Togo First
Togo launches a project to preserve dying traditional dances
The Ministry of tourism and culture of Togo launched last week a project to preserve and promote the country’s endogenous dances, which are on the verge of extinction. The UNESCO-funded project will be steered by Association Culture-Développement (CULT-DEV).
The project will take place in several phases, including the identification, preservation, valorization, and promotion of dances across the various communities covered. Dances identified will be classified by category, with descriptions of their performance techniques, music, rhythms and context. Their social, spiritual, symbolic and secular roles within the various communities will also be highlighted.
According to the Ministry of Culture, the project results from the general inventory of intangible cultural heritage carried out in 2011, which recorded the disappearance of 75 dances. Earlier, surveys carried out in 1982 deplored the disappearance of 132 dances and associated practices.
For this project, around 40 agents will be trained and deployed in the field for data collection, monitoring and evaluation, and data processing before the directories are drawn up.
Esaïe Edoh
Tax Compliance: OTR launches New Business Week in Lomé
Togo’s Tax Authority, the OTR, kicked off the first edition of the New Business Week on November 13. Set to end on November 17, the event takes place in Lomé, the capital.
Targeting especially businesses that officially registered this year, the New Business Week aims to help these companies better understand their rights and obligations as taxpayers.
For its part, the OTR’s goal through the event is to make the new businesses more tax-compliant and bolster cooperation between the OTR and the private sector. "By providing detailed information and practical advice, the OTR aims to strengthen tax compliance while facilitating the development and growth of these emerging businesses," the OTR stated.
Over the week, participants will take part in interactive workshops, informative seminars, and Q&A sessions led by tax experts. Thus, the entrepreneurs will obtain precise answers to their concerns, while expanding their business network.
In the first semester of this year, nearly 8,300 new businesses were registered at the Centre for Business Formalities (CFE), and 78% of these businesses were set up by men and 27% by women only.
Togocom and CsquaredWoezon seal deal to boost internet access in Togo
Mobile operator Togocom and public-private joint venture CsquaredWoezon signed a partnership agreement agreement on November 9. Under the deal, the joint venture, which manages Google’s "Equiano" submarine cable in Togo, is to supply 30 gigabits of bandwidth to Togocom over a 10 years, via the cable. The partnership will help Togo bolster its internet offering.
"The main interest of this partnership between Togocom and Csquared is to obtain a new international route for all Togolese customers, which will enable them to obtain a better quality of service and better availability of the Internet connection.", said Pierre-Antoine Legagneur, Togocom General Manager. "This new cable, based on cutting-edge technology, will offer faster Internet, and we will be able to increase capacity as our customers' needs evolve," he added.
Also commenting on the agreement, Csquared's country head noted that "recently, minor disruptions have affected Togocom's network. By signing this partnership with Csquared, such interruptions will never happen again. As a result, Togolese citizens will always be able to count on quality connectivity."
Togocom already had similar agreements for the WACS (West African Cable System) and ACE (AfricanCoast to Europe) submarine cables, for Internet provision. By taking advantage of Csquared's offer, the cell phone company and Internet service provider should be able to offer a total bandwidth of 130 gigabits to consumers in Togo.
In Togo, the Equiano cable has been operational since August 2023, according to CsquaredWoezon.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Africa Investment Forum: Togo presents two major projects to investors
Held in Marrakech, Morocco, the Africa Investment Forum ends today. Togo was represented at the event by its Minister of Investment Promotion, Manuella Santoshe.
At the forum, the Togolese official presented various projects, including the railway project, going from Lomé to Cinkassé, and the undergoing Unité highway project, both of which require substantial funding. She also presented the various investment opportunities that make Togo a perfect investment destination.
????????????? ?? ???? à ?'?????? ?????????? ????? à ????????? (?-?? ???????? ????)
— Manuella M. Santos (@Manu_EllaSantos) November 8, 2023
Le #Togo a l'honneur de participer depuis ce matin à #Marrakech, au #Maroc, à l'Africa Investment Forum, sous le leadership de SEM… pic.twitter.com/0RI8739ciV
According to Santos, the AfDB is available to support structuring projects emanating from well-organized value chains, "a challenge that the Togolese government is working tirelessly to meet through courageous reforms".
Kicked off on November 8, the Africa Investment Forum showcases economic opportunities in Africa. This year, the theme of the forum was “Unlocking Africa’s Value Chains”.
The event brought together international investors, financial leaders, and decision-makers who explored the continent's growth prospects.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo: Losses induced by climate hazards stood at CFA26 billion in 2020
Climate hazards cost Togo CFA26 billion in 2020, due to productivity losses. The figure, equivalent to 1.23% of the national GDP, was released by the Ministry of the Environment. The same year, the country lost 6,900 hectares of arable land and 9,000 tons of yields to flooding.
The ministry disclosed the figures on November 9 in Lomé, ahead of the COP28 Conference which is set to take place from November 30 to December 12, 2023, in Dubai.
"It goes without saying that the phenomenon of global warming will continue to seriously hamper our march towards development and prosperity if nothing is done to change the development paradigm and steer our economies towards a low-carbon development model that is resilient to these changes," said the Minister of Environment.
The worst years in the past decade
According to the National Civil Protection Agency's (ANPC) 2022 disaster risk assessment report, the impact of climate hazards, particularly flooding, worsened between 2018 and 2020.
The country was most affected by floods, storms, and high winds in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The proportion of the the population affected by these phenomena rose by more than 700% between 2018 and 2019, from 2,875 to 24,902 people, and almost doubled, between 2019 and 2020, to 45,361 people, according to the report.
Most affected prefectures
In 2022, the prefectures most affected by climate hazards in Togo were the Bas-Mono prefecture, with 7,989 flood victims; Tône prefecture, with 6,148 victims of floods, fires, and high winds; Lacs prefecture, with 5,127 victims of floods and fires; and Est-Mono prefecture, with 3,441 flood victims.
Nevertheless, in recent years, Togo has strengthened its legal and legislative system relative to the fight against climate change. Last May, the government announced it was ready to pass a law to fight climate change; and a little earlier, it had adopted a bill to boost the country’s carbon storage.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Faure Gnassingbé in Riyadh for the first Africa-Saudi Arabia Summit
Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé is currently in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The African leader takes part in the first Africa-Saudi Arabia summit which started on November 10, 2023. Invited by King Salman Bin Abdelaziz Al Saud, President Gnassingbé arrived in the Saudi capital on November 9 with Robert Dussey, his Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The high-level meeting, centered around the theme of "Development and Prosperity: Agriculture, Education, Health and Humanitarian Assistance", is intended as a space for African and Saudi leaders to strengthen their partnership, and envisage closer cooperation and more investment for African countries.
On the occasion, Faure Gnassingbé plans to discuss bilateral issues with the Saudi authorities.
Togo and Saudi Arabia already collaborate on several fronts, notably through entities such as the Saudi Development Fund, the Islamic Development Bank, and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. These relationships cover a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, the economy, energy, and trade.
Togo: Equiano cable operational since August
Google’s Equiano submarine Cable has been operational in Togo since August 2023. The news was disclosed earlier this week by Csquared Woezon, the public-private joint venture responsible for managing the cable and offering the internet capacity emanating from it for sale in Togo.
"The cable has been operational since August 2023, and is in operation," said Eudes Gbessi, Csquared Togo country manager. "We have access providers and mobile operators who are already connected to this cable and who, through this cable, offer internet services to Togolese citizens, he added.
Equiano landed in Togo in March 2022, making the country the first in Africa to connect to the cable. President Faure Gnassingbe, himself, was present at the reception, alongside Cina Lawson, the minister of digital economy.
The equipment should offer around 20 times more network capacity than previous structures, and this capacity was meant to be sold to local operators, including TogoCom, Teolis, Café Informatique, but also foreign operators.
Now, however, the country targets neighbors such as Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso. It also plans to take advantage of the cable to boost its fiber optic network, serving more cities, all over the territory. In addition, Lomé plans to leverage the cable’s capacities to position itself as a "point of entry" for Internet connectivity in the sub-region.
"We will therefore continue to extend the network to every nook and cranny of the country," said Lanre Kolade, CEO of Csquared Group, to this effect. The joint venture, 44% owned by the Togolese government and 56% by Csquared, has also taken over control of the E-Gouv network, which connects various government departments, and is working to strengthen it as part of the new Internet architecture taking shape.
Ayi Renaud Dossavi
Togo: Government meets health workers over upcoming launch of Universal Healthcare
The Togolese government met with representatives of the country’s health industry on November 7, 2023. Held in Lomé, the capital, the meeting focused on Universal Healthcare (Assurance Maladie Universelle, AMU) which is set to be deployed in two months.
The ministers of health, universal access to healthcare and social action, and the head of the Institut National d'Assurance Maladie (National Health Insurance Institute) took part in the meeting. On the occasion, they presented the roadmap for launching the project and called for the involvement of health workers, who hold a key role in the process.
"The goal is not only to provide universal health coverage but also to guarantee quality care. This is indeed the mission of health staff as a whole", said Jean-Marie Tessi, Minister of Universal Access to Healthcare.
Overall, the project aims to guarantee access to essential healthcare to the whole population. It will be steered by the National Health Insurance Institute (INAM) and the National Social Security Fund (CNSS).
Esaïe Edoh
Tech: Togo hosts Make Africa 2023 innovation festival
Make Africa 2023 is currently ongoing in Lomé, the capital of Togo. This is an African festival on tech innovation and maker culture.
This year, the theme of the festival is “Faire Ensemble”(Do Together). Around 300 innovators, from different Fablabs (local laboratories focused on invention, creation, and research), will take part in the event. They are all from French-speaking African countries.
The forum will host conferences, workshops, and demonstrations, to show the world more of the potential of young innovators, and above all to catalyze and promote technological innovation within the continent's Faire spaces. This, in particular, by encouraging collaboration, diversity, and entrepreneurship, and by strengthening the digital skills of all concerned.
"We want to create an inclusive and dynamic community where talents meet, ideas are exchanged and technological innovation can be stimulated. The event offers a unique opportunity for participants from all backgrounds to collaborate, learn from each other, and help shape a prosperous digital future for Africa," said Médard Agbayazon, president of the Francophone Network of West African Fablabs. The latter regroups around 30 Fablabs.
Started on November 7, the Make Africa 2023 Festival ends on November 11. Previous editions were hosted in Cotonou and Abidjan.
MCC 2024: Togo validates 14 indicators, like in 2023
Togo has validated 14 out of 20 performance indicators for the MCC 2024. The score, which is the same as for the MCC 2023, was presented by the MCA-Togo Cell to the local press on November 8, in Lomé.
In detail, the West African country validated 7 out of 8 indicators in the "economic freedom" category, 5 out of 6 in "governing justly" and 2 out of 6 at the level of "investment in human capital"; the same as in 2023.
According to the scorecard, Togo failed to validate the "Political rights" (it scored 15, against a minimum requirement of 17), "Immunization rate", (with a score of 76.5, against a median of 76.5), "Fiscal policy" (with a score of -6.7 against a median of -4.1), "Health expenditure" (with a score of 1.24 against a median of 1.36), "Natural resource protection" (with a score of 41.1 versus a median of 41.5) and "Child health", (with a score of 54.1 versus a median of 59.6).
"With this score of 14 over 20, Togo is still eligible for the Threshold program and the formulation of the Compact," says MCA-Togo coordinator Stanislas BABA.
Togo became eligible for the MCC’s Compact Program in December 2022, after several years of reforms and positioning on this American funding program. The country intends to finalize its "Compact" agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) until the end of 2024.
Esaïe Edoh