The purpose of this report is to set forth policy options for supporting developing countries and transition economies in adapting their secondary education systems to demands arising from the successful expansion of primary education and the socioeconomic challenges presented by globalisation and the knowledge-based economy.

Describing the current low numbers of women in United Nations peacekeeping operations as “disheartening,” a United Nations-backed conference called for their number to be doubled every year for the next few years, saying this would not only improve the efficiency of peacekeeping but also its credibility.

"They have no voice, no jobs; poverty is excruciating, slavery is there -- because they work for others for nothing, like in only getting a plate of food or tombo (traditional beer). They are just suffering." This was the sobering assessment of Namibia's indigenous San community, delivered by Deputy Prime Minister Libertina Amathila last September after a visit to the north-eastern Otjozondjupa region where the majority of San live.

African children are dying of malaria at the rate of one every 30 seconds. Take a minute to try to comprehend that number – and two more die. Malaria kills an estimated million people worldwide every year, 90 percent of them in Africa. That relentless toll saps energy, money and hope from communities all over sub-Saharan Africa. "Malaria is also a major cause of anemia in children and pregnant women, low birth weight, premature birth and infant mortality," the Roll Back Malaria partnership says. "In endemic African countries, malaria accounts for 25–35 percent of all outpatient visits, 20–45 percent of hospital admissions and 15–35 percent of hospital deaths, imposing a great burden on already fragile health-care systems."

It is a little-known fact that around 1950 "Made in Japan" was synonymous with shoddy low-quality low-durability goods; The Japanese fixed that problem, as everyone knows.

Nowadays goods produced in Mainland China are very variable - some are of high quality, but many are not. China is now flooding Africa not only with consumer goods but also with industrial goods and durable consumer items. The problem arises when governments and wholesalers engineer a situation where only Chinese goods are available, for political and/or financial reasons.

Typically a Chinese soldering iron in Zimbabwe is sold with the caveat "it will break very soon and there will be no replacement or refund"; a Chinese bicycle in Zimbabwe develops all kinds of mechanical problems after a few months of modest use.

This situation is taking hard-earned foreign currency out of the hands of poor Africans in poor African countries and giving it to rich Chinese and their African and other collaborators, political and commercial. Trade in many Chinese goods is taking Africa backwards (but it is making lots of money for the few).

What is required is for an independent study of the situation, and with appropriate measures taken after the results of that study, by the Chinese Government and by African Governments. But as long as the few are feeding at the trough, there is little chance of such a sensible solution, and of course the ineffectual and corrupt UN is of little use.

In a country where the majority of the population lives below the absolute poverty level, where political crises and violence have done away with social institutions, does it make sense to invest energies in information and communication technologies (ICTs)? Canadian APC member, Alternatives, firmly believes in this opportunity.

Tumsifu Lema, 68, is an organic farmer in Shirin Joro village in Tanzania. He grows mixed crops on his two acres of land, including vegetables, maize, sunflower and coffee, and he is constantly looking out for new organic farming techniques. Although Lema has heard of email and the Internet, he has never seen or used them. Tumsifu is among the growing number of poor farmers in Tanzania who are just starting to consider the potential benefits of ICTs.

African Shirts (http://africanshirts.blogspot.com/2006/04/carmen-with-clicks.html) discusses the vibrancy of the South African film industry which he compares with that of the Francophone African countries and Nigeria’s Nollywood. Two of the latest films from SA are U-Carmen eKhayelitsha and Oscar winning Tsotsi.

“U-Carmen is a Xhosa language film based on Bizet's opera Carmen, and it won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival last year.” He gives credit to the SA government for supporting the industry, whilst Nigeria still operates as a kind of “one man band running around with a camcorder filming his friends putting on ridiculous American accents, and making up the script as they go along”. He says: “Genuine filmmaking knowledge would mean that international film houses can come to Nigeria to shoot films. Nigeria has a vast and varied landscape, from desert in the north to equatorial savannah in the south - who wouldn't want to film there? However, it seems Nigeria's all land and no knowledge with which to use the land. Nollywood, watch and learn.”

Agathon Rwasa (http://agathonrwasa.blogspot.com/2006/04/tutu-admits-that-his-trc-failed...) comments on an address by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to participants of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee held in South Africa. He quotes Tutu as saying:

"South Africans are tremendous people and the successes of the TRC had set an international benchmark in dealing with post-conflict situations, yet it failed to meet the needs of victims or reveal the full truth in many cases…My own concern is if we'll be able to uncover the evidence (of atrocities). I have my doubts. The apartheid government was very adept at hiding and destroying evidence. Cases go on for a long time and then people are acquitted and I fear it is traumatising for the victims.”

My Hearts in Accra (http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=507) comments on a piece from the New York Times on oil, corruption and Africa which mentions 5 African countries least known for oil export: Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania and the Congo Republic. All of which score low on the “Corruption perception index”. Zuckerman wonders whether it is possible to have natural resources without corruption?

“It’s possible to have natural resources and not have rampant corruption - Botswana is blessed with an abundance of diamonds and outranks many European nations on the TI index - but the nations who pull it off are the exception, not the rule. It’s a reminder that mineral wealth is a curse as much as a blessing - there are very, very few nations that go the path of Norway, rather than the path of Nigeria.”

Weichegud! ET Politics (http://weichegud.blogspot.com/2006/04/never-again-to-yet-again.html) comments on the genocide taking place in Darfur and the failure of not only the West but Africa to act. She reminds us of Rwanda and clearly the lessons have not been learned and the need for Africans to take notice of Darfur.

“You want a reason why the West doesn’t care about Darfur? Because Africans don’t care about Darfur. We pointed at the West the last time. And we are doing it again…by August 2005, an estimated 370,000 Darfuri had died. That figure hovers at about 400,000 today. Over two million have been displaced, and three million suffer from dire food shortages - all because they have dark skin. They are being persecuted by an African nation whose hubris has been augmented by an African Union and an African head of the august United Nations.”

In particularly she singles out Kofi Annan, who has in her opinion failed twice now, in Rwanda and now in Darfur.

“Yes, and I do hold Kofi Annan responsible because his tenure as Secretary General of the UN has been particularly bad for Africa. This was our one shot at this kind of high visibility leadership…We looked for moral leadership, and instead what we got was a tragically wobbly and fluctuant chief who had two, count ‘em, two genocides under his belt. Maybe after the carnage hits a million people Mr. Annan will amble back to Sudan to offer a ‘oops we did it again’ speech, the same speech he gave in Kigali on May 7, 1998.”

Freedom from Egyptians (http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2006/04/egypts-dahab-attacks-for...) comments on the bombing of Dahab in the Sinai peninsular – the third city to be bombed.

“This is the third attack in Sinai around Egyptian national days. The 2004 Taba attacks came on October 6 (Army Day). Sharm El Sheikh’s attacks on 2005 were at the eve of July 23 (Revolution Day) and yesterday Dahab attacks took place at the eve of April 25 of 2006. The relationship between these dates and those heinous attacks in Sinai has yet to be interpreted. These three national days have political significance. The message sent here might not be Islamofacist and could hint that the perpetrators are not Islamists.”

One Arab World (http://onearabworld.blog.com/703267) also comments on the bombing with a series of real time updates, including photos of the aftermath.

Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/04/victory_for_human_rights.html) reports on the release of 9 Cameroonian men on homosexuality charges. The men were refused bail and have spent the past 12 months incarcerated having to share cells with the most violent criminals. The trial lasted exactly 10 minutes – one year in prison in Cameroon for a trial that lasted only 10 minutes is a harsh price to pay for ones’ sexuality, the freedom of which is supposedly enshrined in Cameroonian law as a country that is signature to various human rights declarations.

“Congratulations to Alice Nkom and Duga Tianji, their team of lawyers, IGLHRC and all the human rights defenders that fought so hard to achieve the release of the 9 men at great cost to themselves…Whilst we can and must celebrate this victory, the 9 men who have spent the last 12 months in the unimaginable filth and squalor of prison now have the uphill task of trying to rebuild their lives knowing that though they are free, that freedom is incomplete as they remain imprisoned in a community of hate and homophobia. The struggle continues - 4 lesbians are still in police custody and 11 female students have been expelled from school for ‘confessing’ to belonging to a ‘network of lesbians’.

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks,

* Please send comments to [email protected]

It's official: for the first time in five years, drought-stricken Malawi will have a bumper maize harvest, according to a final crop estimate by the ministry of agriculture. Good rain and a successful government-sponsored fertiliser and seed distribution programme boosted farmers' yields, said Patrick Kabambe, secretary for agriculture and food security. The country is forecast to produce about 2.35 million mt of maize, just over the annual requirement of 2 million mt.

UN diplomats brushed aside on Monday a call by Osama bin Laden for Muslims to rise up against the West in Sudan, and vowed to go ahead with plans to send peacekeepers to the embattled Darfur region. The al Qaeda leader, in an audio tape broadcast on Al Jazeera television, said the United States and Britain, by pushing for a UN force in Darfur, were plotting to dismember Sudan. He urged his followers to rise up against them.
* Related Link
AU to stick to UN deadline on Darfur talks

The BBC World Service Trust (WST) is running an HIV/AIDS mass media campaign in Nigeria, addressing young people between 15 and 24, encouraging them to adopt behaviours that would prevent them from HIV infection, and to reduce stigma. The campaign is using entertainment techniques to attract a wide youth audience on radio, TV and film.

Media and ICTs can help women overcome isolation; allow them to network and to gain strength as political actors; enable their articulation of human rights; provide effective means to hold governments and other social actors responsible for their conduct; and help to lift them out of poverty and secure a livelihood, according to this article.

German site available for articles on Africa and the African diaspora in German-speaking Europe. Table of contents, some full text articles & interviews. Africa events in Europe.

Wole Soyinka, Nigerian Nobel Literature Laureate, shares thoughts on current hot topics of African politics, during readings and interviews this week in San Francisco's Bay Area.

It has been a busy week for Wole Soyinka. He is in San Francisco Bay Area to promote his new memoir, “You Must Set Forth At Dawn”, published this year. However, Africa’s first Nobel Literature Laureate is as well known – perhaps better known – as a political human rights activist.

At 70, the Nigerian writer who famously wrote: “The truth shall set you free but first the truth must be set free,” is still a fiery advocate for oppressed populations, from the indigenous peoples of the Niger Delta to the victims of Darfur. Most recently, he founded a new political party: the Democratic Front for Peoples’ Liberation (DFPF), that will put up candidates on a platform of pluralist democracy in Nigeria’s next elections. “I never accepted I was an exile from Nigeria,” he said on Saturday, at a reading in Berkeley. “I told myself and others I was on political sabbatical.”

Below is a selection of Soyinka’s political comments, culled from a range of readings, discussions and interviews in the Bay Area over the past 3 days. Next week’s column will focus on his thoughts about his work as an artist and writer.

Q: Are you better known for activism than for literature?

A: It’s difficult to say. Because the nature of my work – theatre – has always brought me in contact with a lot of people. Especially the living theatre – we do it in streets, offices, public places – so it is a direct creative encounter with all kinds of people.

Q: Do you feel a conflict, or tension, between being an activist and writing?

A: Most human beings, especially creative human beings, would rather be doing something other than what they are doing. But basically, you respond to what’s happening around you. So while I do not separate the two personae, there are times I do resent being pulled into the political arena.

Q: What are your thoughts on the current Nigerian government?

A: It’s an oligarchy. Almost like a Mafia kingdom.

Q: You once said that as you saw things over the years, it always seems to boil down to two questions: truth against power and power against truth.

A: Yes, and power against freedom. Power needs lies to survive, deceit, manipulation. The truth is, for me, the expression of freedom.

Q: What can you say about the conflicts over oil in Nigeria.

A: We all agree, we wish we’d never found oil. The worst developed areas in Nigeria are the oil-producing regions. And those who suffer most are the indigenous people who live in those regions.

Their farmland has been depleted. Their ponds and rivers are polluted. The very air is degraded. [The indigenous grassroots democracy movement] has brought the Federal government to the negotiating table to demand that oil revenues actually benefit them before they remit taxes to the center.

Q: One of the issues you’ve spoken about is what’s happening in Darfur. What can be done about Darfur?

A: People are still hedging the truth in. There is a brutal ethnic cleansing going on, and anodyne language is being used, by the UN, by the African Union. This is a renegade government, and the UN and AU must declare Sudan a renegade state, guilty of genocide.

Sudan is a member of both the African Union and the Arab League. It has one foot in the African world and one in the Arab world. The silence that is most deafening is that of the Arab League. We must put them on the line. The Janjaweed make no bones about the fact that they are pushing an Arabist agenda – to cleanse Darfur of African presence. This is being done in the name of Arabism. It is time for the AL to take the lead, to excommunicate the Sudanese government.

There has been a coyness about assigning primary responsibility. The primary responsibility for curbing this genocidal criminality rests with the Arab League.

Q: What is your view on the war crime tribunals in Rwanda and Sierra Leone? Do you think America’s refusal to participate, or be subject to, international war crimes courts, undermines their purpose?

A: Even if one individual identified is brought before the world tribunal, it gives hope to the victims that if they keep up the struggle, they may achieve something.

So we shouldn’t bother ourselves so much with whether the US participates or not. Just keep working towards those achievable goals.

But we have to be more imaginative and creative. It’s not enough to bring Charles Taylor or Milosevic to trial. We need to construct cages for them and tour them around the world. (Laughter) Through refugee camps, hospitals – I would be happy to offer my services with such ideas.

Q: What do you think about the resurgence of the Biafra movement happening now, and the way the Nigerian government is handling it?

A: The movement successfully paralyzed the nation for 2 days last year when it called for all Biafrans to down tools. The fact that they acted, in union, and were able to bring the country to a halt, is very significant. The success of the call, compounded with the militancy in the Niger Delta (Nigeria’s primary oil-producing region) indicates a nation on the verge of disintegration. We’re in real trouble.

Q: What can we do about the brain drain from Africa? For example, there are more doctors from Ghana in the US than there are in Ghana.

A: Develop our own nations, create more jobs, so there is the prospect of professional satisfaction for the brains who have left.

The leadership must actually invest heavily in those projects that ensure our technocrats, professionals, can return and enjoy just a little of the satisfaction they have enjoyed outside.

Q: How can reparations for slavery be channeled in ways that reach the African people, rather than corrupt governments?

A: Without even considering financial reparation, there is a restoration that can happen of a far more egalitarian relationship between Africa and the enslaving world. For example, repatriation of all artworks that were stolen during the era of slavery. A people’s art represents their humanity.

And we must understand that it was a two way process. There was also an Arab slave trade. If we talk about reparations, we cannot be silent about the internal slave trades, and the internal racisms that are still alive in many African countries.

* Listen to Wole Soyinka interviewed by Michael Krasny on the Bay Area’s KQED radio (one hour) at:

* Please send comments to [email protected]

The government of Kenya wants to control the press by imposing restrictions on media ownership. A Cabinet subcommittee charged with the responsibility of sprucing up the government's image is considering proposals for setting a ceiling on the number of shares a person may own in a media house and banning the alternative press publications as some of the strategies for dealing with a hostile press. The report also identifies NGOs as major threats to the Government's image and proposes placing them under tighter supervision, including close surveillance by the security intelligence service.

At least seven people were killed and scores wounded as rival armed groups fought on Sunday in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, displacing dozens of families. The violence erupted in Hamarweyne district in south Mogadishu when local residents opposed the setting up of a checkpoint by armed militias reportedly loyal to Mogadishu faction leader Abdi Nure Siyad, also known as "Abdi Wal". Siyad is a member of a newly created group - the Alliance for Peace and Fight Against International Terrorism - which comprises several Mogadishu-based faction leaders.

Hunger and militia attacks in the remote border areas of eastern Chad have driven more than 11,000 Chadians to seek international assistance and stretched resources meant for Sudanese refugees, according to aid agencies. According to the UN an estimated 50,000 Chadians are displaced in eastern Chad, but until a recent wave of attacks on the government of President Idriss Deby by rebel forces nearly all the internally displaced people (IDP) had managed on assistance from friends and family.

Over the past five years, labour unions and their civil society allies in Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia have successfully organized to win important victories over the private interests that depend on IFI loans to set the conditions for corporate control over water, electric power and other basic services. This paper focuses on six such victories, starting with an analysis about how trade unions in Uruguay took the lead in organizing that country's historic referendum on water.

The World Bank has been accused of publishing false accounts and wasting money on ineffective medicines in its malaria treatment programme. A Lancet paper claims the bank faked figures, boosting the success of its malaria projects, and reneged on a pledge to invest $300-500m in Africa. It also claims the bank funded obsolete treatments - against expert advice. The bank has denied the allegations and says it is investing $500m to $1bn (£280m-£560m) over the next five years. The claims against the bank, made by 13 international public health experts headed by Amir Attaran, of Canada's University of Ottawa, centre on the financial pledges the fund made to fight malaria on the African continent and a programme in India.

The international community must press Mauritania’s leaders who seized power in a coup in August 2005 to respect their promises of democratic transition. The new strong men have made a good start in some ways but some are closely linked to the old regime and may prefer not to redress past injustices. This could fuel political tensions. Deep and controversial reforms cannot be completed quickly, but the government should at least work closely with all national political forces to take initial steps.

As oil prices reached a record high of 68 dollars a barrel last week - compared with the oil producers' targeted range of 22 to 28 dollars back in January 2005 - the United Nations remains hopeful there will be increasing demand for conservation and alternative sources for energy.

The Nigerian government must take the lead in ending discrimination against millions of "non-indigenes" - citizens who cannot show that their family roots are native to the community in which they live - in part to better secure the country's increasingly fragile unity, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) released recently. The 64-page report, "'They Do Not Own This Place': Government Discrimination Against 'Non-Indigenes' in Nigeria", charges that the legal division between "host" and "settler" communities - originally designed to preserve the traditions and cultural identity of most of Nigeria's more than 250 ethnic groups - has fed a growing sense of tension and conflict in many parts of the country.

More than a decade after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the need for compensation to victims of this tragedy continues to present difficulties for government and genocide survivors alike. Since then, a court - the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) - has been set up in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha to bring the alleged masterminds of the genocide to book, while Rwandan courts have struggled to try the huge number of persons accused of carrying out the killings. Those who survived the genocide are still awaiting reparations, however, says François Ngarambe, president of Ibuka ("Remember", in Kinyarwanda) - one of the main non-governmental organisations for genocide survivors.

Liberia's newly-elected but cash-strapped government has begun to find ways that the U.N. sanctions can be lifted to allow the country to exploit its immense timber resources for the benefit of its war-ravaged people. The move follows the passing of Executive Order Number One, canceling all logging concessions effective from Feb. 2, in compliance with conditions set under the U.N.'s Security Council Resolution 1521 (passed in 2003) for the lifting of sanctions on timber exports.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's reform proposal for the world body that would give new responsibilities to the secretary-general is receiving sharp criticism from the Group of 77, which represents developing countries within the General Assembly. Action on the group's resolution, proposed by South Africa, could put off consideration of the changes for months and could bring about a showdown in June, when the UN must reconcile its annual budget, according to the NY Times.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan says the most likely way a settlement can be reached in Western Sahara is for the Moroccan government to negotiate directly with rebels in the region. The United Nations has spent 15 years and $600 million trying to broker a peace deal between Morocco and the Frente Polisaro rebels.

The World Bank is urging its steering committee to approve a new breed of loans and grants that would go to developing countries to help them make power generation cleaner and more efficient. A report drafted for this weekend's meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank at the request of Group of Eight leading nations already seems to have gained traction among some emerging countries.

The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is looking for three associate professional officers to work on CIFOR research activities. This program gives promising young researchers or professionals invaluable on-the-job training under guidance by established scientists/professionals.

Tanzania has banned traditional African hospitality known by its Swahili name of "takrima" during election campaigns. Under the country's electoral law, politicians were allowed to hand out food and drink to prospective voters. But the High Court ruled in favour of three legal rights organisations that argued it was a form of corruption. The BBC's correspondent in Dar es Salaam says it is a blow to the government that legalised takrima shortly before the 2000 polls. The three High Court judges ruled unanimously that the practice should be outlawed.

This campaign briefing paper gives policy information, facts, statistics and case studies that explain the need for more, better paid, qualified teachers in order to give every child a quality education. The paper states Global Campaign for Education positions and specific demands to governments.

According to UN estimates, the difference between the biological norm of 100 newborn girls to every 103 newborn boys and the number of women actually living leaves millions of women 'missing'. This demographic phenomenon may be due to: selective abortion and infanticide; less food and medical attention, as compared to males; and sexual offenders, 'honour killings', and domestic violence. This sustained 'deficit' of between 100 to 200 million women implies that 1.5 to 3 million women and girls die because of their gender each year.

The Security Council adopted resolution 1670 extending the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) until May 15, 2006. The resolution reiterates demands outlined in resolution 1640 - mainly that Eritrea lift the restrictions imposed on UNMEE operations and that Ethiopia accept the final and binding decision of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission

This report by Civil Society Organizations for Peace in Northern Uganda (CSOPNU) describes the brutal impact the conflict between government forces and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has had on the civilian population in northern Uganda. The average death rate in the region amounts to 146 per week - three times higher than in Iraq - and the average annual cost of the war, $85 million.

The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project is a respected lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and intersexed organisation with a long and proud history of fighting for the political and legal rights of the LGBTI community. We are seeking a Director. She/he will, under the direction of the Board, lead a small staff complement, with a clear strategic focus and related programmes.

Founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network (EDN) promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide. Earth Day Network is a driving force steering environmental awareness around the world. Through Earth Day Network, activists connect, interact, and impact their communities, and create positive change in local, national, and global policies. For information and resources follow the link.

Replacing the logic of guns with the logic of ballot boxes can be dangerous: former fighters may just return to the trenches if they cannot get what they want at the polls. This could soon be the case in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 25 million voters are scheduled to go to the polls in late June. One of the former rebel groups, the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), has little support outside of the Congolese Hutu and Tutsi communities of the eastern Congo.

Millions of Kenya's cellular phone users could soon benefit from what would become East Africa's lowest mobile phone call rates, according to a report by Business Week. Information attributed to sources in the Ministry of Information and Communications, indicates that government is in the process of harmonising and drastically lowering cellular phone call rates by nearly 90%.

The International Institute for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Journalism- Penplusbytes with support from the French Embassy in Ghana and GINKS is organizing a three day training workshop for thirty journalists from most regions of Ghana working in the print, electronic and online media. The workshop is designed to serve as a knowledge sharing platform for the media to understand key issues in the Information Society, New Medias impact in the newsroom; and provide an opportunity for the media players to develop new practical skills in using specific ICTs tools in the newsroom.

Full of practical information, tools and guidance, this toolkit covers a range of subject areas about supporting NGOs and CBOs working in HIV/AIDS.

Great article. It should be sent to major newspapers. It should be translated into Portuguese and sent to all Angolans to read. Please write Part II and III And IV… Thank you for a job well done. I am from Angola and I know people who are both benefiting and suffering in Angola. Once again, thank you for putting in so many words what most Angolans feel but cannot express it the way you did.

Is Pambazuka really 250 (years) old? If so, Happy 250th Birthday to you! if not, Happy Birthday all the same. Do continue the good work. Mostly, Pambazuka News is highly informative and partly depressive of spirit, yet it is essential that we are aware of the progress of our African family, albeit sometimes, the questionable direction of its progress. All the same it makes good fuel for prayer. I have solidly come to believe that desirable and pleasing change for the African continent can only come about with firstly initiating spiritual change. Take the physical chains off a slave and he will still act as a slave, but to teach a slave that he is a worthy human being, then he will rise as a free man. Many thanks for your continued endurance.

Pambazuka News Replies: Ummm, that would be 250 issues old, although maybe sometimes it feels like years!

Last March Janet (not her real name) took a hard look at her prospects and made a drastic decision. Equipped with little more than a friend's phone number, she joined the growing number of Zimbabweans who cross illegally into South Africa every day, looking for a better life. According to Khopotso Nakin, director of the New Life Centre for Girls, an NGO, Janet's story is far from unusual: of the estimated 10,000 commercial sex workers in Hillbrow, a rough inner-city neighbourhood where many hotels double as brothels, 20 percent come from other parts of Africa.

"The Botswana Centre for Human Rights strongly condemns the execution of Mr Modisane Ping on Saturday 1 April 2006 . There was no notification of the impending execution. The actual execution was conducted in secrecy. Mr. Ping's family did not have any access to him immediately prior to the execution. Mr. Ping's family did not have access to his body and the family members were not afforded an opportunity to ensure that Mr. Ping received a decent burial. Further, the family does not have the opportunity to visit Mr. Ping's grave. The result of executing people in secret in Botswana is to punish their relatives, who were not responsible for the crime. We believe that a lack of transparency of procedures is a serious threat to democracy and good governance."

This study investigates the effect of education quality on rates of return to education in Namibia. In particular, the question raised in this study is whether the quality of schooling as proxied by better school resources matters much in determining future earnings of people. The study finds that school resources as measured by pupil-teacher ratio and teacher qualification had very little impact on rate of returns to education. This implies that school resources are an inadequate measure of quality of education received by an individual.

Adult education programmes developed for or by indigenous communities rarely address gender inequalities. Programmes often aim to promote indigenous people’s rights, including bringing together communities who are actually differentiated along lines of gender, class and age. Despite their commitment to adjusting unequal power relations, course designers rarely mention gender.

Although a number of reports have indicated high levels of bride price-based violence in Uganda, the country has no laws or guidelines that specifically address bride price violations. According to a survey cited in the Uganda Poverty Eradication Action Plan 2004/5-2007/8, domestic violence and sexual harassment are some of the most frequently mentioned human rights abuses in Uganda. A Unicef survey in 1999 titled "State of World Children" carried out in 14 countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa, ranked Uganda top with the highest reported incidents of domestic violence at 41 per cent of those surveyed.

Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Programs will play a critical role in developing and implementing the vision and direction of AWDF's fundraising and grantmaking strategies and initiatives. She will work in close collaboration with the ED, Board of Directors, Advisors and Program team, and will promote the visibility of AWDF and develop strategic alliances with peers in international philanthropy. She will supervise and manage a nine-person program staff and participate in fundraising and communications activities.

Twenty people have died and 16 more are ill in the village of Tandembelo in Bandundu Province, western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), from what could be meningitis, government and United Nations officials said on Wednesday. "All the people are showing clinical signs of meningitis," said Dr Benoit Kebela, an epidemiologist for the ministry of health. The 36 people with the illness were all admitted to hospital with the symptoms of high temperatures and severe headaches.