Ghana health official urges mental health funding, and other news (19 Jun 2018)

From Ghana's mental health facilities to technology to ensure government accountability in Nigeria

Every Tuesday we highlight some of the international development stories from across the globe that have caught our attention.

  • Ghana’s mental health facilities may have to close without further funding, a psychiatrist has warned. The sector depends largely on a development partner, and is now calling for a larger budgetary allocation. Read more in News Ghana.
  • A workshop in Abuja, Nigeria, has looked at how technology can enable citizens and civil society organisations can track government activites and maintain accountability. The workshop was organised by Partnership to Engage, Reform, and Learn (PERL), funded by DFID in collaboration with Facility for Oil Sector Transformation (FOSTER). Read more in The Guardian (Nigeria), or find out more about FOSTER.
  • Karandaz  has launched its second annual Women Entrepreneurship Challenge in Pakistan, which will provide business development support and investment to women-led businesses across the country. Read more in the Pakistan Observer.
  • Fourteen Caribbean Community member states are to prepare projects that will improve the resilience and adaptation of agriculture, food systems, and rural communities to climate change. The projects will mobilise a new 'green fund' created by the UN's FAO and the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation. Read more in the Jamaica Observer.
  • The Nigerian Export Promotion Council and the International Trade Center are partnering to launch the SheTrade Commonweath Project in Nigeria. The initiative will help give more economic opportunities to connect women to global trade. Read more in The Nation (Nigeria).
  • Malnutrition can be fought with food fortification – including gender-specific nutrition. Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora looks at the situation in Pakistan. Read more in The Nation (Pakistan).
  • About 40% of Uganda’s national budget is donor-financed. Ahead of Uganda’s 2018/2019 budget announcement, Edward Baliddawa explores how this impacts the nation. Read more in Daily Monitor (Uganda).

Image credit: Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com