Latest news with #andFamily
Maroc
27-05-2025
- Business
- Maroc
Nearly 36% of Women Beneficiaries of Economic Empowerment Come from Rural Areas — Minister
Women from rural areas make up nearly 36% of the beneficiaries of the economic empowerment and entrepreneurship program, Minister of Solidarity, Social Inclusion, and Family Naïma Ben Yahia stated on Monday. During question time at the House of Representatives, Ben Yahia stated that the governmental program aims to strengthen women's capacities across the country's regions, with tailored support for vulnerable groups. The program, she noted, has supported 13,000 women and financed over 320 projects. The total number of beneficiaries has reached 36,000 women, distributed across the country at a rate of 3,000 per region, with a total budget of approximately MAD 386 million, including 159 million financed by her department, Ben Yahia pointed out. The government official highlighted that this program focuses on training in various areas, including the management of cooperatives and businesses, to foster personal development. The ministry, she recalled, had launched in-person training and support programs in six regions: Fes-Meknes, Souss-Massa, the Oriental, Beni Mellal-Khenifra, Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, and Draa-Tafilalet. Ben Yahia also stressed that this dynamic includes women with disabilities, thanks to the mobilization of a nationwide network of over 1,350 education and training centers under the National Mutual Aid institution. MAP: 27 mai 2025
Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Europe's beautiful little island is frozen in time but reaches 28C in June
The Greek island of Meganisi is one of the country's Ionian islands, and is situated just off the coast of Lefkada. The island is widely acclaimed with many lauding its "unspoilt" beauty A breathtaking European island has defied the march of time, remaining virtually untouched in a country brimming with tourists. Meganisi, nestled among Greece's Ionian islands, lies off the west coast near Lefkada. Despite welcoming over 200,000 visitors annually, nearly 100 times its local population of around 2,300 permanent residents, Meganisi remains a "hidden" gem compared to its more frequented Ionian counterparts. The island's pristine beauty is widely acclaimed, with many lauding its "unspoilt" environment. Situated away from Greece's bustling tourist hubs, there's no motorway ferrying crowds to Meganisi, reports the Express. Access is limited to a car ferry from Lefkada, setting sail from Nidri port. The scarcity of traffic means that Meganisi's inhabitants live free from the influence of large-scale private developments and enterprises catering to tourists. Consequently, the island lacks the amenities that have popularised other destinations – such as nightclubs and bars. Meganisi, which enjoys temperatures around 28C in June, boasts quaint hotels, tiny shops, and intimate beaches where jostling for sun loungers is unheard of. Travel writer Nancy Roberts cherishes the lack of these commercial trappings, asserting they contribute to the island's unique charm. In her review for Map and Family, she emphasises that the allure of Meganisi lies in its tranquil retreat. She stated: "These days there isn't a lot happening on Meganisi – and that is the whole point of visiting. "It's a quiet little island community. But it also happens to have a fringe of lovely small beaches, dazzling blue seas and glorious Greek weather. "It's the perfect place to not do very much at all."
Morocco World
12-05-2025
- Health
- Morocco World
Violence, Lack of Resources Among Top Challenges for Moroccan Child Welfare
Rabat – Despite national efforts to protect children, Morocco still faces major challenges that require stronger cooperation and a more unified approach, said Minister of Solidarity, Social Inclusion, and Family, Naïma Ben Yahya, during a national meeting on child protection held Monday in Sale. Speaking at the opening of the event, titled 'Child Protection: Local Implementation and Quality of Services,' and organized with support from UNICEF, the minister said that challenges remain in many areas. These include improving prevention programs, better coordination among services, and making sure local actors take full responsibility in carrying out the national child protection plan. Ben Yahya also pointed to issues related to limited human and financial resources, the need to strengthen civil society's role, and the importance of creating an integrated digital system to track children under protection. She noted the growing threat of violence against children, especially online abuse, and said there is a pressing need for more research and data on children's issues. To address these problems, especially those faced by institutions caring for children in vulnerable situations, the minister announced that the government is working on a plan to establish a National Agency for Children in Need of Protection. This new agency would improve institutional support and ensure better governance and quality services for children. Morocco ranked 54th out of 194 countries worldwide in the 2024 Kids Rights Index, with a score of 0.776, placing it second among Maghreb countries, just behind Tunisia. The index evaluates countries based on their commitment to children's rights across five core areas: life, health, education, protection, and enabling environment. When climate change considerations are included as a sixth experimental domain, Morocco's ranking drops to 73rd with a score of 0.65. Tags: child protectionchildren
Forbes
17-04-2025
- General
- Forbes
The Echo Of Our Voices: Nick Brandt's Poignant Photography Captures A Vanishing World
Nick Brandt, The Cave, Jordan 2024 A new photographic series from visionary photographer Nick Brandt documents with skill and sensitivity a human race on the verge of environmental catastrophe. The Echo of Our Voices–chapter four of Brandt's seminal photographic series The Day May Break–depicts displaced Syrian refugees in Jordan's Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan as they battle against the challenges posed by war, displacement and climate change. In 2024 Brandt photographed Syrian families in the deserts of southern Jordan who had been displaced by the war in Syria between 2013 and 2013. His sculptural photographic compositions give a voice to these brave and stoic people who are forced to continually resettle and face daily challenges posed by the lack of water in Jordan, one of the world's most water-scarce countries. Ftaim and Family, Jordan, 2024 © Nick Brandt Brandt photographs the Jordanian families as they sit and stand together on stacks of boxes in a barren desert landscape or seek shelter from the blistering heat in the crook of a mountainside cave, creating sculptural images that present metaphors of pedestals for the unseen or forgotten peoples living on the perimeters of society. The families live a nomadic existence in search of agricultural work and in the hope of the elusive rain that will enable the growing of crops. Despite the daily challenges this peripatetic uprooted existence poses, Brandt's photographs capture their dignity and pride in the strength of their family units. Brandt and his team maintain contact with the families he photographed in Syria, and they remain hopeful that someday they will be able to return to their homes since the fall of the Assad regime. Laila Standing, Jordan, 2024 © Nick Brandt Nick Brandt explains how The Day May Break photographic series presents a visual document of the challenges faced by people in war-torn or developing countries ravaged by climate change caused by the complacency of industrial countries and their over-indulgent carbon emissions: 'Spread across the planet, there is a common link between the countries in which I have photographed this series so far: They all are among the countries that are the least responsible for climate breakdown. Their global carbon emissions have been tiny compared to industrial nations. Yet, like so many other poorer countries in the world, they are disproportionately harmed by its effects. The grim irony is that many people in these countries are the most vulnerable to the calamitous consequences of the industrial world's ways.' The Echo of Our Voices is a departure from the first three chapters of Brandt's photographic series The Day May Break, for it demonstrates the solidarity of people in the wake of adversity, and how they hold on to each other tightly when most of their worldly possessions are lost. Nick Brandt Making of 'The Day May Break, Ch. One', Richard and Sky © Nick Brandt There is a stillness in Nick Brandt's photographs that doesn't settle—it haunts. The celebrated photographer captures a world already unravelling. Shrouded in mist and heavy with metaphor, the images show displaced people and rescued animals standing together in shared vulnerability—a visual elegy for a planet in peril. Brandt made a reputation for himself with evocative portraits of African wildlife and landscapes and has spent the past two decades documenting the ecological and human toll of environmental collapse. With The Day May Break Brandt turned his lens toward those already living on the frontlines of climate change—communities driven from their homes by drought, flood, and economic upheaval—and animals orphaned by habitat destruction. Patrick and Flamingos, Zimbabwe, 2020 © Nick Brandt Photographed in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, and elsewhere, these staged but emotionally raw scenes are more than just portraits; they're parables. In fog-drenched sanctuaries and shelters, humans and animals coexist in surreal proximity, gazing into the camera—or beyond it—as if already living in a post-collapse world. The mist that veils each frame isn't just atmospheric; it's symbolic. What makes The Day May Break photographic series so unforgettable is Brandt's refusal to rely on spectacle. Instead, he finds quiet power in the dignity of his human and animal subjects, many of whom have experienced climate-related displacement or trauma yet manage to retain a quiet resilience. Brandt's use of monochrome and soft light lends the work a timeless, almost mythic quality. But this is no fantasy—it's a mirror. Climate change, Brandt insists, is not some distant specter but a crisis unfolding now, disproportionately affecting those least responsible for it. The Day May Break is not just art; it's a clarion call that the world needs to wake up and confront what is happening to humanity and the planet. Through powerful imagery and accompanying narratives, Brandt urges us to confront a truth we often ignore: the fate of humans, animals, and the planet is inseparably linked. Brandt's work resists easy optimism, but it isn't devoid of hope. There's tenderness in every frame, a recognition of our shared fragility and the possibility of compassion. In a world fractured by crisis, The Day May Break offers a rare kind of clarity—the kind that comes not from distance, but from standing close enough to see the humanity in every face, human or otherwise. Brandt's The Day May Break series has been exhibited all over the world including at the Milan International Photography Fair, the Cankarjev Dom Culture Center in Ljubljana, and most recently at Art Dubai. He will be exhibiting at AIPAD in New York from 23rd until 26th April, and will feature in group exhibition Rhythms at the Latvian National Museum of Art, Latvia in May. Other upcoming exhibitions include a solo exhibition at Polka Galerie in Paris in September 2025 and a solo show at Hangar Art Center in Brussels in September 2025. Brandt will be publishing a photographic book The Echo of Our Voices with Skira Books in September 2025,
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Northern Forest Center offers grants for youth , community recreation
PLATTSBURGH — The Northern Forest Center is making it easier for youth and residents of the Northern Forest to access outdoor activities by offering grants of $1,000 — $5,000 for a wide range of recreation programs and projects. The application deadline is March 31. 'One of the things that makes living in the Northern Forest so special is the abundance of amazing outdoor recreational assets and programs, but we know that financial and other barriers often limit participation by the folks that live here,' Joe Fox, Center outdoor recreation manager, said. Municipalities, schools, nonprofit organizations, tribal organizations, and town-based committees working to increase local participation in outdoor recreation in the following counties are eligible to apply for funding: New York: Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Oswego, Saratoga, St. Lawrence, Warren, Washington, Fulton. Vermont: Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Washington. New Hampshire: Carroll, Coos, Grafton Maine: Aroostook, Franklin, Hancock, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Washington This grant program is possible thanks to funding from outdoor retailer L.L. Bean. Two previous rounds of grants provided $60,000 to support a wide variety of projects including: youth mountain bike programs, tool lending libraries to support trail stewardship, building a new trail to link a school and village center, youth archery, summer camp tuition offsets, and a new parking area for a public beach. 'This region is well known for outdoor recreation, but many long-time, year-round residents have been excluded from activities such as mountain biking, skiing, hiking, and paddling due to cost, lack of equipment, or insufficient opportunities at the local level,' Fox said. 'We're so pleased to offer another round of grants thanks to L.L. Bean's continued support.' Hilltopper MTB, a youth program that participates in Vermont Youth Cycling races, received a grant last year. 'The physical, social, and mental benefits that come from mountain biking should not be limited only to kids of a certain socioeconomic background,' coach James Bentley said. 'Thanks to this funding, we were able to make Hilltopper MTB affordable for all Northeast Kingdom families.' Another grant enabled the Youth and Family Development program at the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County in Plattsburgh to buy enough arrows to keep its youth archery program running smoothly. Full grant guidelines and a very short application are available online. Projects that best meet the following criteria will be given preference: Tangibly reduce barriers to participation in outdoor recreation by youth Promote healthy activity Incorporate principles of sustainability and natural resource engagement and stewardship in programming Have demonstrated community support Identify visible or quantifiable outcomes achievable within six months of award Have a clear implementation plan Requests should range between $1,000 and $5,000. The Northern Forest Center anticipates making up to 12 awards.
