The Kabissa-fahamu Newsletter has grown rapidly. Along with it, the services provided by Kabissa – space for change in Africa – have also grown. But what are these services? Since we continue to receive requests for information, we thought it might be useful for us to tell you a bit more about Kabissa.

Kabissa is dedicated to strengthening the capacity of African non-profit organisations to use the full potential of the Internet in the interest of building civil society and democracy in Africa. We operate on the principles of inclusiveness and collaboration, and invite all organisations and initiatives that share our goals to join as members and partners.

BACKGROUND
Access to the Internet in Africa has grown substantially over the past few years. According to a recent survey, at the end of 1996 only 11 countries had Internet access, but by November 2000 all 54 countries and territories had permanent connectivity and the presence of local full service dialup ISPs. The total number of computers permanently connected to the Internet in Africa (excluding South Africa) finally broke the 10,000 mark at the beginning of 1999 and in January 2000 it stood at almost 12,000, an increase of 20%. While the cost of establishing local e-mail accounts has fallen recently, the cost of website hosting, Internet domain names and similar services is frequently very high, and frequently out of reach of many non-profit organisations in Africa.

Many of us working in the non-profit sector have been inundated with requests from African NGOs seeking assistance in setting up websites, training in the use of the internet, access to resources on the internet, training in proposal writing, management training, and help with establishment of electronic mailing lists. In our early work with International Alert and the World Organisation Against Torture, we have run workshops and provided technical assistance to human rights organisations to enable them to exploit the potentials of the Internet for their own purposes.

Through this process we became aware of the difficulties such organisations had in establishing websites and accessing resources on the Internet. In response, we decided to invest our own efforts and resources in establishing an entity called "Kabissa" (meaning "complete" in Kiswahili). We set up an Internet server in order, initially, to provide free website and e-mail hosting for non-profit organisations in Africa. Now we are finding that Kabissa has filled other gaps in service, in particular in empowering African non-profits by enabling them to share essential information through this newsletter.

SERVICES PROVIDED BY KABISSA
Interest in the initiative has grown rapidly. Within a year, we had more than 250 user accounts on Kabissa, including 30 separate domain accounts. Our website now has thousands of pages, receives over 400,000 hits per month (averaging over 340 visits per day). We currently register five new members each week.

Kabissa currently provides the following services, all of which are provided free to African non-profit organisations (except domain registration and hosting for which we make a modest charge):

- Web space accounts (ftp)
- E-mail mailbox accounts (pop3/imap4)
- Automated mailing lists (majordomo)
- Web-based access to website files hosted on Kabissa
- Web-based access to any e-mail mailboxes
- Web-based access to Kabissa mailing list administration
- www4mail server enabling users to retrieve web pages via e-mail
- Participation in the largest human-edited directory on the web (dmoz.org), providing access to more than 330,000 websites
- Website promotion (dmoz.org, AfriPromote banner exchange, search engines)
- Web-based domain availability check (whois)
- Domain registration and hosting (low-cost)

We have also developed "Best Practice" documentation designed to demystify the technology and enable African non-profit organisations to develop the confidence to control the resources that they access through Kabissa.

KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER
In addition to providing access to the above services, Kabissa also established this electronic newsletter, designed to enable members and others to share up-to-date information about events, news, and resources available of relevance to the non-profit sector in Africa. The growth of the newsletter in terms of content, breadth and reach has been extraordinary. Within months of establishing it, the weekly mailing went to more than 400 subscribers. In December 2000, Kabissa and fahamu merged their respective newsletters, resulting in a subscriber base of more than 700. Today, the Kabissa-fahamu newsletter reaches 2,500 individuals in NGOs, international organisations and networks, funding agencies and foundations, governments, and the private sector. Free advertising space is provided for non-profits. Based on our research and excellent reader feedback, we are constantly innovating the contents of the newsletter, which now has nearly 20 printed pages and has 21 sections for categorizing the information.

INFORMATION SHARING DATABASE
In addition to the Internet Services and the e-mail based Kabissa-fahamu Newsletter, we also maintain a database on our website for the purpose of organising and sharing information relevant for Africa.

Information already in the database includes:

- Member directory of African non-profit organisations, most of which are hosting websites on our Internet Server
- Partner directory of organisations collaborating with Kabissa
- Internet Domains hosted on Kabissa
- Mailing List/eNewsletter directory
- Software Resources

We are working on "portalizing" the information and interfaces provided through the Kabissa website and the Kabissa-fahamu Newsletter. Users of the site will be able to log in to customize their own home page, as seen on many other portals. African non-profits eligible for free Internet accounts and mailing lists will be able to use the portal interface to manage their accounts. We will be able to administrate users, allocate access and posting privileges, and monitor and evaluate the usage of our website. These are standard features on portal websites these days.

What sets Kabissa apart from other typical portals is that we intend to innovate in directions that enable African organisations to share their information using means and media relevant and appropriate for them. For this purpose we are gathering information about useful software that is freely available under "open source" licensing agreements.

Our goal for the Kabissa database is to enable African organisations to take control of information-sharing opportunities provided by the web, e-mail, cdrom and print. All four media are tremendously important for Africa:

- The web is ideal for collaborative maintenance and organising of information amongst organisations that have made the investment to be "information providers".
- E-mail remains by far the most relevant Internet application, used far more than the Web or any other service. For Kabissa users, E-mail is and shall remain for some time the most efficient means for transmitting and receiving current information.
- CDROM provides offline access to the "search and browse" capabilities usually reserved for the web. Thousands of pages of information can be shared in this way, along with large software programs and other files that otherwise would have to be downloaded from the Internet at prohibitive expense.
- Print is a media that is too often overlooked in this age of sexy Internet applications. While the web is ideal for maintaining and organising information, when it comes to getting practical information, the most handy source remains a telephone book or some other printed publication.

We are developing our database so that we can provide access to essential information through a portal website and CDROMs and print publications. At the same time, we have a view to enabling organisations and individuals in Africa to perform the same function for their community. This would require training, but it would also require new software to retrieve, organise and output relevant information using your own computer.

STRENGTHENING THE CAPACITY OF AFRICAN ORGANISATIONS
All of our efforts are intended ultimately to contribute to strengthening the capacity of African organisations to carry out their important work. In this context, we are pleased to be involved in the Adilisha Project, established by Fahamu, which seeks to strengthen the campaigning, advocacy and organisational capacity of human rights organisations in southern Africa through the development of computer and internet based distance learning materials. Kabissa has been involved in providing support for the project’s information and communication technology work, including the development of appropriate databases, hosting and technical maintenance of the project’s websites and mailing lists. Kabissa also assists in sourcing information on human rights in Africa (disseminated through the Kabissa-fahamu Newsletter) and provides expert input, through the Adilisha Advisory Board, to the development of a CDROM-based training course on the 'Use of the Internet for Advocacy and Research'.

COLLABORATE WITH US
As we are working with Adilisha and our other partners, so we also want to work with you. Join us to create an African platform for information sharing and collaboration using the Internet. If your organisation provides services in Africa that contribute to this end, we would love to hear from you.

REGISTER YOUR FREE KABISSA MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNT

Organisations working in the African non-profit sector are eligible for Kabissa Membership. Kabissa Members are listed in our member directory, and are eligible for free standard Internet accounts on the Kabissa Internet server. This provides you with web space and mailboxes for your staff, and support for standard scripts such as forms (see FAQ). If you already have a website, you may choose to place a 'mirror' (or copy) of your website in your Kabissa account.

REGISTER YOUR INTERNET DOMAIN ON KABISSA
http://www.kabissa.org/domainreq.html>http://www.kabissa.org/domainreq.html
Domain hosting is available on Kabissa at low cost. We can register domains for $70 (we recommend those ending in .org) and host them on Kabissa for a $35 setup fee and $60 annual hosting fee. You can also transfer your domain to Kabissa or host domains you wish to register independently. Hosted websites and mailboxes are linked directly with member Internet accounts.

KABISSA FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
http://www.kabissa.org/faq.html
The Kabissa Frequently Asked Questions page is your "first port of call" for questions with Kabissa membership and making your start on the Internet. Section headings are:
1. Communicating with colleagues within your country and abroad
2. Accessing Information on the Internet
3. The use of Internet in the African non-profit sector
4. Kabissa Membership
5. Using Kabissa Electronic Mail Accounts
6. Using Kabissa to Make your Organisation’s Information Available
7. Using your Kabissa Website
8. Taking advantage of Kabissa Website features
9. Promoting your Organisation on the Internet
10. Setting up an Internet Domain Name for your Organisation
11. Making payments to Kabissa

Countries that promote women's rights and increase their access to resources and schooling have lower poverty rates, faster economic growth and less corruption than countries that do not, says a recently published World Bank report, EnGendering Development - Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources and Voice.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved in principle a three-year arrangement for Ethiopia under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)1 for SDR 87 million (about US$112 million) to support the government's 2000/01-2002/03 economic program.

Newsletter of the Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa (EQUINET)

God only knows where you got my e-mail address..but I am glad you did. I worked for Botswana Council of Nongovernmental Organisations once and since then I love working with NGOs. Though I am currently residing in London, I am still in close contact with NGOs in Southern Africa.

Trade policies need green angle, say officials Government ministers and high-level officials from over 70 countries this week declared that environmental issues should be taken into account during negotiations on new trade agreements.

The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights this week announced her decision not to stand for a second four-year term in the world's top human rights post. But, once out of office, will she regret it?

Senegal's highest court yesterday ruled that Chad's exiled former president, Hissène Habré, could not stand trial on torture charges because his alleged crimes were not committed in Senegal.

The World Bank has admitted providing technical support for a controversial West African gas pipeline prompting an outcry from local environmentalists over its backing of potentially damaging energy projects.

A United Nations-led inter-agency mission to Angola has reacted with alarm to the numerous allegations of human rights abuses it heard on its six-day visit.

Staving off conflict and finding paths to peace are top of the agenda at a meeting of lawmakers from the European Parliament and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries.

United Nations peacekeeping troops last week took control of the strategic Sierra Leonean town of Lunsar, marking a major step in the UN's effort to occupy territory held by the anti-government Revolutionary United Front.

Two years after Macpherson reported into the handling of the Stephen Lawrence case, the Institute of Race Relations reports that racial violence is becoming more serious and prevalent. Nineteen people have lost their lives in the UK in racially motivated attacks since February 1999. Increasingly, serious racial violence is being perpetrated against members of newly-arrived and asylum- seeker communities. Despite the fact that half of Macpherson's recommendations were about racial violence, especially how the police and Crown Prosecution Service should act over such cases, families of victims remain dissatisfied with the lack of will to take such racism seriously. Commissioned for London Boroughs Grants - a funder for London's voluntary sector - this report, Counting the cost, suggests that, although most voluntary groups are beginning to tackle the ways their personnel and structures contribute to an inadvertent racism, in line with Macpherson's definition of 'institutional racism', they have yet to meet the challenge of racial violence. Advocacy and support from community groups, concludes the report can, "transform a case into an issue. And the issue, in turn, can influence the policy agenda."

Women rights activists have protested against President Yoweri Museveni's
decision to ask Parliament to restore the electoral college system for
electing district women MPs.

"We strongly support universal adult suffrage and the secret ballot as modes
of electing district women representatives. We therefore object to the
presidential veto against this (electoral colleges) and call upon MPs to re-
affirm the position they adopted in the Parliamentary Elections Bill 2000,"
the Coalition for Political Accountability to Women (COPAW) said yesterday.
New Vision.

The Zimbabwe government will not accept the report of the International Bar
Association (IBA) following its recent inquiry into the independence of the
judiciary, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. A spokesman said whatever
the findings of the IBA, the team had already demonstrated that it was
partial by refusing to consult all stakeholders on the issue of the
judiciary. One of the team's members compared Zimbabwe's fasttrack land grab
to apartheid policies.

Newly-appointed SADC Executive Secretary Prega Ramsamy was on Friday sworn
in by Namibia's Chief Justice Johan Strydom in the presence of the current
SADC chairman, Namibian President Sam Nujoma.

A delegation of over 40 American fundraising specialists is coming to SA to facilitate the transference of expertise. There will be a full days programme of presentations and discussion groups on all aspects of fundraising, facilitated by both American and South African specialists, leading towards an exchange of ideas and information.

SANGONeT is a facilitator in the effective and empowering use of information communication technology (ICT) tools by development and social justice actors in Africa. We aim to share information, build capacity and link people and organisations through the use of ICTs. We have over a decade's experience in servicing civil society organisations in Africa.

Five countries involved in the DRC conflict were set to disengage their troops on Thursday, in keeping with a UN Security Council resolution adopted last month. The Harare Disengagement and Redeployment Plan, signed by all parties to the conflict, thus goes into its next phase: Disengagement and Verification, the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) stated in Kinshasa.

GOMA, Congo (AP) - Pledges from six nations and their rebel allies to pull back forces in war-ruined Congo were put to the test Thursday, with Rwanda the first to say it had started withdrawing from key battle zones. Thursday's U.N.-monitored disengagement deadline is a key test to a long-stalled cease-fire for Congo, which has seen its mineral-rich territory carved up and 2 million of its people sent fleeing by the 2 1/2-year civil war in the heart of Africa.

The World Bank first and the Hutu-Tutsi civil war later have led the Batwa pigmies to near extinction and years of suffering, without this being reported by the world mass media.

KIGALI, Rwanda (Reuters) -- Rwanda has accused Uganda of harboring "anti-Rwanda elements" but said it would not be dragged into an unnecessary conflict with its neighbor and former ally.

Hundreds of thousands of Rwandans voted for local officials in nationwide balloting last week, but the election was flawed as many voters had no meaningful choice at the polls, says a rights watchdog.

Monday March 12 2:31 PM ET By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer KATETE, Uganda (AP) - Scores of would-be voters in southwestern Uganda, the home of President Yoweri Museveni's main challenger, said they were denied the right to vote in Monday's presidential election and claimed Museveni supporters stuffed the ballot boxes.

Although often overlooked by international development groups, traditional leaders still wield considerable power in many African countries - despite the rise of elected governments. John Eberlee reports on the role of chiefs in post-colonial Africa.

A UK-based charity is today calling on foreign oil companies to immediately suspend their operations in Sudan and for oil giants BP and Shell to divest their shares in companies linked with atrocities in the country.

One of the world's biggest drugs companies yesterday relaxed its patent over two Aids drugs, allowing manufacturers in South Africa to produce cheaper copies for local use, after protests from the scientific community.

Increased desertification and drought represent a serious threat to human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed this concern at the fourth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) which was held in Bonn, Germany (11-22 December 2000).

The Health Systems Trust launched the South African Health Review 2000 on the 1st of March 2001. This is an annual publication that provides an annual and longer-term review of health policy developments in South Africa.

Panafrican News Agency (Dakar) March 14, 2001 Ghana's Food and Drugs Board (FDB) on Wednesday said research has shown that "Always Sanitary Pads" used by women are not infected with the HIV/AIDS as claimed by a story circulated on the Internet.

Eight million threatened by meningitis epidemic in Ethiopia 8 March 2001 With some 8.4 million people threatened with a deadly epidemic of meningococcal meningitis - the Ethiopian Red Cross has mobilized thousands of volunteers to begin a major social mobilization campaign on the disease, and to make sure those at risk are vaccinated. "There is serious cause for alarm about the spread of this epidemic. While to date there have been 1,700 cases reported and 140 deaths confirmed, this is probably a serious underestimate of the reality on the ground. Ethiopian Ministry of Health figures that 8.4 million people could be at risk are very realistic. It is vital that we act now," said Dr. Bradley Hersh, a senior medical epidemiologist with the International Federation. The group most at risk is between the age of two and thirty years old.

COSATU rejects with contempt the suggestion by the Citizen newspaper (13 March 2001) that it "supports the DA on Aids crisis" and that it "has joined the DA in calling on President Mbeki to declare the HIV/AIDS epidemic a national disaster". Siphiwe Mgcina, COSATU Spokesperson

St. Luke School of Medicine, Ghana and Liberia, West Africa, is now accepting applications for students wishing to study medicine online. The Basic Science curriculum (the first two years of medical school) will be presented online starting with Human Anatomy. This course is scheduled to be begin May 14, 2001, leading to a Doctor of Medicine degree (MD). St. Luke SOM is only one of a few schools in the world to present this curriculum. For info contact Dr. Jerroll.

CICC Team on Aggression, 7th Session of the ICC PrepCom. Submitted by Espen Rostrup Nakstad (ELSA Norway)

The United Nations food agency has announced that 84,000 refugees who fled Democratic Republic of the Congo for Zambia are facing hunger amid dwindling food supplies.

Achieving water security for the sustainable production of food and the support of rural livelihoods while preserving natural resources and ecosystems is one of the key challenges of the early 21st century. The Dialogue on Water for Food and Environmental Security attempts to bridge the gap between agricultural and environmental sectors and to forge agreed-upon, workable solutions to this challenge.

The secretariat of the World Water Assessment Programme of the UN recently issued the following announcement. National and regional consultations will be part of this process, aimed at promoting mulit-stakeholder inputs.

International conservationists are urging the Kenyan government to scrap plans to turn more than 67,000 hectares of prime forest into human settlements.

In Ethiopia, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has written to the prime minister to tell him that the watchdog organization "is appalled at the deplorable treatment of independent journalists and news outlets." CPJ contends that Ethiopia has become "Africa's foremost jailer of journalists in recent years."

The chair of a Zimbabwean parliamentary committee on broadcasting rules has accused ruling Zanu-PF members of flouting free speech rights in a raft of new laws to govern public broadcasting in the country.

The Rockefeller Foundation's Communication for Social Change program released Making Wave: Stories of Participatory Communication for Social Change, a report written by Alfonso Gumucio Dagron. Making Waves is a worldwide examination on the role of participatory communication in development programs. Contact: Brian Byrd.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today completed the second review of Tanzania's performance under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF)[1] arrangement. The decision will enable Tanzania to draw SDR 20 million (about US$26 million) immediately.

24--26 April 2001 Everyone is invited. We're targeting both the technical and the commercial communities. Also, we would encourage people throughout Africa to attend. Competing Data Warehousing Standards to Merge in the OMG. More information on the OMG and CORBA is available at www.omg.org and www.corba.org. Information about the Meta Data Coalition is available through the MDC Web site at http://www.MDCinfo.com/. September 25, 2000 - Needham, MA - Today, the Meta Data Coalition (MDC) and the Object Management Group (OMG), two industry organizations with competing data warehousing standards, jointly announced that the MDC will merge into the OMG. As a result, the MDC will discontinue independent operations and work will continue in the OMG to integrate the two standards. Until this week, there were two major standards for metadata and modeling in the areas of data warehousing and component-based development.