October 13, 2021

Mattermost Launches New Project and Workflow Management Solutions for Developers

Open source collaboration platform delivers alternatives to tools like Slack, Trello, and Notion to help R&D teams improve productivity and accelerate digital operations

Palo Alto, Calif., Oct. 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Mattermost, Inc. today announced several new additions to its open source project at KubeCon® + CloudNativeCon North America 2021, launching and integrating modern project and workflow management solutions into its popular developer collaboration platform. Built for technical teams, Mattermost now provides flexible alternatives to tools like Slack®, Trello®, and Notion® through a unified platform for increased collaboration and productivity across a wide range of software development processes — from sprint planning and release management to incident resolution and retrospectives.

With heightened awareness around the urgency for remote collaboration and modernization of enterprise processes, developers have been increasingly asked to circumvent fragile processes, talent shortages, and security risks to deliver performance, innovation, and digital operations at scale. The newest update to the core Mattermost® platform emphasizes the complexities of these staggering objectives and the need for dynamic solutions that empower R&D teams with autonomy, flexibility, and security.

The launch of Mattermost’s modern project and workflow management solutions also reflects the company’s evolution beyond secure messaging to enable team alignment and operational agility across sophisticated R&D use cases. Unlike general collaboration products, the Mattermost platform now allows developers to contribute directly to its solutions and customize their workspaces to adapt to their preferred team processes. Mattermost also provides teams with the option to deploy on-premise or in a secure cloud instance. This gives companies more control over their data and assists them in meeting stringent security and privacy compliance standards such as those found in HIPAA, FINRA, GDPR, country-specific data sovereignty, and other regulatory requirements.

“As organizations navigate the shift to always-on digital operations, teams that effectively align their people, tools, and processes across each stage of the development lifecycle are increasing their velocity, improving delivery and gaining a strategic advantage,” said Ian Tien, co-founder and CEO of Mattermost. “With developers reporting that nearly 40% of their workweek is wasted due to tool fragmentation, manual tasks, fragile workflows, and service-impacting incidents and outages, we see a huge opportunity to help every R&D team in the world improve their operations and productivity with collaboration solutions built specifically for the way they work.”

Founded in 2016, Mattermost has powered over 800,000 developer workspaces worldwide and has a community of over 4,000 open source contributors who have updated the platform over 30,000 times since its initial release. Mattermost’s commercial offerings are used by over 800 organizations, including European Parliament, NASA, Nasdaq, Samsung, SAP, the United States Air Force, and Wealthfront.

“Mattermost has been unimaginably effective for our company and continues to exceed expectations with every new release,” said Daniel Gover, IT system administrator for Crossover Health. “The platform helps us ensure that we’re staying HIPAA-compliant while letting our clinicians collaborate efficiently and seamlessly.”

“Developer velocity is increasingly essential to driving digital operations and modernization across the enterprise,” said Paul Nashawaty, senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. “Mattermost is helping to meet this requirement with a collaboration platform that reduces context switching and delivers visibility and control across the developer workflow and toolchain.”

This update to the Mattermost platform is now available to all users and features enhanced navigation and multiple tightly integrated collaboration tools, including:

Channels: The foundation of the Mattermost platform, Channels bring all of your team’s communication into one place, so you have complete visibility and control. Channels come with team messaging, conferencing, and file sharing features beyond general-purpose collaboration, including slash commands, code syntax highlighting, rich Markdown formatting, code snippets, and bot integrations.

Playbooks: Playbooks are prescribed workflows that streamline complex, recurring processes. Playbooks run side-by-side with Channels and make any structured process repeatable and predictable using checklists, triggers, automation, and tool integrations. Continuous improvement is built into each playbook with learnings and retrospectives.

Boards: Boards are Kanban-style task and project management solutions with clearly defined tasks, owners, checklists, and deadlines. Boards help teams increase transparency and keep all resources readily available, including documents, images, and links, and are used to help teams achieve project milestones and manage projects and tasks of any size.

Connections: Connections are integrations and extensions with leading developer tools, including GitHub®, Jenkins®, Circle CI®, GitLab®, Jira®, PagerDuty®, and ServiceNow®. Connections allow developers to turn any Channel into a CLI through built-in or custom commands to execute actions directly, such as posting to Channels, listening for new messages with incoming and outgoing webhooks. Developers can build Connections through custom apps, open APIs, plugins, and webhooks. The Mattermost App Framework allows developers to define custom interactive add-ons that support web, mobile, and desktop clients without changes. Apps can be written in any language, deployed on any HTTP server, or hosted as an AWS Lambda function.

Controls: Controls provide extensive data protection, information governance, eDiscovery, enterprise information archiving support, and identity/access management. Controls give administrators the ability to set granular permissions to control access to sensitive data and can be customized to meet your specific compliance requirements with fine-grained data retention, audit logs, the ability to programmatically archive and export records, and integration with Global Relay and Smarsh/Actiance for compliance, archiving, and analytics. Deployment options are available in on-prem or secure cloud environments to meet the strict requirements of GDPR, AICPA, CCPA, FINRA, HIPAA, and more.

To learn more about Mattermost’s developer collaboration platform, attendees can find the team at booth #S12 at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2021, or please visit the Mattermost Blog.

About Mattermost:

Mattermost is an open source platform for secure collaboration across the entire software development lifecycle. Hundreds of thousands of developers around the globe trust Mattermost to increase their productivity by bringing together team communication, task and project management, and workflow orchestration into a unified platform for agile software development.

Founded in 2016, Mattermost’s open source platform powers over 800,000 workspaces worldwide with the support of over 4,000 contributors from across the developer community. The company serves over 800 customers, including European Parliament, NASA, Nasdaq, Samsung, SAP, United States Air Force and Wealthfront, and is backed by world-class investors including Battery Ventures, Redpoint, S28 Capital, YC Continuity. To learn more, visit www.mattermost.com.

Mattermost and the Mattermost logo are registered trademarks of Mattermost, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Jeff Benanto
Mattermost
5083619001
jeff.benanto@mattermost.com

October 13, 2021

Huawei’s Ken Hu Calls on ICT Industry to Work Together on Next Stage of 5G Development

DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Huawei’s 12th annual Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF) kicked off in Dubai today with a keynote from the company’s Rotating Chairman, Ken Hu.

He spoke on the current state of 5G development and new opportunities moving forward. “In just five years of commercial deployment, 5G has provided a considerable upgrade in mobile experience for consumers, and it’s already starting to empower different industries around the globe. Progress was much faster than we expected, especially in terms of the subscriber base, network coverage, and the sheer number of 5G terminals on the market.”

Hu outlined three areas of opportunity that will drive the next stage of 5G’s growth, including XR services, the B2B market, and low-carbon development.

Ken Hu speaking on 5G development at MBBF 2021

The current state of global 5G development

There are currently 176 commercial 5G networks around the globe, serving more than 500 million subscribers. In the consumer space, average 5G download speeds are roughly 10 times greater than 4G, which has fueled broader adoption of applications like VR and 360º broadcasting. In the enterprise space, there are already 10,000 projects exploring B2B applications of 5G (5GtoB) around the world. 5G applications in industries like manufacturing, mining, and ports have already passed trial and are being replicated at scale.

While progress has been steady, Hu noted that there are still some areas for improvement. “Right now more than half of these 10,000 5GtoB projects are in China. We have a huge number of use cases already, but we need to build more sustainable business cases.”

He went on to speak of broader changes that will have a long-term impact on the ICT industry, including accelerated digital transformation caused by the pandemic, how cloud and AI have become must-haves for all organizations, and how the world is taking climate change more seriously. “These trends provide many opportunities for our industry,” he said. “But they also create some challenges. There are a few things we can do to get ready.”

First, the industry needs to get networks, devices, and content ready for explosive growth in Extended Reality (XR). To support a smooth cloud-based XR experience, networks need to provide download speeds faster than 4.6 Gbit/s with latency no greater than 10 milliseconds. “Last year,” noted Hu, “we released our goals for 5.5G. And we believe they will help address this challenge.”

barriers to headset adoption is critical to reaching a tipping point in virtual reality, one of the key technologies in the Extended Reality repertoire of AR, VR, and MR. “To reach [this tipping point], we have to make improvements to both headsets and content. For headsets, people want devices that are smaller, lighter, and more affordable.” To enrich the content ecosystem, Hu called on the industry to provide cloud platforms and tools that simplify content development, which is notoriously difficult and expensive.

Second, telecom operators need to enhance their networks and develop new capabilities to get ready for 5GtoB. A strong network is key to 5G applications for industrial use, so operators need to keep making improvements to network capabilities such as uplink, positioning, and sensing. As industrial scenarios are much more complex than consumer scenarios, O&M can be a real challenge. To help, Huawei is developing autonomous networks that bring intelligence to all aspects of 5G networks, from planning and construction to maintenance and optimization.

Digital transformation also requires different roles. In addition to providing connectivity, operators can also serve as cloud service providers, systems integrators, and more, and develop the requisite capabilities. To drive broader adoption of 5G in industries, developing industry-specific telecoms standards is also important. In China, operators, together with their industry partners, have begun working on standards for applying 5G in industries like coal mining, steel, and electric power, and this has helped to fuel greater adoption within these sectors.

“Beyond technology,” concluded Hu, “these are some of the intangible strengths that won’t provide immediate profit, but will be key to long-term competitiveness in the 5GtoB market.”

Third, the industry needs to get ready to go green. According to the World Economic Forum, by 2030, digital technology can help reduce global carbon emissions by at least 15%. “On one hand,” said Hu, “we have a great opportunity to help all industries cut emissions and improve power efficiency with digital technology. On the other hand, we have to recognize that our industry has a growing carbon footprint, and we have to take steps to improve that. Right now Huawei is using new materials and algorithms to lower the power consumption of our products, and we’re remodeling sites, and optimizing power management in our data centers for greater efficiency.”

“We have seen so many changes in the past two years – with the pandemic, technology, business and the economy,” Hu concluded. “Moving forward, as the world begins to recover, we need to recognize the opportunities in front of us and get ready for them. Get our technology ready, get our businesses ready, and get our capabilities ready.”

The Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2021 is hosted by Huawei, together with its industry partners GSMA and the SAMENA Telecommunications Council. The forum gathers mobile network operators, vertical industry leaders, and ecosystem partners from around the world to discuss how to maximize the potential of 5G and push the mobile industry forward.

For more information, please visit: https://www.huawei.com/en/events/mbbf2021

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1659317/Ken_Hu_speaking_5G_development_MBBF_2021.jpg

October 13, 2021

Huawei’s David Wang Talks 10 Wireless Industry Trends in “Roads to Mobile 2030”

DUBAI, UAE, Oct. 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — During the 12th Global Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF), Huawei Executive Director of the Board and Chairman of ICT Infrastructure Managing Board David Wang, delivered a keynote speech titled Roads to Mobile 2030: 10 Wireless Industry Trends, saying “Huawei has identified 10 wireless industry trends to define future-oriented wireless networks and prepare the industry for the Intelligent World 2030.”

David Wang delivering a keynote speech at MBBF 2021

As he explained, by 2030, the digital and physical worlds will become deeply integrated, creating a near-real-life experience. The digital economy will also become a primary driver of the real economy, and industry will shift focus from device efficiency to decision-making efficiency. But these advances will also need us to achieve intrinsic network security and to improve energy efficiency to protect the environment through green growth.

Mobile networks will be an important part of Huawei’s Intelligent World 2030 concept, and so Wang summarized the 10 trends we will see in the mobile industry over the next decade.

Trend 1: 10 Gbps for Physical-Digital Integration

In the future, digital communications will be used to expand and deepen exchanges of information between people, delivering multi-sensory experiences including hearing, sight, touch, and smell. To enable these features, mobile networks will need to support 10 Gbps at millisecond latency everywhere and transmit information in ways that are more semantically organized.

Trend 2: One Network for 100-Billion All-Scenario IoT Connections

Digital society will be reshaped by the 100 billion thing-to-thing connections cellular networks will have to support by 2030. Driven mainly by all-scenario IoT, networks will have to begin offering different types of connections services, differentiated by speed and priority requirements. This means a deterministic experience with lower latency and higher reliability must be delivered and a new form of wireless IoT that features ultra-low power consumption and passive connections must be created.

Trend 3: Satellite-Ground Collaboration for 3D Coverage

Satellite-ground collaboration will plug the gaps in wireless ground coverage and achieve three-dimensional airspace coverage, enabling communications and control for future drones and aircrafts. Mobile networks, with their exiting advanced communications technologies and multi-trillion dollar market, will also likely be used to nurture the new satellite communications technologies.

Trend 4: Integrated Sensing & Communications for True Digital Replicas

Sensing and communications will be further integrated, enabling real-time digital replication of the physical world and facilitating high-level autonomous driving and drone management. Both radio interfaces and network architectures will need to be similarly integrated and sensing resolution technology will need to advance to the centimeter level using ultra-wideband with Massive MIMO to achieve these functions.

Trend 5: Intelligence in Every Industry and Connection

Wireless networks will become fully integrated with AI technologies to enable level-5 fully autonomous driving networks, which will further support automated O&M, deliver premium experiences, and minimize carbon footprints. Future radios will also be designed with native intelligence, and smart radio algorithms will further optimize the management of channel coding and radio resource.

Trend 6: Full-Link and Full-Lifecycle Green Networks

As network traffic grows 100 times over in the next few years, there will be an equal spike in demand for solutions that reduce network energy consumption. Per-bit energy efficiency will also need to improve at a similar rate. Energy efficiency must be considered in every aspect of network design, including radio interfaces, devices, and sites. This will enable the construction of these full-link and full-lifecycle green and sustainable networks.

Trend 7: Flexible Full-Band Sub-100 GHz

By 2030, nations will need an average of 2 GHz mid-band bandwidth and over 20 GHz of bandwidths on millimeter wave to accommodate growing traffic. The industry will need to facilitate the evolution of sub-100 GHz spectrum to NR and redefine spectrum utilization using multi-band integration and other innovative technologies to achieve 10-fold spectral efficiency improvement.

Trend 8: Generalized Multi-Antenna for Reduced Per-Bit Cost

Per-bit data transmission costs will be reduced as multi-antenna technologies begin to be applied to every spectrum band and every scenario. Ultra-wideband modular antennas will support flexible combinations of multiple bands and intelligent reflecting surfaces will apply multi-antenna technologies in more scenarios to enable cloud-based, higher-performance deployment.

Trend 9: Security as the Cornerstone for a Digital Future

Intrinsic device security and intelligent and simplified security at the network layer will become increasingly important as network security and resilience come more into the global spotlight. Operators will need to provide these kinds of simplified security services via cloud-network synergy for their industry customers to promote digital transformation.

Trend 10: Mobile Computing Network for Device-Pipe-Cloud Collaboration

Future mobile networks will support more diverse services, such as the Metaverse, industrial field networks, and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications. This means that computing will need to be integrated with mobile networks to provide uninterrupted, high-quality services on demand as a single service model will be insufficient for building new digital platforms.

Wang rounded out his presentation by reiterating how these 10 industry trends are a bright sign that the wireless industry is moving quickly in the direction of a fully intelligent world. He closed out promising Huawei will continue to work with industry partners to define these networks of the future and make their vision of the Intelligent World 2030 a reality.

For more information, see the White Paper: 10 Wireless Industry Trends.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1659364/David_Wang_delivering_a_keynote_speech_MBBF_2021.jpg

October 13, 2021

Ten Villagers Killed in Mosque Attack in Western Niger

Suspected jihadis killed 10 villagers in an attack on a mosque earlier this week in western Niger’s Tillaberi region, local sources said Wednesday.

The attack on Monday occurred in the village of Abankor in the tri-border region where Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso meet.

“The attackers arrived on motorbikes during evening prayers and the victims were in the mosque when they were killed,” an official in Banibangou city told AFP.

A resident of the neighboring town of Tondiwindi confirmed the attack and the death toll.

On local radio Studio Kalangou, an Abankor resident said one person was injured in addition to the 10 dead, adding that the attack occurred in the early evening.

Since the start of the year, attacks by suspected jihadis have skyrocketed in the area around Banibangou and nearby towns in the Tillaberi region.

The flashpoint area is frequently targeted by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the al-Qaida-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims with deadly attacks against civilians and soldiers.

Early this month the United Nations warned that the Tillaberi region was facing a “major food crisis,” with almost 600,000 people exposed to food insecurity.

“Insecurity and recurrent attacks by suspected elements of non-state armed groups targeting farmers and civilians will have serious repercussions this year on the already precarious food situation,” the U.N. Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs office warned in a report sent to AFP.

Source: Voice of America

October 13, 2021

Police Shoot, Kill Pro-Democracy Protester in Eswatini

Police shot a protester to death Wednesday in Eswatini, the latest casualty in months of demonstrations that have left more than a dozen people dead.

Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday that the man was killed during a clash between police and a group of commuter bus operators demonstrating for political reform in the small town of Malkerns.

“A man was shot at Malkerns after a group of protesters stopped a truck carrying sand and used it to block (a) road,” said William Tsintsibala Dlamini, the police commissioner general.

“Officers came with guns and tried to reason with them, but they retaliated by throwing stones at them, and that is when one of them was shot dead,” he told reporters.

Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, is Africa’s last absolute monarchy. The international community has criticized the country over the past few months for its use of excessive force against protesters. In June, at least 27 people were killed when civil society and opposition groups clashed with police during demonstrations in Manzini and Mbabane, the country’s largest cities.

For months, residents have been demanding political reforms in the small kingdom, specifically calling for the release of two pro-democracy lawmakers arrested during protests over the summer. Large protests in July demanded that the new prime minister be selected by the people instead of the king.

Earlier this week, soldiers and police were deployed to schools across the country, as many high school students have boycotted classes in conjunction with the protests.

Source: Voice of America

October 13, 2021

VOA Interview: US Ambassador to UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield returned to public service earlier this year when President Joe Biden nominated her to be the representative of the United States to the United Nations.

The veteran diplomat had a 35-year career with the U.S. foreign service that included major roles in U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa as well as management leadership positions within the State Department. She also served as ambassador to Liberia and had foreign postings in Kenya, Gambia and Nigeria.

Thomas-Greenfield spoke with Hayde Adams, the host of VOA’s Straight Talk Africa, during the U.S.-Africa Business Summit about U.S. policy toward Africa, how countries in the region are recovering from the pandemic, and why women should play a central role in that effort.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: Earlier this year, you acknowledged that Africa has many challenges: COVID-19, of course, poverty, terrorism, amongst many others. But you also said that the Biden administration understands that it needs to focus on the opportunities on the continent and not just the challenges. What are the greatest opportunities that the United States sees on the African continent today?

Linda Thomas-Greenfield: Before COVID-19 hit Africa, African economies were some of the fastest-growing economies in the world. And somewhere between six out of 10 of the top fastest-growing countries were on the continent of Africa. I see many opportunities for these countries now to build back better, as we have said here in the United States, and they can build back better with more equitable growth, with more diversity, with more market-based transparent practices and with a focus on climate smart futures. And also, I have to add, with a focus on equity for women who have been key players in the marketplace on the continent of Africa.

So let me start with climate change. Climate change is a challenge for all of us all over the globe. But it also presents a tremendous opportunity to create well-paying jobs on the continent of Africa as the world transitions to renewable energies and develops transformational technologies that can help countries reduce emissions and also adapt to climate change. We’re committed to making sure, for example that developing countries can build back greener through public climate financing. Africa, with a population of 1.3 billion people with a median age of 19 … Africa’s youth are probably one of its greatest resources. There’s a tendency to see youth, for example as a problem. But for the continent of Africa, youth are an opportunity, and they are an opportunity that the continent needs to take advantage of.

VOA: Many African nations are currently experiencing their worst surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths since this pandemic began and it’s all largely driven by the delta variant. What are the most worrying pandemic trends that you are seeing on the continent right now? And what is your assessment of the way African governments have responded to these twin health and economic crises?

Thomas-Greenfield: This pandemic has really had a devastating impact on the economies of African countries, and as we reflect back on the last 18 months, I have to say that many of the actions that were taken by African leaders to confront COVID-19 early on have saved countless lives. Many of these countries shut down. Many of them had already had experiences dealing with pandemic-like conditions when some of them had to deal with Ebola.

But the situation continued to get worse and particularly as African countries were not able to access the COVID vaccines once these vaccines came on board. And they were not prepared, for example, with the challenges to their very weak health care systems, the countries began to falter. And with this new delta variant out there, I think the situation is going to get even worse. You may know President (Joe) Biden has just announced and pledged that the United States will be the world’s arsenal of vaccines. I love that phrase. And we’re working as fast as we can to get shots in arms, not just here in the United States but through COVAX (a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization) to get as many vaccines out to the continent of Africa as possible, as well as through bilateral donations of vaccines. And so we see that we’re not just fighting the disease, we’re fighting to secure decades of development progress that the pandemic could unwind.

VOA: Given the opportunities for the U.S. on the African continent and beyond the COVAX commitments, what is America willing to do to ensure that Africa is not left behind as economies all over the world try to recover?

Thomas-Greenfield: We have tremendous programs that work with young people, that are working with women, that are working with finance ministries to support their development agendas through not just USAID (the U.S. Agency for International Development), but also through DFC (the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation), through our engagements with the World Bank and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to ensure that these countries get the injections into their economy.

VOA: International institutions and civil society organizations are sounding the alarm that all the hard-won progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment is now at risk of being eviscerated. Can you help us understand what is at risk for women right now, especially those on the African continent? And do you think that any setbacks that we encounter now can be overcome in our lifetime?

Thomas-Greenfield: We have to do everything possible to ensure that whatever experiences women have right now in Africa, that we find a way to turn those around. There’s a lot at risk, but it’s not just for women and girls, it’s for their entire families because we know that when women are empowered, they empower their families, they empower their communities, they empower their countries.

We have to work with these countries to ensure that the pandemic and the alarming numbers of women worldwide who have been forced to choose between their jobs and their family and their health and their businesses, that they have adequate support to move forward. But what we’ve seen, and I think what has been so devastating is the impact. Early on, I saw statistics that indicated that child marriages are going up, that the rape of girls … sexual exploitation of girls … school-age girls, because they’re not in school, that those numbers have gone up significantly, that people are taking advantage of women and girls in these circumstances. … We’ve seen that COVID-19 does seem to be reversing decades of hard-won gains for girls, including access to education. … And so that is something that we have to work to address, to not only get vaccines out but to get girls back into the classroom.

VOA: The safety of women and education of girls probably (are) among the most heartbreaking consequences and heartbreaking stories of the groups that have been affected by this pandemic. The United Nations policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on women says across the globe, women earn less, they save less, they hold less-secure jobs, and are more likely to be employed in the informal sector. And in some African countries, there are no fiscal relief packages or social safety nets like we see in the United States and in other countries in the West or any other sort of benefits to help mitigate the devastating impacts of this pandemic on women’s lives and their livelihoods. In your view what do African governments stand to gain by including women in their economic recovery strategies, and what do they stand to lose if they don’t?

Thomas-Greenfield: I think countries are now, leaders are now more conscious of the importance of having women engage in their country’s development plan. Because again, and I say this over and over and over again, when we invest in women they invest back in their families, they invest in their communities, and they invest in their countries. And in many of these countries, they represent 50% of the population. You cannot ignore 50% of your nation and think that your country is going to grow. So these countries are losing significantly if they don’t include women in their development plans, if they don’t include women in their investment efforts. They’re losing out on what these women might contribute to their countries. We’ve seen all across the continent of Africa, successful, women-run businesses. And we see the success that women have had in building their communities through civil society activity. But we’ve also seen that they’ve been impacted by the virus much more than other parts of the population and we need, for that reason, to make sure we give them more attention than we might have otherwise given women, as we start to build these economies.

VOA: You’re a longtime champion of gender equality. … There’s a generation in Africa of well-educated but unemployed youth. They’re struggling through unprecedented and uncertain times. They’ve been called the “Pandemic Generation.” What immediate investments can governments, business and the international community at large make in Africa’s youth, especially its girls? What kind of investments can be made today that will prepare them and build resilience for whatever crisis might come next?

Thomas-Greenfield: When you consider the fact that the median age on the continent of Africa is 19, we started with that. And then you have countries like Niger, where the median age is 15. If we don’t focus on young people, we’re ignoring a country. Half of the population under the age of 19, so it was for that reason I am most proud of the work that I did, and the (U.S. President Barack) Obama administration did on supporting young people across the continent of Africa.

The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) will be paying dividends on the continent of Africa long after I’m gone from here. And it is something that we all have to make sure that we continue to invest in. Invest in mentoring young people, encouraging young people, supporting the leadership of young people in government, in business, in civil society, in education. … We want them to be leaders in their community. We want them to be leaders in their businesses. We want to be leaders in their churches, in their schools. And they will start building the next generation of leaders on the continent. And that’s where Africa’s future is.

VOA: Madam Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, thank you so much for your time and for being here with me I really, really do appreciate it.

Thomas-Greenfield: Well thank you very much. And again, I know Africa’s future is bright because I know that there are so many young people out there who are building that future one brick at a time. And we’re going to see the results of their work in the future.

Source: Voice of America