UP, INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE!

Tomorrow, February 11, is International Day of Women and Girls in Science, so proclaimed by the UN General Assembly based on proposals and recommendations by the Unesco and UN Women.

Unesco is a specialised agency of the UN that aims at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences, and culture.

UN Women is also a UN entity that works for gender equality and the empowerment of women across the globe.

To that very noble end, “it advocates for the rights of women and girls, focusing on a wide array of issues that include violence against women.

It was, therefore, on December 22, 2015 that the UNGA – through its Resolution Number A/RES/70/212 – established February 11 of each succeeding year as an International Day on which to formally recognize the critical role which women and girls play in Science and Technology.

The Day’s commemorative events are mostly organised, implemented and supervised jointly and/or separately by Unesco and UN Women, working in close collaboration with institutions and civil society partners who are committed to promoting and otherwise bolstering women and girls in science in all its forms – including STEM: Science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Science is crucial to life – being “a systematic enterprise that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the Universe”.

Therefore, International Day of Women and Girls in Science is “an opportunity to promote full, equal and timely access to science, and participation in it, for women and girls”.

And, as gender equality is a global priority for Unesco and UN Women, both institutions and their allies support girls and young women by instilling in them the ability-cum-capability to make their ideas and proposals not only heard, but also acted upon apace in leveraging all inclusive, sustainable socioeconomic development.

PHYSICAL ADDRESS MOVE APT

Implementation of the proposed national physical address system has gained a new impetus after its execution had faltered for a myriad reasons since it was initiated in 2010.

About a decade later, President Samia Suluhu Hassan has injected new life into the project, giving local administrative authorities 90 days within which to complete the exercise, estimated to cost Sh28 billion in all. Fair enough, we say, in the hope that the relevant authorities will dutifully rise to the occasion accordingly.

The national physical address system is a good move in terms of reducing land disputes, bolstering security and functional land planning, as well as facilitating utility delivery services – including water, electricity and postal services.

Indeed, correct land planning – which includes accurate physical/locational addresses – is crucial in a country whose current population is estimated at about 60 million souls, and is growing at 2.9 percent annually.

But, all that calls for appropriate education, ready availability of the requisite personnel and equipment, as well as a participatory approach all round for the implementation to be successful.

It is, therefore, important that we tread carefully in implementing the national physical address project this late in the day (so to speak), lest we create new/more problems in society.