KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 18
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 18
The International Secretariat of OMCT requests your URGENT intervention in the following situation in Rwanda. The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme, a member of the OMCT network, of the disappearance of Mr. Olivier Mubiligi, since the beginning of March, 2001, following death threats allegedly made by the Rwandan Patriotic Army.
Improving living standards in the developing world without destroying the environment is a challenge explored in a new interactive CD-ROM offered by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP).
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has announced that it will post most of the ingredients of its courses on the World Wide Web. Lecture notes, assignments, video lectures, course outlines, test questions and reading lists will all be there for anyone to use free of charge. It will apparently cost them 100 million dollars over the next 10 years.
The Department of Education in the Ministry of Youth, Education and Sports is currently under the magnifying lens of the Anti-Corruption Commission as a group of investigators stormed the offices early this week.
The Zimbabwe International Book Fair, the largest and most important book fair in Sub-Saharan Africa, is held annually during the first week of August in the beautiful Harare sculpture gardens. This year's theme: Transformation.
Aid agencies in Kenya have warned that the international community is responding inadequately to a drought crisis. They say that despite more than four million Kenyans being at risk of starvation there have been few pledges of aid to an appeal for $89 million by the Kenyan Government and the U.N.'s World Food Program (WFP).
Reps. Jim Leach (R-Iowa) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.) of H. Con. Res. 102, have called for "Hunger to Harvest: A Decade of Concern for Africa." The resolution calls upon the United States government, along with its international allies, to commit to a global plan to cut world hunger in half by 2015 by increasing funds for poverty- focused development assistance for sub-Saharan Africa.
A Summit of African First Ladies on Global Movement for children in Marrakech, Morocco ended yesterday (Sunday April 22). The summit, which is deliberating on matters affecting the movement of children globally, lasted 3 days. Analysts see this move as a new initiative with the view of attracting the world's attention to the United Nations General Assembly Special Summit on Children, which is scheduled for September this year.
Held in association with Nature. Additional partners: NASDAQ, Business Week, and CNBC. 1st and 2nd July, 2001. London, England (at Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine. Relevant to anyone involved in developing and applying new technologies, investors in such developments, and those with strategic interests in existing and future technologies. The meeting includes sessions designed to help attendees share perspectives and make the most useful contacts.
This is a technical assistance guide for evaluation in the field of human rights education and training. It presents different methods and data collection techniques for HRE programme evaluation, classroom-based assessments, teacher trainings and text field testing, including sample instruments and a bibliography of sources. This evaluation primer is designed for first-time readers and planners in the HRE field.
Provided by the Norwegian Refugee Council/Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Provided by the Council of Europe/Danish Centre for Human Rights, 2000.
Foreign armies and criminal cartels are finding the phenomenal mineral wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) too hard to resist, said a United Nations report on the war that continues to ravage the central African nation.
As pervasive technological change and growing interdependence among countries contribute to restructuring economic activity and shaping everyday life, lifelong learning's value grows. How far have countries progressed toward lifelong learning for all? Who is being left behind, and in what ways? How might schools evolve to address remaining gaps? In this special edition of Education Policy Analysis prepared as background for the 2001 meeting of OECD education ministers, these questions and others are explored.
Human modification and destruction of the planet's coastal zone is endangering marshes, estuaries, coral reefs and mangrove forests that provide a host of ecosystem services to humans, warns a new study released today. These services are vital - flood protection, water filtration, nursery habitat for fish and other species.
Although there is no "famine" in the Horn of Africa, the people are hungry and destitute, and the situation is becoming increasingly precarious, reports Stephanie Baric from Danyere, Kenya.
Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of energy major Royal Dutch/Shell, has said that once he retires from his post in June he will lead a group of corporations in getting their positions on sustainable development heard by countries at the ten year review of Unite Nations' Earth Summit in Johannesburg next year.
A panel of experts on the plundering of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recommended Monday that the Security Council declare an embargo on trade in gold and diamonds and other resources from or to Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda.
U.S. President George W. Bush, trying to burnish his badly tarnished environmental image in advance of Earth Day, announced here Thursday that the United States will sign the UN Convention to ban or severely restrict persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as DDT and dioxins.
Proposing radical environmental protection measures, Kenyan members of Parliament Wednesday launched an attack against the government accusing it of systematically destroying forests and taking a casual attitude towards conservation.
Michael Portillo, the UK shadow chancellor, yesterday provoked fresh accusations of disunity within Tory ranks when he refused to sign an anti-racism pledge backed by the party leader, William Hague, amid what one shadow minister called a "McCarthyite witch-hunt" by race equality leaders.
As civil society organisations prepare to converge on Durban for the World Conference Against Racism's NGO Forum in August, South African civil society will be uniting to face the challenges of transforming racism in the country.
The expected arrival in South Africa of former US President Bill Clinton to address a Civil Society Initiative (CSI) gathering Tuesday has been met with angry protests from the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).
Salary / Benefits : £16750-£19750
Type of work : Full Time
Location : Central London, United Kingdom
Languages Needed : English
Closing Date : 15 May 2001
Salary / Benefits : $25,500+, commensurate w/experience
Location : Washington, DC, United States
Languages Needed : English, Russian
Closing Date : 1 Jun 2001
Salary : Between 30,720 and 47,795 EURO
Location : Maastricht/The Hague, Netherlands
Closing Date : 30 Apr 2001
Communicating Human Rights
Dates: 18-23 November 2001
Level: professional
Focus: Using a highly participatory format and global case studies, this seminar is about sharing creative and effective approaches to
communicating human rights.
Location: Kenilworth (United Kingdom)
Organisation: The British Council
Language(s):English.
Keywords: modules, training of trainers, internally displaced persons, international humanitarian law, refugees, refugee law, reference,Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC), UN Representative of the Secretary General for Internally Displaced Persons, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
American Rivers, The Nature Conservancy and other
non-profit organizations and federal agencies annouce "Managing River Flows for Biodiversity: A Conference on Science, Policy and Conservation Action" this summer in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
The case studies include: Upper Colorado River Basin, Missouri River, Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, Sacramento/San Joaquin BayDelta System, Klamath River, Zion National Park, Trinity River, Beaverkill River, San Pedro River, Roanoke River, as well as examples from Brazil and Africa. The conference is open to 350 attendees from diverse professional and academic backgrounds. Early registration ends May 1.
Libya's leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has urged Africans to drive white people out of the continent and make them pay compensation for their exploitation of it.
The Ugandan supreme court has upheld the re election of President Yoweri Museveni. His main rival, Colonel Kizza Besigye, had asked the court to annul the results of the March 12 elections, because he alleged they were rigged by Museveni's government.
Women delegates from 53 African countries are taking part in a conference on peace and development in Tripoli, Libya this week. Delegates are expected to exchange information and experiences on the role of African women regarding the African Union and the elimination of all obstacles to development on the continent.
A symposium on the role of women as female doctors is to be held in Durban on May 13-17. The main objective of the symposium is to address the role of female doctors and and leadership in medicine.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzanie: Le centre de formation de formation de l'OIT de Turin organise, en collaboration avec les programmes STEP et SEED du BIT une formation intitulee "promotion and setting up of micro health insurance schemes for micro and small entrepreneurs". Cette formation qui aura lieu a Dar es Salaam du 28 mai au 1 juin 2001 vise a former des promoteurs et des entrepreneurs sur les possibilites des systemes de micro assurance sante (mutuelles de sante) pour les micro- et petites entreprises en Afrique de l'Est et du Sud. Le cours aura lieu en anglais.
When female underachievement is found at every level of the education system, where should policymakers focus their efforts to break its cycle? Should greater attention be given to the creation of female role models and a supportive environment for girls to promote gender equity in schools?
At the beginning of the 21st century, about one-fifth of the world’s population is functionally illiterate, unable to participate fully in their societies, or protect their basic rights. Could open and distance learning (ODL) help reduce the growing numbers of undereducated?
At the beginning of the 21st century much of Africa still faces massive challenges to successful economic and social development. Research coordinated by the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh examined what challenges globalisation poses for education, training and enterprise development in Ghana, Kenya and South Africa.
The Southern Africa Institute of Fundraising (SAIF) was established in 1986. It is a non-profit voluntary organisation which exists to promote and encourage high standards of ethics, practice and public service among people involved in fundraising in Southern Africa.
The truth about the Etireno may be less dramatic than first suggested, but far more typical of west and central Africa's exploding trade in children - and far more insidious for that.
Human Rights Watch, the international monitoring and advocacy organization, seeks a director to lead its division on women’s rights. The Executive Director of the Women’s Rights Division is the organization’s chief strategist, advisor and spokesperson in relation to its work around the world on the human rights of women. She or he is also a key member of the organization’s central managements. APPLY BY MAY 15, 2001.
DESCRIPTION: The researcher will investigate human rights developments in a number of Middle East and North Africa countries and work to publicize and curtail human rights abuses through writing and advocacy. The researcher will be based in New York, Washington, London or Brussels and should be prepared to spend periods of time traveling to the region. APPLY BY MAY 14, 2001.
For: all doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other health professionals. Location: Accra and Kumasi, Ghana. Time: Monday 14th and 16th May 2001, respectively. Moderated by Professor Richard Smith, Editor British Medical Journal.
2nd International Health Conference: 'Reshaping the Nursing' with a half-day interactive workshop on 21 June 2002.
INTERIGHTS now seeks a Commonwealth Law Officer to maintain and develop a comprehensive programme providing worldwide access to comparative Commonwealth human rights law, will be based in London and will join a staff of fifteen, including eight other lawyers, in a multicultural and self-sufficient environment. Salary c. £23,000.
Egypt is inviting leaders from the developing and the industrialized world: leaders in science, government, NGOs, the media, farmers groups, philanthropy, academia, the private sector and the civil society to meet in Egypt. The event should cover the multi-faceted dimensions of the biotechnology debate: the scientific, ethical, and safety issues as well as the regulatory, IPR and trade and economic issues. Thus we must bring representation from the ministries of agriculture, environment, health, education, scientific research, foreign affairs and international economy and trade who ultimately represent their countries at so many different venues: the WTO, FAO, WHO, UN, CSD, UNEP, CBD, WIPO, UPOV, and so many more.
Established primarily as a training institution for the purpose of continuing education. Its objective is to assist in the building of intellectual and functional capacity of professionals, practitioners, activists, and other functionaries whose work includes a legal component. All courses offered by the Institute are designed to suit the requirements of working people who wish to continue education. The Institute offers four types of courses. These are Specialised, Tailor-made, Professional, and General Courses.
infoDev request for proposals to design an Internet-based platform designed to share information, tools, and services about development worldwide. infoDev will award a grant of up to $60,000 to develop the E-Government Toolkit. It is expected that the toolkit should be completed within six to eight months of the award. The authors of the E-Government toolkit may also be invited to a World Bank workshop on E-Government in Washington, D.C. on June 11 and 12, 2001. Please note: All proposals are due by Friday, May 4, 2001
Applications are invited for a number of PhD or DrPH studentships. Research projects may be undertaken in any area of clinical, field, socialscience or associated laboratory work that is relevant to the control of malaria. Scholarships cover home fees,living expenses, some research expenses and may include re-entry grant for developing country scientists. Applications from scientists working in malaria endemic countries are encouraged, particularly from those involved in malaria control. Application Deadline: 15 May 2001 for studies commencing in October 2001.
The development and use of Information Communication Tools (ICTs) for social change has already seen an impressive evolution. Recent technological developments have made the Internet a viable and effective means of collating and disseminating information on civil society issues. Civil society organisations (CSOs) and other information providers are increasingly disseminating information electronically; hardware and software costs are decreasing; increasing numbers of CSOs are starting to use the Internet, and there has been rapid growth in the number and quality of Internet access providers.
During the past few years Southern African CSOs have experienced a number of critical challenges which continue to impact on their work in support of development issues in the region, including changes in the socio-political environment, the availability of development funding and the ability of organisations to adapt to change in general.
Embracing and integrating ICTs as a tool for communication, exchange of information and other operational and organisational requirements therefore represents huge opportunities, as well as challenges, in the process of shaping, transforming and consolidating the role and contribution of CSOs.
This situation represents the operational environment of the Southern African Non-Governmental Organisation (SANGONeT), a very unique organisation which is the only Southern African CSO dedicated to providing ICT services to the local CSO sector.
SANGONeT, previously known as WorkNet, has been providing networking, information and training services to Southern African civil society organisations (CSOs) since 1987. It is an association incorporated under Section 21 of the Companies Act in South Africa and was established to facilitate communication and information exchange between trade unions, social justice organisations and the international community during the apartheid era.
The emergence of the World Wide Web coincided with the transformation of the South African political landscape during the early 1990s, resulting in much freer access to communication tools than before. In this changed environment, SANGONeT operated as a full ISP with a holistic approach to the provision of services. While dial-up, e-mail, online announcement services and mailing lists formed the core SANGONeT services, website development and training generated the bulk of its revenue.
Despite initial technical challenges, SANGONeT has grown and gained a wealth of experience in working with users with little computer literacy. As a result, SANGONeT has developed an increasing understanding of the information needs and requirements of Southern African CSOs. It views ICTs as a tool that could build the capacity of users and the communities they serve, and therefore emphasises the need to integrate a variety of information-related tasks through the use of ICTs. SANGONeT works closely with targeted communities and institutions. Each group’s needs are addressed in a tailored way. Internet tools are crafted to match their application requirements, be it discussion forums for lobbying and advocacy purposes, or gathering information to assist communities in gaining access to information resources, or popularising the work of an organisation through the World Wide Web.
A survey conducted on SANGONeT clients in July 1998 found that most clients had been using e-mail and the World Wide Web for approximately 2-3 years. The biggest obstacle to expanded ICT usage could be attributed to a common skepticism amongst CSOs of the benefits of e-mail and web-based usage, while some CSOs are also unaware of the potential for ICTs to enhance and contribute to their everyday functioning.
However, SANGONeT has also identified a growing number of organisations which have capitalised on the benefits of using ICTs in their work. An integral part of SANGONeT’s approach is to introduce development activists and practitioners to new technologies and to raise awareness about how ICTs could enhance organisations’ effectiveness, thereby promoting a mind shift in the way communication and information management is approached in an organisation. These include trade unionists, CSO activists, development workers, librarians, women and media workers in South Africa and other parts of Africa.
SANGONeT’s range of ICT services include web publishing and hosting, database development, network management and IT training. SANGONeT's training courses are structured to accommodate both those who are exploring the possibility of using the Internet and those who already have ICTs in place, but are not using it to its full potential. SANGONeT's training activities are therefore aimed at two interrelated levels, namely skills training and the promotion of a mind shift in the way communication and information management is approached in an organisation.
As part of its focus on ICT service provision and capacity-building, SANGONeT, in conjunction with the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE), launched Women’sNet in 1998, a project aimed to empower South African women to use information and communication technologies more effectively in their struggle towards advancing women's equality. Women'sNet seeks to make technology accessible and less intimidating to women, provide gender-sensitive training and support, link people working in related projects and help them find tools and resources on the Internet, create a platform for women's voices and issues and help distribute information in formats accessible to women not directly linked to the Internet.
During January 2000 SANGONeT decided to restructure its core business from being an access and information provider to being an information facilitator. As a result, SANGONeT's new mission is as follows: "A facilitator in the effective and empowering use of information communication technology (ICT) tools by development and social justice actors in Africa. SANGONeT exists with the purpose of sharing information, building capacity, linking people and organisations through the use of ICTs in Africa."
As part of its new focus SANGONeT will cease to provide dial-up services, with the emphasis instead on the development of various new information products and services. This will include Internet portals on general and specific development issues of relevance to Southern African CSOs. An important dimension of the focus on information products and services will be to complement SANGONeT’s other products and services, and vice versa, thus providing both existing and new clients with more integrated ICT solutions.
SANGONeT is not a membership organisation, but as the only CSO ICT service provider and with a vast number of CSO clients, it also has the responsibility to reflect the views and positions of CSOs on ICT-related issues. As a result, it is an active roleplayer in various South African initiatives in this regard, as well as on an international level through its membership of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).
During the past year SANGONeT’s work has been recognised through a number of local and international awards. In July 2000, Performance Management Review (PMR) awarded SANGONeT the Silver Arrow Award for excellence as a South African Internet service provider. Websites designed by SANGONeT have also won several awards, including the ‘Best of the web’ award and LabourStart pick-of-the-week for the SADTU website, the iNet Bronze Award and the International Association of Web Masters & Designers’ Golden Award, as well as inclusion on Ananzi’s Top 10 Websites of the Week for the SANGONeT corporate website. Women’sNet received an award for ‘Innovative use of New Media’ at the Highway Africa conference during September 2000 in Grahamstown.
Reflecting on the future, some of the main challenges facing SANGONeT are to continue to develop ICT products and services relevant to the needs of the Southern African CSO sector, including the introduction and application of new technologies, as well as to expand SANGONeT’s regional identity and impact.
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 17
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 17
The Electronic Community - Enhancing NGO Productivity and Capacity through Technology and Communication.
Attached is our first copy of our African capacity building newsletter - "Talents" for your perusal. Talents is a publication that is dedicated,
purely and simply to the capacity building of African civil societyorganisations. The belief behind this publication is that the time has come
for the introduction of a vehicle that focuses on capacity building and capacity building only. By facilitating debate, promoting dialogue and
encouraging analysis, research and self-discovery and challenging existing paradigms, Talents can contribute towards more conscious approaches to
capacity building that are driven by and reflect an African sustainability agenda. "Talents" will seek to promote African thought and the exploration
of alternative solutions to capacity building challenges facing African CSOs in a manner that reflects the aspirations and priorities of African
communities.
It is hoped that, over time, the humble beginning that this inaugural edition of Talents represents, will grow into a respected publication on
capacity building on the continent. For this to happen we will need to draw on the inspiration, encouragement and support of all of us. Any support
whether an idea, a thought, an article or whisper of encouragement will bring us a little nearer to that community of African civil society
organisations we envision.
The 2000 CPI relaesed by Transparency International (TI) shows that the included 5 Nile Basin countries (Ethiopia, Egypt, Tanzania, Uganda & Kenya) of the 90 countries surveyed occupy the lower 1/3 of the ranks, i.e. perceived to be more corrupt. The TI survey included only 90 countries of the world.
April 04-08, 2001
The April/May Bretton Woods Update is now on the web in both HTML and easy to print PDF formats. Our bi-monthly digest of news and analysis on World Bank and IMF-related issues contains 43 varied stories this issue, complete with web links and contact details.
Rebel attacks on refugees returning home to Sierra Leone cast doubt on a new United Nations plan for "safe passage" through rebel-held territory, Human Rights Watch has said.
Amnesty International expressed concern today at the significant increase in cases of torture and unlawful detention in Burundi. "Since the Forces nationales de libération (FNL), National Liberation Forces, attacked and occupied parts of the capital, Bujumbura, in late February and early March, there has been a noticeable escalation of torture by members of the Burundian security forces. We are also investigating a number of cases where people arrested have been taken to unknown places of detention and may have been extrajudicially executed", the organization said.
CORRUPTION governs a South Africa led by people who are not serious about fighting it, and steps have to be taken to ensure the country does not "go the same way" as Third World Africa, says graft-busting Judge Willem Heath. Heath, the controversial head of the special investigating unit, said the government was not dedicated in the fight against corruption.
THE president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, says he is fully in control of the situation in his country, after dismissing his entire government cabinet on the eve of a visit to Germany.
AN interim report by a controversial Aids advisory panel to the South African government shows little more than a predictable chasm between dissidents and orthodox scientists, say analysts.
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has filed his defense against a petition aimed at annulling his March 12 re-election that was lodged by rival Kizza Besigye.
As a long-term lender to low-income countries, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also tackles problems of poverty and growth. Should the IMF withdraw from development finance leaving it up to donors and the World Bank, as critics suggest? Is it appropriate for the Fund to return to its traditional role? And could the World Bank provide more effective support for necessary structural adjustment?
Sachs to Announce Plan for 'Massive New Effort' Aimed at Fighting AIDS in Africa. Conference to Address Children Orphaned by AIDS Begins in Uganda.
Other universities may be striving to market their courses to the Internet masses in hopes of dot-com wealth. But the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has chosen the opposite path: to post virtually all its course materials on the Web, free to everybody.
South African Players Football Union, a COSATU affiliates, condemns with strongest terms the manner in which soccer, in particular, is being treated by the Cape Town Unicity Council.
April 3, 2001, Volume 7, Issue 14
Migrants Rights International has just launched a discussion group by email on the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance ( WCRX ). Participants, approximately 300, are representatives from civil society organizations with a special interest and or expertise on migration issues vis-a-vis the preparations and outcome of WCRX.
All judges presiding over the parliamentary election challenges have adjourned for the April recess. No trials were held last week. Of the trials held two weeks ago, Shurugwi and Chiredzi North have been completed while Makoni West is scheduled to reconvene on 14 May.
Following more than four years of coordinated studies in ten African countries, The North-South Institute have launched Demanding Dignity: Women Confronting Economic Reforms in Africa. A groundbreaking and innovative study of African women’s struggles to deal with gender-bias in financial and economic policies, the 300-page volume covers 13 case studies in the countries of Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Chad and Ghana.
Zimbabwe Minister of State for Information and Publicity Jonathan Moyo has filed a Z$450,000 (US$8,000) lawsuit against "The Daily News" for publishing alleged defamatory articles about him, "The Herald" reported on 30 March 2001.
The co-operative sector has a vital role to play in the economy. Many of COSATU’s structures and members, as well as retrenched former members, are active in co-operatives. Therefore the federation welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Department of Agriculture’s Draft Co-operatives Bill.
“Action Without Borders” has updated its NGO-Service “Idealist”. It now enables individuals and organizations everywhere to tell Idealist exactly what information they want from among the job openings, volunteer opportunities, internships, events and resources, and then receive this information automatically, by email, according to their needs, interests and location.
The Council for Economic Empowerment of Women of Africa, Uganda chapter (CEEWA-U) with support from International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is implementing an Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) Project to promote Community Economic Empowerment. The main objective of the project is to enable women entrepreneurs and women organisations that promote enterprise development to explore ways and means of exploiting ICTs for community economic empowerment.
All operational research studies as well as planning documents and some background information of the Reproductive Health Project in Tanzania are now available on the AFRO-NETS Server for downloading. Study topics include service quality (including youth friendliness), community based activities and adolescent reproductive health.
When prices for a farmer's harvest fall, as they have in recent years, despair haunts rural families and communities. Farmers invest less in their own land and children leave home, searching for a better life in cities. But farmers, especially those in the poorest nations, are not just battling a global oversupply of grain. In a distressing number of cases, they are fighting against the financial power of the world's richest governments.
The joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission's Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology have made significant progress in setting standards for foods derived from biotechnology, the two UN agencies announced this week.
Bad weather has affected harvest prospects in southern Africa, says a special report from FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System. A prolonged dry spell in January hit parts of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe and subsequent heavy rains caused flooding in low-lying areas of Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.
This document from the program of the United Nations Research Institute in Social Development (UNIRSD), produced with the support of the Dutch Ministry for Development Cooperation, is the first report published by the UNIRSD research project on information technology and social development in Senegal. Its final objective consists of improving the level of debate on information technology policies.
Today's students represent two key ingredients for tomorrow's companies: a
future employee base and a future consumer base. DigAfrica reports on how
businesses and philanthropists are working to provide technology for
students that need it most.
The Tutsi-dominated army fought Hutu rebels on Sunday in a southern suburb of Burundi's capital where officials said 37 combatants were killed in clashes last week.
The Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, Leandro Despouy, this morning informed the Commission of the decision made by Mary Robinson, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to accept the extension of her mandate by one year.
Non-governmental organizations speaking before the Commission on Human Rights have pressed such issues as debt relief for poor nations, rural land reform, and greater efforts to reduce extreme poverty as they commented on the status of economic, social and cultural rights around the world.
"Mutuelles de sante en Afrique: Caracteristiques et mise en place-Manuel de formateurs". This publication explains what is a "mutuelle de sante" (mutual health organization) and how to set up such a scheme.
The information economy has flourished and is now evolving into a networking economy that is radically transforming the world of work. But will this revolution be a powerful vehicle for gender equality, or will increasing numbers of women find themselves caught on the wrong side of the digital divide?
We People Living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda wish to register our concern at the consistent derogatory remarks made by the President and members of his cabinet.
For a long time we have complained about the cynicism, conspiracy, discrimination and condemnation of People Living with HIV/AIDS. The
statements, which have been made recently by the President, are intended to incite the public and society to marginalize, discriminate and ostracize us.
COSATU and NUM have made a joint submission on the Minerals Development Draft Bill. They urge government to resist the hysterical campaign of the Chamber of Mines to try to blackmail the government into amending the Draft Bill in
favour of the mining companies so they can continue their unfettered exploitation of the country’s mineral resources.
A Lagos based lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana has observed that laws alone cannot successfully eliminate corruption in any society. Speaking on Anti-Corruption Measures: Legal Perspective at a seminar organized by Life Theological Seminary of the Four Square Church, Ikorodu, Falana said a government that is seriously determined to fight corruption must create an environment that will make corruption unattractive.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), major backers of economic reforms in developing countries, have once again unveiled a new poverty reduction approach which they claim gives borrowing countries an opportunity to determine their own strategies. However, critics have been quick to dismiss it as just one of the many faces of the Bretton Woods institutions, which have repeatedly failed to answer development needs of the world's poorest countries ever since they came into being more than half a century ago.
Democracy, Governance and Human Rights Programme Paper 3 Efficiency, Accountability and Implementation: Public Sector Reform in East and Southern Africa, Ole Therkildsen. Gender Justice, Development and Rights: Selected papers.
The Internet is Africa's political corrupticians' nightmare. In other words, news-media-information censorship by political dictators is curtailed at the door of the Internet.
Breaking news straight from ITWeb's news room!
Join together in cooperation with HORIZON to find, encourage and develop
solutions to problems in health, environment, population, and development
that exist throughout the world and to help empower children, youth, young
professionals, and others through their participation as HORIZON Solutions
Site users, interns, research fellows and volunteers.
You can download the full version of the SA "Presidential Aids Advisory Report, March 2001" either as a PDF or WORD file.
News about poverty and development issues.
Cameroon became the fifth African country on Wednesday to strike a deal with
major pharmaceutical companies to ensure cheap access to AIDS drugs.
GlaxoSmithKline, the world's largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medicines, said
the West African country had reached agreement with five leading drug firms
under a UN initiative.
The government has rebuked European Union criticism of its controversial AIDS policy, saying that Europe should instead learn from South Africa's success in combating an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.
In the wake of quakes, emotional aid proves hardest to deliver. New tremors
rock the sub-continent while aid agencies and health workers are still
struggling to tackle quake trauma, especially in children. Unicef explains
how the emotional after-effects of a disaster are much harder to identify
and address than immediate relief needs.
Roundtable on the Demography of Forced Migration, Committee on Population,
Holly E. Reed and Charles B. Keely, Editors, U.S. National Research Council,
2001. Millions of people uprooted by war, famine or natural disasters are on the
move in countries across the world, seeking shelter, food and other necessities of life. Using case studies from Cambodia, Kosovo, North Korea and Rwanda, a new collection of papers from the National Research Council examines mortality patterns during recent forced migrations and suggests how these patterns may change during this century.
News and comment on South Africa's Presidential AIDS Advisory Panel Report.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide.
Their emergence as the predominant health problem in wealthy countries
accompanied economic development. As a result, NCDs are often referred to as
'diseases of affluence'. But is this a misleading term? It suggests that
these are not major problems for the world's poor, which is quite simply
wrong, as this issue of Insight Health illustrates. Is it time to rethink
policy on NCDs?
The latest research and news on health issues in developing countries.