PAMBAZUKA NEWS 146: ZIMBABWE 2004: FOUR YEARS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE PLUNGE
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 146: ZIMBABWE 2004: FOUR YEARS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE PLUNGE
Civicus, World Alliance for Citizen Participation, has published a toolkit on fundraising proposals. The toolkit focuses on planning and researching before writing up the proposal, as well as writing and following up on funding proposals. The toolkit is designed to assist with producing effective fundraising proposals and can be used by project managers and organisations committed to increasing the capacity to plan and raise money effectively.
A motor bike-donated by the German Embassy; at least 50 people to attend to on a 'good day'; the nearest village being 13km away for house-calls and no anti-retroviral drugs to give some of his patients who desperately need them, is what one medical officer in the remote area of Shiwa'ng'andu (lake of Crocodiles) in the Northern part of Zambia has to contend with on an almost everyday basis. “What can I do really, as I have to almost literally split myself to attend to various health matters in the villages, do sensitization programs, attend to patients at the Shiwa Hospital and of course try and spend time with my family,” says one jovial Joshua Musabaka whom this writer had the pleasure to meet during an HIV/AIDS sensitisation workshop held in Chief Mukwikiles' area recently.
The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC), invites applications for joint projects between Sweden and South Africa. The application is open to NPOs and foundations for funding over a three-year period.The main goal of the Culture Partnership Programme is to promote access of information, freedom of expression and capacity-building between Sweden and South Africa.
The Shuttleworth Foundation is currently calling for proposals of innovative and pilot educational projects. The call for proposals will focus on the following areas:
- Maths, science, technology and entrepreneurship in the General Education and Training (GET) phase; and
- Numeracy in the Foundation phase.
Sokwanele has announced the launch of their website: www.sokwanele.com, that aims to support civic action and promote democracy in Zimbabwe through non-violent means. "Sokwanele.com aims to fulfil two functions: the first, which is already underway, is to provide our visitors with regularly updated news from local and international media sources, and original news and images from Sokwanele sources."
A small kingdom in Uganda says it is suing the United Kingdom for alleged atrocities committed by British soldiers during the colonial period, the BBC said in a report on its website this week. Ernest Kizza, a spokesman for the Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom, told the BBC they are seeking $5.5 trillion.
Member states of the East African Community have signed a protocol for establishing a customs union that is expected to boost growth in the region. The agreement was initialled Tuesday in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha by the Presidents of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It will take effect in July this year. Negotiators had been locked in discussions until the last minute about how goods flowing between the three countries should be taxed - a delicate issue that has derailed previous efforts to establish the union.
Accusations of political bias are piling up against Malawi's state broadcaster in the run-up to general elections scheduled for May 18. In the latest salvo to be fired, a group of religious leaders has asked the courts to ensure equal air time for all political parties.
"Our country has an enormous potential when it comes to water resources. If we develop these resources properly, they should allow us to try and get beyond food self-sufficiency," says Mali’s President, Amadou Toumani Toure. He was speaking at an international water conference that took place in the capital, Bamako, towards the end of last month. But despite this optimism, the difficulties of meeting Mali’s water needs should not be underestimated. Mali has 10 million inhabitants, 65 percent of whom fall under the poverty line threshold.
"There is a moratorium on new land reform projects – you can apply but your project will not be considered for at least two years.” During last year landless people in the Western Cape have had to swallow these words. The lack of funds has meant that land reform has stood still in the Western Cape; only two- to three-year-old projects are proceeding. And Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s Budget for this year has brought no respite.
"Regional co-operation and integration in Southern Africa owes its origin to historical, economic, political, social and cultural factors that have created strong bonds of solidarity and unity among the peoples of Southern Africa. These factors have contributed to the formation of a distinct Southern African personality and identity that underpins political and economic co-operation." This is according to the final version of SADC's Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP). The document is designed to provide a long-term plan for development in Southern Africa.
A deadly fire in a satellite town of the Angolan capital has shown the woefully inadequate state of hospitals in a country still struggling to get back on its feet two years after the end of a brutal civil war. The accident in late February happened when a truck carrying barrels of petrol caught fire in the town of Viana, killing 15 people immediately and injuring more than 80. The wounded were admitted to nearby Neves Bendinha Hospital, where staff did their best to treat them for third-degree burns in under-equipped facilities. As patients lay screaming in corridors and overcrowded wards, many on plastic mattresses on the floor, and as the stench of burnt flesh filled the building, hospital director Dr. Valdemiro Diogo said resources were desperately over-stretched.
African countries anxious to win more donor cash and foreign investment are rushing to apply to have their record on governance and human rights rated by a new panel, an evaluator said on Wednesday. The panel of seven African "peer reviewers" which will assess governments' records in the key areas has been set up under the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), an economic rescue plan for the world's poorest continent.
A Liberian government team is due in the northeast of the country this week to investigate reports that hundreds of fighters loyal to exiled president Charles Taylor are undergoing training there. A senior government official said the gunmen, mostly from Liberia and Guinea, were at a camp in Nimba County, the region near Ivory Coast from where Taylor launched a rebellion in 1989 that triggered nearly 14 years of war.
President Mwanawasa has maintained that austerity measures effected in this year's Budget are not meant to punish the public service workers. The President said the move was in fact an effort to ensure that Zambia reached the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) completion point.
The Minister of Higher Education Herbert Murerwa says the government has no money to meet the demands of University of Zimbabwe lecturers who have been on strike for some weeks Murerwa told The Standard newspaper that only dialogue between the UZ Council and the University Teachers' Association (UTA) could bring normalcy to the UZ.
Inadequate policies on land use are to blame for the widespread environmental degradation in Africa, a Cabinet minister has said. Dr Newton Kulundu, of Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife, said uncontrolled economic activities and unplanned infrastructure development have continued unabated resulting in the degradation of nature.
Girls have been part of government militia or opposition fighting forces in more than 50 countries over recent years, a Canadian human rights organisation has said in a new report. The organisation, Rights and Democracy, said many of the girls had taken part in armed conflict, were abducted or had to join to survive. The report, called Where are the Girls, focuses on northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique.
The Coalition for Political Accountability to Women (COPAW) is a non-partisan alliance of rights based organisations and individuals committed to political accountability to women and to socio-political transformation in realising good governance in Uganda. COPAW in collaboration with Uganda Women's Network (UWONET) organised a series of meetings last year (2003) to chart out clear and distinct issues to put to political parties and organisations as Uganda transits to pluralism. Some of the issues that prominently featured were (i) Real and Meaningful Democracy; (ii) Integration of the Principle of Affirmative Action; (iii) People-Centred / People-Focused Development; (iv) Commitment to Obligations under International Human Rights Instruments; and (v) Peace and Security. These issues were compiled in a brief memorandum that is now being shared widely for input.
The Eastern Africa Sub-regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI) is seeking for applications from young women who wish to be attached to the organisation under its internship programme.
Stephen Lewis, Canadian UN envoy charged with combating AIDS in Africa, warned the failure of wealthy countries to respond to an appeal for $200 million US could sabotage plans to provide three million HIV-infected people with drugs by the end of 2005. Lewis, the UN secretary general's special envoy for HIV/AIDS on the continent, said the plan offers "the best chance we've had in more than 20 years to turn the pandemic around" but the abysmal donor response means there isn't money to implement it.
Government has extended the probe into corrupt practices to all structures of the public service and warned civil servants with dubiously acquired properties to prepare for questioning. Vice-President Nevers Mumba said in Lusaka that the fight against corruption had been extended to the whole public service and all civil servants owning questionable properties would be called to account.
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has introduced the AISI Media Award programme to encourage more informed coverage of the information society and ICT for development issues in Africa as part of the its AISI Outreach and Communication Programme. The AISI Media Awards is aimed at individual journalists and media institutions based in Africa that are "promoting journalism which contributes to a better understanding of the information society in Africa". The deadline for submissions is 30 April 2004.
The government of Benin has set up a national child protection committee to oversee the fight against child trafficking and the work of child protection organisations. The 15-member committee includes the representatives of several child welfare organisations, the government and the police. It was set up last Friday for an initial period of 12 months.
South Africa's adult death rate has jumped by almost 50% over the past six years and the Aids epidemic is probably the main cause, researchers have found. "There is a distinct rise in deaths in the younger, sexually-active age groups. It is our view that this is mainly due to Aids," said Ria Laubscher, a statistician at South Africa's independent Medical Research Council (MRC).
A month after schools were due to have resumed classes in the rebel-held north of Cote d’Ivoire, the overwhelming majority are still shut, with no teachers and very little in the way of teaching materials, education officials told IRIN. Most schools in the north closed after Cote d’Ivoire plunged into civil war 19 months ago leaving 300,000 pupils idle.
Two-thirds of teenagers in the central African country of Cameroon have sex by the age of 16 and more than half of them shun condoms, according to a study by German aid agency GTZ. Officials said the figures, which shed new light on sexual behaviour in a nation where HIV/AIDS adult infection rates have leapt more than 20-fold in just over a decade, were alarming.
Children in South Africa have been speaking out about human rights violations, including child prostitution. A non-governmental organisation based in Cape Town called Molo Songololo organised the event to highlight the plight of thousands of victims of child abuse in South Africa and other parts of the world. According to a 2000 report by the NGO there were estimated to be around 38,000 child prostitutes in South Africa. Some of them are known to have been abducted at shopping malls.
An HIV/Aids activist has attacked government for failing to provide Ugandans with anti-retroviral drugs. Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga of the National Guidance and Empowerment Network of People Living with HIV/Aids in Uganda said government should not talk about projections it cannot achieve. "It [government] talks about free medication for people with Aids, but where is it?" he asked. "Is it possible?"
Relief has come the way of persons living with HIV/AIDS as the first consignment of N500 million anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs has arrived the country. However, the drugs will be given to the 10,000 persons already enrolled in the government approved 25 access centres. This was announced by Health Minister Professor Eyitayo Lambo.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Equatorial Guinea have launched a scheme to train enough teachers so that every child in the African country can finish primary school by 2010. Over the next four years the UNDP and Equatorial Guinea have promised to spend $5.2 million training 2,000 teachers, 45 school inspectors and 36 education advisers as part of a scheme dubbed “Education for All,” the agency said this week.
There is room for improvement in early childhood care and education in the world's nine high population countries, according to UNESCO's latest Policy Brief on Early Childhood. Favourable demographic trends means that there are fewer children to serve and if the countries' investment in early childhood remains constant, more can be spent on improving quality, says Soo-Hyang Choi of UNESCO. Early childhood care and education was the topic chosen for the 5th E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting, held in Cairo, Egypt, in December 2003. The Policy Brief represents some highlights of progress achieved in ECCE access in the nine countries - Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan.
The United Nations called on rich countries to compensate African nations for the damage done to them by agricultural subsidies accorded farmers in the developed world. "A mechanism is required at the international level to ensure that countries providing subsidies to their producers compensate African countries for income losses arising from such subsidies, on a pro rata basis," the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in a report issued. It said such a mechanism was particularly needed "considering the loss of income to African cotton producers."
Presidents from across Africa gathered for an extraordinary summit of the African Union to discuss issues of water, agriculture and defence, deemed crucial to the development of the world's poorest continent. "There cannot be any development unless we have a general environment of peace, security and stability," AU Chairman and Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano told the summit. Alpha Oumar Konare, the former president of Mali who is now chairman of the AU Commission, told delegates the continent needs "an African standby force (ASF) that can be operational and respond rapidly to any crisis."
A Kenyan MP has lost his bid to get a court order compelling the government to release video tapes, which allegedly show former top officials being bribed. The High Court ruled that MP Koigi wa Wamwere has no legal capacity to sue the government since he has not stated his interests in the matter. The tapes were seized last week from the home of Kamlesh Pattni, the man at the heart of the Goldenberg affair.
Nigeria is ready to mediate in the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, its foreign minister says. Olu Adeneji told the BBC's Network Africa programme that Eritrea's leader had asked Nigeria to intervene. If confirmed, this would mark a new strategy for Eritrea, which has insisted that the dispute was settled by a 2002 international court ruling.
A delegation comprised of members of the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the ambassadors of France, Norway and Spain, and William Swing, the UN secretary-general's special representative to the country, is currently on mission in the nation's troubled northeastern Ituri District to urge armed groups to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate (DDR), the UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, reported on Wednesday.
In 2003 the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced $10 billion in "debt relief" for the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to their calculations, this would reduce the country's foreign debt by approximately 80 percent. The offer came, however, with a full set of complicated conditions and deadlines. Even if all of the conditions are met, full relief would not be delivered until sometime in 2006. After that, Congo would still owe over $2 billion to foreign creditors. The largest creditors are the Bank and Fund themselves, plus the U.S., France, and Belgium. Yet the Congo, of all countries, has one of the strongest cases for full cancellation of debt and indeed for reparations from the lenders, writes William Minter, a Foreign Policy in Focus analyst and the editor of the AfricaFocus Bulletin, in this Foreign Policy in Focus commentary.
As the world marks the International Women's Day on 8th March, HelpAge International pays tribute to the older woman. The world is ageing today faster than at any other time in the history of mankind. Research has shown that women survive longer than their male counterparts who are more likely than women to suffer from deadly conditions such as lung and prostate cancers, heart disease or strokes. The world is therefore becoming a woman’s world.
* Africana Studies: Resources for African and African American Studies http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/library/teams/fah/subpathpages/Africana...
* Africa: Art of the Continent
http://www.artnetweb.com/guggenheim/africa/
* African Art: Aesthetics and Meaning
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/clemons/RMC/exhib/93.ray.aa/African.html
* African Art and the Internet
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/about/press/internet.html
Visit the URL provided for a full list of websites.
From February 12 to March 25, every Thursday evening at 7pm, Films from the African Diaspora from the Penn Library's video collection will be shown in the Van Pelt Library's Film Studies Classroom, room 425 (4th Floor). The screenings are sponsored by the Center for Africana Studies, Latino and Latin American Studies, and the University of Pennsylvania Library.
Employers that take on refugees who have been granted permission to stay in the UK are often impressed with the calibre of their work – but frightened to publicise the fact that they employ them, for fear of negative publicity.
It is not easy to talk of the African diaspora on the internet: it is a very broad and articulate phenomenon since the ties among Africans living abroad, and between the latter and their respective homelands and communities of origin, are strongly supported by the global network today. An initial analysis, however, allows us to establish at least four topic areas concerning the presence of the African diaspora on the internet: the phenomenon as such (that is, the diaspora as an "object" of interest and study); the diaspora as a political and strategic theme; services for the diaspora; and networking among diaspora members.
This submission is concerned with the constraints on responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, as analysed by Justice Africa, on behalf of the African Civil Society Governance and AIDS Initiative (GAIN). It anticipates likely problems of the next five years, as Africa and its international partners struggle to respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It identifies a series of potentially binding constraints on that response: resources, capacity, policy and democracy.
Africa needs an independent rapporteur to monitor and promote freedom of expression on the continent, said participants at a major conference co-hosted by ARTICLE 19 and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) last week in Pretoria, South Africa. A statement issued at the conference said despite recognition of the right to free expression in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and in the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression, gross violations continue to occur in many African countries. ARTICLE 19 and MISA worked closely with the African Commission, the Media Foundation for West Africa and the Open Society Institute for Southern African in organising the conference.
Military expenditure by developing states is usually interpreted within the context of its potential alternative cost-benefits to the state and, often, its links with sustainable development, however, tenuous. In this sense, Ghana is not particularly different from other developing nations. This is in the sense that military expenditure is usually subjected to inter-agency ‘debate’ and cost-benefit analysis of how such expenditure could have been alternatively invested in ‘other’ development projects.
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 145: DRC: GLOBALISATION, WAR AND THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 145: DRC: GLOBALISATION, WAR AND THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
Agence France-Presse reported on 19 February 2004, that the topics on Kenya’s first national AIDS conference agenda include the proposed bills on HIV/AIDS and women's rights that are to be debated in parliament; the role of women in fighting HIV/AIDS; discrimination and stigmatization. The meeting aims to provide participants with skills to fight the disease, especially at local level.
The Seventh Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity ended in Kuala Lumpur with environmental officials from 100 countries renewing their commitment to cut rates of extinction by 2010, issuing a declaration that some participants called vague and disappointing. The declaration stated the countries were determined to preserve ecosystems threatened by industrialization, logging, overfishing, and other commercial activities. The ministers also said they were "alarmed that biological diversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate as a result of human activity."
President Kibaki has been urged to sack ministers linked to corruption to demonstrate the Government's zero tolerance on the vice. The Kenya Human Rights Commission chairman, Prof Makau Mutua, also criticised the State for allegedly supporting investors but failing to guarantee workers' rights. Mutua said the "high carry-over of thieves" by the Narc Government from the previous Kanu regime was causing harm to President Kibaki's anti-graft war.
The Washington Post reported on 19 February 2004 that Uganda has seen a considerable decline in the taboos surrounding HIV/AIDS. Consequently over the last ten years, Uganda's HIV prevalence rate has dropped from 30 per cent to five per cent. According to the Washington Post the openness with which people discuss the disease is due in part to the fact that Uganda was one of the first countries in Africa to confront HIV/AIDS.
Credit and savings schemes are hailed as blueprints for tackling poverty but their benefits are exaggerated. They fail to address the way gender effects relations of power and inequality within families. Frequently unsustainable, they seldom manage to cover their running costs. If future credit and savings schemes are to be effective in poverty alleviation they need to make stronger links between local economies and global economic trends and be linked to wider programmes of women's empowerment.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has said he will investigate the crimes committed on Saturday 21 February 2004 in Barlonya camp, North Eastern Uganda. The latest reports estimate the number of deaths at over 200. "These crimes are the most serious committed in the country since 1995, when 240 people were killed in Atiak, north of Lira," he said in a statement. The Court has responsibility for the prosecution of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, in order to bring an end to impunity for these crimes. "The Office of the Prosecutor will take steps to ensure that the crimes committed in Barlonya camp will be investigated and that those bearing the greatest responsibility will be prosecuted."
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) activists have announced that a successful protest was carried out on Valentines Day in Chitungwiza and five other suburban centres in Harare despite the fact that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) refused to allow other protests to proceed and threatened to "shoot to kill" any protesters. Peaceful love marches had been planned for Bulawayo, Victoria Falls and central Harare but ZRP were fearful that the spirit of love would overcome hate, said WOZA in a press statement.
The UN-backed war crimes court for Sierra Leone will open its doors March 10 ahead of trials of nine defendants in custody for alleged crimes against humanity during the West African state's decade-long rebel war, officials said. The court will hold special sessions in early March for the prosecution and defence to present a status report of their pre-trial preparations to the judges, who will then fix a date for trials, court spokeswoman, Alison Cooper told local radio. Observers say trials are likely to commence in late March or early April.
The Aids Law Project and Treatment Action Campaign are concerned that the US/Southern African Customs Union Free Trade Agreement negotiations have the potential to result in binding commitments on SACU member states that undermine access to health care services, the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and the ability of such states to comply with their domestic, regional and international human rights obligations. In our view, such an agreement would not only unlawfully conflict with certain national constitutions and human rights instruments, but would also serve to advance the interests of the US at the expense of the health and welfare of the people of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.
Africa is being swamped by a growing tide of toxic metal pollution at a time when many governments continue to treat the environment as a "non-issue", a health researcher from the University of Michigan warned in Durban on Monday. Speaking at the World Congress on Environmental Health, which opened in the city this week, Professor Jerome Nriagu said growing quantities of metals were being discharged throughout Africa.
"This week, President Bush played host to President Zine el-Abidine ben Ali of Tunisia, giving this ruthless autocrat a long-coveted audience at the White House," writes exiled Tunisian journalist Kamel Labidi in the New York Times. "To his credit, Mr. Bush rebuked Mr. ben Ali for his violations of press freedom, but the United States is sorely mistaken if it believes that democracy and the rule of law can ever take hold under leaders like Mr. ben Ali ... Tunisia today is one of the world's most efficient police states." Before the presidential meeting on February 18, human rights groups and other Tunisian exiles also called for the U.S. to match rhetorical commitment to democracy with real pressure on Tunisia. But official statements following the meeting praised Tunisia's commitment to reform and stressed continuation of the close ties between the two countries. This latest issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin contains statements from Human Rights Watch and a background briefing from Reporters without Borders on press freedom and the internet in Tunisia, as well as links to other recent commentary and more extensive background on human rights and democracy in Tunisia.
Leaders in Zimbabwe are not considering themselves to blame for the people living on the streets. Instead they are shifting the blame onto the street families in a country where even the middle class are below the poverty datum line.
Namibia's land reform programme has not addressed the crucial issue of security of tenure for farmworkers. Secretary-general of the National Farmworkers Union (NFU), Alfred Angula, said the drafters of the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act missed an opportunity to enshrine security of tenure for farmworkers.
Of recent, there has been hullabaloo about abolition of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, a debate ignited by the Cabinet proposal to the Constitutional Review Commission for the amendment for the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. The cabinet is proposing that the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) should be abolished and its functions transferred to the Inspectorate of Government; another government body which noses into corruption and mismanagement of government resources. The evolution and globalization of Human Rights cannot leave Uganda behind the rest of the world, argues the author of this article from the Peace and Conflict Monitor. "Pillars of democracy like human rights, accountability and good governance cannot be fully sustained without resource investment. The choice is for all Ugandans, whether to slide back to anarchy or to promote and protect democratic principles."
Some 1,000 Rwandan refugees residing in Sangha department of northern Republic of Congo have said they are interested in being repatriated, Roger Bouka-Owoko, communications officer for the Observatoire congolais des droits de l'homme (OCDH), a national human rights NGO, told IRIN. Given that the majority of the refugees work in the agriculture and livestock sectors of their host communities, they asked for time to put their affairs in order before any repatriation programme begins.
Kenya will be the first African country to implement the Nepad concept on good governance review every three years. The African Peer Review mechanism of the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) requires members to be scrutinised by other member states. This would mean that Kenya could be examined by such countries as Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda and Burundi, in which case a judgement would be entered on issues to do with governance, economy and social welfare.
Looking to build an effective, efficient and sustainable organisation? Limited resources for attending courses? Need effective training that you can do while working?
Fahamu, in association with the University of Oxford, is offering distance learning courses specifically designed to meet the needs of human rights and civil society organisations. You can be anywhere to do these courses. Using cutting-edge interactive CDROMs, with support from a course tutor via email and an optional workshop, the course methodology is designed for learning at work without the need to take study leave. Those successfully completing the course will be awarded with a certificate from the University of Oxford. Fahamu – Learning for change – uses information and communication technologies to serve the needs of organisations and social movements that aspire to progressive social change and that promote and protect human rights.
The following courses are available in 2004:
· An introduction to human rights (3 weeks)
· Investigating, reporting and monitoring human rights violations (18 weeks)
· Using the internet for advocacy and research (16 weeks)
· Leadership and management for change (18 weeks)
· Fundraising and resource mobilisation (18 weeks)
· Finance for the non-financial manager (18 weeks)
· JustWrite: an on-line course on effective writing (5 weeks)
The first course begins on 1 March 2004.
For course dates, information, fees and registration forms kindly contact
Camille Downes in Durban, South Africa on TEL: +27-(0)31-2071144/8360 FAX: +27-31-2078403 EMAIL: [email protected]
or Hilary Isaacs in Oxford, UK on TEL: +44-(0)845 456 2442 FAX: +44-(0)845-456-2443 EMAIL: [email protected] http://www.fahamu.org/
The arguments for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that have been dinned into us for 15 years are based on an almost sublime misreading of the world's food problems. Without GM, the story has it, famine and increasing deficiency are inevitable, yet present-day deficiencies are almost never caused by an inability to produce enough. Angola is a good example: it is always bordering on disaster, yet it has 2 1/2 times the area of France and every kind of climate, and only 12.5 million people. Its farmers are highly accomplished. Famines result not from inability but from the civil war that raged for 30 years. Behind the claim that GMOs are necessary lies a deep - and racist - failure to appreciate traditional farming.
Two months into the United Nations' official year against slavery, Black Information Link(BLINK), the communication channel of the 1990 Trust, a National Black British organisation, questioned the Home Office over why they do not have any events planned for Britain. The Home Office not only confirmed they had failed to organise a single event for 2004, but also issued an amazing statement saying we should forget the slave trade rather than commemorate it. And they claimed today’s government cannot be held responsible for the millions of lives lost during slavery. The statement sparked outrage from furious campaigners who contrasted it with the government’s active support for Holocaust memorial day, held on 27 January this year.
The Refugee Studies Centre has added six new titles to its Working Paper Series. Among the titles are "When Forced Migrants Return ‘Home': The Psychosocial Difficulties Returnees Encounter in the Reintegration Process", "Conceptualising Forced Migration", and "Addressing the Root Causes of Forced Migration: A European Union policy of containment?" These working papers are available to order, or download free of charge from the Refugee Studies Centre website.
The coverage is quite extensive and informative. Thanks.
The South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) developed three possible initiatives that it considers value adding to the SADC Water Sector’s RSAP, and aligned it with SADC’s vision of creating an enabling environment within which water and sanitation infrastructure development can take place, namely:
· Best Practice in the Water and Sanitation Sector rollout to SADC;
· Capacity Building of NGO/CBO in Water and Sanitation Sector in SADC;
· Capacity Building of technicians, technologists and professionals in Water & Sanitation Sector in SADC.
At a meeting on 02 December 2003, with the SADC Water Division in Gaborone, Botswana, the SADC Water Division advised that the Capacity Building of NGO/CBO would fall under RSAP Project AAA.25 and link up with AAA.22; of the SADC Projects.
SA DWAF has taken the initiative to commence with the implementation of the 3 proposals, for an interim period ending the 31st of March 2004, and funded from the SA DWAF budget for this period. DWAF will align the initiatives with the current projects within the RSAP, with the main purpose of being able to incorporate these three proposals into the RSAP after the 31st of March 2004.
One of the activities of the NGO Capacity Building Project is the development of a comprehensive database of NGOs working in the water and sanitation sector of the 14 SADC countries. (Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
If you can assist with contact details / a database / references/ links or networks, that can help in the identification of these NGOs, it will be much appreciated.
Contact: Chamara Pansegrouw: Project Coordinator ([email protected])
Tel/Fax: +27 012 335 6761
P O Box 54131, Nina Park, 0156, Pretoria, South Africa
Please also consider the immunity from prosecution of Margaret Thatcher and other UK and USA leaders from their actions in installing illegally Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe and other persons who have had wreaked untold physical, political, economic and social havoc on various third world countries; you could also include various UK FCO and USA state department officials and ex-officials. (Pambazuka 144: Confronting impunity through the ICC: Is Africa ready and waiting?)
An open letter to the South African Government, endorsed by prominent civil society groups in South Africa, has been circulated and endorsed by South African organisations, on the eve of the first Conference of the Parties on the Cartegena Biosafety Protocol (BSP) being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from the 23 to 27 of February. The BSP is the internationally negotiated UN supported agreement to manage the international movement of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). This letter calls for the South African government to halt its active undermining of the BSP by continuing to allow the promotion of the international trade of GMOs using South Africa as a conduit.
In a letter to the Registrar of Genetically Modified Organisms, the South African Council of Churches and 38 other civil society organisations opposed the granting of a commodity clearance permit that would allow the US chemical firm Monsanto to import genetically modified (GM) wheat into South Africa. Noting the lack of conclusive studies of the impact of GM crops on human and environmental health, the letter said: “We do not believe South Africa should be the first country to take the risk to allow GM wheat (seeds or seeds for milling) if the social, environmental and economic impact is of such concern to the rest of the world.”
A new dossier on the SciDev.Net website has evolved from the previous quick guide on biodiversity with the addition of four specially commissioned policy briefs, along with new opinion pieces and features. It also has the latest news, links, definitions and details of future events. The new dossier's specially commissioned policy briefings summarise key aspects of the issue in an informative and accessible style, dealing with the The UN Convention on Biological Diversity; Modern agriculture and biodiversity; How biodiversity loss affects ecosystems and Biodiversity and climate change.
After decades of decline, malaria has been on the rise in many parts of Africa - an estimateby the World Health Organisation is that, in some parts of the continent, malaria mortality in young children almost doubled from the 1980s to the 1990s. The disease causes some 3,000 deaths each day and imposes huge losses in economic productivity. Is this resurgence a sign of increased transmission caused by climate change? Probably not, according to results presented by in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which conclude that future climate change will not affect transmission.
With an estimated 40 percent of people in Africa, South America and Asia living in drylands, land degradation poses a significant threat to food security and survival. This report looks at the relationship between gender and dryland management based on an analysis of field experiences in Africa and Asia. It highlighting the roles of women and men in dryland areas for food security, land conservation/ desertification, and the conservation of biodiversity and it makes available key findings on a number of projects and programs in the regions. It also outlines different aspects to be considered for achieving sustainable and gender-sensitive dryland management.
The directorate of disease control has warned that threatened countrywide water cuts by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), could result in the spread of diseases like cholera. ZINWA, a parastatal charged with managing and distributing water, has threatened to disconnect supplies to councils in a bid to recover a soaring collective debt estimated at around Zim $200,000,000 (US $50,000).
Roman Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have denounced delays in the two-year transitional period, as well as the manner in which parties to the government have been conducting themselves. In a statement issued following a conference held from 9 - 14 February in the capital, Kinshasa, the bishops criticised the practice of certain members of government and other transitional institutions "of granting themselves certain advantages and openly showing their general disinterest in the well-being of the majority of the population".
After six years the 20,000 refugees from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) camp of Gihembe in Byumba (Rwanda) are not yet ready to return home because of continuing unrest in the eastern Congo. Most are Congolese Tutsis from Northern and Southern Kivu but also from the Nande and Hunde tribes of Northern Kivu and Bashis from Southern Kivu.
HIV/AIDS is a development problem, not just a health problem, and change is required in attitudes and consciousness of what HIV/AIDS is doing at different levels and the pathways through which it moves through societies, argues this paper that discusses the impact of HIV/AIDS on development efforts, particularly in Africa, and presents a new approach to guide agriculture and food policies. It argues that one major set of responses is required from the agriculture sector, as the need to secure and provision food for populations affected by HIV/AIDS is rapidly increasing as the impact waves hit.
Corruption - broadly defined as "the abuse of public or private office for personal gain" takes many different forms, from routine bribery or petty abuse to the amassing of spectacular personal wealth through embezzlement or other dishonest means. The international community is adamant that corruption must be stopped. It is demanding that the governments of poorer countries eradicate corruption within their countries if they want to be considered eligible to receive Western aid. Yet there is a deep hypocrisy in the international community's approach, at the heart of which are the taxpayer-backed export credit agencies of industrialised countries.
New Field Foundation is seeking an experienced and qualified person to work as a short-term consultant to coordinate and implement information-gathering and presentations on women’s initiatives in West and Central Africa, in order to inform the planning, grantmaking priorities and strategies of this new foundation. The Research Consultant will work closely with New Field staff to identify and conduct interviews with key resource people, compile and analyze data, and produce reports and presentations on findings to staff and board.