KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER NO 15

Egypt's legal, political and social climate encourages the use of torture during detention and leaves victims without adequate means of redress, an Egyptian human rights group said on Monday.

HURIDOCS gladly announces a new series of brief, practical manuals aimed to help build the capacity of human rights organisations with regard to monitoring and documentation.

This manual is being used in basic courses at police academies in Denmark. It offers a course framework and various useful overheads and handouts. The course consists of two parts: "Life, Freedom, and Liberty and Security of Person" (freedom of assembly, use of force, right to life) and "Equal Rights" (rights of refugees, protection against discrimination). The manual includes overheads and handouts on the European and UN systems, methods of investigation, questions concerning detainees' rights, and the "Rockerloven" and "Jersild" cases in Denmark.

Attached is a memo and copies of reports from the Coalition regarding the election of judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The Socio-Economic Rights contained in the South African Constitution are the result of a long struggle against many years of apartheid poverty, discrimination and inequality. But what do these hardwon rights, such as land and health care rights, mean for people in their everyday lives? What laws and institutions are available to assist people in protecting and advancing these rights?

The following is our petition to the National Assembly, the Attorney General and the Presidency. Please read and join us as signatories to the letter. Please forward your response to [email][email protected].

When Nigeria threw off military rule and restored democracy in 1999, the country's newly elected leaders immediately set their sights on eliminating the worst aspects of the old regime. They ended long lines at gasoline stations. They set about shoring up the country's crumbling infrastructure. They went to war on corruption and tried to balance the books.

Some fear that Carlos Cardoso's murder might never be fully investigated as 'many more crimes' would be uncovered. It has been more than three months since the assassination of Mozambique's leading investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso.

The Public Service Accountability Monitor (an independent research and monitoring unit based at Rhodes University) has criticized the Eastern Cape department of Transport for failing to take effective disciplinary action over a five year period against a senior state accountant who was arrested for allegedly attempting to defraud the department of R950000 in 1996.

In a statement by its Primate Peter Akinola and Secretary, Samuel Akinola, the church regarded as the second largest in Nigeria noted that public office holders brazenly display "conspicuous affluence" in contrast to the level of poverty in the country. It said: "Political office holders at federal, state and local government over-provide for themselves, a mass wealth and live in affluence out of public funds".

Top cop accused of extortion quits. One of Durban's top policemen resigned this week after allegedly being caught attempting to extort R10 000 from a city doctor.

President Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya has said African states must work together to meet the challenges posed by globalisation.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Susan Sikaneta on Friday tried in vain to deny the existence of rampant corruption in government.

Several newspaper editorials this week have addressed the price reductions and patent relaxations on AIDS drugs by Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as the need for developed nations of the world to offer more humanitarian aid to African nations in order to assure the purchase, distribution andmonitoring of such drugs.

The 8th edition of the EANMAT newsletter can be viewed on the Kenya
Malaria Information Service site at: .

The WHO has recently published the Global TB Control Report 2001, showing that only 23% of the world's TB cases are treated in DOTS programmes. The report can be downloaded from our website and is also available in hard copy.

The March 2001 issue of Immunization Focus, an "e-published" quarterly from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) is now available on the GAVI website.

March 21 headlines include:
* One in Nine South Africans Living With HIV, Government Survey Shows
* Some Catholic Priests Sexually Abuse Nuns, Sometimes to Avoid HIV
Infection, Reports Say
* TAC 'Demands' HIV/AIDS Treatment Plan from South African Government

THEME: Donation and distribution of physical health information materials: books, journals, newsletters, CD-ROMs...

The School of Human Genetics and Population Health (SOHGAPH) Kolkata along with Gana Unnayan Parshad (GUP) Kolkata, India is coming up with a new manual called 'Guidelines for Facilitators and Grass Root Workers in Reproductive/Sexual Health Projects of the Third World'.

On 31st January, the New York Times writer Eric Nagourney wrote to 'HIF-net at WHO' for input on how the internet is affecting access to medical journals in developing countries. The resulting article is now available online.

DATELINE HEALTH NIGERIA is a health communication initiative of the Centre for Health Policy and Strategic Studies (CHPSS), Lagos, Nigeria. Critical comments on format, quality and content are welcome.

The Access Campaign is implementing an initiative consisting in gathering as many signatures as possible to protest the lawsuit lodged by 39 pharmaceutical companies against the Government of South Africa's recently approved legislation to render essential drugs affordable.

Willie Koen, head of the transplant unit and the 'Berlin Heart' Surgeons at a Cape Town hospital implanted an artificial heart into the chest of a man who was rushed into their unit after cardiac failure last night.

On 4th January this year, Peter Singer posted an article on 'HIF-net at WHO' on the subject of 'Global Alliance for Health Information'. The following letter is from this week's BMJ (17 March) under the title 'Vision is needed to address problem of global health information'.

COSATU welcomes the launch of the South African Democracy Education Trust. We believe that this initiative is an important step toward recording the history of our people's history struggle for freedom. It must form part of an urgent process to ensure that our country's real history is taught in the schools.

Tagged under: 15, Contributor, Education, Resources

The prospects for resolution of the humanitarian and political crisis in Burundi continue to look very bleak. There is an opportunity, however, at this moment for the international community to help save lives in the Northeastern provinces - the most populous region in Burundi. But the Government of Burundi, the United Nations, and international NGOs must act in concert immediately to avert further suffering of the Burundian people.

Cows are central to the lives of the nomadic herdsmen who have been deeply disturbed by news that hundreds of thousands of livestock have been killed in faraway Britain in a bid to stamp out an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Concrete efforts are necessary to provide clean drinking water and improve health as well as to increase awareness world-wide of the problems and of the solutions. 22 March is a unique occasion to remind everybody that solutions are possible. Use the resources on this WHO site to help turn words into political commitment and action.

Governments should be directly responsible for the conservation of the natural and cultural heritage of their respective countries and people. Nevertheless, what frequently happens in the South is that the authorities act in collusion with powerful internal and external interests, and to the detriment of the country's biodiversity, and thus against the welfare of the population they are supposed to protect. This is what is going on in Kenya.

In recent years, interest in integrated water resource management (IWRM) has risen significantly throughout the world due to the increasing demands placed on such a limited natural resource. Integrated Water Resource Management Workshop October 15-19, 2001 Denver, Colorado, USA

The Save the Kenyan forests Petition to The Kenyan Government was created by The Nile Basin Society and written by Nabil El-Khodari. The petition is hosted at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service.

Surveyors were busy demarcating Hombe Forest in Mt Kenya despite a ruling by the High Court stopping the government from excising 167,000 acres of forest land.

Of note in the week is the extent to which the Zimbabwe Independent (March 16) relied on unconfirmed reports for its front-page stories. Although it is generally accepted that the privately owned media is severely handicapped when trying to access information from government and the public due to the politically intolerant climate, in the interests of the public, of fairness and of its own credibility, the media have an obligation to seek and publish comment from opposing sides. In The Zimbabwe Independent's stories however, there was no indication that the reporters had tried to access comment from
the government, Zanu PF, Department of Information or the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Find newspapers and news sites worldwide with quick links to over 600 news sources sorted by region and country.

MSI Cellular has taken management control of the Tanzania Telecommunications Company after a first payment of $60 million for a stake in the company. The deal may leave four other operators, including Vodacom, out in the cold. [15 March 2001]

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) asks to support South Africa's efforts to make essential medicines more accessible to its people by signing a global petition by April 15. Under the following page you will find the example of banner to add to your web-site along with corresponding HTML code:

African American nonprofit will team up with global US teleconferencing firm to bring the 6th African African American Summit to the world via Internet Rev. Leon H. Sullivan will convene the 6th African African American Summit in Abuja, Nigeria on May 21 - 25, 2001. The 'Summit of Hope' hosted by the President Olusegun Obasanjo: Federal Republic of Nigeria will bring together ten thousand delegates from across the United States, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean in the spirit of purpose to help forge a new Africa. In partnership with executive Conference, Inc., (ECI) a leader in providing global teleconferencing services and International Black Student Alliance, Inc. (IBSA) an international nonprofit organization, the 'Summit of Hope' will finally be bought to the world stage using the advanced technology of 'Web Streaming' donated by ECI as friends of Africa.

With regard to the current work of the DOT Force and the related debate on bridging the digital divide, the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) have made the following observations.

Followers of the Linux and Opensource movements will not want to miss the appearance of the legendary John 'Maddog' Hall at the Linux Africa 2001 conference, hosted by AITEC and the Linux Professional's Association of South Africa, from 24 to 26 April 2001 at the Kyalami Exhibition and Conference Centre, Johannesburg.

Subscribe to our NEWatIFPRI list server to receive announcements of new publications and other events at IFPRI. You may do so directly from our website at .

Cape Town is one of the few cities on the African continent that can make a
claim for being a creative city. News Update's Russell Southwood looks at
what this means, why it's important to the development of new media in
Africa and how Cape Town measures up when looked at from this viewpoint.

To search the complete PND archive (300+ issues dating to January 1995), visit . Have a question about foundations, philanthropy, or fundraising? Visit our online reference service at http://fdncenter.org/learn/librarian/.

IIS/IDF Development and Information 01 Seminar on Impact Evaluation of
Services and Projects is being held at the London Voluntary Sector Resource
Centre, Holloway, London on Wednesday 6 June 2001.

Proceedings of the MIM Pan-African Conference
Durban, South Africa, 1999
Now available in hard copy!

Newspapers that take their classified advertising onto the web do not lose
print revenues. That is just one of the findings in a major new study of on-line classifieds that will be presented to participants at the 54th World Newspaper Congress and 8th World Editors Forum, the global meetings of the world's press that will be held in Hong Kong from 3 to 6 June.

Hosted by Dundee University Water Law and Policy
Programme & American Water Resources Association
University of Dundee, Scotland,
August 6th-8th, 2001

Learn about the IT problems facing Africa and how you can help solve them. Register for a FREE CONFERENCE , April 6, 2001.

Water is one of the earth's most precious and threatened resources. Health is one of each person's most precious resources. We need to protect and enhance them both.

We needed a short survey of Zimbabwean political development which is accessible to a wide range of people and this book answers that need. Starting with the premise that genuine democracy depends on the growth of civil society structures, it shows how these were systematicly stifled by ZANU PF in the 1980's. Then, in the 1990's, in response to the effects of structural adjustment, they gradually emerged, with the trade unions leading the way. Demands for a new constitution by the umbrella National Constitutional Assembly awakened the people to the possibilities of protest. The result was ZANU PF's first defeat in the constitutional referendum in February 2000 and the stiff challenge put up by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in the June parliamentary elections.

I have the pleasure to send you herewith the terms of reference for a
consultation UNV plans to organise in Central African Republic. The
consultation should take place next month (April) and the UNV consultant
committee would probably meet the coming week (26-30 March) to select a
candidate.

Tagged under: 15, Contributor, Jobs, Resources

Internships in Human Rights within the Centre for Philosophy of Law at the
Free University of Brussels - Human Rights Programme - Creation of a Human
Rights website - Offer available for students in law, English speakers - One
month minimum - Unpaid internship - Accommodations in Brussels paid under
conditions.

Tagged under: 15, Contributor, Jobs, Resources

Job Category: Legal
Type: Full time
Salary: $27,000 - $30,000

Tagged under: 15, Contributor, Jobs, Resources

Job Category: Administration
Type: Full time
Salary: Salary dependent on experience, ranging from mid to upper 20s.

Tagged under: 15, Contributor, Jobs, Resources

Applications are invited for a number of PhD or DrPH studentships to
be held at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM),
the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), the Centre for
Medical Parasitology, University of Copenhagen (CMP) and the Danish
Bilharziasis Laboratory (DBL) as a component of a generous award by
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Tagged under: 15, Contributor, Food & Health, Jobs

Job Category: Legal
Type: Full time

(Salary: $28,000 plus benefits, for full-time work. A part-time arrangement
may be possible.)

David McTaggart, the founder of Greenpeace International, was killed Friday
in a head-on car crash on a country road in central Italy. He was 68.

At this Web site you'll find information about Internet access
on the African continent. The details range from information on Internet,
telecommunications to related IT Infrastructure in Africa.

La lettre a 1566 abonnés à ce jour, donc chaque semaine un peu plus, ET
POURTANT beaucoup ne sont pas encore au courant ! Aidez-nous à la faire
connaître en en parlant ou en la transférant à vos amis !

Un résumé de la lettre en anglais est également publié chaque mois.

Africultures - Lettre d'information 13/2001
semaine du 23.03.01 au 01.04.01

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

Tagged under: 15, Contributor, Features, Governance

While girls are focusing more on their futures and are prepared to study
hard, boys are still adopting anti-work 'laddish' attitudes which hold back
their educational development, according to new ESRC-funded research.

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 members of the United Nations should adopt an international treaty to expedite the tracing, recovery and repatriation of wealth stolen from developing countries and transferred abroad, declared the representatives of Transparency International from 11 African countries, following a meeting held in Nyanga, Zimbabwe, on 1-4 March 2001.

Tagged under: 15, Contributor, Corruption, Governance

One dilemma that continues to puzzle development workers in Africa is how to get rural communities to participate in identifying their collective problems, analyzing them, ranking / prioritizing and generally initiating and managing sustainable projects with a high chance of solving these problems both in the short and long term.

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.

"It is within the capacity of the countries concerned and the international community to eliminate famine and tackle food insecurity in the Horn of Africa," says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at the start of a meeting of donors on the Horn of Africa initiative.

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

Thank you for sending this newsletter to us. We appreciate it greatly.

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.

After your newsletter N° 11, we failed to open the other numbers we received, I don't know why. Could you please send me again.

Our response: see

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.

Stalemate in the Western Sahara. Stand-off in Sierra Leone. The headlines go on. What hope is there that conflict-torn parts of Africa will pull themselves out of a vicious cycle of poverty, human rights abuse and violence? A United Nations watchdog attempts to point the way for the international community.

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?

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