The World IT Forum (WITFOR) is coming to Africa for the first time in September, when it will be staged in Gaborone, Botswana. WITFOR is a UNESCO initiative sponsored by the European Union, and will be hosted by the Botswana government, in partnership with the International Federation for Information Processing. The event is expected to attract around 700 decision-makers from around the world, and aims to generate proposals for ICT-based initiatives that will accelerate economic progress in developing countries.

The Five College African Scholars Program invites applications for competitive residency fellowships from junior and mid-level teaching staff employed full-time in African universities. There are two residency periods: mid-January to May 2006 OR mid-August to December 2006. Proposals for the January residency are invited on the topic of Health & Society, while the August residency is open to all applicants with projects relevant to the study of Africa in the humanities and social sciences. The program cannot fund projects in the natural or physical sciences. Proposals should be based on the applicant's current research, which can be completed and prepared for publication during the residency. Three to four candidates will be chosen for each term. Scholars will receive a stipend of $3,000 per month, roundtrip airfare, laptop computer, housing, health insurance, and a modest research allowance. Application deadline: 1 May 2005.

This Request for Proposals invites institutions, particularly in low- or middle-income countries, to express their interest in hosting the Secretariat for the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) for an initial period of three years, renewable by the SVRI Coordinating Group. The SVRI is funded by The Global Forum for Health Research, which is an independent international foundation promoting more health research to combat the neglected diseases and conditions that are major sources of ill health in developing countries and to reduce other inequities in health and health research. Deadline: 21 February 2005.

"Just one week ago, I visited a project, in Lusaka, Zambia, where children orphaned by AIDS, all of them HIV positive, were being cared for during the day. The project had identified 130 such children, drawn from the surrounding neighbourhoods, children who returned home in the evening to stay with extended family, or grandmothers, or in some cases, just their siblings in child-headed households. The children looked to be between the ages of three and five. They were, in fact, mostly between seven and ten … little bodies wracked by a combination of disease and malnutrition."