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HOMEF Partners US-based NGO, Announces 2023 ORA-A Fellowship

Published

3 years ago

December 13, 2022

HOMEF Partners US-based NGO, Announces 2023 ORA-A Fellowship

Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) in collaboration with Commonweal, a US-based NGO with 45 years of engagement and accomplishment in diverse fields announces a call for nominations and applications from visionaries, involved in movements or struggles from the African Region into its 2023 Omega Resilience Awards Fellowship programme. This fellowship seeks communicators, artists, and public intellectuals from

diverse fields who are based in Africa to engage in laying bare the
connections between seemingly disparate phenomena – climate, water, health, and migration, taken together often referred to as the polycrisis – and how they interact within the larger system.

The Omega Resilience Awards – Africa (ORA-A), focuses primarily on identifying young visionaries begins today. The fellowship is open to Africans who are under the age of 40 years and are preferably involved in social movements and have their origins in the communities of
struggles.

This award understands that nature should be the focus for solving the
polycrisis and to charting pathways toward a more resilient future.

According to Jay Naidoo, a one time minister in President Mandela’s government who is a member of the advisory board of ORA-A, the fellowship will help unravel the meaning of life and the meaning of service in the midst of the complexities.

“The journey of life is a celebration of joy in service and gratitude to Mother Earth,” he said.

Dr. Firoze Manji, Publisher, Daraja Press and member of the advisory board, speaking on the fellowship stated that “We are faced today with the multiple crises created by destructive capitalism that threatens not only the planet’s survival but also encourage the degeneration of human
social relations into the realms of hate and terror. What is required
today are propositional politics that create today the elements of the
world we want to live in tomorrow, a world based on love, hope and
creativity. The Omega Resilience Awards -Africa is critical for
supporting such developments amongst militants connected with movements of the oppressed and exploited.”

Also commenting, Nnimmo Bassey, Director of HOMEF, and member of the advisory board noted, “Conceptual climate change discourses in Africa
have been largely restricted to academic and social movements circles. The impact of climate change is a living reality for communities across
the continent where hazards and vulnerabilities often if collide to
produce disasters.”

He added that this is a critical reason why we need practicing visionaries in various fields to bring up clear interpretations of the polycrisis from a uniquely African perspective.

“We are excited at the launch of the ORA-Africa program,” said Mark
Valentine, Chief Strategy Officer for ORA.

“It is our belief that we’re
headed into a profound reckoning where society will be forced to
reorganize itself in response to the social and environmental pressures
of the polycrisis. For the ORA Fellows program, we are looking for
people drawn from diverse walks of life who understand that the old
approach to solving problems in silos is no longer viable and that
instead we need to apply a systems thinking lens but not through a way
that paralyzes people with complexities. We need people who can translate complexity into actionable steps that help communities slow and eventually reverse the damage being done by the polycrisis. We’re excited at the prospect of a new cohort of fellows from Africa working in concert with other cohorts being formed in Latin America and India who collectively will illuminate new pathways towards resilience.”

Applicants are expected to show a history of experience in activism,
innovative thinking and should also illustrate how active they are as
change-makers in their communities. In addition they should be ready to participate in regular seminars/webinars throughout the program. The ORA Africa fellowships will be awarded yearly with each fellow receiving a grant of $10,000.00 (Ten Thousand US Dollars only) in support of their
work.

HOMEF announces that interested applicants are to complete and submit an
online application form accessible at the organisation’s website,
www.homef.org

For any clarifications, please feel free to contact
OduduAbasi Asuquo – ORA-A@homef.org
Ogechi Cookey – ogechi@homef.org

Headline

FULL LIST: US To Review Green Cards From 19 ‘Countries Of Concern’ After Washington Shooting

Published

12 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it will review the immigration status of all permanent residents, or “Green Card” holders, from Afghanistan and 18 other countries following the attack on National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.

U.S. officials identified the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting as a 29-year-old Afghan national who previously worked alongside American forces in Afghanistan.

The individual was granted asylum earlier this year, not permanent residency, according to AfghanEvac, an organisation that assists Afghans resettled in the United States after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” said Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), on X.

The review follows a June executive order from President Trump classifying 19 countries as “of Identified Concern.”

The order banned entry for nearly all nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The full list of these countries is:

Afghanistan

Myanmar

Chad

Congo-Brazzaville

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Haiti

Iran

Libya

Somalia

Sudan

Yemen

A partial travel ban applies to seven additional countries, though some temporary work visas remain allowed: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Headline

Romanian Defence Minister Quits After Admitting Error In Academic Record

Published

12 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Romania’s defence minister resigned on Friday after saying he made a “mistake” on his CV about his university education, as controversy swirled over alleged lies on his resume.

Ionut Mosteanu – who has admitted to writing on his CV that he graduated from a university he never attended – said he did not want the row “to distract” the NATO member at a time when it and Europe are “under attack from Russia”.

Romania has repeatedly seen drone fragments fall on its soil since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and reported a number of drone incursions.

On Tuesday, a drone crashed in eastern Romania, which borders Ukraine.

Romania has also accused Moscow of “hybrid attacks”, including meddling in presidential elections last year that were subsequently annulled.

“Today, I resigned from my position as minister of national defence,” Mosteanu said in a Facebook post, adding he wanted the country to be focused on its “difficult mission”.

“Romania and Europe are under attack from Russia. Our national security must be defended at all costs,” he added.

Mosteanu had come under pressure after a media investigation published on Thursday revealed that he wrote in a CV that he graduated from a university which he did not actually attend.

That same day he apologised for what he called “a mistake”.

“In a CV I quickly put together in 2016 using a template I found online, there is a mistake that I admit embarrasses me. I didn’t pay much attention to these details at the time,” he said on Facebook.

Mosteanu was appointed defence minister in June of this year, when a new pro-European government was formed after months of political turmoil.

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said in a press release that he would propose economy and tourism minister Radu Miruta take over the defence portfolio in the interim.

AFP

Headline

Russia Insists Ukraine Must Cede Land Or Face Continued Military Push

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he would end his Ukraine offensive if Kyiv withdrew from territory Moscow claims at its own — otherwise his army would take it by force.

The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine in costly battles against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces.

Washington has meanwhile renewed its push to end the nearly four-year war, putting forward a surprise plan that it hopes to finalise through upcoming talks with Moscow and Kyiv.

“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means.”

Russia controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. The issue of occupied land, which Kyiv has said it will never cede, is among the biggest stumbling blocks in the peace process.

Another important issue in the talks are Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv says are needed to prevent Moscow from invading again in the future.

Washington’s original plan — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.

The US pared back the original plan over the weekend following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but has not yet released the new version.

Putin, who has seen the new plan, said it could be a negotiation starter.

“Overall, we agree that it could form the basis for future agreements,” he said of the latest draft, which the US is thought to have shortened to about 20 points.

US negotiator Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow next week to discuss the revised document, Putin said.

US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meanwhile due to visit Kyiv later this week, Ukraine’s top presidential aide Andriy Yermak said.

– ‘Little can be done’ –

In his remarks Thursday, Putin repeated the claim that Russia had encircled the Ukrainian army in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region — the most fiercely embattled area and a key target for Moscow’s forces.

“Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded,” he said, using the Russian names for the cities.

Moscow was also advancing in Vovchansk and Siversk, as well as approaching the important logistic hub of Guliaipole, he added.

The Russian offensive “is practically impossible to hold back, so there is little that can be done about it”, Putin said.

Ukraine has denied Pokrovsk and Myrnograd are encircled, insisting its forces continue to hold the enemy along the front line.

Putin also questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy and said signing any agreement with him would be legally “almost impossible” at the moment, a suggestion that has drawn groans from Kyiv and its allies.

According to data analysed by AFP from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have conquered an average of 467 square kilometres (180 square miles) each month in 2025 — a step up from 2024.

Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.