KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 22 * 3181 SUBSCRIBERS

The Kellogg Foundation has released an updated version of their e-Philanthropy report, e-Philanthropy v2.001: From Entrepreneurial Adventure to an Online Community.

This paper is based on an ethnographic study of a company with widely distributed holdings within a volatile industry. The need for this distributed organization to respond as a unified whole to a rapidly changing environment required it to confront the uncertainties and contingencies introduced by invisibility, distance, and fragmentation of information. In this paper, we focus on issues generated by the integration of remote meeting technologies into local work practices. We compare face-to-face meetings with virtual meetings to understand how these new technologies impact the work of a distributed organization, and to uncover the new order that emerges around the use of these technologies.

The promise of serving the huge philanthropy market has fed the rush of entrepreneurs and investors to create new digital products and services. After several years of rapid growth, however, the e-philanthropy industry has begun to experience a shakeout. Most notable has been the demise of Charitableway, which produced a Web-based system for handling workplace giving campaigns.

Media inadequately covered the Masvingo mayoral elections. The Zimbabwe Independent and The Zimbabwe Mirror (11/5) had no story on the event while The Daily News and The Financial Gazette failed to inform its readers about important electoral issues. However, the Daily News provided the most comprehensive and impartial coverage of the pre-election violence. The state media put on a partisan performance, preferring to urge the public to vote Zanu PF. This message was supported by the prominent coverage given to alleged defections from the MDC to Zanu PF.

South African Generic Drug Manufacturer Requests Permission to Produce Patented AIDS Drugs; 'NewsHour' Continues Examination of AIDS in Africa, Addresses Distribution of Antiretroviral Drugs in Botswana; Bianca Jagger Works to Fight 'Human Catastrophe' of AIDS in Africa; South African Department of Health Has Not 'Killed' Possibility of AIDS Drug Provision, Letter Says.

Environmentally damaging subsidies and tax exemptions to agriculture and energy are on their way out in the world's most developed nations. Environmental ministers or their representatives from the 30 industrialized countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development adopted an environmental strategy for the next decade at the annual OECD ministerial meeting in Paris Wednesday that pledged to eliminate or phase out these financial perks by 2010.

The Presbyterian Church wants Kenyans to vote out the current government in the coming general election for its failure to take stronger action against pollution and the destruction of water catchment areas. A hard hitting statement issued by the church’s General Assembly said it was "raising very serious concern about the pollution of environment where uncollected garbage continues to pollute our city and urban towns."

For the younger African generations, there is a need to design sustainable ways to spark interest for reading the scientific literature on HIV/Aids even in the absence of a sufficient number of graduate research stipends. Under the following URL, you will find the description of a virtual seminar concept in which a free solution is suggested (in English and French).

In October 2000, NGOs and representatives from official aid agencies met in Stockholm to discuss experiences of applying the human rights approach to development. The workshops "Working Together" were hosted by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish NGO Foundation for Human Rights. The NGO and donor agency workshops came up with a number of practical recommendations.

EISA's latest e-book project is a first in many respects. It is the first electronic resource on local government. It is the first one-stop resource on local government structures, municipal electoral law and reporting on the local elections. It is the first interactive multimedia publication on local government in South Africa which explains the complex process through a visually exciting tour of video, animation, photography and insightful commentary and analysis.

The newly published Kenya Anti-Corruption Authority (Kaca) Bill is flawed, some MPs said yesterday. Published by Attorney-General Amos Wako two weeks ago to revive the outlawed body, the Bill does not resolve the jurisdictional conflicts between Kaca and the AG's office, the parliamentarians said.

Tagged under: 22, Contributor, Corruption, Governance

Zambia's Anti-Corruption Commission said on Tuesday it had launched a probe into allegations two cabinet ministers used state funds to finance elections within the ruling party.

Semaine du 18.05.01 au 27.05.01.

Welcome to this very special experience of Africa, and join a 4-hour journey that spans thousands of years in the Valley of the Ancient Voices. Rock art, relics and artefacts give clues to the myriad of animals and people that have crossed through this place – using it as a place of refuge, or a home, or of spiritual significance. Follow the same paths that they did, paths as ancient as the rocky outcrops into which they have been worn.

Invading alien species are responsible for a worldwide biodiversity crisis, driving large numbers of native plant and animal species to extinction on every continent. The damage is documented by IUCN - the World Conservation Union in a new survey of the 100 worst alien species issued in time for Biodiversity Day, May 22.

With the most comprehensive programme in its 54-year history, the World Newspaper Congress, to be held in Hong Kong from 3 to 6 June, will examine a
multitude of major current issues that have a direct impact on newspaper strategies, management and revenues. There is still time to register!

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 arbitrary arrest of six people in Rwanda.

Please sign the petition on behalf of AAU Students, and Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega. A world wide hunger strike is being organized in solidarity with the hunger strike of Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam and Dr. Berhanou Nega. Please stay tuned for further instructions. Please go immidiately to the following webpage to express your concern on the situation at AAU, of EHRCO and the state of Ethiopia.

A man whirls a whip around his head and brings it down hard on a Kenyan youth clad in a "Save our Forests" T-shirt. The whip cracks again and a mob starts hurling rocks at a busload of environmental activists from Kenya's Green Belt Movement, barring their way to a patch of threatened woodland. A rock shatters a window, blood oozes from a passenger's head and the bus roars away from the village, the visitors abandoning their plans to expose forest destruction.

Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) MP Patricia de Lille will on Tuesday appear again before prosecuting authorities in Cape Town in terms of a subpoena to disclose information about the multi-billion rand arms deal.

Two prestigious U.S. policy groups are calling for health issues to have a higher priority in foreign policy and national security planning. The recommendation comes from a study group launched by the Council on Foreign Relations and the Milbank Memorial Fund, a health policy organization.

A year ago, there was hope that a plan by the Association of Coffee Producing Countries (ACPC) aimed at retaining about 20 per cent of coffee produce on the world market would ultimately stop the price slide from over US200 cents per pound in the early 1990s to less than US50 cents today. This was the third in a variety of strategies to check the decline, but like the previous attempts to manipulate the market such as the export quota system, it seems to have failed.

The European Council of Ministers this week discussed the situation in the Great Lakes region, as well as a common European policy towards Africa in general. In a report on the proceedings, the Council said it adopted a new common position on conflict prevention, management and resolution in Africa, which included features such as strengthening African capacities for conflict prevention, improving support for African capabilities in the field of peacekeeping, and emphasising the strategic role of development cooperation in conflict.

Military allies of the DRC government are due to meet in Kinshasa on Saturday to discuss ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict, Congolese foreign ministry officials told AFP on Wednesday. The officials did not say whether all three allied heads of state - from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe - would attend the meeting.

Genocide suspect Hassan Ngeze today cross-examined a witness who testified against him before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Ngeze and two other genocide suspects are jointly being tried for using the media to incite ethnic hatred that led to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Zimbabwe's domestic debt, on a downward trend earlier this year, has risen dramatically to more than $180 billion or nearly the entire national budget for this financial year, according to statistics released by the central bank this week.

Gangs of self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s independence war this week widened their attacks on private businesses throughout the country as it emerged that the European Union (EU) is mulling measures against Harare that could include sanctions to pressure the government to uphold the rule of law. Sources however said the government of President Robert Mugabe might be finally responding to the crisis. It decided at a Cabinet meeting this week to act on party supporters blamed for leading the campaign against industry and commerce.

A UN Security Council mission, currently visiting the Congolese capital Kinshasa, has welcomed a decision by President Joseph Kabila to lift the ban on political parties. "This sets the stage for positive developments in the days to come," Ambassador Jean David Levitte of France, who is leading the mission, told journalists following the group's meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Johannesburg before leaving for Kinshasa.

The initiator of this performance is Danish sculptor Jens Galschiot. For the time being his chief project is a world wide art manifestation titled The Pillar of Shame. Within a decade, 10 sculptures, 8 metres in height will be set up to mark severe infringements against human rights. The first three sculptures have been mounted in Hong Kong (1997), Mexico (1999) and Brazil (2000). The aim is to highlight the ethical basis of our civilization to ensure the survival of the Planet. This is also the aim of this performance that will pinpoint the greed of the big pharmaceutical companies who are filing a lawsuit in defence of their patent rights, with the consequence that millions of people in the poor countries will die of lack of medicine.

Epi Info and Epi Map are public domain software packages designed for the global community of public health practitioners and researchers. Both provide for easy form and database construction, data entry, and analysis with epidemiologic statistics, maps, and graphs. Although "Epi Info" is a CDC trademark, the programs, documentation, and teaching materials are in the public domain and may be freely copied, distributed, and translated. A new version of Epi Info 2000 has been released on the CDC web site. This version is an update to Version 1.05. Please download the patches (7 floppies) from the web site to update your software to Version1.1.

As the taste of wine improves with age, for the record number of thirty-nine exhibitors, one hundred and fifty conference delegates drawn from the Liberia, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, South Africa, UK, USA and over seven thousand visitors who made it to the 5th West Africa Computing, Telecomms & Broadcasting Expo, (AITEC 2001) business couldn't have been better.

Since our last update over a month back, there has been a tremendous increase in the activities of Digital Governance -an effort to enable emergence of E-governance models in South.

During the June 2000 elections in Zimbabwe, MDC campaigners and other citizens took advantage of the internet and email to promote and disseminate
the aims and objectives of the Movement for Democratic Change. This strategy ran alongside the traditional campaigning of talks, meetings, rallies and word of mouth. Whilst the ruling party used a variety of campaign strategies
from old-fashioned intimidation to exploiting their control of the print and broadcast media, the MDC had no option but to look creatively at other ways of campaigning.

In simple terms Electronic Governance can be defined as giving Citizens the choice of when and where they access government information and services. Putting the Citizen at the centre of government means taking a delivery channel view. This would mean using more and more of Electronics & Information Technology in many of the government functions.

On average it takes anything from 18 months to 3 years to register a charitable association in Nigeria. Generally referred to as Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) – which itself is a misnomer - these are in law, associations or bodies corporate with or without separate legal personality or land-holding capacity. Typically, they are formed for philanthropic purposes and run by trustees, whatever their preferred title. My beef in this essay is with the current slow and bureaucratic process of registration and supervision of what has become a key alternative and complementary channel of development for our people.

Bytes for All brought out this issue in special cooperation with BBC World Service and with New Internationalist in Oxford. and used video footage of 'Gujarat Earthquake' and a video clip on 'Men Made Famine in Africa'. We also offer our special thanks to Surface Water Modeling Center in Dhaka, Bangladesh, National Seismological Center in Kathmandu, Nepal, SDNP Pakistan, and Ajith Abraham of Monash University, Australia for their significant contribution in preparing
the issue.

Criticisms of the Bush administration's National Energy Policy unveiled Thursday are being expressed by a wide range of citizens groups and politicians from across the political spectrum and around the world. Objections to its reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power rather than renewables and conservation dominate the comments.

The aim of this list is to announce updates to our website and forthcoming events hosted by the Science, Technology and Innovation Program, a joint activity of the Center for International Development at Harvard University and the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

The arguments about the pros and cons of agricultural technology - pesticides, synthetic fertilizers and biotechnology - are widely known. The Green Revolution is touted by some as being one of the great accomplishments of modern society and others as one of the great evils. A distinction is often made between the applications of agricultural technology in developing countries and in developed ones.

A project involving Arizona State University's Institute for Human Origins (founded and directed by Donald C. Johanson, best-known for his discovery of "Lucy"), documentary filmmaker Lenora C. Johanson, and Terra Incognita, this site is designed to teach a general audience about human evolution and the search for early hominid life in the field. The key feature of the site is an extensive (and very professional) flash-driven, online documentary which includes a number of pop-up sub-exhibits that provide additional information and resources on various topics. Other sections of the site include News & Views, which offers recent paleo news stories and expert views, and Resources, which includes a glossary, related sites, and media references. A Learning Center with activities and lesson plans is scheduled to be added this summer.

Tagged under: 22, Contributor, Education, Resources

Research on corruption has become increasingly important. All international organizations emphasize the fight against corruption, codes of conduct in this area are gaining increasing importance in the eyes of multinational firms, and donor aid is willingly offered for effective reform programs. But training qualified students in anti-corruption, has not yet actually started. This is a requirement which universities will have to face in the future by making "good governance" and anti-corruption reform part of their programs. PD Dr. Johann Graf Lambsdorff, assistant professor at the University of Goettingen, offered a lecture in the economics of corruption at his University in April 2001. He is the creator of the Corruption Perceptions Index which is annually published by Transparency International.

Tagged under: 22, Contributor, Corruption, Governance

IRIN is developing an HIV/AIDS information service for sub-Saharan Africa. The challenge is to build a partnership between civil society and the media for the dissemination of accurate, contextualized and relevant information on HIV/AIDS. The inclusion of the voices of those living with HIV/AIDS is a vital component, transforming the traditional 'top-down' flow of information into an interactive information channel that empowers HIV-positive people and AIDS organisations. As a first step, IRIN invites all those working in the field of HIV/AIDS to contribute to the service by providing their news, views and analysis for inclusion in our weekly bulletin.

Africa has attracted large-scale investors but they have tended to be multinationals building infrastructure. There are far fewer US and European small and medium sized companies willing to take the plunge. This week sees the opening of the Dutch company Explainer DC in Ghana and several of these kinds of investments seem to be in the pipeline. More of which in later issues.

The self-declared state of Somaliland, northwestern Somalia, is gearing up for a referendum on the constitution ­- including an article on independence ­- at the end of May. Unilateral independence was declared on 18 May 1991 by the northern-based Somali National Movement (SNM) after it had fought a successful insurgency against former President Muhammad Siyad Barre, whose government collapsed in January 1991.

A United Nations Security Council delegation arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday night on "the most important mission the Security Council has ever undertaken", in the words of the mission leader, French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte. In a brief statement at Kinshasa airport, Levitte said the 12 ambassadors in the delegation hoped "to help the parties in the Congo conflict move towards peace and a complete application of the Lusaka ceasefire agreement".

UNHCR said on Thursday it was "deeply disturbed" by Guinea's continued closure of its southern border with Liberia and its refusal to allow Liberian asylum seekers to enter the country. The UN agency said its representative in Guinea had told officials at the Ministry of Interior of its "growing concern" over Guinea's failure to meets its international obligations under the 1951 Geneva Convention.

The United Nations Security Council has announced the reopening of the Congo River to commercial traffic, a vital thoroughfare which has been blocked for two-and-a-half years as a result of the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The director and co-director of the humanitarian relief agency Memisa-Coped held a press conference in Bujumbura on Thursday during which they denied having paid a ransom for the release of their six workers who were abducted in Makamba province last Friday by the rebel Forces pour la defense de la democratie (FDD). Bob Smit and Father Jean-Berchmans Nzisabira wanted to counter claims that a sum of US $12,000 was paid.

The relief organisation, Refugees International, has said the recent positive developments in the DRC are having little immediate positive impact on the Congolese people. Anne Edgerton, who recently visited the region on behalf of Refugees International, told a US sub-committee that displacement was still occurring in remote areas as armies withdrew and redeployed to new territory in the country.

Food security prospects have improved in arable districts and western pastoral areas of Kenya following favourable short and long rains, but food insecurity persists in pastoral districts in the east, according to the latest country report from USAID's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS). Food production trends would be uncertain in these pastoral areas after critically needed rains were low and poorly distributed, it said.

The World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday played down reports in the Tanzania media of refugees abandoning their homes to escape hungry refugees who were marauding in the community and taking food by force in Kibondo District, Kigoma Region, western Tanzania. The 'Guardian' newspaper on Thursday quoted Kibondo police sources as saying that they did not have enough officers to control the refugees who had abandoned their camps because they did not have enough food.

The combined effects of the continuing livestock ban and high inflation are leading to a growing "north-south economic divide" in Somalia, said a joint report by the USAID Famine Early Warning System (FEWS NET) and the European Union funded FAO/Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU). The north and central parts of the country continue to suffer the impact of lost livestock exports to the Gulf states, whereas the ban has had a "negligible impact" in the south, FSAU said in its April monthly food security report.

Ethiopian government has welcomed the decision of the UN Security Council to lift the embargo on arms sales to Ethiopia and Eritrea, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said. In a statement on Wednesday the Ethiopian foreign ministry said the decision by the council had reminded both countries "to desist from engaging in an arms race and other military activities, and turn to economic development and reconciliation in a bid to bring about peace and stability in the Horn of Africa".

Liberia has called on the United Nations to investigate ongoing attacks on its soil by Guinea-based insurgents and said it has a right to defend itself, despite a UN arms embargo. In a 10 May letter to the UN Secretary-General, Foreign Minister Monie Captan said the embargo had impaired Liberia's ability to defend itself. He said Guinea was "openly, blatantly and with impunity" allowing Liberian dissidents to invade the northern county of Lofa in an effort to unseat the government of President Charles Taylor.

Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA, Mr. Kunio Waki has stressed that international financial and other support to combat Africa's high maternal and neonatal deaths, must be backed by leadership and commitment from within Africa itself.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) says it has completed the delivery of emergency food aid to 44,000 refugees in various camps in the Parrot's Beak, a remote corner of southwestern Guinea that juts into Sierra Leone. The area was affected by fighting in recent months. About 47,000 other refugees relocated to safer camps in the north are receiving food from WFP.

The spate of serial killings and sexual harassment of women and teenage girls girls has been at its peak in Accra since two years or so ago, without any arrest or punishment of penetrators, until recent times when the country came under the new administration of President John Agyekum Kufuor.

Florence Hartmann, the spokesperson of the UN prosecutor, today dismissed claims that the number of employees of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) were dismissed on the basis of their race and color.

Rival forces in Sierra Leone's long-running war agreed on Tuesday to stop fighting and allow the UN mission in the country, UNAMSIL, to guarantee the free movement of people and goods nationwide.

The Office of the High Commissioner has received some funding through the auspices of the European Commission to provide financial assistance to NGOs wishing to participate in the World Conference Against Racism (31 August - 7 September) and the NGO Forum (28 August - 1 September) in Durban, South Africa.

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is organizing an international conference on 5 September 2001 in Durban, South Africa.

Several war veterans were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly extorting about US $25,000 from a private company under the pretext of solving a labour dispute, the state-controlled 'Herald' reported. Also arrested were 10 employees of the unnamed firm. All those arrested were expected to appear in court on Thursday. Joseph Chinotimba, chairperson of the ruling party-linked war veterans in Harare commended the police action.

Today, close to 500 workers from Denel division Vektor-arms making company are to protest over the employment equity, transformation, and re-alignment for black workers.

WFP has distributed 15 days' worth of emergency rations to about 3,000 people who fled Caxito in Bengo province after a UNITA attack on 5 May. The Cacuaco municipal authority, just outside the capital Luanda, resettled about 2,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Caxito on four hectares of land in Bairro Caop Velho, Funda, WFP said in its latest situation report.

Namibia's prosecutor general is to decide whether to prosecute policemen accused of systematically torturing people suspected of being part of an armed separatist attack in Caprivi almost two years ago, 'The Namibian' said on Thursday. Jackson Tangeni Kuutondokwa, the deputy prosecutor general in Kavango, was quoted as saying that his recommendations were being typed up before being dispatched to Windhoek for Prosecutor General Hans Heyman to decide.

The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) said it participated in a joint operation with the Angolan army that "dislodged" UNITA rebels from Mavinga, a strategic town deep inside Angola, 'The Namibian' reported on Thursday. Army Chief Major-General Martin Shalli was quoted as saying that the joint-operation was carried out last week in southern Angola's Cuando Cubango Province, more than 200 km north of the Namibian border.

The Zimbabwean government on Wednesday called an immediate halt to invasions of private businesses by self-styled war veterans, news reports said.
"This should cease forthwith as it constitutes the crimes of kidnapping and extortion," Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo was quoted as saying. So-far, the police have been singularly ineffective in halting the scores of urban raids by ruling party militants which began in early April, further threatening Zimbabwe's already ailing economy.

Families affected by floods earlier this year continue to return to their homes, but their living conditions are getting more difficult as winter approaches, according to OCHA. The agency said in its latest situation report that because the floods had washed away crops, and relief aid had consisted of mainly non-food items, food had become a priority. "Relief items so far received and distributed by the government have mainly been non-food items. Malnutrition especially among children and pregnant women for the coming months is of great concern. The food resources of the Department for Disaster Preparedness, Rehabilitation and Relief have almost been exhausted."

UNITA has promised to search for and return about 60 children kidnapped by its soldiers during an attack on a children's home in Caxito, about 55 km outside the capital Luanda. Without accepting responsibility for the kidnappings, the rebel movement said in a communiqué released on Tuesday that "the UNITA General Staff has ordered a strict inquiry aimed at identifying children who might have been forced to accompany the Armed Forces for the Liberation of Angola (FALA) in the wake of the 5 May 2001 raid ... ". It said the children would be handed over the closest Catholic mission if they were found.

UNESCO has published a database of more than 600 human rights research and training institutions world-wide on the Internet. This database is the electronic version of the World Directory of Human Rights Research and Training Institutions. Searches on the database may be performed in English, French and Spanish.

What proposals does the CPT have to stop police ill-treatment? What is the Committee's position on solitary confinement? What has the CPT said about restraining psychiatric patients? What are the Committee's views on the treatment of immigration detainees? These and many other questions can now be answered via a new database launched today by the CPT. It contains the full texts of all published CPT reports, amounting to some 5000 pages of text. Searching has been made as easy and powerful as possible: users can search for any words, but can also select from pre-established lists of keywords, detention places, categories of detained persons and States.

The UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) is organising Global Consultations on International Protection. They reflect the heightened recognition over recent years of the fact that refugee protection is an international concern and that crafting responses to address many of today's issues is best approached on the basis of multilateral cooperation, fully informed by the protection concerns at stake, as well as the dilemmas and challenges in addressing them in all regions. To move the process forward, UNHCR is committed to ensuring the fullest possible involvement of the major stakeholders in the process, including NGOs.

Wealth and Poverty

The wealth of millionaires grew by 6% in 2000 compared to 18% in 1999 and an overall increase of 375% since 1986.

The number of millionaires grew by 2.9% last year to 7.2 million and their total wealth grew from $25.5 in 1999 to $27 trillion in 2000.

The number of individuals worth more than $30 million rose 3% last year to 57,000 and their wealth grew by 6% to $8.37 trillion.

Growth in wealth for these groups is expected to average 8% annually for the next 5 years.

Meanwhile:

The % of people living on less than a dollar per day has decreased from 28.3 in 1987 to 24 in 1998 but the actual numbers have increased from 1,183,200,000 in 1987 to 1,198,900,000 in 1998.

Source - Poverty Stats: Implementation of the First UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006) Report of the Secretary General September 21 2000.
Source - Wealth Stats: Yahoo Headlines Elif Kaban, European Private Banking Correspondent

Cited at http://www.comminit.com/

Tagged under: 22, Contributor, Features, Governance

"...By the way I should say I forwarded a copy of the newsletter to a couple of journalists here who have a long interest in human rights and Africa and they were full of praise of it." (Extract of letter)

The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the annual meeting of the 191 Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its highest governing body. The 54th WHA takes place this year from 14 to 22 May at the United Nations "Palais des Nations" in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Nonprofit Lobbying Guide demonstrates the many ways nonprofits can use lobbying to advance their causes in federal, state and local legislatures. Author Bob Smucker draws upon his more than 25 years of experience as a lobbyist for charitable organizations to give a jargon-free explanation of the laws governing lobbying limits, lobbying with private foundation and corporate grants, reporting to the IRS, and education efforts during a political campaign.

CIVITAS International hs established an international Advocacy Campaign for the institution of the eight "Action Steps" necessary for adequate civic education, including a K-12 curriculum, teacher training, and classroom materials that support education for democracy, as well as the development of a professional civic educators association, and the capacity to evaluate student progress.

Conflict over natural resources, such as land, water, and forests, occurs everywhere today, as it has for centuries. Whether it be a local dispute between neighbouring farmers or an international debate over shared resources such as a waterway, people compete for the natural resources they need to ensure or enhance their quality of life. Conflict can even be seen as “a normal feature of natural resource manage-ment,” says Jacqueline Ashby, Director of Research at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. The conflict may unfold as a simple war of words or it may escalate to armed confrontation with loss of life.

As we have done for many years, the Washington Office on Africa has developed this directory of key contacts in the administration and on select committees in Congress, together with a listing of the Congressional Black Caucus. We hope you find it helpful in your own advocacy efforts. Essential for all of us with a concern for a more just US policy toward Africa is to ensure that our views are heard, and this guide seeks to provide an aid in doing so.

African governments are paying millions of dollars to lobbyists in hopes of influencing Washington's policy, according to an examination of US government files. Oil-producing nations - especially, Nigeria, Angola, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea - are paying the biggest fees by far, but others, especially those with which Washington has difficult relations, are not holding back the cash.

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