News stories by Mantoe Phakathi

MBABANE, Dec 03 (IPS) - As the world accelerates towards achieving the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, it is time to replace the current broken food system. With only a decade left to reach the deadline, evidence shows that the way food is produced, processed and transported is not only destructive to the environment but it is also leaving millions behind.

MBABANE, Dec 02 (IPS) - Placing an online order for farming inputs saves Velebantfu Dlamini about USD12 in transport fees for a round trip of about 320 kilometres. The 26-year-old vegetable farmer from Nkhungwini in the Shiselweni Region, south of Eswatini, uses a portal to order from the National Agriculture Marketing Board (NAMBoard) Farm Store. NAMBoard then delivers his order leaving Dlamini with time to stay in the field and look after his crops.

MBABANE, Dec 01 (IPS) - The Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) has appealed to the United Nations to educate citizens to use their roles as consumers to create a momentum for change. This was ahead of the 2021 Food Systems Summit which the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, will host on November 25 next year.

MBABANE, Nov 17 (IPS) - Barry de Maine, the director of Green Cross Pharmacy, lost about $ 7,675 worth of stock when The Mall, the largest shopping centre in Mbabane, was flooded back in 2003. But when the flash floods hit again this year, he had already installed a flange to stop water from coming in.

“This is the best I could do under the circumstances,” De Maine told IPS, adding: “Otherwise since we started experiencing floods at The Mall (17 years ago) nothing has been done.”

MBABANE, Sep 11 (IPS) - Addressing delegates at the end of the virtual 3rd Fair Share for Children Summit, 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi told global citizens that "business as usual" in dealing with COVID-19 is not going to be tolerated.

"We're not going to accept the miseries of child labour and trafficking to continue to be normal," he said.

MBABANE, Sep 10 (IPS) - Young people have added their voice in calling on world leaders to allocate at least 20 percent of the COVID-19 stimulus package to the marginalised children and youth.

MBABANE, Sep 09 (IPS) - The COVID-19 pandemic should give governments across the world an opportunity to hold corporates accountable against child labour. Kailash Satyarthi, the 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate, made this submission at the virtual 3rd Fair Share for Children Summit.

MBABANE, Aug 19 (IPS) - The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the escalation of violence against women and children in Sri Lanka.

MBABANE, Aug 13 (IPS) - "Not being able to go to school is not something I'd wish on any child in this world," said 21-year-old Nujeen Mustafa, a young advocate for refugees who fled the Syrian war with her sister. Mustafa, who now lives in Germany, is also the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) high profile supporter.

LAWUBA, Eswatini, Aug 10 (IPS) - Sibonisiwe Hlanze, from Lawuba in Eswatini's Shiselweni Region, lights up as she shows off her sleeping mat which she made from what she described as "the highest quality indigenous fibre".