9 July 2012 — Pambazuka
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Pambazuka News (English edition): ISSN 1753-6839
CONTENTS:
1. Podcasts & Video, 2. Zimbabwe update, 3. African Union Monitor, 4. Women & gender, 5. Human rights, 6. Refugees & forced migration, 7. Social movements, 8. Africa labour news, 9. Elections & governance, 10. Corruption, 11. Development, 12. Health & HIV/AIDS, 13. Education, 14. LGBTI, 15. Environment, 16. Land & land rights, 17. Food Justice, 18. Media & freedom of expression, 19. Social welfare, 20. Conflict & emergencies, 21. Internet & technology, 22. eNewsletters & mailing lists, 23. Fundraising & useful resources, 24. Courses, seminars, & workshops, 25. Publications, 26. Jobs
1 Podcasts & Video
GLOBAL: JUNE TAXCAST NOW AVAILABLE
The latest podcast by the Tax Justice Network is available: the edition contains news on celebrity tax avoidance, Greece’s missing billions, what should have been on the G20 agenda and trade mispricing – the tricks of the corruption trade.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/83233
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NIGERIA: NIGERIA AND THE 4TH REPUBLIC
In this podcast, Africa Today talks with Dr. Peter Lewis of the Center for Strategic International Studies at John Hopkins University on contemporary politics in Nigeria and the 4th Republic.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/83231
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SOUTH AFRICA: LAND REFORM AND THE CONSTITUTION
Ben Cousins, co-author of ‘Land, Power & Custom: Controversies generated by South Africa’s Communal Land Rights Act’ and Research Chair at the Institute for Poverty Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at UWC, recently talked with Talk Radio 702 about the difficulties surrounding land distribution. He stated that the fair distribution of land was an enormously complex issue, but that there was no need to change the Constitution in order to distribute land. You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the link provided.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/83441
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SUDAN: HISTORY, POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS, AND CURRENT AFFAIRS
In this podcast, Africa Today interviews Nisrin Elamin and Natalina Malwal on history, political developments, and current affairs in the country of Sudan. Nisirin Elamin is a Sudanese educator and activist and Natalina Malwal is the President of the South Sudanese Community organization.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/podcasts/83456
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2 Zimbabwe update
ZIMBABWE: DIAMONDS FUND PARALLEL GOVERNMENT
A new report from Global Witness reveals that Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) appears to have received off budget financing from a Hong Kong-based businessman as the CIO and other security agencies continue to prepare to influence elections due to take place sometime in 2013, reports the latest issue of the AfricaFocus Bulletin, which contains a press release on the report from Global Witness, the Executive Summary of the report, and selected additional excerpts.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/zimbabwe/83461
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3 African Union Monitor
AFRICA: COUNTRIES STEP UP CAMPAIGNS AHEAD OF AU ELECTIONS
The battle for supremacy between Nigeria and South Africa and an attempt by France to play a bigger role in African issues, are likely to influence who becomes the next head of the African Union Commission in this week’s polls. There is a growing competition between Nigeria and South Africa for the control of the continent’s economic and political scene after South Africa offered the candidature of Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, contrary to the unwritten rule that big economies should stay away from the leadership.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/aumonitor/83490
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4 Women & gender
GLOBAL: LESSONS LEARNED ON LAND AND WOMEN’S LEGAL EMPOWERMENT
In 2010 and 2011, the International Land Coalition (ILC) supported five community-based projects promoting the legal empowerment of rural women. Projects piloted innovative ways to enhance women’s land rights, but also identified models for replication and scaling up. Activities included raising women’s legal awareness through grassroots mobilisation, community trainings, and consultations and the provision of paralegal services, with the aim of improving women’s ability to use legal and administrative processes and structures to gain or maintain land rights and to benefit from them. This briefing note captures lessons learned from these five projects and from the learning exchanges.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/83442
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MOROCCO: CAMPAIGN LINKS YOUTH VEILING WITH CHILD ABUSE
An ambitious new Morocco campaign launched by a women’s rights organization has argued that the veiling of young girls in the country is a form of ‘child abuse’. The Center for Women’s Equality announced the new campaign, with the slogan ‘So that girls won’t live in eternal darkness’ with the goal of battling against the forcing of young girls between three- and 10-years-old to veil. In a statement published by local media, the center called upon all human rights organizations as well as legislative bodies to join this campaign against what they termed ‘a flagrant violation of innocence and childhood’.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/83249
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SUDAN: IN SUDAN, WOMEN SET THE SPARK
The women of Sudan have had enough, says this post from blog Africa is a Country, about the protests in Sudan. ‘What started as a protest by a small group of women escalated, by the following Friday, into a sandstorm, which has continued to today. That includes protests, crackdowns, arrests and disappearances, State violence. And the women keep on keeping on.’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/83312
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5 Human rights
BURKINA FASO: LAWYER VOWS TO PURSUE SANKARA’S KILLERS
The lawyer for the family of slain Burkinabe president Thomas Sankara says he has ‘irrevocable evidence’ of those who assassinated the late charismatic leader. Mr Benewende Sankara made the statement in Ouagadougou where he reapeted the call for Burkina Faso’s defence minister to order the launch of legal procedures in the matter. On Thursday, a superior court in Ouagadougou said the assassination case filed by the slain leader’s wife Mariam Sankara and their son could be prosecuted under local laws.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83330
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EGYPT: MORSI ORDERS REVIEW OF DETAINED PROTESTERS CASES
Egypt’s first democratically-elected President, Mohamed Morsi has ordered the formation of a commission to review the cases of the people arrested following last year’s popular revolution. The commission is going to be made up of members of the military and the Interior Ministry as well as a general prosecutor, the country’s official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. It quoted Morsi as saying ‘this commission should be formed as soon as possible to release all who were proved not involved in any criminal cases’.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83243
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GLOBAL: TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY
This briefing from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre provides an overview of corporate legal accountability for human rights, summarising trends and developments in this field. The goal is to help a wide audience understand what is happening in different parts of the world.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83484
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KENYA: RESEARCH PROGRAMME ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATION
The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme is facing discrimination charges brought by six former employees. The group, dubbed the KEMRI six, are accusing the programme of exploiting African employees, impeding their career development, and giving preferential treatment and pay to researchers from developed countries. They also allege their work was stolen and given to researchers from developed countries. Many consider the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme to be a model North-South partnership, praising its substantial support of African researchers. But others criticise what they perceive to be a failure to promote African scientists, or to involve them in setting research agendas. According to scientists in Africa and Europe, partnerships between rich and poor nations often generate tensions.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83439
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MALI: ECOWAS CALL ON ICC OVER ‘WAR CRIMES’
Six west African leaders have called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate ‘war crimes’ in northern Mali, in a statement issued at the end of a summit on the crisis there. Over the past week, armed Islamist fighters have descended on cemeteries holding the remains of Timbuktu’s Sufi saints, systematically destroying its six most famous tombs, in actions decribed by the ICC as possible war crimes.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83447
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MOROCOO: CONDEMNATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS HARASSMENT
The Arabic Network of Human Rights Institutions has expressed its extreme indignation over the increase of the harassment of journalists, bloggers and activists in Morocco. This comes after the arrest of the blogger ‘Hasan Barhon’. In addition, they cite threats and assault against ‘Ahmed El-Merini’, as well as the arranged robbery of the activist ‘Mohamed El-Morabt’.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83309
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SOUTH AFRICA: DEMAND FOR BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI PRODUCTS
South African newspaper City Press reports that the ANC policy conference recommended the boycott of Israeli products as one of its planks to support the Palestinian freedom struggle. ‘This is a significant policy shift in its relationship with Israel. At the policy conference the ANC delegates cheered the action by Minister Rob Davies to ensure that products from illegal Israeli settlements are re-labelled,’ comments the blog Writing Rights.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83324
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SUDAN: CALL TO RELEASE ARRESTED PROTESTORS
Human rights organisations in Sudan are calling on the government to release more than 1000 protestors reportedly arrested in the last two weeks over strikes which started on 16 June. The protests have been going on in the capital Khartoum and other regional towns, were triggered by the government’s cut on fuel subsidies but generally they are due to economic hardships. Using tear gas and rubber bullets Sudan’s anti-riot police units and plain clothed security agents of the National intelligence and Security Services (NISS) engaged in running battles with protestors arresting some in the process.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83331
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UGANDA: SPACE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY SHRINKING IN UGANDA SAY NATIONAL AND GLOBAL CSOS
Civil society space in Uganda is rapidly shrinking, warn global network CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and Uganda-based East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP). Independent civil society organisations are being openly threatened and placed under excessive scrutiny by senior government officials. For example, on 18 June, a skills-building workshop for LGBTI human rights defenders organised by EHAHRDP was closed abruptly after police raided the training venue.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/83241
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6 Refugees & forced migration
GLOBAL: GROUNDBREAKING REPORT FINDS WIDESPREAD FAILURE TO PROTECT LGBT REFUGEES
A survey of international refugee assistance organizations has found widespread failures to protect Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) refugees. As increasing numbers of refugees flee persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM) and Indiana University sociologists have released the first ever survey of attitudes of the international refugee assistance non-governmental organizations (NGOs) serving asylum seekers and refugees worldwide.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83239
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GLOBAL: THE REFUGEE MAP OF THE WORLD
There were 800,000 new refugees in the world in 2011, according to the latest data out this week from the UNHCR. 2011 is a record year for forced displacement, with more people becoming refugees than at any time since 2000. This online map provides an excellent data visualization tool for patterns of displacement globally.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83235
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KENYA: REFUGEE TURNS WEB DESIGNER IN WORLD’S LARGEST CAMP
Meet Mohammed aged 22. He has never left Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee complex, but that hasn’t stopped him learning how to create and host websites, set up a small business and teach others how to use computers. When he isn’t out interviewing people for a local newspaper produced in the camp, Mohammed can usually be found in the Hag youth ICT laboratory, tucked away in a discreet corner of Ifo2 camp, an extension of Hagadera, one of the three camps that make up the sprawling Dadaab complex.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83436
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SOUTH SUDAN: ISRAEL DEPORTS 190 MORE ASYLUM SEEKERS
Israel deported 190 South Sudanese illegal migrants on Tuesday 3 July, raising the number of deportees from the Jewish state to the Africa’s newest nation to 317 since mid-June. The migrants landed at Juba international airport, where they were received by relatives and South Sudan government officials.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/refugees/83329
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7 Social movements
AFRICA: MOTIVATIONS FOR SLUM DWELLER SOCIAL MOVEMENT PARTICIPATION
This paper examines what motivates the participation of African slum dwellers in urban social movement activities, through a case study of grassroots mobilisation around evictions in Kurasini ward, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The study shows that, contrary to the expectations of movement leaders, property owners were significantly more likely than renters to participate in a risky and time-consuming mobilisation effort. The study identifies three factors that favoured owner participation: the nature of expected payoffs from participation; greater belief in their efficacy of action; and greater connection to place.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/socialmovements/83334
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8 Africa labour news
GLOBAL: GROWING GAPS IN DECENT WORK FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Across regions, young people are disproportionately affected by unemployment, underemployment, vulnerable employment and working poverty, says this article from the UN Focal Point on Youth, which looks at youth unemployment in the aftermath of the financial crisis. ‘Even during periods of economic growth, many economies have been unable to absorb large youth populations into the labour market. In recent years, however, the global financial and economic crisis has further hit young people particularly hard in the developed world.’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/labour/83466
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SWAZILAND: GOVERNMENT FAILS TO JAIL STRIKE LEADERS
The Industrial Court in Swaziland has refused to allow the government to jail the entire executive of the teachers’ union for leading a pay strike. The Swazi Government had previously gained an order at the same court outlawing a strike over a 4.5 per cent pay claim. But, some members of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) went ahead with the indefinite strike. For the past week the strikers have been visiting schools where some teachers continue to work to persuade them to join the strike.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/labour/83246
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9 Elections & governance
AFRICA: THE FAILED INDEX FROM HELL
Blog Africa is a Country takes issue with the Failed States Index, published by Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace. ‘This year, pro forma, almost the entire African continent shows up on the Failed States map in the guiltiest shade of red. The accusation is that with a handful of exceptions, African states are failing in 2012. But what does this tell us? What does it actually mean? Frankly, we have no idea.’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83311
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ALGERIA: 50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE MARKED
Algerians celebrated with unprecedented enthusiasm on Wednesday (July 4th) the eve of the nation’s 50th independence day. The country’s 48 wilayas joined together with concerts, parades and processions that punctuated a long, emotionally-charged evening that remembered the 1962 break from 132 years of French rule.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83452
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ANGOLA: CONCERNS OVER POLL PREPARATIONS
Preparations for Angola’s second peacetime polls scheduled for August are being overshadowed by allegations of electoral fraud, state media bias and growing concerns about a violent crackdown on activists and protestors. Human Rights Watch has criticised the government for its heavy-handed response to street demonstrations by former soldiers demanding unpaid military pensions, and the lobby group said that it was worried about a series of violent attacks on youth groups known for their criticism of the government. ‘The recent spate of serious abuses against protesters is an alarming sign that Angola’s government will not tolerate peaceful dissent,’ said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83451
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ANGOLA: COURT REJECTS 18 PARTIES AHEAD OF ELECTIONS
Only nine Angolan parties and coalitions of the 27 that put themselves forward will be permitted to battle it out in upcoming parliamentary elections. ‘The Constitutional Court found in favour of nine political bodies, of which five political parties and four coalitions,’ the oil-rich nation’s top constitutional authority said. The body, which has to okay parties ahead of the polls, considered applications of 27 political bodies, but rejected 18. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and main opposition National Union for the Independence of Angola (Unita), as well as three other parties, were cleared to take part.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83310
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EGYPT: PRESIDENT REVERSES PARLIAMENT DISSOLUTION
Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsy has ordered parliament to reconvene, a month after it was dissolved. Mr Morsy, whose Muslim Brotherhood won most seats, said the chamber should reconvene until a new election is held. The military had enforced a court order last month dissolving parliament because party members had contested seats reserved for independents.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83476
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LIBYA: LIBERALS CLAIM EARLY ELECTION LEAD
A major liberal party in Libya has claimed an early lead in the first free election since the toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi, a vote that will choose the assembly tasked with writing the country’s new constitution. Early reports on Sunday showed that the National Forces Alliance (NFA), a coalition led by former prime minister Mahmoud Jibril, is leading the polls, said Faisal Krekshi, the coalition’s secretary general. Jibril, who played a prominent role as rebel prime minister during the popular revolt that toppled Gaddafi last year, resigned his position in October.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83449
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LIBYA: PROTESTERS STORM ELECTION COMMISSION OFFICE IN BENGHAZI
Hundreds of Libyan protesters demanding greater autonomy for the country’s east have stormed the election commission building in the city of Benghazi, setting materials on fire. Chanting slogans in support of federalism on Sunday, the angry protesters, some of whom were armed, occupied the election commission office in the eastern city, took computers and ballot boxes out of the building and began crushing them.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83244
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SUDAN: OPPOSITION POLITICIAN KAMEL OMAR ARRESTED
A prominent Sudanese opposition politician has been arrested, amid growing unrest over economic hardship. Kamel Omar was taken from his home by unknown men who showed no warrant, a spokesman of his party said. A government official said he was held for alleged links to Darfur rebels, as well as to the recent protests.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83470
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SUDAN: TEAR GAS FIRED AT UNIVERSITY DEMO
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas on Sunday after demonstrations broke out at the University of Khartoum, where nationwide protests against high prices began last month, a witness said. The university is where an unprecedented three weeks of national protests began on June 16, when students first voiced their opposition to high food prices.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/elections/83474
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10 Corruption
KENYA: KENYA LOOKING ABROAD FOR STOLEN CASH, SEEKS COOPERATION
Kenya has asked several countries to help it recover corrupt cash stashed in overseas accounts, but not all have agreed, the east African country’s top legal adviser said. Corruption has blighted the image of east Africa’s biggest economy for decades and many Kenyans view efforts to stamp it out as bogus and ineffective. Githu Muigai, Kenya’s attorney general, said four territories had agreed to cooperate – Switzerland, Japan, the United Kingdom and Jersey, a British dependency known for its offshore banking.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/corruption/83335
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11 Development
AFRICA: REPORT SAYS SOUTHERN AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IS NOT INTEGRATED
A new report by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) says while the linkages between the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development are well understood within Southern Africa, the subregion has not adopted an integrated approach to development. The report, ‘Progress towards sustainable development in Southern Africa’ prepared with the assistance of the African Development Bank, and circulated at the ongoing Rio+20 conference, says that for this reason, the ‘inter-linkages between the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development are fundamentally not being achieved’.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83232
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EAST AFRICA: NATURAL RESOURCES SCRAMBLE THREATENS MINORITIES, SAYS REPORT
The way of life of minorities and indigenous communities in East and Horn of Africa is under threat as governments and investors expand natural resource extraction on their lands, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) says in its 2012 annual report. ‘State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2012‘ documents the scale and severity of the impact on minorities of an unprecedented competition for scarce resources, prompted by the prolonged drought that wreaked havoc in the region and the knock-on effects of the global economic downturn.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83236
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GLOBAL: IMF PROVIDING ‘POLITICAL COVER’ ON EUROZONE MELTDOWN
As European elections show the public increasingly rejecting austerity, critics call on the IMF to focus on the flaws of the eurozone rather than austerity in country programmes. Throughout the past months the prolonged recession in parts of Europe saw unemployment reach record highs and output stall, with concerns that austerity is hindering growth and the prospects to achieve fiscal and debt targets.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83467
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GLOBAL: SHIELDS AND SWORDS
Legal tools for public water
Using or creating a new law is only the first step in what must be a longer political struggle to provide genuinely democratic forms of public water provision. As such, legal campaigns must also strive toward building frameworks for regulating, maintaining and monitoring progressive management of services after they become public. In addition, dedicated and committed activism is more critical to the success of campaigns than the legal tools themselves. These are two of the findings of a paper from the Municipal Services Project which examines how effective legal strategies have been in activism against the privatisation of water.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83328
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GLOBAL: THE WORLD BANK, CHANGED ACTIONS OR RHETORIC?
The World Bank, an institution set up to provide loans to developing countries and reduce global poverty, is often criticised in development circles. Much of this is directed at its failed structural adjustment programmes in the late-1980s which broke a trend of state-led development and introduced a market liberal approach. Questions remain about the bank’s approach. Think Africa Press spoke to former World Bank President Robert Zoellick – replaced by Jim Yong Kim – and Peter Chowla of the Bretton Woods Project, an institution which aims to challenge the power of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund while opening the policymaking space and promoting alternative approaches.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83327
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NAMIBIA: SOUTH AFRICA STIFLES LOCAL DAIRY INDUSTRY
Namibia Dairies, a subsidiary of the Ohlthaver and List Group, loses up to N$20 million a year due to South African predatory pricing practices, while the production of Namibian cheese has already been halted, because the market has been killed by South African products. This was revealed by the Managing Director of Namibia Dairies, Hubertus Hamm, during a visit by Botswana President Lieutenant-General Seretse Khama Ian Khama to the dairy Super Farm at Mariental.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/development/83228
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12 Health & HIV/AIDS
GHANA: REJECT WORLD BANK HEALTH REPORT, SAY NGOS
A coalition of local and international non-governmental organisations in health in Ghana, is asking the government to reject World Bank’s proposal to adopt cost-sharing to sustain its National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which has been operational since 2003. In its January report titled: ‘Health Financing in Ghana at a Crossroads’, the World Bank said Ghana’s NHIS basic benefit package was financially unsustainable and, therefore, the government must consider cost-sharing. The coalition, which has been at the forefront of the promoting free universal access to health care in the country, said on Wednesday that it did not agree with the World Bank’s suggestion, especially when it acknowledges that government expenditure on health is low.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83475
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GLOBAL: CRIMINALIZATION OF DRUG USE FUELLING HIV
The war against drugs is hurting the fight against HIV, according to a new report by the Global Commission on Drug policy, an international panel that advocates science-based strategies to reduce the harm caused by drugs. ‘The public health implications of HIV treatment disruptions resulting from drug law enforcement tactics have not been appropriately recognized as a major impediment to efforts to control the global HIV/AIDS pandemic,’ the authors said. ‘The war on drugs has also led to a policy distortion, whereby evidence-based addiction treatment and public health measures have been downplayed or ignored.’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83433
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GLOBAL: MORE MILK AND MEAT AT A HEALTHY PRICE
Only 13 diseases or infections transmitted from animals to humans like tuberculosis (TB) and Rift Valley fever, are responsible for around 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths per year, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. In the least developed countries, 20 per cent of human sickness and death was due to zoonoses – diseases that had recently jumped species from animals to people – according to a new study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Nairobi, Kenya, the Institute of Zoology in Britain, and the Hanoi School of Public Health in Vietnam. The World Health Organization (WHO) has noted that at least 61 per cent of all human diseases, and 75 per cent of emerging infectious diseases, are zoonotic or caused by a bacterium, virus, fungus or other communicable disease agent picked up from an animal source.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83435
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NIGERIA: BRIDGING THE NORTH-SOUTH MATERNAL DEATH DIVIDE
Nigeria’s health services halved the maternal mortality rate between 1990 and 2010, but in parts of the predominantly Muslim north, which is less socio-economically advanced, women are 10 times more likely to die in childbirth than in the oil-rich, predominantly Christian south. Maternal health personnel are calling for more appropriate interventions to bridge the gap. Reasons for the divide mirror those in many West African states: too few referral facilities and health practitioners – especially midwives – and inadequate antenatal equipment; too few clinics and poor roads that make accessing clinics difficult and expensive; poverty and cultural barriers to visiting hospitals.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83434
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SOUTH AFRICA: PHC SUCCESS RELIES ON CHWS BEING ABLE TO DO MORE
South Africa needs to urgently look to countries such as Rwanda, Thailand and Brazil, where they have employed community health workers (CHWs) to deliver a range of primary health care services that dramatically reduced mortality, public health expert Professor David Sanders told the National Health Assembly (NHA). Speaking during a plenary session, Sanders said by extending the scope of what CHWs could do and by supporting properly selected and trained individuals, the country could make a very real impact on maternal and child mortality.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83464
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SOUTH AFRICA: TEN YEARS LATER, A JUDGMENT THAT SAVED A MILLION LIVES
HIV care and treatment has come a long way in the past decade, write Brian Honermann and Mark Heywood in this opinion piece marking 10 years since South Africa’s Constitutional Court upheld the constitutional right of all HIV positive pregnant women to access health care services to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). ‘In 2002, an HIV positive mother would pass on HIV to her baby about 30% of the time. With access to Nevirapine the transmission rate was cut in half. Now, with better drug regimens being used, transmission of HIV from mothers to babies happens in only about 4% of cases during or shortly after birth.’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83465
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SOUTH SUDAN: DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR HEALTH CARE IN WORLD’S NEWEST NATION
One year after South Sudan declared independence, many humanitarian needs remain unmet. Communities lack access to basic health-care services. The situation is particularly difficult in northern regions close to the border with Sudan. Recent fighting in this area has had a direct impact on the availability and price of food, contributing to an increase in child deaths from malnutrition. ‘In Malakal Teaching Hospital, there has been a dramatic rise in child malnutrition admissions over the past three months, since fighting escalated,’ said Melker Mabeck, the head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in South Sudan.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/83443
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13 Education
LIBERIA: NO POLICY FOR PREGNANT SCHOOL GIRLS
Liberian education law is silent on what should happen to girls who get pregnant while enrolled. Pregnancy and subsequently dropping out of school is just one of many problems limiting access to education for girls in Liberia. Girls in the rural areas have even more obstacles in their paths. Traditional practices along with a lack of schools and financial support are some of the challenges they must overcome.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/education/83454
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SOUTH AFRICA: DYSFUNCTIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM KEEPS APARTHEID ALIVE, SAYS VAVI
Apartheid will not end and black people will not have real freedom until free and high quality education becomes a reality, says Zwelinzima Vavi. ‘Education is certainly not free and equal for all, we have huge inequalities in our education provision,’ Cosatu’s general secretary said on Sunday. Vavi was speaking at the opening of the Equal Education national summit.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/education/83489
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SOUTH AFRICA: TEXTBOOK CRISIS STATEMENT WELCOMED
The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) has welcomed the news that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) will work closely with Section27 to resolve the text book crisis in Limpopo and that they have indicated that they intend meeting with civil society. This was revealed in a joint statement by Section27 and the DBE on Thursday 28 June 2012. Sarah Sephton, the LRC’s director in Grahamstown said the LRC has not had any response from the Minister of Basic Education’s office on the non-delivery of workbooks in the Eastern Cape and urged the Minister to adopt a similar approach to this issue as she has taken to the text books.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/education/83339
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TANZANIA: THREE EXPERIMENTS TO IMPROVE LEARNING
Twaweza has developed a draft note, ‘Three Experiments to Improve Learning Outcomes: Delivering capitation grants better and testing local cash on delivery,’ on incentivizing learning in schools. The basic idea involves paying a set amount for every child that achieves proficiency in early grade literacy and numeracy, and to contrast it with an input based incentive such as the capitation grant. A set of randomized control trials (RCTs) will be used to rigorously measure impact. The idea has been developed in consultation with the Center for Global Development, the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL) at MIT, the Tanzania government, local Members of Parliament and the teachers’ trade union.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/education/83336
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14 LGBTI
GLOBAL: REGISTER GAY GROUPS; ALLOW FREE ASSEMBLY, URGES MAINA KIAI
Maina Kiai, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association has said that gays should be free to assemble and associate saying ‘such rights are essential components of democracy.’ ‘It is astonishing how often States have encroached upon the right of individuals to assemble peacefully by also violating their rights to life and to be free from torture, rights which allow no limitation, Kiai said during the presentation of his annual report to the UN Human Rights Council, in which he makes a number of recommendations to establish minimum standards to protect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/lgbti/83238
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GLOBAL: SOUTH AFRICA AND BRAZIL DEMAND UN ACTION ON GAY RIGHTS
United Nations ambassadors for South Africa and Brazil have demanded more action and discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity as part as universal human rights standards, and to combat hate crimes. The Ambassador of South Africa to the United Nations, on behalf of his country and Brazil, delivered a statement on 2 July to the United Nations Humans Rights Council, saying that LGBT rights are part of the Universal standard of Human Rights, and demanding action against discrimination and hate crimes.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/lgbti/83471
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UGANDA: CASE AGAINST CABINET MINISTER OPENS
A high court judge in Uganda, Justice Eldad Mwangushya has said security agencies should ‘infiltrate’ gay rights groups to ascertain if children are ‘recruited into homosexuality’. The judge made in Kampala at the beginning of the hearing of a case brought by gay activists against the government and Ethics and Integrity Minister for forcing the closure of a gay rights workshop in February this year.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/lgbti/83444
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15 Environment
GLOBAL: REFLECTIONS ON RIO+20
The Climate Connections blog has a variety of photographs from the just-held Rio+20 Conference and Peoples’ Summit in Brazil. Visit their blog to have a look.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/83237
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GLOBAL: RIO+20 ‘DISAPPOINTING TO MANY’
The Rio+20 summit from 13 to 22 June was disappointing to many, but it could still succeed through the mandated follow-up actions on a high-level political forum, sustainable development goals, finance and technology, says The South Centre, which gives an in-depth assessment in its latest bulletin. Individual articles include: – The Rio+20 Summit and its Follow Up – Rio+20: Summit Adopts Text, Ends With Positive Speeches – Rio+20: An Inside View on the Tough Fight Over Means of Implementation (Finance and Technology) – Sustainable Development As An Answer To Economic And Financial Crises – Food Issues in the Rio+20 Spotlight – ‘It’s Not Fair to Require Emerging Countries to Contribute As Much As Rich Countries,’ Says South Centre – Indian PM‘s Speech at Rio+20 – Chinese PM‘s Speech at Rio+20 – South Centre Seminar in Rio on World Economy
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/83469
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KENYA: THE CONTROVERSIAL JATROPHA STUMBLES IN KENYA
A campaign by Nature Kenya and other Environmental Justice Organizations (EJOs) has saved the Dakatcha Woodland Important Bird Area (IBA) from destruction from biofuel crops after Kenya’s National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) rejected clearance for a pilot project on over 10,000 ha of land, reports Africa Report.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/83332
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KENYA: UNESCO REJECTS DANGER LISTING FOR LAKE TURKANA
A United Nations agency seeking to safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage has rejected its advisors’ call to include Lake Turkana on a list of endangered sites. The decision is a blow to Kenyan activists who have been fighting construction of a dam planned for a river in Ethiopia that feeds Lake Turkana.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/environment/83457
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16 Land & land rights
AFRICA: AGRICULTURAL LAND GRABS REMAIN ABOVE PRE-2005 LEVELS
About 70.2 million hectares of agricultural land worldwide have been sold or leased to private and public investors since 2000, according to this article from the Worldwatch Institute. The bulk of these acquisitions, which are called ‘land grabs’ by some observers, took place between 2008 and 2010, peaking in 2009. Although data for 2010 indicate that the amount of acquisitions dropped considerably after the 2009 peak, it still remains well above pre-2005 level. Africa has seen the greatest share of land involved in these acquisitions, with 34.3 million hectares sold or leased since 2000.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/land/83333
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CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE: CHANGING CLIMATE AFFECTS FARMERS ON THE CONGOLESE COAST
Mireille Mbouaki farms in the village of Mboubissi, sixty kilometres southeast of Pointe-Noire, capital city of the Congolese department of Kouilou. This year the rains have been poor and irregular. Ms. Mbouaki is very worried. She has good reason to worry. In many coastal towns, cassava plants are suffering. Leaves are wrinkled and shriveled, plants are stunted, and roots are rotting. The changing climate has not been kind to Congolese farmers.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/land/83325
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GLOBAL: THE EU AND THE GLOBAL LAND GRAB
This Fact Sheet highlights the involvement of the EU in the global land grab, both directly through the involvement of European capital and corporations in the acquisition of land and indirectly, through the suite of EU policies which are transforming land into a global commodity. It concludes with a number of concrete demands and proposals for the EU to end its collusion in the global land grab and align with international human rights law, especially the Right to Food.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/land/83472
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GLOBAL: US FARMERS CONTINUE TO FIGHT MONSANTO’S ‘SEED POLICE’
Seventy-five US family farmers, seed businesses and agricultural organizations representing more than 300,000 individuals and 4,500 farms filed a brief on July 5 with the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. asking the appellate court to reverse a lower court’s decision from February dismissing their protective legal action against agricultural giant Monsanto’s patents on genetically engineered seed. The plaintiffs brought the preemptive case against Monsanto in March 2011 in the Southern District of New York and specifically seek to defend themselves from nearly two dozen of Monsanto’s most aggressively asserted patents on genetically modified organism (GMO) seed. They were forced to act preemptively to protect themselves from Monsanto’s abusive lawsuits, fearing that if GMO seed contaminated their property despite their efforts to prevent such contamination, Monsanto would sue them for patent infringement.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/land/83462
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UGANDA: THUGS ATTACK BULIISA VILLAGERS WHO SAY THEIR LAND WAS STOLEN
Months after the central government tried to quell land speculation in oil-rich Bunyoro by suspending the issue of new land titles, Oil in Uganda visited Kasenyi, on the north eastern shores of Lake Albert, and unearthed a tale of double-dealing and thuggery seemingly abetted by district leaders and security officials. Eriakimi Kaseegu, the Kasenyi Local Council One Chairman, revealed that community land-including the plot where Tullow Oil’s Kasemene 3 well is located-was fraudulently sold by ‘outsiders’ and that the community’s efforts to investigate the sale were met with violence and arbitrary arrests.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/land/83242
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17 Food Justice
GLOBAL: NEW REPORT ON THE DANGERS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS
A new study from Earth Open Source called ‘GMO Myths and Truths’ – authored by two well known genetic engineers with help from an investigative reporter – conducted an exhaustive survey of hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies. The report concluded not only that GM food crops pose significant, if largely under-evaluated, health risks, but that they have so far failed to deliver on their promise to increase crop yields and lower herbicide and pesticide use.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/food/83463
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18 Media & freedom of expression
DRC: COMMUNITY RADIO JOURNALIST DETAINED
Journaliste en Danger (JED) says it is outraged by the prolonged and illegal detention of Bruno Kabwe, interim director of Radio Parec, a community radio station based in Kalemie, in Katanga province, on the orders of a colonel of the armed forces (FARDC). According to information obtained by JED, Bruno Kabwe was arrested on 22 June 2012 and was immediately taken into custody at the headquarters of the 61st Brigade. He remains in detention and is prevented from having visitors. Kabwe is accused of having made ‘rude’ comments about Jean-Marie Izumbu, the colonel in question and the commander of the 61st Brigade of the FARDC.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83430
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EAST AFRICA: HIGH-TECH CENSORSHIP ON THE RISE
Ethiopia has always been a country at the cutting edge of Internet censorship in Africa. In the wake of violence after the 2005 elections, when other states were only beginning to recognize the potential for online reporters to bypass traditional pressures, Meles Zenawi’s regime was already blocking major news sites and blog hosts such as blogspot.com. Some sites and Web addresses have been blocked for their reporting ever since, including exiled media like Addis Neger Online and Awramba Times.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83240
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EGYPT: ACTIVISTS, MEDIA TO PROTEST TORTURED JOURNALISTS TAKEN TO COURT BY MILITARY
Liberal Egypt news website al-Badil recently called on journalists and human rights activists to join them in a protest outside the Press Syndicate in Cairo after two of its reporters who were assaulted by security forces and military police during recent clashes, were taken to court by police, who are accusing them of participating in the violence. Islam Abu el-Ezz and Ahmed Ramadan were arrested while covering the development of the violent clashes and attacks on protesters in the populated area of Abbassiya last April.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83248
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EGYPT: RULING AGAINST FILMMAKER CONDEMNED
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information ANHRI has condemned a 4 July 2012 ruling issued by the Helwan Misdemeanor Court sentencing Ashraf Nabil and his assistant, Ahmed Helmy Abdulsamd, to six-month suspended prison terms, as well as a fine of EGP 200 (approx. US$33). In early June, Nabil and Helmy were in Helwan filming a short movie about election bribery, entitled ‘Do not Sell’, when they were attacked by supporters of former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik. They were then detained by members of Shafik’s campaign team and taken to the Helwan police station.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83429
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GAMBIA: DETAINED EDITOR CONVICTED OF CONTEMPT OF COURT, RELEASED AFTER PAYING HEAVY FINE
Abdul Hamid Adiamoh, managing editor of Today, a privately-owned newspaper, was on 28 June released by the Banjul Magistrates’ Court. Before his release, he had been in detention for eight days without charge. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Adiamoh paid an outrageous fine of 100,000 Dalasis (about US$ 3,142) before he was released.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83326
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SOUTH SUDAN: CIVIL LIBERTIES AND THE WORLD’S YOUNGEST COUNTRY
Reporters Without Borders has releasing a report – in English, French and Arabic – on the state of freedom of information in South Sudan, which will celebrate the first anniversary of its independence on 9 July. The product of a visit to the South Sudanese capital of Juba from 9 to 15 May, it says that the divorce with Khartoum is not entirely consummated and that independence has brought no significant improvement in media freedom. It looks at the media war being waged by the two Sudans and highlights the impact of the ubiquitous, heavy-handed security forces.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83437
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SOUTHERN AFRICA: MISA LAUNCHES ANNUAL MEDIA FREEDOM REPORT
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has launched its annual state of media freedom report, ‘So This is Democracy?’ The current edition documents numerous media freedom and freedom of expression violations that MISA recorded in Southern Africa during the course of 2011. Most of the country reports in the 2011 edition note that the existence of archaic laws is fundamentally threatening media freedom as such laws are open to abuse, based on level of interpretation.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83431
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TOGO: ATTACK ON JOURNALIST CONDEMNED
Media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has condemned an attack on a Togolese journalist who was covering a demonstration in the West Afrian state and called on authorities to immediately investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice. Atayi Ayi, a reporter for the daily Forum de la Semaine, was taking photographs of a protest in Lome, the capital, when two groups of unidentified demonstrators beat him and seized his camera, CPJ said in a statement.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/media/83468
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19 Social welfare
BURKINA FASO: CHILDREN TOIL IN GOLD MINES
Burkina Faso is enjoying something akin to a gold rush. The precious metal generates a huge amount of money for the government, but there is a downside to the boom. Of the thousands taking up work in illegal gold mines, many are children, often opting out of school to enjoy the meagre gains earned at mine pits.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/welfare/83448
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GHANA: MOVE TO END CHILD LABOUR
One in three children in Ghana are engaged in child labor, which is increasing in Africa. Ghana’s government, international organizations and local associations used the recent World Day Against Child Labor to pledge their commitment to getting children out of the workplace and into the classroom, reports Global Press Institute.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/welfare/83247
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20 Conflict & emergencies
AFRICA: AU SECURITY PANEL DISCUSS AFRICAN TERROR STRATEGY
The 9th session of the African Commission for Intelligence and Security Services (CISSA) concluded 27 June in Algiers with plans to further co-ordinate counter-terrorism initiatives across the continent. Government officials and security experts took part in the two-day closed session, which aimed to find solutions to the volatile situation in Mali, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) encroachment into the Sahel-Saharan region and other security threats. The annual meetings provide the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council with necessary information to draft African policy, preserve peace and settle disputes.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83323
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AFRICA: UNION TARGETS MINING GIANT RIO TINTO IN AFRICA
One week after its creation, IndustriALL Global Union announced its intention to shine a light on Rio Tinto’s unethical behavior around the world, starting with the release of a report on the company’s operations in Africa. Speaking to journalists at the Foreign Press Association in London, the newly elected General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union Jyrki Raina said, ‘Rio Tinto’s operations in Africa are a story of displaced communities, broken promises, cozy arrangements with local dictators and the oppression of union involvement.’
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83482
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DRC: ‘CONFLICT GOLD’ TRADE CONTINUES IN FACE OF US LAW
Gold traders in the eastern Congo district of Ituri have heard of the Dodd-Frank act, or ‘Obama’s law’ as it’s known here, but don’t see why it’s got anything to do with them, reports Reuters. The legislation, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, puts the onus of proof on end-users. But while it has sent shockwaves through the global gold industry, the fractured and opaque nature of the gold supply chain means it has yet to have an impact where it counts – on the ground.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83245
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DRC: REBELS SEIZE TOWNS IN EAST
Rebels from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have taken control of three towns in the country’s eastern North Kivu province, a spokesperson for the group has said. The rebels, known as the M23 movement, had taken Rutshuru and the towns of Ntamugenga and Rubare, less than 10km away, on the road to the provincial capital Goma, by midday (local time) on Sunday. The rebels said they did not face any opposition from the FARDC, the DRC’s national army.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83445
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ETHIOPIA: SUDAN AND SOUTH SUDAN IN VERBAL PEACE PLEDGE
Sudan and South Sudan have pledged to cease hostilities along their disputed oil-rich border, but stopped short of actually signing an agreement, officials have said. The verbal agreement on Saturday came as the latest round of talks closed in the Ethiopian capital ahead of celebrations on Monday to mark one year of independence for South Sudan.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83446
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MALI: REGIONAL MOVES TO SHIELD MALI NORTH FROM ISLAMIC FIGHTERS
The international community on Tuesday 3 July weighed options to help embattled Mali save its north from Islamist fighters who have smashed ancient shrines in Timbuktu and rigged another city with landmines. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc says it has 3,300 troops ready to enter Mali, whose vast north has been occupied by armed rebels for three months after a 22 March coup plunged the nation into chaos.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83337
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NIGERIA: GUNMEN ATTACK CENTRAL NIGERIAN VILLAGES
Gunmen killed several people in an attack on two Christian villages in central Nigeria’s Plateau State early Saturday, officials said. Although police and army spokesmen could not give an exact toll, one politician said at least 23 people had been killed and blamed Muslim herdsmen for the attacks.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83477
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RWANDA: UN REPORT LINKS RWANDA TO CONGOLESE VIOLENCE
After weeks of delay, the United Nations released its full annex by the UN Security Council condemning the Rwandan government for its support of Congolese rebels. The 48-page annex, which was leaked partially last week, claims that the Rwandan government was instrumental in the militarisation of M23, a mutinous movement that is allegedly led by, among others, Bosco Ntaganda, a military official wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes relating to the recruitment and use of child soldiers.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83453
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SOMALIA: FIGHTING DISPLACES THOUSANDS IN MIDDLE SHABELLE
Hundreds of families from villages in Somalia’s Bal’ad District, in Middle Shabelle Region, have been displaced following recent fighting between African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces and Al-Shabab insurgents, say officials. ‘Our settlements are now the front line between the AMISOM/TFG alliance forces and Al-Shabab and we don’t know where to go,’ Hussein Mayow, a father of six, told IRIN. The displacement followed 25 June clashes in Bal’ad, about 40km northwest of Mogadishu, with the worst affected areas being the villages of Wala-Moy and Hamar-Daye, said an official with the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Youth and Sport, who preferred anonymity.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83432
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SUDAN: GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF DOUBLE STANDARDS
The UK Government has been accused of ‘immoral’ double standards after it emerged that it is encouraging British businesses to do trade deals with Sudan, which means with the regime of a president who is wanted for war crimes. As aid agencies and the UN warned that the humanitarian crisis caused by the Sudanese government was close to breaking point, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), an agency of the Department for Business, co-operated with a trade mission to Khartoum last week.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/83455
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21 Internet & technology
AFRICA: WOMEN RIVAL MEN IN CASH TRANSFER
Kenyan women match men almost coin for coin in the now vibrant mobile money transfer market, surveys published by an international polling firm show. According to three studies on payments and money transfer behaviour carried out in Kenya and another 10 sub-Saharan African countries carried out by Gallup and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, both genders are involved in mobile money transfers in equal measure.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/83473
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MADAGASCAR: ONLINE RESEARCH NETWORK LAUNCHED
Madagascar has launched an online research network, the Research and Education Network for Academic Learning Activities (iRENALA), which aims to boost science, technology and education in the country, as well as internationalise its science. The network, launched earlier this month (8 June), will promote discussions between worldwide researchers, students and policymakers, and facilitate access to digitised documents available in virtual libraries, according to Horace Gatien, president of Toamasina University. It will also encourage remote learning in the higher education sector, he said.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/83440
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SOUTH AFRICA: ‘ZIMBABWEANS IN SA TAKE TO FREE MESSAGING SERVICE’
A free text messaging service called EcoChat has become popular with Zimbabweans living in South Africa, according to Econet. The service is free during 2012, and forms part of the Econet ‘Call Home’ SIM card. Similar to popular messenger service What’s App, subscribers only pay standard data rates, which works out to be the fraction of the cost of an SMS.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/83450
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22 eNewsletters & mailing lists
RIGHT TO KNOW, RIGHT TO EDUCATION NEWSLETTER
Idasa’s Right to Know, Right to Education project has published its latest newsletter. The newsletter provides inisghts into the project impact and feedback from project partners involved with project implementation in Zambia and Kenya.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/enewsl/83338
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23 Fundraising & useful resources
CALL FOR PROPOSALS: AFRICA IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY ERA
Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/592/CODESRIA MWG on the Information Society.pdf
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is calling for proposals for its new Multinational Working Group (GMT) on the theme of “Africa in the Information Society Era”. The MWG is an important CODESRIA program aimed at promoting multinational and multidisciplinary reflections on issues affecting the African community of social science researchers. Each MWG will be led by two or three coordinators and will include a maximum of fifteen researchers. Two to three senior researchers will be selected as independent assessors and will also be resource persons during meetings of each Group. The average length of a MWG is two years during which all phases of the research process should be completed and final results prepared for publication in the CODESRIA Book Series.
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SCHOLARSHIP FOR STUDENTS IN FINANCIAL NEED
Through The MasterCard Foundation, students may apply for a scholarship that will cover the costs related to the attainment of a Bachelor’s degree at Arizona State University (ASU) including: tuition; round trip airfare from the student’s home country to Phoenix, Arizona; housing; food; living expenses; and experiential learning abroad.
A complete application for The MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program at ASU is available at https://scholarships.asu.edu/scholarship/4112 Scholarship applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until 15 July 2012.
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24 Courses, seminars, & workshops
SOUTH AFRICA: MASTERS, DOCTORAL AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS
Programme on the Study of the Humanities in Africa of the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape
Call for applications for masters, doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2013: The Programme on the Study of the Humanities in Africa (PSHA) at the University of the Western Cape invites suitably qualified candidates to apply for masters, doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships for the 2013 academic year. The PSHA is an exciting research platform based in the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) dedicated to redefining Humanities research in and about the postcolonial world and making sense of the driving forces of globalization and nationalism. It is backed by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/83458
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25 Publications
GLOBAL: BUILDING PEACE INFRASTRUCTURES
The Berghof Foundation has announced the release of ‘Giving Peace an Address? Reflections on the Potential and Challenges of Creating Peace Infrastructures’ by Ulrike Hopp-Nishanka. It is the lead article in their Handbook Dialogue ‘Peace Infrastructures – Assessing Concept and Practice’. The article defines and narrows the emergent concept of ‘Peace Infrastructures’ as networks of organisations established by conflict parties with the aim of building peace. Thus, it argues, infrastructures for peace have a great potential to contribute to peacebuilding, by strengthening the ownership and commitment of the stakeholders to the conflict.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/publications/83376
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RETHINKING UNEQUAL EXCHANGE: THE GLOBAL INTEGRATION OF NURSING LABOUR MARKETS
New release from the University of Toronto Press
This study (by Salimah Valiani, Associate Researcher, Centre for the Study of Education and Work, University of Toronto, With a Foreword by Samir Amin) traces the structural forces creating the conditions for the increased supply and demand of temporary migrant nurses around the world. It is argued that technology-driven health care cost escalation, the restructuring of nursing work, persistent undervaluing of nursing labour, and concerted state effort to produce nursing labour for export, put in motion, the global integration of nursing labour markets. Please click here ( http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/592/Valiani PR.jpg ) for details of launch events in Kenya and South Africa.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/publications/83459
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26 Jobs
CAMPAIGNER – NORTH AFRICA
Amnesty International
#34,032 per annum Central London
About the role
We’re looking for a Campaigner to contribute to our campaign against human rights violations in North Africa. Working at the International Secretariat, you will contribute to a range of projects, including Amnesty International’s response to the momentous changes in North Africa witnessed in 2011 and 2012. You will act as a focal point, providing advice and support to our worldwide membership, including devising campaigning strategies, preparing written and other campaigning materials and providing research support.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/83230
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EAST AFRICA: JOURNALISTS IN EXILE 2012
Fifty-seven journalists fled their country in the past year, with Somalia sending the greatest number into exile. Journalists also fled Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Rwanda – mostly for Kenya and Uganda. Exiles in East Africa must grapple with poverty and fear, according to a special report from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/83234
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REGIONAL CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR – MENA
Amnesty International
#41,124 per annum London
The human rights situation in the Middle East and North Africa is currently a significant focus of Amnesty International’s global campaigning. Use your experience as a campaign strategist and your expert knowledge of human rights in the region to inspire worldwide action on what have become high-profile issues.
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/83229
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Fahamu – Networks For Social Justice http://www.fahamu.org
Pambazuka News is published by Fahamu Ltd.
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End of Pambazuka-news Digest, Vol 231, Issue 1
The New Dark Age 