has gone ahead with water, sanitation and hygiene programs, but much of the effort and dollars have not gone to benefit the poor. Only 33 percent of USAID funding for water, sanitation and hygiene in fiscal year 2010 went to low income countries based on the most recent State Department report to Congress. International organizations and advocates would like to see that figure closer to 70 percent.

SEE ALSO: Water, sanitation and bipartisanship

Why doesn’t the money go to the poor? It’s a complex question, but at its heart is likely the tension between aid for geostrategic priorities and aid for the benefit of those in need. In this case, Congress was clear. The law states that priority countries should be those in which the need is greatest and where assistance will have the most impact.

In September 2010, the Government Accountability Office did an analysis of how aid for water, sanitation and hygiene was being targeted and found that the choice of high priority countries was “not linked to verifiable analysis.” In other words, USAID is likely responding to political and geostrategic priorities rather than need or expected impact. And this problem is only being compounded by the lack of a strategy to spur concerted targeting.

We can hope that the release of a strategy in the near future will resolve some of these issues. In the meantime, to obey the spirit of the law USAID should:

By taking these steps, USAID can ensure that US investments under the Water for the Poor Act are in fact benefiting the poor.

Note: ONE together with a coalition of over 40 organizations, is supporting Congressional co-sponsorship of the Water for the World Act, a bill that will strengthen implementation of the Water for the Poor Act and spur US leadership.

1. Last week, we decried the 220 tons of food waste that pile up in the world’s richest countries every year. Check out this poverty-fighting project through Fair Trade USA’s Gift of Fairness. It’s not traditional, but financing a girl’s education or supplying a clinic with a doctor will last longer than the bags of chocolate kisses that unfailingly disappear in a heartbeat.

2. Some of us can’t resist February chocolate sales. Luckily there’s lots of fair trade goodies like those from the folks at Divine Chocolate. Their cocoa comes from Ghana’s Kuapa Kokoo, a fair trade cooperative that owns nearly half of the company. The farmers participate in running the company and have a say in the industry at large. That’s sweeter than their heart-shaped chocolates — which is definitely saying something.

3. Our partners at World Vision have made available a With All My Heart gift set. As part of their Given product line, 30 percent of the order goes toward projects dedicated to women and girls. It includes a T-shirt, a necklace and a soapstone paperweight, all decked out in a red heart theme.

4. ONE’s sister organization (RED) always has the color of love in stock. Half the proceeds from each purchase goes to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, so you can rest assured that whether you’re stepping up the beat with Dr. Dre headphones or stepping in style with a pair of red Converse, you’re doing your part this Valentine’s Day.

5. As any advice columnist will tell you, you’ve got to invest in a relationship. fashionABLE, an Ethiopia-based nonprofit, has opportunities to invest in a woman and her family. The organization works to expand opportunities for Ethiopian women, so purchases do a lot more than make your valentine look stylish.

6. And we can’t forget our very own ONE Store! Just because we love you, we’re giving 10 percent off all orders with the promo code FB10VONE. Purchases of $55 or more qualify for free standard US shipping with the code SHIPVONE. Happy shopping!

Do you have any other great Valentine’s Day gift ideas that give back? Let us know in the comments below.

China skirting African corruption in direct aid – As China’s strategic interest in East Africa grows, instead of simply giving cash as foreign aid, China prefers to pay Chinese companies to improve infrastructure, bypassing local politicians and construction crews. Just last month, Chinese workers built two towers in Kampala, in what “aid watchdogs applaud as a model to help defeat the inefficiencies and cash-pocketing corruption associated with other systems of foreign aid delivery.” This new model could help to “cut the risk of aid scandals like the one that rocked the $22.6 billion Global Fund.” (AP, Rodney Muhumuza)

World Bank: Break Down African Trade Barriers – In a new World Bank Report, De-Fragmenting Africa: Deepening Regional Integration, they say that regional trade barriers are preventing African countries from earning billions of dollars. Combining the individual country markets would “bring a lot of opportunities for people to trade across borders, but (also) to exploit the benefits of a much larger market.” The World Bank is expected to increase funding to regional trade integration projects for 2012. (VOA, Joe DeCapua)

Oil Corruption May Threaten Angola, Nigeria, Stifling Growth, Agency Says – According to the anti-corruption group, Global Witness, Africa’s largest oil producers, Nigeria and Angola, “have granted stakes in oil fields to companies that may be acting as fronts for government officials, stifling development in both countries.” While oil exports have generated billions of dollars for both countries, the “misappropriation of public funds by corrupt officials remains one of the main causes of poverty.” Both countries must do more to increase transparency and decrease corruption to fight the “resource curse.” (Bloomberg, Henrique Almeida)

African Farming Needs Business Approach, Nigera’s Adesina Says – At the “Feeding the World” meeting in Geneva on Wednesday, Nigerian Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Ayo Adesina, explained that “we must begin to take agriculture in Africa as a business,” and not merely a social sector. He described the need to leverage investments to fix the infrastructure gap and “get smart about new instruments to finance agriculture.” (Bloomberg, Rudy Ruitenberg)

Recently, the White House hosted an online Q&A session on innovation for global development. Since the subject is a passion of mine, I was immediately prompted to submit a question to USAID Administrator Dr. Raj Shah.

Listen to Joe’s question here:

I try to do all that I can to mobilize faith-based institutions with congregations in Africa to get involved in serving their communities through development. I have seen examples of this on a small scale in Kenya, where one particular church denomination is utilizing local congregations to teach and train Kenyan nationals in areas such as agriculture and nutrition.

A highly organized network of 4,000 national churches is already in place, with property available to use for development education and training. The facilities could also be used as food distribution centers and medical clinics. The possibilities are endless.

This passion of mine led me to ask the question, “How can faith-based organizations with congregations in Africa be used as training facilities for the latest in development technology?” I was thrilled that my question was chosen, but even more encouraging was the response from Dr. Shah and Gayle Smith, special assistant to the President and senior director of the National Security Council.

In short, Dr. Shah explained that faith-based organizations currently play an important role in the developing world, citing an example of one congregation, Saddleback Church, which has sent more than 14,000 workers on development and health-oriented missions to Africa. If one congregation is capable of this, what could we do collectively as people of faith? Dr. Shah added that right now in Nairobi, Kenya, people living in extreme poverty are most likely already getting their healthcare and education from an institution of faith.

Gayle Smith added that networks of churches and other religious institutions are extremely valuable not only as providers of bed nets for malaria prevention, but also as educators on the proper use of these life-saving tools.

In summary, I was greatly encouraged to hear that these types of community partnerships are highly successful, and it further ignited my passion to mobilize congregations to get engaged in development projects overseas. What can we do as people of faith, moving forward, to make a profound impact on our world? As you can see, the possibilities are endless.

Last Saturday, the town of Dexter, Mich., came together to celebrate Airplane Day, a unique advocacy event that commemorates the life and legacy of Laurence Carolin, a Dexter teen who passed away due to brain cancer two years ago.

Laurence was a truly incredible and selfless individual who was passionately involved with ONE and committed to raising awareness about the fight against poverty and disease. He even dedicated the last year of his life to this cause and donated all of his Make-A-Wish Foundation money to the United Nations Foundation, one of ONE’s partners. Laurence’s compassion was so inspiring that he was not only invited to meet Bono (a co-founder of ONE), but even inspired his family and friends to commit to carrying on his legacy of activism. Airplane Day is the culmination of this promise on the date that marks Laurence’s arrival in the US after he was adopted from his birth country of South Korea.

This year’s Airplane Day was an amazing experience and a true testament to the ability of just one voice to motivate and mobilize an entire community. In fact, the event was largely organized by a new ONE chapter at Dexter High School that was founded by a group of Laurence’s friends. Our University of Michigan ONE chapter was also empowered by Laurence’s story, so some of our leaders have been working closely with this group to help establish and run the organization. Through the combined efforts of Laurence’s friends, family and both ONE chapters, the event was a huge success, filled with great music, inspirational speeches and advocacy of all forms.

Furthermore, this event brought together people of all ages to learn about Laurence’s passions and ONE. Thus, throughout the event, both ONE groups were able to engage participants in conversations about ONE’s mission and inspire them to get involved. By the end of the night, we had signed up around 50 new members. We also generated 32 petition signatures for Feed the Future, 35 photo petitions to President Obama, and more than 40 letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Furthermore, the event inspired many more to pledge to hold their national leaders accountable in the fight to end extreme poverty and disease as well as to donate money to the United Nations Foundation.

Observing the ripple effects of Laurence’s compassion on Saturday was extremely moving. Though Laurence may no longer be with us, I truly believe his legacy will never die and his selfless dedication to ending extreme poverty will continue to empower all of us until one day his dream becomes a reality.

-Chelsea Davis, ONE member, Michigan

UPDATE, 2/9/2012: Yesterday, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed his rival in last year’s presidential election, Nuhu Ribadu, as chairman of a new oil task force dedicated to tracking revenues paid to the government, and monitoring crude oil production and exports. Mr. Ribadu is formerly the chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and accepted the post at the helm of the 21-man Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force despite his political affiliations because of the “national consensus” on the “deadly impact of corruption.”

What is the fuel subsidy?
Though Nigeria produces more than 2 million barrels of oil a day, the vast majority of Nigerians see limited benefits from their country’s natural resources. Nigeria has four oil refineries that only operate at about 23 percent of their potential capacity — and as a result, the government has had to import refined products such as petrol to meet the needs of citizens. The government paid the importers in order to control the price, kept low at $1.70 a gallon, thus ensuring that Nigerians were able, until January 1st, to enjoy the low fuel price as one of the benefits of the crude oil they produce.

Why did the government remove it?
On the first day of the year, President Goodluck Jonathan removed the hefty fuel subsidy. Though the subsidy keeps fuel prices low for Nigerians, the cost of the subsidy comes out of government coffers. The $8 billion per year the government was spending on the fuel subsidy is equivalent to more than 25 percent of the government’s annual budget. Many observers argue that subsidies do not ultimately benefit the poor and the money could be better spent in social sectors such as education or public health.

SEE ALSO: Occupy Nigeria

What was the response to its removal?
The removal of the fuel subsidy, and the immediate increase in the price of fuel, transportation and food, came abruptly, and disregarded ongoing negotiations with the labor unions and civil society. The cost of a gallon of gas increased from $1.70 to $3.50 overnight. Tens of thousands of Nigerians protested the removal of the subsidy and Nigeria’s major labor unions organized strikes shutting down businesses, schools and air travel for 8 days. The fundamental grievance Nigerians had with the removal of the subsidy was not just the resultant increase in fuel prices but also that the subsidy regime was a well-oiled corruption machine that should have been addressed before the subsidy itself was removed.

Why was the removal partially reinstated?
The Nigerian President restored part of the fuel subsidy on January 16. This brought the price of a gallon of gas down to $2.27, and ended the biggest protests in Nigeria’s history. The deal also forestalled a plan by the trade unions to halt the country’s oil production, a move which would have hurt Nigeria’s economy.

What does the episode say about governance in Nigeria?
Though the President announced that the removal of the fuel subsidy would give the government the means to fix the country’s many basic infrastructure problems, most Nigerians remain skeptical that these noble objectives will ever be realized. This is because there was no way to ensure that the money would go to meet these goals. Nigeria has been plagued for decades by corruption and mismanagement especially in the oil sector.

The abrupt nature of the removal of the subsidy which was seen by some as act of insensitivity by a government that is out of touch with the economic struggles of the majority of the Nigerian people. Even with a more gradual plan, transparency and accountability would be necessary to ensure Nigerians know that the funds are being properly channeled to projects and social development programs that would benefit the poor. While the partial reinstatement of the subsidy has quelled the protests and kept the economy going, the root causes of the protests remain unresolved.

What is different about these protests?
A bulging middle class with access to the internet took to social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter to swell the protests, which organized under an “#OccupyNigeria” banner based on similar movements in Europe and the US. These platforms, and the general message that the government was not listening to the voices of the Nigerian people, gave the middle-class a channel through which to make their voices heard and engage with other protesters.

Nigeria has had a turbulent start to 2012, with fuel subsidy protests and deadly bombings by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram. Keep an eye out for updates on the landscape of governance in Nigeria on the ONE Blog.

Funding squeeze, apathy mean another half century of AIDS – UN expert – Paul De Lay, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS said that while the world could soon reduce new HIV infections to zero with enough funding, “global apathy and the financial crisis mean it might take another 50 years to stop the AIDS epidemic.” De Lay called on developing countries to take responsibility for eradicating HIV in their own countries instead of relying completely on foreign assistance, especially at a time when HIV/AIDS efforts are facing an unprecedented drop in funding. (AlertNet, Thin Lei Win)

World Bank Warns on Africa Trade – A new World Bank report shows that African countries are “sacrificing billions of dollars in potential trade each year to inefficient border crossings and discordant regulations that make it difficult to do business on the continent.” The World Bank urges these countries to streamline border protocols, invest in infrastructure, and coordinate legal and financial rules to help boost international trade. (WSJ, Patrick McGroarty)

Nigeria: Child Lead Poisoning Crisis – Thousands of children in northern Nigeria are in need of immediate medical assistance, as they face the “worst lead poisoning epidemic in modern history.” According to official estimate, 400 children have already died, yet no efforts have been made at environmental cleanup. Children are exposed to the lead dust when processing ore in the mines, from mining family members, or when the lead-filled ore is crushed at home. (Huffington Post)

Zimbabwe’s Long Winter – As dictatorships are collapsing in around the world in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, some are wondering if Zimbabwe might be next. Despite the fact that Zimbabwe consistently ranks quite low in international quality of life ratings, and is home to an increasingly repressive government, Zimbabweans are currently “too scattered to coordinate a revolt.” A mere 40% of Zimbabweans live in urban areas, making “the ignition of social discontent into a fiery uprising unlikely.” (NYTimes, Eusebius McKaiser)

Mali’s footballers hope Africa Cup win could bring peace – If Mali’s soccer team wins against the Ivory Coast on Wednesday, they would qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time since 1972. The players hope that a “win could help unite a country that is threatened by disintegration,” as Mali’s three northern regions have been fighting since mid-January. Francois Zahoui, the team’s head coach, explained that “football, especially in our country, is a uniting factor that creates social cohesion and togetherness.” (Reuters, George Fominyen)

I grew up in West Africa. I lived in Togo and la Côte D’Ivoire until I was 14 years old. Ever since then, I always wanted to come back. Africa gets in your blood, and stays forever like malaria. That is cliché, but true. I heard about CURE and the great work they do through a friend, so when the opportunity to come to Niger came up, I jumped at it. We jumped at it, I should say. My wife, who works here with me, is actually much more jumpy than I am.

The CURE hospital is primarily a children’s hospital, and we specialize in treating burn victims and children with cleft lip or cleft palate and clubfoot. As spiritual director, I provide spiritual and emotional support to the patients and staff at the hospital. In practice, this can mean many different things. My job description is pretty vague, and purposely so, I think, because it is hard to define what I do. I work very closely with the hospital’s social worker in trying to determine what the needs of our patients are and what we can do to help. Giving a child a life-changing, life-saving surgery is a big deal, but I am realizing more and more that often, it is just scratching the surface.

For example, consider this (hypothetical but very typical) case: A mother of a child with cleft lip lives in a village a couple hundred kilometers from Niamey. She hears about our hospital, decides to come. She gathers together all the money she can for the trip; maybe she sells a few chickens, or some roasted peanuts. Usually, it does not amount to very much. She is not used to handling money anyway. She comes to the hospital and her child is treated, but she learns that they have to stay in the hospital for three weeks. She also learns that the child will be fed, but she will have to feed herself. Her money runs out after the first week, and she has nothing to feed her other baby (the one that is always on her back) or herself. Also, it is cold at night and her child does not have anything warm to wear.

So we try and figure out how we can help, aside from the medical care that we provide. There are so many things that I would have never thought of, and I am learning new things all the time. There are also a lot of emotional issues to deal with, for the patients and for their family members. People with disabilities are viewed with suspicion, discriminated against and generally mistreated. Usually people say that their condition is because of some sin they committed, or the result of a curse someone put on them. Life is very difficult even for people that are totally healthy in Niger, for the sick and disabled it is nearly unbearable.

They are suffering physically, but often they are also traumatized by the way they have been treated. Having a disabled child is a burden for the whole family, and community, in many different ways. Not least among them is the financial burden it represents. It is another mouth to feed, and usually one that cannot work. The surgeries we provide are very literally helping people get back on their feet, back to a normal, productive life, and back to work. They alleviate a real burden, which frees up resources for other things, and the impact of these operations is felt well beyond the patient and immediate family.

The culture in Niger is very communal. When you talk to someone, you are not just talking to them, you are talking to their whole family, their whole village, their whole tribe. The same goes for healing. When a child is brought to the hospital and receives treatment, it is not just the child that is healed. The child’s family is healed as well, and their whole community is blessed by it. Almost every time we talk to parents after their child has been healed, their first reaction is, “Wait until we get back home and everyone sees this!”
Everything and everyone is connected.

But more importantly, at CURE, we try to encourage and empower people, even as we offer them help. We do this by asking the patients and their families to contribute towards their own healing. We ask them to pay for their surgery if they can. If they cannot pay for all of it, we ask them to pay for a part of it. Even if it is a tiny fraction of the real cost, it makes a difference, for us and for them. Even if they cannot pay anything at all, they are still expected to contribute in other ways. They have to follow the post-op instructions from the doctor (which can be quite extensive and can take months, especially with the clubfoot cases). They have to come to their follow up appointments. They have to take their medicine. Sometimes they even have to change the dressing, etc.

The point is, they are involved in the process. They come to our hospital for help, but not for a handout. They don’t want a handout. They come to us for help, but we try to give them a chance to help themselves.

To sum it up, I love my job. Basically, I am here to welcome those who are usually unwelcome, to care for the uncared for, and to love the unloved. I am always blown away by how generous the Nigerien people are.

Even if they have nothing, they will share with you the little they do have. And they are really full of joy. Niger may be one of the world’s poorest countries, but they have a wealth of natural resources: smiles, handshakes, laughter and general friendliness abound. Also, it seems to me like they really embrace the fullness of life, both the good and the bad. They don’t ignore the aspects of life that are difficult. You can’t when you live in a place like this, where signs of poverty and hardship are everywhere, and drought and famine are common. But they also don’t dwell on the hardship. They don’t sit around feeling sorry for themselves, letting hopelessness set in. They take the good with the bad because they recognize that life is filled with both good and bad.

Read more about Josh and Julie’s life in Niger on their blog, http://joshjulieblog.wordpress.com/.

Twelve years ago, Equatorial Guinea made world sports headlines in the Sydney Olympics when Eric Moussambani posted the slowest record for swimming the 100m freestyle at an Olympic competition.

Eric had trained in the pool of a hotel in Malabo, the capital city, because there were no Olympic-size pools in the country.

Now, as the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) kicked-off this week in Equatorial Guinea, only two years after South Africa became the first African nation to host a major world sporting event, many Equatoguineans feel a surge of pride to co-host star African footballers like Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and many others.

But at what cost? One can’t eat pride. Pride can’t pull you out of poverty or illiteracy. Pride alone can’t build basic infrastructure like roads, bridges, reliable electricity and internet. You can’t drink, bathe in, nor cook with pride. Pride is no substitute for basic medical care.

My country’s people understand that, if managed responsibly, oil and gas revenues could prove a blessing for our once-impoverished nation and lift us all out of poverty. But instead, our government is choosing to bet the house on fleeting, high profile events like a football tournament, an $830-million luxury resort to host the 2011 African Union summit, dozens of presidential palaces and monuments exalting the president.

We Africans have seen this before. Our rulers demonstrate through actions their misguided belief that modernization is synonymous with development, that glistening skyscrapers, stadiums and luxury resorts somehow magically dissolve poverty.

They circulate slick press releases touting ribbon-cutting ceremonies for stadiums and monuments. What they fail to mention is that most of their people still lack running water, electricity or functioning hospitals.

Sadly, what is happening in Equatorial Guinea is not new. Yet the widespread poverty and inequality in this small nation of 700 000 people and the missed opportunity by our government to significantly improve the well-being of all people with our natural resources, make it a particularly shameful example of the lack of leadership that has afflicted far too many Africans countries since the end of colonialism.

My country’s government remains tone deaf to the basic needs of its people. Most people lack access to affordable medical care. The general hospitals in the country lack electricity and basic supplies like bandages and antiseptics to care for patients. Unfortunately, the two new modern hospitals built by the government to showcase its petrodollars are unaffordable for ordinary citizens.

If one fielded a football team with 11 randomly selected local children, seven would be from families living below the poverty line, according to World Bank poverty figures. Seven would attend schools lacking electricity. Only three or four would likely complete primary school. And these are the lucky ones, the children who survived the nearly one in eight chance of dying before the age of five.

Even when it comes to sports, our government invests little in its own people. Few local players will experience the thrill of playing in front of home crowds in the new stadiums during the Africa Cup of Nations. The national football authorities decided to heavily recruit foreign players rather than investing in football academies and cultivating home-grown talent. Players from Brazil, Spain and several African countries were granted citizenship and spots on the national team.

Our government officials, however, have invested heavily in themselves. Forbes once estimated President Teodoro Obiang’s wealth to be $600-million, although that is but a guess since the finances of both the government and its officials are kept secret.

President Obiang’s eldest son and heir apparent, Teodorin, has a taste for haute couture, fast cars, luxurious mansions and Michael Jackson memorabilia. Perhaps too much so: he is now under investigation in France and the US for allegedly stealing his government’s money. But his namesake father looks out for him.

Shortly after French police seized 11 of his sports cars in Paris last year, Teodorin was appointed to serve as one of his country’s representatives at Unesco, providing him with diplomatic immunity to continue his playboy lifestyle on the Champs Elysees.

But who looks out for the rest of the children in Equatorial Guinea? It’s hard to imagine that the lives of the children who play barefooted in the slums of Malabo will be improved as a result of the Africa Cup of Nations. Just ask the children of Soweto or Khayelitsha how much their lives and those of their families have improved since the 2010 World Cup.

There is something fundamentally misguided about diverting a country’s finite resources away from fighting poverty and inequality to host a football tournament and for the personal enrichment of the presidential family.

There is something wrong with wasting national resources and revenues with the sole purpose of entertaining outsiders for three fleeting weeks of hollow pride. It can’t be justified.

Unless the government rethinks its priorities, regardless of the new stadiums, hotels and other amenities built to impress foreigners, we will still be coming in last in human development index records, despite the vast resources available in the country.

Tutu Alicante is the executive director of a small human rights organization working to promote human rights, democracy and civic participation in Equatorial Guinea.

Horn of Africa Famine Six Months Later – In a recent briefing about the famine in the Horn of Africa, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy for the Bureau of African Affairs, Bruce Wharton, explained that we need to “work with regional governments and others to establish longer-term food security assurance,” and fill the “fundamental need for stable, secure, and citizen-focused governance in Somalia.” The U.S. has been the largest humanitarian donor to the region. (VOA)

Malaria death toll falling – A recent study by the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) indicates that despite the fact that malaria kills about 50% more people than previously realized, “efforts to combat the disease have however evened out reducing the totally number of global deaths.” The report also shows that malaria deaths peaked in 2004, at 1.8 million people, and have since been declining. (Digital Journal, Robin Okuthe)

Why Mitt Romney Should “Be Concerned About the Very Poor” – Mitt Romney’s comment last week that he is “not concerned about the very poor,” raises questions about the causes and ways of addressing poverty in the U.S. While poverty in America is not the same extreme poverty that many people face in Africa, where “the issue is often sheer survival,” the impact of poverty, especially on children, is still devastating. To hear a presidential candidate like Romney “dismiss the issue . . . is still unbelievable.” (Huffington Post, Steven Cohen)

Female genital cutting sworn off by thousands of African villages – The UN Population Fund and UNICEF announced Monday that eight thousands communities in Africa have abandoned the practice of female genital excision, a coming-of-age ritual in many regions that “ensures chastity and makes a woman marriageable.” UN agencies have been pushing to end this practice, as it has no health benefits, can cause significant pain, pose long-term risks during childbirth, and recurring infections. (Los Angeles Times)

Sebastian Coe says he’ll help bring Olympics to Africa for 1st time – Sebastian Coe, the head of the organizing committee for the London Olympics and former middle-distance running great, announced on Tuesday that it is his “dream” to see the Olympics held in Africa. South Africa is expected to launch a bid for the 2024 Summer Games. (AP)