News stories by Mantoe Phakathi, page 2

MBABANE, Jul 13 (IPS) - When Fatima* became pregnant in the middle of the school year and dropped out of school, she was disowned by her parents. Hers is a story that could have ended as another statistic of dropout rates among female learners in Senegal.

MBABANE, Jun 17 (IPS) - In its effort to accelerate Rwanda's green growth development initiative, its local businesses encouraged their Italian counterparts to invest in the East Africa region.

MBABANE, Jun 11 (IPS) - In its effort to accelerate Rwanda's green growth development initiative, its local businesses encouraged their Italian counterparts to invest in the East African country.

MALKERNS, Eswatini, Apr 28 (IPS) - During the COVID-19 partial lockdown in Eswatini, garden farmers say they are proud that they are able to make a small contribution towards a healthy nation during the pandemic.Nobukhosi Cebekhulu (68) and Khetsiwe Tofile (64) are small-scale vegetable farmers who are producing from their permaculture home gardens in Malkerns, Eswatini.

MBABANE, Mar 26 (IPS) - Doctor Khalishwayo is a traditional healer based in Nhlangano, a town in the Shiselweni Region, in southern Eswatini. His clients are people who consult him when they are suffering from different ailments. And he in turn diagnoses them using divine methods.

MBABANE, Mar 24 (IPS) - Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is still widely practised in the African country of Djibouti. Despite efforts by the government and development agencies to curb this practice, culture, tradition and religion continue to slow down progress.

NGWEMPISI, Eswatini, Feb 27 (IPS) - In the southern African nation of Eswatini, women, who already have too many household chores, have had to spend many hours for days on end in the fields, tilling and weeding the soil. But thanks to the gradual introduction of Climate-Smart Agriculture, some are beginning to harvest the gains of more time for their families.

MBABANE, Feb 04 (IPS) - Africa's inability to produce adequate skills is negatively impacting its economic growth.

MBABANE, Jan 21 (IPS) - When 14-year-old Nomcebo Mkhaliphi first noticed the blood discharged from her vagina, she was shocked. Confused, she turned to her older sisters for advice.

"My sisters told me that they were experiencing the same every month and that they used fabric, toilet paper and newspapers as sanitary wear," recalls the now 45-year-old Mkhaliphi. She had to follow suit and use these materials because she had no money to buy sanitary pads.

MBABANE, Jan 10 (IPS) - Parliamentarians from India and Japan have hit the ground running by acting soon after the recent Nairobi Summit on International Conference on Population Development (ICPD25).