Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Just outside Somerset West in Asanda Village, South Africa, Rachel Kolisi and a woman named Grace stand side by side in a three-room home unpacking boxes from the Kolisi Foundation. The two represent women who won’t back down — unrelenting and unfailingly humble. Together, they unpack boxes filled with blankets, toiletries, and clothing from the foundation for a woman fleeing gender-based violence, who will be staying in Grace’s...
Arielle Witter
Having safe and effective vaccines a full year since the first reported cases of COVID-19 is a historic scientific achievement. It has shifted the conversation from “if” we will see an end to the pandemic to “when.”
But COVID-19 will not end with just a vaccine. It ends when everyone, everywhere has access to it. If the virus remains unchecked anywhere in the world, it will continue to move across borders, mutate, and drastically impact the global economy. Prioritizing the...
COVID-19 is threatening to wipe out decades of economic progress and development gains.
Storytelling is essential — it helps us understand, learn about, and discover new communities, places, and more. Every day, journalists around the world work hard to tell stories that inform and inspire others. That’s why the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), the ONE Campaign and the family of Micahel Elliott partner annually to honor these amazing storytellers. Each year, the Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling is awarded to a promising journalist for their outstanding work covering...
The World Bank's strategy to support low-income countries during COVID-19 has focused on providing new loans and grants. Has it worked?
Nearly 690 million people are undernourished, according to a recent report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and this figure has been rising steadily since 2014. In 2019, close to 750 million were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest rate of malnutrition, affecting 22% of the population, or 239 million people. While food insecurity is a complex problem that requires a range of policy interventions, one way to tackle...
Less than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic started, AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, and Moderna have created safe and effective vaccines against the virus, and some nations have begun vaccinating their citizens. Although this is great news and a major scientific achievement, the work isn’t done, and we’re seeing some signs that this accomplishment could be undermined by a failure to get the vaccine everywhere.
The pandemic won’t end with just a vaccine, but when there is global access to it and...
Amadou Mahtar Ba, a member of the Africa Policy Advisory Board of ONE, is sharing why debt relief is crucial for Africa to recover from COVID-19.
The economic and health costs to Africa as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are unprecedented by any measure. With the death toll rising above 50,000 and more than two million confirmed infections so far, the continent has many reasons to be worried.
So far, COVID-19 lockdowns have triggered the first continent-wide recession in 25...
Megan Gieske is a storyteller and photographer based in Cape Town, South Africa.
In South Africa, women are at risk.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of violence against women and girls in the world, and a femicide rate that is five times the global average, with an estimated 12.1 in 100,000 victims each year. South Africa’s gender-based violence statistics (GBV) are equal to a country at war.
South Africa held its yearly 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence,...
ONE Champion in Nigeria, Bushrah Temitope Balogun, is sharing how youth entrepreneurship in Africa marks the beginning of a new era.
Africa will account for 80 per cent of the projected 4 billion increase in the global population by 2100. The accompanying increase in its working-age population creates a window of opportunity, which if properly harnessed can translate into higher growth and can yield significant economic growth potential. As reported in a publication by Praullo Dummond, Vimal Thakoor and Shu...