Pambazuka News 258: Promoting a culture of accountability
Pambazuka News 258: Promoting a culture of accountability
The Gender, Institutions and Development (GID) database represents a new tool for researchers and policy makers to determine and analyse obstacles to women’s economic development. It covers a total of 162 countries and comprises an array of 50 indicators on gender discrimination.
UNIFEM, in collaboration with UNAIDS, has developed this gender and HIV/AIDS web portal to provide up-do-date information on the HIV/AIDS epidemic from a gender-aware perspective.
Nigeria is about to set itself apart, yet again, in one of the most sweeping anti-gay laws in the world. While the pending civil law proposes a lighter sentence than the criminal law, its legal reach is breathtaking. Interestingly homosexuality is already criminalized in Nigeria. Depending on whether the accused is Christian or Muslim, the penalty is either 14 years imprisonment or death by stoning.
One out of two migrants is a woman. Increasingly present and increasingly visible, women who live and work away from their countries of origin send billions of dollars to their relatives - often more frequently than men. Can this money sent back to Africa, Asia and Latin America serve as a sustainable development tool for the entire population? Can migrant women become investors in their countries of origin? Ms. Ndioro Ndiaye explains how the face of migration - as well as that of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) - is becoming increasingly feminized.
Power shortages have hurt Uganda's economy severely and a plan to recycle garbage to produce power is being investigated, said an official. Businesses see the new initiative as a possible sign of relief after experiencing huge financial losses due to power load shedding. The Kampala City Town Clerk, James Ssegane, said government wants to recycle garbage in the city to generate power as an alternative to hydropower in Uganda.
The Ford Foundation has launched a new philanthropic effort called Trust Africa that aims to link groups in order to better battle regional problems. Trust Africa will be led by Africans and based in Dakar, Senegal.
The Liberian army began recruiting women into its new post-war forces yesterday (5 June), part of a move to reform the military. The army will initially have 2,000 troops, with roughly 400 of them women, an official said.
Niger's parliament has voted down Africa's Maputo Protocol on women's rights in a setback for the accord aiming to guarantee women equality in all spheres of life and end the practice of female circumcision. The protocol, adopted by African heads of state in 2003 at a summit in Mozambique, came into force last November after being ratified by the threshold 15 nations. The government of Niger, one of the world's poorest nations, approved the protocol back in January, but lawmakers voted against it at the weekend by 42 votes to 31, with four abstentions, official media said on Monday (June 5).
The Rwanda Development Gateway (RDG), one of three ICT initiatives under the nationally-funded Rwanda Development Gateway Group (RDGG), will become an official university center at the National University of Rwanda. The new center will establish a business incubation facility to instill the culture of entrepreneurship among IT graduates, an IT research and development unit and a commercial entity to manage the center's profit-making ventures. This will complement the RDG's on-going management of the national development portal and other ICT work.
In years gone by, Algerians who used the term "women's work" would probably have been referring to tasks such as weaving, the manufacture of terra cotta pots, and the production of traditional cakes. Custom in this predominantly Muslim country of North Africa ensured that women were first and foremost wives and homemakers. But, no longer.
A Dutch court is due to deliver its verdict on a timber merchant charged with arms smuggling and war crimes during Liberia's civil war. A militia employed by Guus van Kouwenhoven, 63, is accused of killing a group of civilians, including babies. He allegedly broke a UN arms embargo by selling weapons to ex-President Charles Taylor. In return, Mr van Kouwenhoven allegedly received logging concessions.
More than 300 minefields still present one of Angola's biggest challenges to reconstructing its former breadbasket, the central province of Huambo, where villages, farms, water supplies and schools all straddle routes in "suspect areas". The province, with a population of almost two million, reportedly contributed about 22 percent to national cereal production in 1999, but almost three decades of civil conflict, which ended in a peace pact in 2002, devastated the infrastructure and displaced several thousand farmers.
Guinea’s two most powerful trade unions have threatened to call an unlimited general strike from Thursday unless the government acts on demands issued two weeks ago. An unprecedented general strike three months ago brought the capital Conakry to a halt and forced the government to promise 30 percent pay rises for civil servants and commit to the introduction of a minimum wage for everyone else.
The revised Anti-Terrorism Bill ran into trouble after a parliamentary committee dismissed its enactment as an "American priority". The committee said that even before the contents of the Bill were discussed, the Bush administration must accept that it was responsible for acts of terrorism. In a statement issued after meeting Islamic leaders, the committee said Kenya must not be lured into debating the merits and demerits of the draft until policy issues are resolved.
The Green Awards Programme gave awards to organizations, associations and individuals for their significant contributions to environmental protection activities at the national level. The awardees were organizations, associations and individuals engaged in soil conservation, afforestation, biodiversity development, and waste recycling among others.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy has softened his stance on the expulsion of illegal immigrants' children from French schools. Mr Sarkozy plans to spare about 1,200 children who faced expulsion and deportation with their families.
Since April, more than 40,000 people have signed a petition pledging to protect and house the children of immigrants to save them from expulsion. An immigration bill adopted by the lower house envisaged such expulsions.
Following reports of sexual exploitation of refugees in West Africa in 2001 and in Nepal in 2003, the UN Secretary-General issued a Bulletin obliging UN agencies and their partners to prevent, and when suspected, to investigate any sexual exploitation and sexual abuse (SEA) by humanitarian staff. Humanitarian organisations began adopting and revising Codes of Conduct and other related policies. This evaluation is a critical component underpinning the larger SEA prevention and response equation as the humanitarian community makes efforts to build capacity to receive and investigate allegations of sexual abuse - or exploitation-related staff misconduct.
The belief that aid, trade and migration-propelled development will reduce migration is more problematic than it seems. First of all, it reflects the implicit but contestable assumption that migration is undesirable and is therefore a problem - the antithesis of development. Second, on the analytical level, this belief is ultimately based on the assumption that development in sending countries will reduce migration. The aim of this paper is argue why such policies are bound to fail.
Talks between a Security Council delegation and Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir on Tuesday centred on the role of the United Nations in resolving the Darfur conflict, but failed to reach a consensus on the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force. Although the talks were constructive, a decision on the deployment of a UN force in the volatile western Sudanese Darfur region was not reached.
* Related Link
Darfur rebels say they will sign peace deal
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions 2006 survey of trade union rights violations reveals an intensification in the violent repression of workers' rights in Africa, the world's poorest continent. Among the most striking manifestations of the rise in repression was the failure of most governments to respect the rights of their own employees - the right to organise, to strike or bargain collectively.
A new online resource highlights interventions for enhancing diarrheal disease control in developing countries. The Enhanced Diarrheal Disease Control Resource Center (www.EDDcontrol.org) includes documents and tools from many key health organizations including WHO, UNICEF, and PATH. The site highlights information on new interventions such as rotavirus vaccines, zinc treatment during diarrheal episodes, and low-osmolarity oral rehydration solution, while also covering time-tested interventions such as breastfeeding and improved sanitation and hygiene. The site was developed by PATH's Rotavirus Vaccine Program (www.rotavirusvaccine.org).
The June issue of ReConnect Africa is now online. Connecting Africa to the global world, ReConnect Africa is a unique online publication and portal that provides readily accessible information, articles, interviews and jobs in Africa.
Kenyan writer, Muthoni Garland has been nominated for the Caine Prize for African Writing, 2006 (http://www.caineprize.com) for her story, 'Tracking the Scent of My Mother.' Muthoni says that her story was inspired "by the climate of private fear in which many children and women in our part of the world exist."
The African Union Commission will give the first ever AU Award on children which will be open to African non-profit organisations. The African Union Award for Children's Champions in Africa honours and celebrates the initiatives taken by organisations and recognises leadership, dedication and commitment to improve the life chances of children throughout the continent.
Applications are invited from suitably qualified students to study full-time at Rhodes University in 2007.
This course is designed to help people use the internet for advocacy. It will be of particular interest to non- governmental organisations and grassroots groups, trainers, activists, organisers and researchers working in the field of human rights and advocacy. The course is one of an integrated collection of courses developed by Fahamu in conjunction with the University of Oxford. The objective of the course is to promote the effective use of the internet for advocacy, through the development of online research skills and the creation of effective online resources. In addition, the course will help participants critique existing internet research and advocacy materials. The course includes practical exercises and assignments that help participants learn new skills and develop material they can use in their advocacy work. Applications are invited for a course beginning in July 2006. For further details, contact info at fahamu.org or see
An exciting opportunity has arisen to work with Africa Now, a value-driven non profit organisation with its head quarters in the UK. We are currently seeking a Co-ordinator for our newly established Ethical Business Services Unit, based in Nairobi.
The website is intended to be a 'one-stop' resource for researchers, practitioners, policy makers and activists working in the field of transitional justice on the continent and beyond.
The newly redesigned June issue of Alliance magazine, with a special feature on donors and learning, has just been published. Funders talk about listening to their grantees and their beneficiaries, and spend time and money on evaluating their programmes, but what lies behind the rhetoric?
Internet search engine Google has released a web-based spreadsheet application, on a limited test basis. Spreadsheets are software applications with a grid of rows and columns and calculating capabilities, which allow users to input or organise information.
Satellite images captured under a pioneering program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) provide powerful evidence that the government of Zimbabwe has destroyed an entire settlement and relocated thousands of residents as part of a campaign against political opponents. The images, analyzed by the AAAS staff, show two views of the settlement of Porta Farm, located just west of the Zimbabwean capital of Harare. The first, an archived image from June 2002, shows an intact settlement with more than 850 homes and other buildings; an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 people lived in Porta Farm at the time. The second photo, taken by satellite on 6 April this year, shows that the settlement has been leveled.
Performing research can be challenging, especially when researchers turn to their own communities. In the - GRACE project, researchers will meet to share their findings and develop their writing skills in early June in Durban, South Africa. Organised in fourteen different teams, they “live and work” in twelve African countries and all tackle a fundamental question: How do women in Africa use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for empowerment?
African civil society organisations have denounced a political declaration adopted by world leaders attending a United Nations AIDS meeting in New York. At the High Level Review Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly member-states negotiated a political declaration which African activists have described as 'utterly retrogressive' and 'a sham'.
“African Diaspora: the scattering of people from Africa and the sowing of their cultures globally.” The Museum of the African Diaspora (MOAD), recently opened in San Francisco and aims to “connect all people through the celebration and exploration of the art, culture and history of the African Diaspora.”
You don’t have to be in San Francisco to visit MOAD. Its website, offers a comprehensive, multimedia, participatory, virtual experience. You can take a video podcast tour of all three floors; submit a story for the archives projects; view slide shows of art, sculpture, photography, currently on exhibit; and read first-person African narratives from the Middle Passage to the 21st century.
After an hour on the site, you might be tempted to skip a visit in person. This would be a pity. MOAD is as much a model of architecture as it is a museum. A triumph of light, space, elegance and transparency, the building offers numerous clever sensory delights and surprises. The deceptively simple 3-floor, glass-walled atrium structure incorporates a higher-than-average number of seating areas for “rest and reflection”. As you walk into the entrance lobby, you are greeted by a question on the wall: “When Did You Discover You Are African? “
Few museums I’ve visited, in cities around the world, pull off the difficult feat of filling the mind and imagination without exhausting the brain and senses. The very nature of museums often leads to overstimulation. Complex navigation routes through multiple galleries and exhibits can cause tiredness and frustration. There is often just too much to absorb in one visit. MOAD’s offerings are certainly abundant, demanding, and multifaceted. But clearly, considerable thought was given to making them joyfully digestible.
The MOAD experience begins across the street from the building. Through the giant glass wall of the museum, passersby see a 2-story photomosaic of an African child’s face. The mosaic, constructed upon a photo by Chester Higgins Junior, is made up of thousands of photos submitted from around the world, of people both on the continent and in the Diaspora. Many of them are accompanied by titles and explanations, but, disappointingly, the main image of the young girl is not. I wondered what her name was, where the photo was taken. Is she still alive? What is her story?
One of the stated goals of MOAD is to remind visitors that “human life originated in Africa and gradually traveled to the rest of the world.” The point is brought graphically home by a glowing wall display. A few tiny dots of light emerge in the middle. They spread and multiply, creating a map of the world, while a timeline above the map highlights simultaneously the dates of major human migrations. The day I visited, a school group of 9-year olds were riveted by this feature. Their teacher had to force them to move on after 3 repetitions.
MOAD emphasizes its unique identity as a “first voice museum”, one that draws directly on the original testimonies of those who live the art, culture and history it explores. It’s ongoing I've Known Rivers Story Project is an unprecedented effort by an international museum to collect, publish, and archive "first voice" narratives from people of African descent.
Permanent exhibits include:
Celebrations—Ritual & Ceremony
Music of the Diaspora – connecting jazz, blues, and gospel to reggae, rock and roll, and hip-hop.
Culinary Traditions – highlighting Africa’s role as primary producer of major food products
Adornment
Slavery Passages, and the Freedom Theater
Temporary exhibits are curated around four universal themes - Origins, Movement, Adaptation and Transformation. This seems a little simplistic. One questions the thinking behind such rigid classification. Living culture is messy and boundary-defying. As a museum-goer, I prefer to be confronted with its complexity, offered tools to engage with the contradictions and commonalities, rather than told that this particular collection exemplifies “Adaptation” or “Movement”.
For example, in July of this year, MOAD will mount the first solo exhibition in America of Qes Adamu Tesfaw, Ethiopia’s finest living artist. How can a body of work created over a 70-year lifetime slot into one or two themes?
Another question raised by my visit to MOAD is that of accessibility. Entry is free to children, $5 for seniors, $8 for everyone else. No sliding scale that might accommodate those on lower incomes. This seems a particularly ironic blind spot, given the national rate of poverty among African-Americans: consistently double that of white Americans since the Civil War. In addition, the majority of African Diaspora newcomers to San Francisco are refugees from Africa’s economic and military crises. $8 per person for a museum visit is simply outside the budget for households in these circumstances. Even more ironic, MOAD does not participate in the Free Museums Day Program, where entry to all San Francisco museums is free on the first Tuesday of every month. At the time of writing, MOAD’s staff had not returned my calls requesting further information on the reasoning behind these policies.
There is no question that MOAD is an exhilarating, enriching, and exciting addition to the global culture of the African Diaspora. In the breadth of its vision and the aesthetics of its conception, it does important and groundbreaking work. Its task in the years ahead will be to ensure that the very populations it portrays within its walls are equally represented among the visitors who walk through its doors.
Visit MOAD at www.moad.com
* Shailja Patel is a Kenyan poet, writer and theater artist. Visit her at www.shailja.com
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
They have suffered 350 years of shame and degradation, but, at last, the descendants of the first people to meet southern Africa's white settlers may be able to return to the land that was once theirs. Later this month, the South African government is set to announce a multi-billion rand compensation deal and the return of land to the nomadic Khoekhoen, the South African courts have deemed was stolen under racist mineral-rights laws in the 1920s.
Women are the missing voices in radio talk shows - as hosts, guests and callers. To the extent that gender issues are raised in chat shows, they often reinforce stereotypes about the role of women and men in society and these go unchallenged by the predominantly male hosts of the shows. These are among the key findings of a survey of eleven radio talk shows in four Southern African countries (Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe).
This course handbook was produced to accompany the Uganda Radio Network Advanced Radio Journalism Course, which was run throughout Uganda for freelance radio journalists. The Handbook, which follows the day-by-day course programme, contains transcripts of PowerPoint presentations plus additional supporting material.
Offered by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), the WFP Award for Humanitarian Journalism aims to recognise journalists' efforts to deliver consistent, in-depth coverage of humanitarian issues relating to people and communities affected by poverty, food insecurity and HIV/AIDS in Swaziland.
Lagos, Nigeria, is to host the third annual African VoIP Forum from 31 July to 3 August. Key topics at the conference will include: The impact of VoIP as a driving force behind the African telecommunications sector; VoIP: A bridge for the communication gap; A case for African VoIP networks; Regulatory battles: Users are the losers; and Africa's VoIP regulatory mix.
Some humanitarian workers, particularly Sudanese ones, are concerned that the services provided by the camps may entice residents into staying even after peace has come to Darfur. "In the camps they find a lot of water and good health provisions, fine schools for their children," says Khalil Tukras who heads the Sudan Social Development Organization.
The decision of the South African Constitutional Court in "Government of the Republic of South Africa v. Grootboom" is one of the leading examples involving judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights known to comparative constitutional lawyers. At the time of the decision, many praised the court's decision, as pragmatic and a democracy-sensitive approach to the enforcement of socio-economic rights by the judiciary, which provided important evidence of the possibility of judicial enforcement of these rights.
From Kashmir to the Congo, the UNHCR joined hands with internally displaced persons and refugees to celebrate World Environment Day. This year's theme was Desert and Desertification and the slogan, "Don't Desert Drylands!" But in order for the theme to be more applicable and relevant to most refugee situations, UNHCR chose to use the slogan "Combat Land Degradation in Refugee-Hosting Areas."
Somali refugees are leaving Zambian settlement camps, and although they have the right to move, the government and the UN refugee agency are concerned about being used as a "stepping-stone" to other destinations. Peter Mumba, permanent secretary of the Zambian Ministry of the Interior, told IRIN: "Out of the over 120 Somali refugees that we officially registered in March this year, only two are in Meheba camp now. This is a very sad situation for us, because it will make us to start treating every refugee with suspicion."
Public debate about asylum seekers has become increasingly "negative and vitriolic", despite a rapid fall in the number arriving in the UK, according to a report from the UN high commissioner for refugees. The author, commissioner Antonio Guterres, said asylum seekers were an easy target for politicians and media pundits wishing to score points.
Kenya's president has announced that fees will be removed for anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), which combat the effects of Aids. Correspondents say the fees are one reason why only 60,000 of the 200,000 eligible Kenyans are taking ARVs. The UN has said Kenya is one of the few countries to reduce HIV prevalence, from 14% in 1997 to 4% today. But charities now say that a hunger crisis in parts of Kenya could hamper the effectiveness of ARV programmes.
Uncomfortable questions are being asked about Britain's Somali immigrants - and the answers are by no means easy to find. When Adam Dirir and his colleagues at Somali Voice take to the airwaves on Friday evenings, they face an image crisis. Headline after headline has talked about Somali crime gangs terrifying communities. And yet, in reality and after more than a century of Somali presence in the UK, little is known about who they are.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused some countries of putting their "heads in the sand" in failing to spell out the truth about Aids. He told the BBC he was disappointed a declaration at a UN Aids conference did not specify homosexuals, prostitutes and drug addicts were at risk. But Mr Annan still said the declaration was better than he had expected. The declaration commits countries to work towards universal access to Aids care by 2010.
A former Rwandan media director has been sentenced to six years in prison after admitting inciting violence during the 1994 genocide. Joseph Serugendo this week agreed a plea bargain at a UN court, under which charges of genocide were dropped. Serugendo, 53, is terminally ill. Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 1994 slaughter. Serugendo is a former technical director of Radio Mille Collines (RTLM), which urged Hutus to murder Tutsis.
A Judicial probe into the mismanagement of grants to Uganda from the Geneva-based Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has recommended that former health ministers and other managers of the funds be investigated for possible criminal prosecution. Former health minister Jim Muhwezi and his two deputies, Mike Mukula and Alex Kamugisha, have all been implicated in the mismanagement of funds.
The decision by Interpol to issue wanted person's notices against several Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leaders will scuttle ongoing efforts to peacefully end the war in northern Uganda and may escalate the violence there, religious leaders in the war-affected region have said. Interpol issued its first warrants on behalf of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for five LRA commanders on Thursday. The ICC had earlier issued its own arrest warrants for the five rebels on charges including murder, rape and the forced enlisting of children.
Today, less than 20,000 Somalis live in the one remaining camp in the country, Kebribeyah. The people there cannot return home because it is still too violent and dangerous. The harsh landscape in Ethiopia was once home to more than half a million Somali refugees who lived in eight camps. After more than a decade in exile, assistance has diminished significantly.
A top Chinese diplomat has vigorously defended his country's growing economic involvement in Africa, including close trade links with Zimbabwe and Sudan. The charge d'affaires at China's South Africa embassy said China was just protecting its own interests. Its policy of non-interference in the affairs of others has nothing to do with its need to import oil, he added. China's quiet pursuit of raw materials in Africa in return for cheap Chinese goods has caused considerable concern.
Kenya and Brazil have launched a campaign aimed at making governments prioritize and fund research and development projects, which address essential and basic health needs of their people. The campaign, being undertaken under the umbrella of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), urges governments to increase funding and policy change to support needs-driven research and development for neglected diseases.
A new report released in Nairobi last week indicates that the country is unlikely to meet its growth targets if it does not address glaring gender disparities and increase its attention on gender dimensions in economic development. "Kenya Gender and Economic Growth Assessment", was commissioned by the ministry of Trade and Industry and conducted by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank.
A special issue of Agenda will come out in August September 2006 to mark the Nairobi+21 project. As the first international women's conference on African soil, the Nairobi Conference in 1985 discussed ways to fend for women's rights and gender equality that would, for the first time, be informed by the agendas of women from the South. We are particularly seeking writers from Senegal, Morocco, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, DRC, South Africa but also from other parts of Africa and the world. The journal wants to give a voice in particular to black writers.
The Commission of the African Union is convening an AU-Civil Society forum on the margins of the AU Summit in Banjul, the Gambia. The meeting will provide a briefing on developments related to the AU-CSO agenda since the last Pre-Summit Forum in January 2005. It will also deliberate on the theme of the Summit itself i.e., Economic Integration, including the proposal for the Rationalization of Regional Economic Communities.
The Special Rapporteur on adverse effects of the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights, Okechukwu Ibeanu, today (2 June) issued the following statement: "On the occasion of the World Environment Day (5 June), I would like to draw the attention of the international community to the question of impunity for violations of human rights around the world due to the illicit movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes, resulting in unmitigated deterioration of the environment, particularly in the developing countries."
APC is seeking a manager for our Strategic Use and Capacity Building Programme (SU&CB) and its projects. The SU&CB manager will have excellent people and project management skills, experience of working in networks, managing relationships and partnerships and a sophisticated understanding of the concept of strategic use of technology as it applies to development and social justice.
IPDC is a UNESCO program that provides small grants to community/media projects. Media organisations such as press, radio and television, media training institutes, professional journalists' organisations, media development agencies, and community media organizations are eligible to seek support from IPDC.
Amnesty International has launched a new campaign in support of freedom of speech online and offline, called 'Irrepressible', a term that means"impossible to repress or control". Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for simply posting and sharing information. This is what the campaign will act upon.
Computer Aid International is seeking to appoint an East Africa Programme Officer based in their Nairobi office but travelling widely in the region to serve existing and potential new partners in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Djibouti. They are also seeking a Technical Development Officer to research and develop a new range of ICT4Ed and ICT4D products and services to compliment their existing provision of high-quality, professionally refurbished Pentium3 and Pentium4 PCs.
With the economy in free fall, the potential end of Robert Mugabe’s presidency looming, and deep cracks dividing both the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), unrest and violence threaten, warns the International Crisis Group. “With anger widespread, ZANU-PF wants to avoid a popular vote by using the legislature it controls to establish a ‘transitional presidency’ and appoint a successor to Mugabe. The rising influence of the military is also troubling. Opposition forces need to put their disputes behind them and present a unified front to take on a government that is increasingly desperate and dangerous.”
* Related Link
Bid to crack down on political parties
The objective of ANAS is to improve the living conditions of art and crafts people in the Sanmatenga provide, through developing the technical, organisational and management skills of its members, and by facilitating access to credit and to markets.
This is an exciting opportunity to work with a young, ambitious women's health organisation, and have a real impact to reduce maternal mortality in developing countries. The post-holder will coordinate the development and evaluation of Maternity Worldwide's ambitious £349,000 Safe Motherhood Programme funded by the UK Big Lottery Fund. The programme aims to reduce maternal mortality by the empowerment of local women and communities, improving access and communications and providing skilled obstetric and midwifery care.
The Program Officer will be responsible for developing, monitoring and evaluating the Foundation's activities in the field of Sexuality and Reproductive Health (SRH) in Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe) with a particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS as it affects and is addressed by local communities in the region.
The Sahara desert alone can capture enough solar energy to supply all the world's electricity needs and more, a United Nations report says. "Deserts are a great expanse of land, and have great potential to supply much, much more," Shafaqat Kakakhel, deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) told IPS at the launch of a report on the deserts to mark Environment Day.
Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) on behalf of the Eastern Africa Gender Budget Network (EAGBN) is pleased to announce activities of the EAGBN to take place from 12-14 June 2006 at Colline Hotel Mukono, Uganda. The goal of the training workshop is to impart skills and techniques on how to use gender budgeting to analyze HIV/AIDS programmes.
The second World Forum on Human Rights will be held in the Nantes Métropole International Convention Centre from 10 - 13 July 2006, under the theme “Make Human Rights a reality for all”. 2006 will be marked by the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
The World Bank announced last week that it had approved a US$30 milllion loan to support scientific development in Uganda. The money will help increase the number and quality of scientists produced by Uganda's universities and research centres, and boost the country's scientific and technological productivity in industrial, agricultural and other sectors, according to SciDev.
The Malaria Consortium office in Zambia is seeking a suitably qualified and highly motivated individual to become a part of a growing international organisation with offices in several African countries and an increasing portfolio of work. The ideal candidate should be able to provide leadership and direction to the office which has been open for the past 18 months.
Global Witness has warned the Security Council against lifting sanctions on Liberian diamonds and timber. Liberian President Ellen Johnston Sirleaf asked the UN to lift the sanctions, providing a much needed boost to Liberia's damaged economy. However, the new government has still not gained full control over these resources from former militiamen. In the past the revenue from the diamond and timber industries funded rebel groups and fueled the conflict in the county, says Global Witness.
More than a decade after US troops withdrew from Somalia following a disastrous military intervention, officials of Somalia's interim government and some US analysts of Africa policy say the United States has returned to the African country, secretly supporting secular warlords who have been waging fierce battles against Islamic groups for control of the capital, Mogadishu, reports the Washington Post.
An interview with Dr Jacinta Muteshi of Kenya's National Commission for Gender and Development, by Kathambi Kinoti.
AWID: What real impact has the United Nations and its processes had on women in Africa?
Jacinta Muteshi: The United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has delivered resources for a lot of our work. By resources I do not mean just financial resources but also technical assistance and capacity building. We need the work of UNIFEM, the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) and other such structures to continue. However they should be strengthened, their profiles raised and their resources increased.
* Click on the link provided to read the rest of the interview.
As the only international women’s fund in the world designed to respond on short notice, UAF collaborates with women activists in three primary contexts: peace building in situations of armed conflict, escalating violence, or politically volatile environments; potentially precedent-setting legal and legislative actions; and protection of women human rights defenders. UAF exists to enable women to mobilise and act within these brief windows of opportunity by approving emergency funding of up to $5,000 USD within 72 hours of a request.
The Southern Africa Trust, in partnership with the Mail & Guardian newspaper, announces the establishment of the Drivers of Change award. The Drivers of Change award has been established to highlight living examples of innovative practices, inclusive attitudes, and effective processes that build social trust and create the best conditions to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of people living in poverty.
The Global Education Digest 2006 presents the latest education statistics from primary to tertiary levels in more than 200 countries. “What this report shows is that the real dynamic in tertiary education is coming from African, Arab and Chinese students. They are the driving force behind the internationalization of higher education,” says Hendrik van der Pol, UIS Director.
A complete, interactive version of the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2006 – Literacy for Life – is now available on CD-ROM in English. Its convenient HTML format means it is fully searchable: users can therefore explore the report and accompanying statistical data, maps, background papers and boxes with easy navigation from one to the other, using an advanced search function. Additional features include the report’s headline messages, a summary report and a statistics tool that generates charts and tables for export to printer or PowerPoint.
A new advocacy brief from UNESCO looks at the recruitment of women teachers, drawing on research and practice from different contexts. It highlights the importance of women teachers, and also the need for a broad gender equality perspective when developing policy and programmes for women teachers.
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, opened the Inaugural Meeting of the Nigerian Science and Technology Education Funds Mobilizing Committee at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 16 May 2006. Nigeria’s Education Minister, Chinwe Nora Obaji, also attended. In his speech, Mr Matsuura called all education planners and teachers to actively engage in promoting interest in science among youth, especially girls.
The way NGOs and other global civil society organisations operate must be reformed if they are to embody the progressive claims often made on their behalf, argues Leni Wild. For too long, people on the liberal left of politics have assumed that global civil society is inherently progressive and a force for social progress. This approach is partial and ignores the darker side of the phenomenon.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) plans to woo investors next month to fund the expansion of its Inga hydroelectricity project at a cost of $40bn, its energy minister said. The largest single hydropower initiative in the world - expected to cost nearly twice the price of the giant Three Gorges dam in China - Inga in the western DRC is seen as key to powering up stretches of central and southern Africa.
The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) offers an efficient and economical method of providing power to South Africa's coastal towns and cities, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said. Opening debate on his R683,4-million budget vote in the National Assembly, he noted that global warming had seen nuclear power re-emerge internationally as an attractive alternative form of energy generation.
This paper examines the Ethiopian Government's emphasis on the intensification of agricultural activities in order to increase livelihood options and provide better safety nets for the poor (e.g. through food or cash-for- work programmes). The report explores the impact on child labour and child schooling of public policy interventions formulated within the PRSP, and looks at how changes are mediated through gender and rural/urban differences.
This study explores the phenomena of education decline and the reasons why educators may be leaving the profession in South Africa. The report integrates the findings of seven reports presented to Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) concerning education, published as part of the multi-study project focusing on the Factors Determining Educator Supply and Demand in South African Public Schools. The aim of this report is to integrate all these findings and give a more comprehensive picture of the determinants of supply and demand for educators in public schools.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has dismissed an application by former Liberian president Charles Taylor challenging a bid to change his trial venue, a court official said. Taylor's lawyer Karim Khan filed in April a motion asking that the court's president either withdraw his request to transfer the trial to The Hague or that the defence be allowed to comment on the issue before a decision is reached.
Coordinated by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), this scholarship exchange programme aims to assist individual media practitioners from Southern Africa in all areas of the media (managerial, editorial, advertising, and technical) to work on attachment in another media institution to learn new skills and develop existing ones.
This month, WEDO launched MisFortune500, a highly-anticipated, much-needed website that challenges corporate malfeasance against women worldwide, helping them reclaim their rights to decent work, a clean and healthy environment, and access to land, water, food and quality public services. MisFortune500 - a parody of Fortune magazine's annual list of top profit-making companies -exposes corporate violations of women's rights that threaten lives and communities and destroy the environment.
Reporters Without Borders wrote to Salamata Sawadogo, the chairperson of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), voicing “extreme concern about free expression” in Gambia and suggesting the time has come for the commission to consider transferring its headquarters from Gambia “until the civil and political liberties of Gambians, including freedom of expression, are respected.”
The government of Swaziland has agreed to hire a legal expert from the Commonwealth secretariat to begin a review of its controversial media laws, reports the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). The review is scheduled to begin in June 2006. It follows the adoption last February of a new constitution, which granted limited freedoms to citizens.
Three more websites (Ethiomedia.com, Freeourleaders.org and Nazret.com) have become inaccessible within Ethiopia. Information minister Hailu Berhan insisted that his government was not involved but he failed to explain why almost all of the opposition websites suddenly cannot be accessed.
Mozambique started openly courting Zimbabwe's mainly white commercial farmers after the ZANU-PF government instituted its fast-track land reform programme in 2000 and the agricultural sector, a mainstay of the neighbouring country's economy, began to crumble. But unlike Zambia, Mozambique's romance with the migrant Zimbabweans appears to have faded in the past two years.
Ghana's centuries-old chieftaincy system is one of Africa's oldest ruling classes. The country's unique system of land ownership, where chiefs frequently control the land for the benefit of the communities they represent, is revealing an ugly side. Land can be leased several times over and thousands of disputes are clogging up Ghana's legal system.
Delegates at the UN summit on Aids have been hammering out the finer details of a declaration to combat HIV/Aids. Meanwhile, 40 million people worldwide are living with the disease. Severe drought across Kenya and the Horn of Africa has meant that patients on anti-retrovirals who don't get enough to eat have been unable to tolerate their medicines. So they have stopped taking them.
The Zimbabwe government last Thursday said it will evict about 4 000 black farmers who illegally occupied commercial farms and conservancies in the southern Masvingo province. The announcement represents a major policy U-turn by the Harare authorities who have in the past ignored calls by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono to restore order on former commercial farms.
Kajiado is a part of Kenya where prevalence rates for female genital mutilation (FGM) are at their highest, and communities are deeply resistant to cultural change. However, Kajiado district is also an area where simple conversations hold out the promise of helping to end FGM.
The chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says he will bring corruption charges against 24 state governors when their terms end next year. The governors currently enjoy constitutional immunity from criminal prosecution.
On match days, Bouake's usually bustling central market is empty. Twenty-eight-year-old Mamadou Kone sells shoes there, and though he was born just a few hundred metres away in the city's hospital, he is still referred to teasingly as the Guinean, the nationality of his immigrant father. "The leaders of this country have created this xenophobia."
The Namibian government is considering ways to improve its land-reform programme, which has not only been slow, but has also had a negative impact on agricultural production. Since independence in 1990, only 10,000 people have been resettled under the government's land programme, which allows a willing-seller, willing-buyer arrangement or expropriation.
One of the poorest countries in Africa, Ethiopia, is spending a 10th of its gross domestic product each year on information technology, and Uganda has launched Africa's first "e-school" as part of a continent-wide initiative targeting hundreds of thousands of schools.
When Guinea Bissau troops launched a six-week offensive in mid-March to oust rebels from villages along the country’s northern border with Senegal, Jaura, like many others, lost everything. “This is what’s left of my house,” said Jaura, sweeping his arm to take in the patch of rubble that used to be his mud-brick home in the trading and farming town of Sao Domingos, 126 km north of the capital Bissau.