Today’s date commemorates a day in 1976 when ten thousand school children gathered for a march in Soweto, South Africa, to protest the poor quality of their education and demanding the right to be taught in their own language.African Child Hundreds of children were shot and more than a thousand were injured in the protest.

The International Day of the African Child has been celebrated since 1991. It is an important day for campaigning for children’s rights, and for essentials such as health care and education. Moreover, it is a day for African children to celebrate and voice their opinions through drama, poetry, or organized debates. In addition, thousands of football matches for children take place across African countries on this day.

Although every year has its own unique theme, most years so far have highlighted the lack of quality education for children in Africa. The gap between legislation and practice is enormous. All African countries recognize the United Nations declaration of Human Rights and agree that all children are entitled to good, basic education. According to the Right to Education project, however, there are 75 million children in the world who do not have access to basic education, and 150 million children currently enrolled will drop out before completing primary education and least two-thirds of them are girls. Out of the 75 million children approximately 40 million are in Africa.

Watch this video about how Mozambique celebrated International Day for the African Child two years ago.

 

 

 

Africa is such a huge continent with a great cultural mix that Africa
generalisations would be too sweeping to be of any value.  However, be aware that a colonial past has influenced many countries in the way they conduct business and make decisions, and form attitudes. The main colonists were the British, Dutch, French, and Portuguese. Resurgent African traditions, old world ways, and newly found independence are creating new and exciting business cultures. The overriding criterion for successful business transactions is a well-founded relationship. Commissions, tipping and ‘oiling the wheels’ (bribes) are common practices in most parts.

So far in this section you’ll find the  Top Ten Tips for doing business, along with opening times, holiday dates and festivities for the following countries: Egypt, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Senegal, and Nigeria.