Pambazuka News 492: Transgender people, myths and gender politics
Pambazuka News 492: Transgender people, myths and gender politics
A coalition of 50 non-governmental organizations claims a consortium of international oil companies may have been complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan during the country’s two-decade long civil war. The oil companies accused include the Malaysian energy company Petronas, the Austrian energy group OMV and Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum, which had the majority of the shares and control of the oil areas.
In 2000 President Isayas suffered his worst military defeat and humiliation but he turned the event to his personal political advantage. This is central to the continued feud between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Isolation from the rest of the world, particularly the West and hostility towards Ethiopia are fundamental pillars that prop up the current regime- the reason that this system of government came into being and what sustains it every day.
Second Storymoja Writing for Children Workshop will start on 31st July, 2010. We will meet for 3 hours on Saturdays, 10am-1pm, and for 2 hours on Mondays from 6pm – 8pm. Although the skill acquired will apply to all fiction-writing, the workshop will concentrate on developing series-books for the 10-14 year age range.
The Zimbabwean Ministry of Health has announced that it plans to do away with hospital and clinic fees for pregnant women in a bid to reduce maternal deaths, particularly in rural communities, and has also resolved to establish maternity waiting homes, again emphasizing improved maternal health care in the countryside. The ministry will look to international donors to help fund such new policies and amenities for expectant mothers.
Political principals of the inclusive government have cleared many of the outstanding issues - except three which include the swearing-in of Roy Bennett and the controversial appointments of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana - in an unexpected move towards the resolution of the current inter-party negotiations deadlock. Informed sources said after their meeting on June 8, President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara wrote to South African President Jacob Zuma, the Sadc facilitator on inter-party negotiations, outlining areas of agreement and disagreement.
A politial storm is gathering over the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) on whether Zimbabwe should be on the agenda of the regional bloc's forthcoming summit in Windhoek, Namibia, next month.Diplomatic sources said this week the potential row pits President Robert Mugabe's Sadc allies against those who support Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe usually resists having Zimbabwe on the agenda of such meetings, while Tsvangirai wants it to be discussed. A similar battle erupted last year just before the Sadc summit in Kinshasa on September 7-8.
Slightly built Nokwanda, 12, buried her head in her hands every time someone asked her a question. Her participation in a recent UNICEF-supported photography workshop here looked like it would be limited. Yet when asked to pick a favourite photograph, Nokwanda was transformed. She knew immediately which to choose, pointing to a photo of police officers at the Lyndhurst Primary School, which she attends.
In this week's roundup of emerging powers news, the World Bank says foreign investors are crowding out African producers, Singapore leads ASEAN investment into Africa, AU wants to replace Western partners with China, China and Rio Tinto complete Guinea mining deal, and China invests heavily in Brazil, elsewhere in pursuit of political heft.
Seraphine Kabasinga, mother of four, has always been scared of malaria. She lives in an endemic zone, just an hour east of Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. “I would use tree branches like cypress as mosquito repellents on windows and close our doors before sunset to protect my family from mosquito bites,” she said. “Today, young mothers are luckier than I was, because if you are pregnant and you go to a health centre for regular checkups, the government gives you a free net.”
Giving young women small, regular cash payments can reduce their dependence on sexual relationships with older men, which also lowers their HIV risk, according to a new study by the World Bank. Malawi's southeastern Zomba district, where the survey took place, has high rates of poverty and HIV - up to 22 percent, compared to a national prevalence of about 12 percent - but the study found that 18 months of cash transfers, with or without conditions attached, decreased the participants' risk of HIV infection by 60 percent.
Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is targeting 70 million voters in its planned fresh voter registration exercise, after the government acceded to the commission's de mand for 72 billion naira (about US$500 million) to compile a new electoral register ahead of 2011 polls.
Kibaki reiterates support for draft constitution ahead of referendum Kenya - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has reiterated his support for reforms in Kenya ahead of an 4 August referendum on a draft new constitution, which is expected to become law soon after the vote.
The country representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in The Gambia, Dr. Thomas Sukwa, said the vaccination campaign for the Swine Flu, A(H1N1), though not yet reported in the country, targets only 10 per cent of the nation's population.The week-long, nation-wide vaccination campaign, spearheaded by the Ministry of Heath and Social Welfare, in collaboration with the WHO office in Banjul, started Wednesday.
African leaders have agreed on concrete steps to tackle the insecurity in Somalia after a three-day debate, dominated by the twin bombings in Kampala, the venue of their 15th meeting on pressing African affairs, an African Union (AU) spokesman said. "The troops are ready," AU Commission's spokesman Noureddin Mezni told PANA after several African leaders ended a mini-summit to plan action against the insecurity in Somalia.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned death threats and outrageous claims made last week by a member of Swaziland's royal family against local journalists over their critical coverage of the country's leadership. During a 21 July public forum called the Smart Partnership National Dialogue in the central commercial city of Manzini, Prince Mahlaba, brother of Swaziland's absolute ruler King Mswati III, was quoted by local media as saying: 'I want to warn the media to bury things that have the potential of undermining the country rather than publish all and everything even when such reports are harmful to the country's international image. Journalists who continue to write bad things about the country will die.'
Four former Beninese Ministers may be tried at the country's High Court of Justice for corruption charges, according to a request for indictment from President Boni Yayi to the National Assembly. The Ministers include two former allies of President Yayi and two who served und er the government of his predecessor, Mathieu Kerekou.
The population of urban refugees is at risk in Nairobi following the issuance of a by the Government of Kenya requesting them to proceed to the already overcrowded camps of Dadaab. These camps are characterized by harsh living conditions, minimal economic activity, and insecurity, and are situated in remote semi-arid to arid regions with little surface water where the environment is barely able to sustain the local population
African leaders kicked off debate on role of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) in ensuring the economic success of the continent. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the NEPAD must begin to play the role of an African watchdog, with a responsibility of monitoring the release of billions of dollars pledged for the continent's economic, social and environmental de v elopment over the years.
Four years after the moratorium on Terminator technology was reaffirmed by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), proposals to develop and commercialize ‘genetic-use restriction technologies’ (GURTs) are back on the agenda for policymakers and the biotechnology industry. Terminator is a threat to food sovereignty and agrobiodiversity: ending the moratorium on Terminator will increase control of seed by transnational corporations (TNCs) and restrictions on farmers’ rights to save and plant harvested seed. Additionally, pollen from genetically-modified (GM) crops with Terminator will contaminate non-GM and organic crops, and native plant species.
Edition 6 of the Chruch Land People newsleteer share some aspects of these different places and the struggles of the people there. There are many things in common across the different experiences and places. But it is also very important to understand the actual situation of each place. In each case, it is necessary to respect the thinking, strategies and leadership of the people over their own lives and struggles. When those who suffer take back their own peoples’ power and take their own struggles forward, then there is the possibility to really transform the situation for the better and to really ensure that others and outsiders (like the government or NGOs) work in a positive way with the people to achieve that transformation.
The Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) has granted licences to four new media houses, its chairperson Godfrey Majonga said. The registration comes two months after the new media watchdog issued licences to three daily newspapers -- The NewsDay, The Daily News and The Daily Gazette.
Four white South Africans have been fined $2,700 (£1,700) each for making a video humiliating five black university workers and posting it online. The former students at the University of Free State pleaded guilty to crimen injuria.
The UN refugee agency has urged Saudi Arabia to stop deporting Somalis, saying 2,000 people have recently been sent to Mogadishu. The UNHCR says those forced back to the Somali capital are at risk. There is almost daily fighting there between Islamist militants and government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers.
President Omar al-Bashir's party has said the referendum on whether south Sudan should secede cannot take place until the internal border is decided. A vote on a possible new country without a clear border would be a recipe for a new war, the NCP says. But the former rebels in charge of the south insist the referendum must be held on time.
At the International Criminal Court (ICC) review conference last month in Kampala, negotiations to add the crime of aggression to the court’s docket topped the agenda. The crime of initiating offensive warfare had been prosecuted after World War II. But when the Rome Conference established the ICC in 1998 as the first permanent court to try crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, it deferred a decision on aggression to another day.
Renewed fighting in Mogadishu and other areas of Somalia since May 2009 has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and also exacerbated the already desperate humanitarian situation of existing internally displaced people (IDPs), in particular the children and women among them. About 200,000 people have been displaced since January 2010, in addition to the estimated 1.5 million who remained displaced at the end of 2009. In Somaliland, thousands of families were displaced as a result of fighting between ‘government’ forces and a new rebel group.
The global carbon market, which trades “pollution rights” to encourage industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions, grew in 2009. Far from signaling a success, this reflects a huge increase in fraud, the dumping of surplus emissions permits by industry, and a rise in financial speculation.
The Greek authorities should immediately review their policy of locking up irregular migrants and asylum-seekers, including many unaccompanied children , Amnesty International has said in a new report. Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions, documents their treatment, many of whom are held in poor conditions in borderguard stations and immigration detention centres with no or limited access to legal, social and medical aid.
Somalia is one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a journalist. More than 30 reporters have been killed by armed groups since 1992 - including nine in 2009. The most recent journalist killing occurred on 4 May 2010, when three gunmen shot dead broadcast journalist Sheik Nur Mohamed Abkey as he was returning home from the state-run Radio Mogadishu. Members of the armed opposition group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the killing.
Ugandan First Lady, Janet Kataha Museveni, today presided over an important session of the meeting of African First Ladies, devoted to the theme of the debate that Heads of State had just concluded on “Promoting Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa". The move was seen as a strategic success and welcome to governments and organizations promoting maternal and child health in Africa, because African First Ladies have traditionally focused their work on HIV and AIDS their umbrella organization: Organisation for African First Ladies Against AIDS (OAFLA).
The high-level debate which opened in Kampala, Uganda, yesterday on “Promoting Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa, ended this evening with an agreement by Africa’s leaders on an action plan to kick-start the effective implementation of existing resolutions and decisions on maternal, infant and child health in the continent.
The Horn of Africa is once again free of polio, with Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda having reported no wild poliovirus cases for more than a year, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners have announced. “Today marks a step towards the achievement of a major objective of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s new strategy – stopping polio in Africa,” the agency stated in a news release.
Peacekeepers on patrol in the west of the war-ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur were ambushed today by unidentified gunmen, with seven blue helmets sustaining injuries, the United Nations reported.
According to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), the troops returned fire on their attackers, who fled the scene. The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known as UNAMID, immediately sent reinforcement troops to the scene of the clashes.
Thousands of hectares of fragile mountainous forest in north-eastern Tanzania have been preserved through a recently completed seven-year biodiversity project managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Eastern Arc Mountains project, financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), was concluded last month after an independent evaluation reported that at least 10,000 hectares of forest had been saved from destruction, and that the rate of forest loss had been reduced by 10 per cent.
A local variety of the nutrient-rich, blue-green algae known as spirulina could boost incomes for women in Chad who harvest the product as well as help fight nutrition, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has reported. The agency is running a $1.4 million project in which women are gathering and processing the product, known locally as dihé, from the shallow pools of water on the edges of Lake Chad where it forms at certain times of the year.
The fight against malaria is integral to boosting women’s and children’s health and achieving the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told Africa leaders, urging them to build on the progress made so far to defeat the disease. “If you continue to see malaria control as an integral part of reaching the MDGs… of building strong health systems… of improving your people’s well-being… then the success we have seen to date will continue, and grow,” Ms. Migiro said yesterday in remarks to the meeting in Kampala, Uganda, of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA).
Ghana has achieved 99.99 per cent reduction of the Guinea Worm disease since its inception two decades ago. From a high of 4,136 cases recorded during the peak of its outbreak in 2006, only eight cases have been reported in Ghana since the beginning of January 2010, the last case was recorded in May.
The harassment of MDC members is continuing across the country amid widespread fears that ZANU PF has started an early election campaign. MDC deputy organising secretary, Senator Morgen Komichi, was arrested on Wednesday at Lupane police station in Matabeleland North province, on charges of communicating so-called ‘falsehoods’. Komichi had gone to Lupane after being told to report to the police station last week, where he was apparently wanted for questioning about comments he made at a party rally in Hwange earlier this year.
South Africa cannot afford pay demands from thousands of public service workers and hopes a deal can be reached next week before a strike widens to nearly a million workers, a minister said on Friday. Thousands of workers from the Public Servants Association union walked off the job on Thursday, causing little impact so far to Africa's biggest economy. But that could change if the country's biggest labour group makes good on its threat to join the strike next week, which could cripple commerce.
Central African Republic has delayed presidential and legislative elections until January 23 from October 24 due to insecurity caused by rebels, according to a presidential decree read over state radio on Friday. The new date comes after three previous election dates in the impoverished country were scrapped over problems with funding and rebel disarmament, leaving President Francois Bozize in power beyond his mandate, which ended in June.
Rwanda's upcoming presidential poll will be free, fair and more competitive than 2003 when incumbent Paul Kagame won over 90 percent of the vote, its electoral commission said on Friday. Donors say the introduction of a revised electoral code should ensure a peaceful and technically sound ballot, following the European Union's recommendations after the 2008 legislative elections where they found procedural irregularities in over half the polling stations.
In Kampala, Uganda, men who have sex with men who have suffered homophobic violence or abuse are five times more likely to be HIV-positive than other men, Joseph Barker told the Eighteenth International AIDS Conference on Tuesday. Just under 40% of men had ever been physically abused, four out of ten had been blackmailed at some point, and a quarter had been forced to have sex.
Continuing high rates of low to follow-up in antiretroviral treatment programmes among people already on treatment and those waiting to start treatment are a symptom of health system failures, not the fault of patients, the Eighteenth International AIDS Conference heard last week. In a session at the International AIDS Conference that focused on retention in care of ART patients, studies from Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique were presented that dealt with reducing loss to follow up and treatment default.
South Africa’s campaign to test 15 million people for HIV in one year risks being implemented in a way that undermines people’s human rights, the activist Mark Heywood told the Eighteenth International AIDS Conference in Vienna last Thursday. Incidents of coercive testing have been recorded but the lack of effective monitoring procedures means that it’s impossible to know whether those incidents are widespread or not.
The August issue of IDRC's Lasting Impacts is entitled "Appropriate Technology". One of the topics discussed in this issue is the development of simple “mini” dehulling machines for use by small local enterprises. The technology was designed in the 1970s by the Prairie Research Laboratory of Canada’s National Research Council, and since modified and adapted by researchers in several African countries.
Tunisian college graduates are prepared for the demands of their discipline, but face great challenges in finding a job in their own field. "Most of the institute graduates are still unemployed or have started working in fields not related to their discipline," said Hayet Et Beji, a graduate of Tunisia's institute for heritage preservation. "What made the higher education ministry abandon the discipline is that it has no feasible way of integrating its graduates into the job market."
Sudanese refugee Josephine Poni Daniel can be as shy as any other 16-year-old when discussing unfamiliar subjects. But ask about her first love, music, and her face brightens and she becomes vivacious and outspoken. "Music is fun; when I write lyrics or sing the music I feel good and forget my troubles," says Josephine, lead singer for The Golden Blue Girls, one of three winners of a music contest that's raising money and awareness of refugees' education needs in far-off Japan.
Celou Dalein Diallo gained a significant advantage over Alpha Condé, his main rival for the Guinean presidency, when a third candidate said he would back Diallo in a second round of voting in August. But what has become of women candidates for high political office in this West African country? Saran Daraba Kaba, the first and only woman candidate for president, finished a distant 22nd of the 24 candidates who took part in the first round of voting on Jun 27, garnering only 0.11 percent of the vote.
The Malawian government has again stood firm in the face of calls by the European Union (EU) to sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) -- even after top-level EU officials visited the southern Africa to convince it to put pen to paper. The EU delegation, led by the European Commission’s (EC) director for development and EPAs Peter Thompson and EU Ambassador to Malawi Alexander Baum, engaged Malawi’s top trade officials at a two-day meeting on Jul 26 and 27 in the country’s commercial capital, Blantyre.
European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht has appeased leading European civil society organisations about the negotiations for a Southern African economic partnership agreement (EPA), promising "not to put undue pressure" on countries. According to Marc Maes, trade policy officer at 11.11.11, the move signals an "EPA-fatigue" in Europe. 11.11.11, the Flemish North-South Movement working against poverty, protested about the European Commission’s treatment of Namibia.
Uganda has opposed the pending recognition of a South African gay rights group, Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL), as an official observer at all African Union conferences, and to contribute to the NGO’s forum. “The African Charter and the Constitutive Act setting up the AU tell us to protect African values among our key objectives. These (gay rights) are alien to our culture and values. We shall continue to resist and fight them because common sense dictates against them. They are outlawed in Uganda and most African countries,” the foreign service officer, ambassador Rosette Nyirinkindi, asserted.
GALZ have welcomed the acquittal of one of their employee Ignatius Mhambi, on the charge of allegedly being in possession of “pornographic material” this just days, after Zimbabwe’s first Lady Grace Mugabe coined homosexuality as “taboo and satanic”. Chesterfield Samba, Director of GALZ said “the Judge on her finding said Magistrate Mupindu who presided over the matter said that there was no prima facie evidence to prove the essential element of the case which, are possession of the pornographic material in question.”
Various Civil Society Organisations have called on the South African government to withdraw a homophobic statement made by SA representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva 16 June 2010 ,calling it “insensitive” to the persecution of Lesbian Gays, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people and contrary to South Africa’s constitution which is opposes discrimination.
Thomas Lubanga, a former Congolese rebel leader, will remain in jail in The Hague after the appeals panel of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said it feared he might not reappear if another trial is ordered. Judges at the ICC ordered Lubanga's trial halted on July 8, saying that Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court's chief prosecutor, had not complied with an order to turn over certain information to his defence.
Africa's unified stance at the Copenhagen climate summit last December showed that the continent has woken up to potential 'climate cash' from international mitigation and adaptation programmes and confirmed African leaders' political commitment to tackling climate change. But the skills and infrastructure needed to use climate cash for making sense of local climate change impacts and also for designing and managing sustainable development projects are still thin on the ground in many African countries.
Kenya is quickly gaining a competitive advantage in the mobile payments space. Led by mobile operator giant Safaricom with their Mpesa product, the market locally sees huge value in mobile money transactions. Add to that a regulatory system that is relaxed enough for innovation to be encouraged, and you have a great space for interesting things to happen.
Broadband for All aims to provide broadband connectivity to South Africa’s under-served areas through a community-centric model rather than a telco-driven model. The model leverages wireless-mesh technologies to link priority government sites and high bandwidth users such as schools, municipalities and government offices, who in turn provide a link to smaller customers such as businesses, NGOs and individuals.
Less than three years after a closely fought presidential election plunged Kenya into widespread violence and displaced thousands, the country is bracing itself for another crucial and equally divisive ballot, this time on a new constitution. "There is sufficient justification for people to be afraid, mainly because of hate messages and leaflets asking some communities to leave certain areas," said Ozonnia Ojielo, senior peace and development adviser at the UN Development Programme in Kenya. "There are also political actors using innuendoes."
As many African countries battle to bring down staggering rates of maternal and child mortality, maternal and child health made for a fitting theme at the African Union (AU) Summit this week in Kampala, Uganda. At the summit, African leaders came under fire for failing to live up to the 2001 Abuja Declaration, in which they agreed to commit at least 15 percent of their national budgets to health. To date, only about five countries have done so.
New research is challenging conventional medical wisdom, forcing health workers and governments in cash-strapped countries to confront new risks and rethink old ones. IRIN looks at what has been accepted as medical truths - until now.
It is a sunny day at the Mashango primary school in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) North Kivu Province. That is good news for teacher Dusaba Mbomoya who is holding a geography exam under a roof filled with holes in a classroom where flapping pieces of plastic do duty as walls. Even the blackboard has holes large enough for students to peer through. When it rains we allow the pupils to go back to their houses,” said Mbomoya. Those who want to wait out the rain at school sometimes shelter in newly-constructed latrines put in by an international organization.
On 24 July 2010 at about 12:15 p.m., thugs suspected of being loyal to the Action Congress (AC) political party assaulted three journalists in Edo state during the re-run election for a constituency in the state House of Assembly. The thugs, numbering over 30, were reportedly led by a leader of the AC, the ruling party in Edo state.
In 70 days time, writes Brenda Kombo, the African Union will launch, in collaboration with the Kenya government and civil society organisations, the AU African Women's Decade 2010-2020. African governments will need to go beyond mere paper endorsements and deliver fully on their commitments to gender equality.
Pambazuka News 491: Diamonds: Burden or boon?
Pambazuka News 491: Diamonds: Burden or boon?
This poem speaks to and responds to historical, psychological, cultural and social forces that shape the identity and culture of the people of African descent. It pays homage to the black Jazz music legends, who during the back-to-Africa movement and the Harlem Renaissance period fostered a body of music through an identification with Africa, albeit through a construct of Africa and an imagination which fell short and resorted to mimicry of their white counterparts. More often than not, the African identity is objectified to a form of concept that expressed more of African primitiveness. Similarly, this identity tension, at times, echoing some of the body of music that emerged out of that time, plays out in everyday relationships between the black diaspora and Africans – a body of soundless and sound-full subjectivities.
But if only we would deconstruct this discourse through the music of poetry. This piece sings to that deconstruction.
Filmmakers are key agents in keeping a watchful eye on not just on social and political issues but on environmental abuse that often slips unobtrusively into our daily lives. A number of films at this year’s Durban International Film Festival conscientise us about the need for integrated approaches to development, and the threats to human ecology and environmental balance.
AMwA will be holding a West African Sub Regional African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) on the theme, “Building African Women’s Leadership to Address Long-Term Forced Migration”, that is scheduled to take place from 19th – 25th September 2010 in Accra, Ghana. The countries from which young women will be selected to participate in this AWLI will be from Anglo-phone West African countries. The deadline for the receipt of applications for this unique and exciting training programme is 30th July 2010.
The latest and 9th Berghof Handbook Dialogue, entitled: "Human Rights and Conflict Transformation: The Challenges of Just Peace". (Edited by Véronique Dudouet and Beatrix Schmelzle. Berlin: Berghof Conflict Research, 2010.) Contributors to this Dialogue aim to go beyond the divide and polarising language of “peace versus justice” in order to gain a clearer understanding of the potential – and limits – of bringing together human rights and conflict transformation in specific contexts.
1 am 1 of a million South Africans who Says YES to: humanity, peace and unity Says NO to: racism, ignorance and violence I promise to confront ignorance with knowledge; prejudice with tolerance; and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. I will * celebrate the common humanity of people and our shared heritage as Africans * recognise and protect the human rights of all people living in South Africa, no matter their language or country of origin * attempt to prevent any acts of xenophobia -- intolerance, intimidation or violence; and to report to the police if any person violates the rights or safety of another. Sign the petition
The African Humanities Program at the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), with financial support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, announces competitions for:
• Early career postdoctoral fellowships in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania,
Uganda, and South Africa
• Dissertation completion fellowships in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda (there are no dissertation fellowships in South Africa)
Both fellowships provide one year of support for research and writing to scholars based on the continent and affiliated with institutions of higher learning in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa. Scholars working in any humanistic discipline normally supported by the ACLS are encouraged to apply.
At the end of the AU civil society pre -summit meeting organized by the African Union Commission in collaboration with the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), we as civil society and peoples’ representatives from across the continent welcome this opportunity to jointly reflect on the condition of the continent, the issues facing it and the developments since the last Summit, to arrive at a common position from which to communicate substantive recommendations to Heads of State and Government, Permanent Representatives, Peace and Security Council and Foreign Ministers. It is our hope that such forums and spaces, which are indicative of our commitment to a people driven African Union will continue to be encouraged.
Female condoms have been widely celebrated as an answer to putting reproductive health and HIV protection in the hands of women. Yet, the South African government fell far short of its promise of distributing 7.5 million female condoms during the World Cup, with only 1 million finding their way into the hands of consumers. On the other hand, male condoms were available in high numbers - 565 million - though even these were 20% fewer than expected.
Mango's mission is to help NGOs working around the world to strengthen their financial management and accountability. We are widely respected as the leading specialists in our field and recently received one of the UK's most prestigious awards at the Annual Charity Awards 2009. This particular course provides a practical introduction to financial management for managers and finance officers of small to medium sized NGOs. It covers ‘the building blocks’ of financial management: keeping accounts, financial planning, internal control and financial monitoring. The course is 5 days long and non-residential, and will be offered to NGO staff in South Africa and Zambia during August and September 2010. We are also offering a few scholarships to poorly-resourced local NGOs - more details
Mango's mission is to help NGOs working around the world to strengthen their financial management and accountability. We are widely respected as the leading specialists in our field and recently received one of the UK's most prestigious awards at the Annual Charity Awards 2009. This particular course is aimed at senior managers and those responsible for strategic management, including maintaining the financial continuity and security of their NGOs. The workshop focuses on strategic financial management challenges, such as financing strategies for sustainability, building reserves, financing core costs and managing donor relationships. The course is 5 days long and non-residential, and will be offered to NGO staff in South Africa and Zambia during August and September 2010. We are also offering a few scholarships to poorly-resourced local NGOs - more details
Following the publication of racist references to migrants in South Africa in a London Review of Books blog by R.W. Johnson, a collection of writers, academics and publishers demands a public apology.
The rise of Al-Shabab in Somalia must be seen in the context of decades of mismanagement, dictatorship and abuse, writes Yohannes Woldemariam. Following Ethiopia’s US-backed intervention in 2006, the ascendancy of Somalia’s moderate UIC (Union of Islamic Courts) was blocked and some 300,000 people were displaced, in the wake of which ‘the Al-Shabab extremists triumphed as a hegemonic force’ from within the UIC. And as the dust settles on last week’s Kampala bombing, Woldemariam contends, the governments of US allies Ethiopia and Uganda are once again seeking to capitalise on the tragedy for their own ends, ‘with Obama playing right into it’.
http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/491/maurice_namwira.jpgSome five years after the assassination of Pascal Kabungulu, formerly secretary general of DRC human rights group Héritiers de la Justice, Maurice Namwira, the organisation’s executive secretary, discusses activism, impunity from justice and Héritier’s work with Christian Aid with Emma Pomfret.
Nigeria needs to draw upon its own political and organising traditions and not simply mimic Western models, writes Oluwole Onemola. Not only does this ‘shoe’ not fit, Onemola argues, trying to put it on has allowed exploitative politicians to enrich themselves to the complete detriment of the people they represent. But, the author stresses, ‘[t]hey are not the corrupt ones, we are, because we have let them plunder away at our national pride unchallenged, with only the faintest of castigations.’
‘Given the context of blood diamonds, the real conflict rests not with militias mining diamonds’, but with ‘the battle to control markets and pricing’, argues Khadija Sharife, in an assessment of the structure of the international diamond industry. For developing country governments ‘at the helm of diamond-producing economies, corporate control over diamond markets means limited choices and fewer opportunities to collect equitable revenue from diamond resources’, says Sharife.