The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) has started a new Journal called The Africa Women’s journal. The Journal is bi-annual publication with current issues and statistics on women’s development issues in Africa. We invite contributors to send well researched and analytical articles on the theme: The African Women’s Decade (2010-2020): A Decade of Triumph for African Women. The article must have current statistics with clear referencing.

The Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program is an international exchange program that offers practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world the opportunity to spend five months at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), in Washington DC, in order to undertake independent research on democracy in a particular country or region. While in residence, fellows reflect on their experiences; engage with counterparts; conduct research and writing; consider best practices and lessons learned; and develop professional relationships within a global network of democracy advocates.

Subsidies for agriculture in the industrialised countries of the world grew again in 2009, benefiting the largest companies and land owners, such as Prince Albert of Monaco and Queen Elizabeth of Britain. The latest increase came despite repeated and consistent evidence that such subsidies contribute to the destruction of the livelihoods of poor farmers in developing countries, especially in Africa, and that they distort international trade.

Apeda has received an intimation from the Embassy of India in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), about investment opportunities for Indian entrepreneurs. DRC has 80 million hectares of rich arable soil with water resources and 1000 mm of annual rainfall. Maniac, maize, rice, groundnut, sugarcane, corn, sweet potatoes, bananas, yams, pineapples are the principal crops produced.

2010 marks an important period in the annals of Africa: it’s the year when a 10-year follow-up on the declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) will be made, 5 year post the Gleneagles G8 Summit commitments, 26th anniversary of the Ethiopian famine that claimed the lives of millions, and a year when 17 African countries are marking their 50th anniversary since independence.

And in spite of making tremendous progress in economic, social and political spheres, Africa is still regarded by the international world as a failing, if not a failed continent.

As part of the Annual Meeting of the Africa Progress Panel (APP) held in Geneva, the APP organized a debate in front of an informed audience where answers were sought for the following questions:

Is Africa it’s own worst enemy?
Does Africa deserve special treatment?
Does the world need Africa more than Africa needs the world?

To view the trailer, please click

Delivery will be by FTP!
Please contact Farah Chaudhry on [email][email protected]
should you require the debate for broadcast purposes

Have you ever walked past a car window and checked your reflection to make sure your hair looks just right? Perhaps spent an hour perfecting your make-up before you head out? Have you looked at Halle Berry's body and thought, "Ah, I wish I had that body?" I'm sure most women can relate to this constant quest to look good, but what is beauty -- just what does looking good mean today? Considering this is Women's Month in South Africa, I decided now was a good time to find out exactly what kind of woman I want to be.

This video records a day in the life of Bibi Aminajati Kalema at Hiari Orphanage located in Chang'ombe, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

In April 2008, the African Ministers of Health – in preparation for the Bamako Ministerial Forum on Research for Health – adopted the Algiers Declaration that expressed their commitment to reinforce national research systems for health. During the Bamako conference, health research leaders of western African countries, representatives of the West African Health Organization (WAHO) and international organisations discussed the status of research for health in West Africa.

Angola's ruling party will meet this week to examine a private report accusing members of the president's inner circle of corruption, a spokesman has said. The report, "The Angolan Presidency -- The Epicentre of Corruption", describes how people close to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos have taken control of the economy by securing stakes in firms in sectors ranging from oil to banking.

On a typically busy morning in North Kivu’s capital city Goma, nobody at the bank paid much attention to Bosco Ntaganda and his bodyguards. It had been a hectic few days for the rebel commander-turned-army general, who had also attended meetings with the provincial governor and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila.

Pambazuka News is taking an extended break for the next three weeks (from 16 August to 5 September). This is to allow staff to focus attention on the development of the new Pambazuka News website, which we hope to launch later this year. The next issue of the English edition of Pambazuka News will therefore be published on 9 September, while the French edition will appear on 6 September. We thank you for your patience.

As African leaders prepare to meet at the SADC Summit in Windhoek this month from 15 to 17, they must draw concrete plans to prevent state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe’s elections planned for 2011. Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition calls upon SADC and AU leaders, as guarantors of Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement (GPA), which created a transitional power-sharing government to, among other things, ensure that Zimbabwe fully complies with SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections – including impartiality of electoral institutions.

For Pambazuka News readers in and around Namibia and South Africa, Windhoek's The Book Den and Cape Town's Blue Weaver now stock a range of titles:

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NAMIBIA
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SOUTH AFRICA 7966
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This Women’s Day the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP) would like to commemorate not only the women's march to the Union Buildings on the 9th of August but also the consistent and varied struggles that women in this country have fought. Women in South Africa have asserted their independence and challenged racism and patriarchy in many ways that are often forgotten or ignored. For example it was black women, often single, who fought against imposed municipal beer halls and led struggles in the locations. Between 1920 and 1950 it was women who formed the core of the most successful unions and often served as their leadership. This history for survival and independence in addition to the protests around passes being extended to black women are only snippets of consistent and varied struggles.

This social experiment was carried out using hidden cameras in a townhouse complex in Johannesburg. Don't condone violence by doing nothing. If you or anyone around you is experiencing domestic abuse please call the POWA helpline on 083 765 1235 or visit Counseling services and support is available.

The new South has a cover story on why developing countries should also be eligible for compensation by transnational companies responsible for environmental disasters. The recent $20 bil fund set up by BP for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico should be a model for companies to compensate for disasters such as in Bhopal, the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Niger Delta.

The World Bank continues to influence developing country economic policies through placing conditions on loan agreements, despite concrete commitments by the Bank to significantly reduce the economic policy reforms required for the receipt of Bank funds in order to ensure an increase in recipient country policy space. What is new, however, are the more discreet channels of influence. This briefing finds that the conditions for the receipt of loans are increasingly being pushed in through the side door, for example by being stipulated outside of the loan agreement itself in side documents and letters, contravening responsible financing principles.

Local authorities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are reporting that almost 90,000 people have been uprooted from their homes following recent military operations in the region, the United Nations humanitarian arm said. At least six civilians have died and dozens of others have been injured in the fighting between the national army, or FARDC, and fighters associated with the Ugandan rebel group known as the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) in the Beni territory in North Kivu province

South Africa's stop-start war on corruption claimed its biggest success yesterday as the country's former leading policeman was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Jackie Selebi was told by a judge that he was "an embarrassment to all right-thinking citizens" as he was sent down on corruption charges.

Advocacy organisations in the US and Uganda have welcomed the announcement that the U.S. global AIDS program, PEPFAR, has reversed severe restrictions that capped enrollment of new HIV patients on life saving treatment in Uganda. Following Pressure, White House Announces it is Lifting AIDS Treatment Caps in Uganda. Similar Treatment Access Crises Loom Unless the Obama Administration Keeps its AIDS Funding Promises.