Igihe

Author: b_igi_adm1n

  • RwandAir Recieves New CRJ900 Jet

    rwandair.jpg
    Rwandair has added to its fleet a brand new CRJ900 Bombadier aircraft. Now Rwandair owns seven planes.

    It arrived at Kigali International Airport October 22.

    The CRJ900 aircraft is the first of its kind to operate in the east and central Africa.

    RwandAir Chief Executive Officer, John Mirenge, says the new plane will concentrate on regional routes.

    “We want to increase our destinations and by the end of this year we shall be operating in South Sudan, Cameroon, Zambia and Zanzibar,” he said.

    in the next six years, the National Carrier targets to expand its fleet to 18 planes.

    Minister of Infrastructure, Albert Nsengiyumva says, “The purpose of purchasing more planes is also to attract other airline companies.

    Besides, the number of passengers coming to Rwanda is increasing because of different destinations that RwandAir makes.”

  • TTC Students Write,Read Stories for Primary School

    Thirty Teacher Training College (TTC) students read their own original stories to neighboring primary school students at Academie de la Salle in Byumba on Friday afternoon.

    They also encouraged the primary students to read and write their own stories.

    At the event, organized by VSO volunteer Dorothy Nelson, primary school students crowded together in small circles to listen to the TTC students’ stories.

    TTC students asked the children questions about the story before, during, and after reading to engage them in the story.

    “It is my hope that these stories will inspire these primary students to write their own stories,” says Nelson.

    TTC students wrote these stories in July at a writer’s workshop facilitated by VSO as part of the USAID-funded Literacy, Language, and Learning (L3) Initiative. For some, it was the first time they had ever written a story.

    “This writer’s workshop can stimulate our hidden talents,” says TTC student Themistocles Abayisaba, who has continued writing stories after the workshop’s completion.

    According to L3’s Technical Director Norma Evans, TTC students should be encouraged to use stories in their classrooms when they become teachers.

    “Children need constant exposure to written content to learn to read,” she says. “Stories show students that reading is meaningful, that it has a purpose, and it gets students interested in reading.”

    Not only is reading in the classroom essential, but so is writing. Evans also says that even from Primary 1 students should have opportunities for authentic writing—not merely copying from the board, but writing to express themselves.

    “Writing helps students figure out which letters represent the individual sounds they hear in words.” Evans says. “This helps them to be better readers.”

    The Kigali Institute of Education, with support from the L3 initiative, is revising TTC curricula to include a focus on writing and the importance of story in the classroom.

    VSO volunteers with specialization in literacy will support the implementation of the new curricula and will also organize activities such as writer’s workshops and writing competitions at the TTCs to encourage a culture of reading and writing.

    Jean Bosco Bigirimana, principal of TTC Byumba, is pleased with this focus on story. “This is the beginning. This is your first story,” he told the TTC students at Friday’s event.

    “Write many stories. Use the stories to teach your pupils when you leave school to be teachers.”

  • TTC Students Write,Read Stories for Primary School

    Thirty Teacher Training College (TTC) students read their own original stories to neighboring primary school students at Academie de la Salle in Byumba on Friday afternoon.

    They also encouraged the primary students to read and write their own stories.

    At the event, organized by VSO volunteer Dorothy Nelson, primary school students crowded together in small circles to listen to the TTC students’ stories.

    TTC students asked the children questions about the story before, during, and after reading to engage them in the story.

    “It is my hope that these stories will inspire these primary students to write their own stories,” says Nelson.

    TTC students wrote these stories in July at a writer’s workshop facilitated by VSO as part of the USAID-funded Literacy, Language, and Learning (L3) Initiative. For some, it was the first time they had ever written a story.

    “This writer’s workshop can stimulate our hidden talents,” says TTC student Themistocles Abayisaba, who has continued writing stories after the workshop’s completion.

    According to L3’s Technical Director Norma Evans, TTC students should be encouraged to use stories in their classrooms when they become teachers.

    “Children need constant exposure to written content to learn to read,” she says. “Stories show students that reading is meaningful, that it has a purpose, and it gets students interested in reading.”

    Not only is reading in the classroom essential, but so is writing. Evans also says that even from Primary 1 students should have opportunities for authentic writing—not merely copying from the board, but writing to express themselves.

    “Writing helps students figure out which letters represent the individual sounds they hear in words.” Evans says. “This helps them to be better readers.”

    The Kigali Institute of Education, with support from the L3 initiative, is revising TTC curricula to include a focus on writing and the importance of story in the classroom.

    VSO volunteers with specialization in literacy will support the implementation of the new curricula and will also organize activities such as writer’s workshops and writing competitions at the TTCs to encourage a culture of reading and writing.

    Jean Bosco Bigirimana, principal of TTC Byumba, is pleased with this focus on story. “This is the beginning. This is your first story,” he told the TTC students at Friday’s event.

    “Write many stories. Use the stories to teach your pupils when you leave school to be teachers.”

  • Citadel Capital Voted Africa’s Leading Private Equity Firm

    Citadel Capital, the lead investor in Rift Valley Railway (RVR), has been voted Africa’s leading private equity firm for the fourth year in a row.

    The annual Private Equity International 300(PEI 300) ranked Citadel Capital top in Africa on the basis of the $3.5b it raised for investment projects on the continent between 2007 and 2012.

    The PEI 300 ranks similar equity funds globally and is in its sixth year.

    “Africa is long on opportunities but short on capital and management expertise. Since inception, we have focused on creating platform investments that offer solutions to pressing national challenges,” said Ahmed Heikal, the chairman of Citadel Capital.

    “With investments such as RVR of Kenya and Uganda and the Egyptian Refining Company, we are creating companies that will solve challenges and multiply trade flows.”

    Egyptian-based Citadel has raised and invested more than $4.9b in the Middle East, North Africa and East Africa since its inception in 2004.

    It has recently completed the finanacing for a five-year turnaround programme at RVR worth more than $330m.

  • Citadel Capital Voted Africa’s Leading Private Equity Firm

    Citadel Capital, the lead investor in Rift Valley Railway (RVR), has been voted Africa’s leading private equity firm for the fourth year in a row.

    The annual Private Equity International 300(PEI 300) ranked Citadel Capital top in Africa on the basis of the $3.5b it raised for investment projects on the continent between 2007 and 2012.

    The PEI 300 ranks similar equity funds globally and is in its sixth year.

    “Africa is long on opportunities but short on capital and management expertise. Since inception, we have focused on creating platform investments that offer solutions to pressing national challenges,” said Ahmed Heikal, the chairman of Citadel Capital.

    “With investments such as RVR of Kenya and Uganda and the Egyptian Refining Company, we are creating companies that will solve challenges and multiply trade flows.”

    Egyptian-based Citadel has raised and invested more than $4.9b in the Middle East, North Africa and East Africa since its inception in 2004.

    It has recently completed the finanacing for a five-year turnaround programme at RVR worth more than $330m.

  • Africa:Building Sustainable Local Currency Bond Markets

    Tunisia is hosting the first African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI) conference on “Building sustainable local currency bond markets for the future”.

    The Conference(October 22-24) has brought together policy makers and market participants to share experience on and contribute to critical issues facing the development of local currency bond markets in the continent.

    The audience includes representation from African central banks, government ministries, institutional investors, investment bankers, financial and legal advisors, credit rating agencies and other stakeholders, including high level speakers.

    The discussions are covering major topics including: Development of primary and secondary markets, and the impact and importance of liquidity; Expansion and diversification of the investor base; enhancing infrastructure for securities settlement and payment systems; strengthening the taxation and accounting systems as well as the legal and regulatory framework.

    Ideas, solutions and best practices will be presented and discussed extensively on how to assess the importance of sovereign credit ratings for issuers; improving bond market data, data collection and dissemination, which are prerequisites for the creation of bond indices.

    The role of infrastructure bonds in the development of local currency bond markets will also be heard. Opportunities for side meetings and networking will also be available.

    As part of the African Development Bank’s strategy to strengthen the financial sector in African economies, it has launched the “African Financial Market Initiative” (AFMI) which is targeted to further the development of domestic African capital markets.

    The objectives of the AFMI are to contribute to the development of local currency debt markets in Africa; to reduce African countries dependency on foreign currency denominated debt; to help enlarge the investor base in African domestic debt markets and to improve availability and transparency of African fixed income markets related data, among others.

  • Africa:Building Sustainable Local Currency Bond Markets

    Tunisia is hosting the first African Financial Markets Initiative (AFMI) conference on “Building sustainable local currency bond markets for the future”.

    The Conference(October 22-24) has brought together policy makers and market participants to share experience on and contribute to critical issues facing the development of local currency bond markets in the continent.

    The audience includes representation from African central banks, government ministries, institutional investors, investment bankers, financial and legal advisors, credit rating agencies and other stakeholders, including high level speakers.

    The discussions are covering major topics including: Development of primary and secondary markets, and the impact and importance of liquidity; Expansion and diversification of the investor base; enhancing infrastructure for securities settlement and payment systems; strengthening the taxation and accounting systems as well as the legal and regulatory framework.

    Ideas, solutions and best practices will be presented and discussed extensively on how to assess the importance of sovereign credit ratings for issuers; improving bond market data, data collection and dissemination, which are prerequisites for the creation of bond indices.

    The role of infrastructure bonds in the development of local currency bond markets will also be heard. Opportunities for side meetings and networking will also be available.

    As part of the African Development Bank’s strategy to strengthen the financial sector in African economies, it has launched the “African Financial Market Initiative” (AFMI) which is targeted to further the development of domestic African capital markets.

    The objectives of the AFMI are to contribute to the development of local currency debt markets in Africa; to reduce African countries dependency on foreign currency denominated debt; to help enlarge the investor base in African domestic debt markets and to improve availability and transparency of African fixed income markets related data, among others.

  • Ethiopia Hosts 8th African Development Forum

    Experts and management of the African Development Bank Group are geared up for the eighth African Development Forum (ADF VIII) to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from October 23-25 on the theme “Governing and Harnessing Natural Resources for Africa’s Development.”

    The ADF, a biennial event of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), was created in 1999 and convenes in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and other partners.

    It serves as a multi-stakeholder platform for debating, discussing and initiating concrete strategies for Africa’s development.

    This year’s forum also presents an auspicious moment to further engage AfDB partners on its 2013-2022 Long-Term Strategy, which envisages Africa’s transformation into a stable, integrated and prospering continent.

    The forum gathers a large number of participants including Heads of State and Government, policy-makers, development partners, other UN agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (IGOs/NGOs), academia, practitioners, civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector, eminent policy and opinion leaders and other concerned stakeholders.

    The forum includes plenary and high-level parallel panel sessions as well as side-events featuring keynote/lead speakers and presenters, media representatives and other participants.

  • Ethiopia Hosts 8th African Development Forum

    Experts and management of the African Development Bank Group are geared up for the eighth African Development Forum (ADF VIII) to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from October 23-25 on the theme “Governing and Harnessing Natural Resources for Africa’s Development.”

    The ADF, a biennial event of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), was created in 1999 and convenes in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and other partners.

    It serves as a multi-stakeholder platform for debating, discussing and initiating concrete strategies for Africa’s development.

    This year’s forum also presents an auspicious moment to further engage AfDB partners on its 2013-2022 Long-Term Strategy, which envisages Africa’s transformation into a stable, integrated and prospering continent.

    The forum gathers a large number of participants including Heads of State and Government, policy-makers, development partners, other UN agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (IGOs/NGOs), academia, practitioners, civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector, eminent policy and opinion leaders and other concerned stakeholders.

    The forum includes plenary and high-level parallel panel sessions as well as side-events featuring keynote/lead speakers and presenters, media representatives and other participants.

  • Italy Earth Quake: Scientists Sentenced to Jail

    Six Italian scientists and a government official were sentenced to six years in jail on Monday for multiple manslaughter in a watershed ruling that found them guilty of underestimating the risks of a killer earthquake in 2009.

    They were also ordered to pay more than nine million euros (almost $12 million) in damages to survivors in the devastated medieval town of L’Aquila in a case that has sparked outrage in the international science community.

    Seismologists in Italy and beyond were horrified by the unprecedented sentence and argued that all science was being put on trial.

    Under the Italian justice system, the seven remain free until they have exhausted two chances to appeal the verdict.

    Prosecutor Fabio Picuti had asked for jail sentences of four years for each defendant for failing to alert the population of the walled medieval town to the risks, days before the 6.3-magnitude quake that killed 309 people.

    “I am crestfallen, desperate. I thought I would be acquitted. I still don’t understand what I’m accused of,” said Enzo Boschi, who was the head of Italy’s national geophysics institute (INGV) at the time.

    All seven defendants were members of the Major Risks Committee which met in L’Aquila on March 31, 2009 — six days before the quake devastated the region, tearing down houses and churches and leaving thousands of people homeless.

    Picuti had slammed the experts for providing “an incomplete, inept, unsuitable and criminally mistaken” analysis, which reassured locals and led many to stay indoors when the first tremors hit.

    “This is a historic sentence, above all for the victims,” said lawyer Wania della Vigna, who represents 11 plaintiffs, including the family of an Israeli student who died when a student residence collapsed on top of him.

    “It also marks a step forward for the justice system and I hope it will lead to change, not only in Italy but across the world,” she said.

    The bright blue classroom-sized temporary tribunal in L’Aquila — built on an industrial estate after the town’s historic court was flattened in the quake — was packed with lawyers, advisors and international media for the verdict.

    Four of the defendants were in court, as well as a small group of survivors.

    Aldo Scimia, whose mother was killed, welled up as the verdict was read out.

    “We cannot call this a victory. It’s a tragedy, whatever way you look at it, it won’t bring our loved ones back,” he said.

    “I continue to call this a massacre at the hand of the state, but at least now we hope that our children may live safer lives.”

    A historic legal precedent

    Some commentators had warned that any convictions would dissuade other experts from sharing their expertise for fear of legal retribution.

    “We are deeply concerned. It’s not just seismology which has been put on trial but all science,” Charlotte Krawczyk, president of the seismology division at the European Geosciences Union (EGU)