Global Initiative Bi-weekly site updates
April 2nd to April 18th, 2025
Rwanda
The World Food Programme (WFP) has announced a significant reduction in cash assistance for refugees in Rwanda starting in April 2025. This decision is motivated by a lack of funding, but humanitarian consequences are likely to be severe, particularly in the Mahama camp. Mahama, April 11, 2025 – Starting this April, refugees living in camps in Rwanda will see their financial assistance reduced by nearly 50%. The most vulnerable refugees, classified in the first category, will now receive 5,600 Rwanda francs (RWF) instead of 8,500 RWF. Those in the second category will see their assistance reduced from 4,250 to 2,800 RWF. These amounts, already considered insufficient, were mainly used to supplement basic food by purchasing vegetables, fruits, and other essential products for balanced nutrition.
Monica Geingos, a former First Lady of Namibia and widow of late President Hage Geingob, was inaugurated as the Founding Chancellor of Kepler College in a ceremony held in Kigali on Wednesday, April 2.
In her speech, Geingos, who was appointed Chancellor of the Kepler College in August 2024, urged the students to embrace leadership roles in their activities to deliver on the development needed on the African continent. “We must do what is right for our continent. This is the power of narrative; you become the story you tell yourself. That's why it's crucial to sidestep the traps of doubt,” she said. She emphasized that Africa needs institutions that equip students with multidimensional thinking to transform and not just to pass on knowledge.
Kenya
Cash-based support in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya, helps vulnerable students like Musa and Nyabany stay in school, overcome hardship, and pursue their dreams through the power of education.
For many refugee children, education is a lifeline and the only chance they have for a better future. Amid economic hardship, family responsibilities, and societal barriers, staying in school can become challenging. The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has launched a program in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya, to keep children in school by providing direct financial assistance to the most vulnerable students.
Along one of the many dirt tracks leading into Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp there is a large hidden compound, where inside, twice a week, adolescent girls gather to learn taekwondo, the martial arts lessons offering a safe space in the often chaotic settlement.
Kakuma is Kenya's second-largest refugee camp, home to over 300,000 people from South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, and Burundi. It has been managed by the Kenyan government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since its establishment in 1992. The camp endured protests last month when rations were reduced after the announcement of the USAID cuts, with United States President Donald Trump's decision to slash aid funding impacting many within the area.
Lebanon
Israel’s defence minister says that Israeli troops will remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, as the military tightens its grip on several occupied territories.
“Unlike in the past, the [Israeli military] is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized,” Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday. The army “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and [Israeli] communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza – as in Lebanon and Syria”, said the statement.
The military said that it had turned 30 percent of Gaza into a “security” buffer zone and struck around 1,200 “terror targets” since resuming its offensive on March 18, following a nearly two-month truce in Gaza with the Palestinian group Hamas.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has held talks in Damascus with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in his first official visit to Syria, in an effort to recalibrate relations between the two nations, which have been strained for decades.
The diplomatic shuttle on Monday marks the highest-level Lebanese delegation visiting Syria since Beirut’s new government took office in February, following the ouster of former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad by opposition forces. The army “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and [Israeli] communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza – as in Lebanon and Syria”, said the statement.
South Africa
South Africa is better able than most African countries to offer refuge to those displaced by the long war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. So why aren't we doing so?
The fighting in the DRC since 1996, as ethnic wars have spilled over from neighbouring Rwanda, has claimed six-million lives. Since January this year the war has escalated, as rebels supported by Rwandan forces have taken major towns in the resource-rich eastern part of the country. The DRC itself is home to over half-a-million foreign refugees, mostly from South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Burundi, and Rwanda. Most live in camps outside urban centres, with inadequate access to food, healthcare, shelter, and education.
However, the vast majority of DRC's refugees are not foreigners but Congolese who have been displaced internally. About 5.6 million Congolese refugees still live within the DRC. Of those, 70% come from the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, where the Rwandan-backed M23 militia is most active.
Malawi
The Forum for African Women Educationalists in Malawi (FAWEMA) says it will directly support 1350 marginalized young women and men to attain quality higher education in both technical colleges and public universities across the country.
FAWEMA’s Board chairperson, Maggie Madimbo, disclosed this yesterday in Mponela, Dowa, where the local NGO partnered with the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) to disseminate standardized bridging programme guidelines. Madimbo said FAWEMA is implementing a seven-year Mastercard Foundation-funded project, which has a bursary programme targeting marginalized young women and men, which will also indirectly impact 134, 000 individuals. The new project is known as Second Chance Pathways for Increased Access to Tertiary Education for Marginalized Young Women and Men and is already in its second year, with a first cohort being supported.
Vietnam
Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long has signed a decision approving the national education development strategy until 2030 with a vision to 2045, with an aim to ensure that Vietnam’s education sector meets advanced standards of Asia in five years and those of the world in 10 years. Under Decision No. 1705/QD-TTg, the strategy’s objectives is to modernize Vietnam’s education system, build on and enhance the nation’s good traditions, adopt global civilizations, foster the comprehensive development of Vietnamese people, and meet the requirements of socio-economic development in the new era. It aims to actively participate in and adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the latest advancements in science and technology, with a focus on morality and personality education, maximizing each individual’s potential and creative abilities, laying the foundation for achieving the goal of a prosperous, democratic, fair, and civilized nation with happiness and prosperity.
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