Persons with DisabilitiesThe Kenya National Survey for Persons with Disabilities was carried out by the National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development with the help of the Kenya National Bureau Statistics estimated that about five per cent of Kenyans have disabilities and since the Country's Population at the time stood at about 35 million, this translates to about 1.75 million people with disability in the country. These disabilities range from mental illness, visual challenges and general body impairments .
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Annan Urges Kenya to Tackle Nairobi SlumsDecember 7, 2009
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan urged Kenya Monday to accelerate efforts to improve living conditions in Nairobi's squalid slums, which experts say could pose a threat to stability and national security.
Annan chaired weeks of talks last year that gave birth to the country's coalition government and ended post-election violence in east Africa's biggest economy that killed at least 1,300 people and drove another 300,000 from their homes.
The capital's fetid shanty towns became ethnic battlegrounds during the crisis, and aid workers say the slums -- with their huge numbers of marginalized youths -- are "ticking time bombs" ahead of the country's next poll in 2012.
"It is slow, could be faster, but it is absolutely essential ... we must work together for clean drinking water, clean sanitation," Annan told reporters in Kibera, which is home to some 800,000 people sharing just 250 hectares (618 acres).
He said the continued resettlement of people from makeshift homes made of tin and mud bricks into apartment-style housing would improve their health and boost the economy.
"When fewer people call in sick it saves money for the government and for companies," he said during a tour of the slum's litter- and sewage-filled alleys. While progress had been slow, he said, it was still "very encouraging."
Kibera is Africa's biggest slum, but Nairobi also has several other informal settlements, in which an estimated half of the capital's 4 million population live.
Annan was touring Kibera to inspect work carried out under a joint initiative between the government and U.N.-agency HABITAT.
Monday, President Mwai Kibaki briefed him on progress the government had made toward much-needed reforms that were agreed during last year's talks mediated by the former U.N. chief, according to a statement from Kibaki's office.
The government is under growing pressure from Kenyans and donors to implement the wide-ranging changes, end corruption and prosecute high-profile masterminds of the post-election chaos.
(Editing by Daniel Wallis and Paul Taylor)
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/12/07/world/international-us-kenya-annan-slums.html
"Play for the Planet: Play for Peace"2,000 Kenyan Youth for Conservation, Peace Soccer Tournament News - Africa news
Soccer tournament - More than 2,000 Kenyan youth are this week gathering in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, for a series of soccer tournaments organised to sensitise the public on peaceful co-existence and environmental conservation.
Dubbed "Play for the Planet: Play for Peace" the tournaments, due to end 6 Dec., is organised by a Kenyan non-profit organisation called"Mavuno Michezo" - Swahili for sports harvesting - with support fromthe United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Olympic Committee and Bayer East Africa.
This is the second edition of the 'Play for the Planet: Play for Peace' initiative, which aims to use sport as an avenue to promote and foster peace, in line with UNEP's long term strategy on Sport and Environment, endorsed bythe UNEP Governing Council in 2003.
The 'Play for the Planet' competition brings together youth aged 14 to 18 from across Nairobi for a series of football games and environmental activities.
A total of 64 teams, eight from each constituency in Nairobi, are taking part in the competition, which will run on three consecutive weekends.
Eight female teams - one per constituency - will also participate in the finals of the competition on 6 December. Winners will be awarded trophies, medals and football kits.
The 'Play for the Planet: Play for Peace' initiative, first organised in June 2008, aims to use the power of sport to promote peace and reconciliation among Kenyans.
It also provides a positive environment for interaction for young people who are one of the groups that are the most affected by hardship, violence, social tensions and other challenges in society.
It is hoped that by providing an opportunity for young people from various ethnic communities to participate in team activities, the initiative will help promote social cohesion and peace, and provide a platform for young people, particularly those on school break, to engage in constructive activities.
Through t-shirts and other materials, peace building and environmental messages will be conveyed to the youth as well as to the general public.
The participants will also participate in tree planting and other environmental clean-up activities in their communities.
In June 2008, a few months after the post-election conflict that rocked Kenya, the first edition of the 'Play for the Planet' initiative brought together more than 300 children and youth for a three-month series of school and community activities on peace and reconciliation that culminated in World Peace Day on 21 September.
Nairobi - 23/11/2009
http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/kenya:-2,000-kenyan-youth-for-conservation,-peace-soccer-tournament-2009112338782.html
Climate Change Influences Humanitarian WorkClimate change transforming humanitarian work: survey(AFP)–Nov 17, 2009
NAIROBI — Climate change is the leading cause of new challenges forthe humanitarian community, a survey of G20 governments commissioned bythe Red Cross revealed Tuesday.
As the International Red Crossand Red Crescent Movement gathered in Nairobi for their first everglobal meeting in Africa, the "Believe in Humanity" survey warned thatthe humanitarian landscape was changing fast.
"World powersexpect humanitarian actors to face continuing or increasinghumanitarian needs driven by climate change-related natural disasters,"said the survey, released days ahead of key climate talks in Copenhagen.
Thesurvey, conducted by research institutes, consulted the governments ofthe world's 20 leading economies as well as that of host country Kenya.
"Globalpowers... have identified climate change as an important element thataffects humanitarian work," said Ibrahim Osman, deputy chairman of whatis the world's largest humanitarian network, which claims to have tensof millions of volunteers.
The report also highlighted that theworld's new economic powerhouses -- such as China, India and Brazil --would play a growing role in international humanitarian action andbring with them a slightly different approach.
"Traditionalpowers see a growing political and financial role for emerging powersin the international humanitarian architecture. Some of the governmentssuggest that emerging powers have new and different roles to play inresponding to international humanitarian crises," the survey said.
Hundredsof delegates from the Red Cross/Red Crescent's 186 national societiesare gathered in Nairobi for a one-week meeting, which comes on the 60thanniversary of the Geneva Conventions and the 150th anniversary of thebattle of Solferino, the movement's founding moment.
The 1859Austro-Sardinian war that left tens of thousands of soldiers deadprompted travelling Swiss businessman Henry Dunant to devote the restof his life to advocating voluntary relief organisations and eventuallyled to the creation of the Red Cross.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h8bq5aLul28Kdzn-Vwys8fPyTUzg
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