Informal traders’ hopes of making huge profits during the upcoming World Cup tourist influx were shattered last week when they were ordered to vacate Park Station, a key transit hub in Johannesburg’s central business district. Ironically, the incident occurred during South Africa’s Human Rights Day celebrations; the day South Africa remembers 69 victims from Sharpeville who died during the protest of pass laws.

Within the framework of the 50th anniversary of African independence, the Social and Human Sciences Sector of UNESCO (SHS) is launching a “Call for Ideas” for prospective proposals in favour of Africa’s development within the next decade.

With an increasing number of civil society organizations seeking consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, the NGO Branch of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), is increasingly being called upon to engage with these organizations worldwide on a wide range of issues on the United Nation’s development agenda. There is now a growing demand from organizations from both the developed and developing countries to contribute to the UN’s economic and social agenda, including to the internationally agreed development goals. In order to facilitate this engagement and provide a suitable platform for civil society, UNDESA has launched a knowledge-based, open networking platform called CSO Net - the Civil Society Network

To throw out bogus refugee claimants, Canada has introduced a new bill that will usher in a new system within a year. Though Canada accepts about 260,000 new immigrants each year legally, thousands of people entering this country on tourist visas or fake papers stay back to apply for refugee status on grounds of persecution in their home countries.

Civil society organisations are making public, worldwide, a communication by the Provincial Government of Benguela (Angola) that banned the demonstration that would take place in Benguela, last Thursday (March 25th), against the brutal demolitions and forced evictions that have become a regular occurrence in major cities and rural communities in Angola.

The soldiers who arrived in Makombo, a remote district in northern Congo on 14 December last year were practised at this sort of thing. Wearing Ugandan or Congolese army uniforms, they did everything at first to allay the suspicions of villagers, as they searched for areas where children would gather – markets, churches or water points. Once they had identified their prey, they tied them with rope or wire into human chains up to 15 people long, and forced them to carry off the goods they had looted.

Tanzania-based Consultant
Wellspring Advisors

Wellspring Advisors seeks a Tanzania?Based Consultant to provide critical support and oversight to its Tanzania grantmaking, which focuses on pro?poor economic development, children’s rights and development, women’s rights, and human rights. These wide?ranging portfolios cover such issues as women’s land and property rights, prevention of violence against women, reproductive rights, countering impunity, freedom of speech, disability rights, education, child protection, smallholder agriculture, and small and medium enterprise development.

Wellspring Advisors, LLC coordinates grantmaking programs that advance the realization of human rights and social and economic justice for all people. Wellspring is a private philanthropic consulting firm with offices in New York and Washington, DC. Our services include donor education and helping to shape a strategic vision; identification and presentation of appropriate funding opportunities; grants administration; and reporting.

Wellspring Advisors is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Wellspring Advisors seeks a Tanzania?Based Consultant to provide critical support and oversight to its Tanzania grantmaking, which focuses on pro?poor economic development, children’s rights and development, women’s rights, and human rights. These wide?ranging portfolios cover such issues as women’s land and property rights, prevention of violence against women, reproductive rights, countering impunity, freedom of speech, disability rights, education, child protection, smallholder agriculture, and small and medium enterprise development.

The consultant will report to Wellspring’s international program team. The initial time commitment associated with this consultancy will be part?time, approximately 4 to 8 days per month, for an initial period of three months. Wellspring Advisors will not sponsor any candidates to relocate to Tanzania and/or obtain any necessary legal documentation in Tanzania, such as visas or work permits. Similarly, Wellspring will not sponsor candidates to move to or work in the United States.

Responsibilities

As requested by the international program team, the consultant will:

• Conduct due diligence and site visits for current and prospective grantee organizations; monitor activities and use of funds by current grantees; evaluate grantee performance;
• Identify and suggest prospective grantees that might align with Wellspring’s clients’ programmatic priorities;
• Research and make recommendations about new issue areas of interest to Wellspring’s programs;
• Report findings and recommendations to Wellspring’s international program staff through regular written updates and conference call meetings;
• Provide Wellspring with updates on unfolding current events that may have an impact on its partners or program focus;
• Support grantees and applicants to ensure completion and submission of applications and reports;
• Engage and network with donors and NGOs working in relevant fields in Tanzania; attend relevant forums, meetings and conferences;
• Provide support in the planning and coordination of grant-related activities, including technical assistance provision, trainings and convenings;
• Support Wellspring staff in planning and executing site visits to local partners in Tanzania; and
• Perform related duties as requested and as needs evolve.

Qualifications

• 5+ years professional experience working in the fields of international development and/or human rights in Tanzania;
• University degree required; graduate degree preferred;
• Expertise in the areas of human rights, economic development, women’s rights, and/or children’s rights, ability to work across a range of programmatic issue areas highly desired;
• Excellent English oral and written communications skills required, knowledge of local languages a plus;
• Prior experience with grantmaking or grants management a plus;
• Strategic planning and other organizational development skills a plus;
• Excellent analytic abilities and impartiality;
• Initiative, resourcefulness, and flexibility—ability to work independently with minimal supervision;
• Demonstrated commitment to Wellspring’s grantmaking priorities;
• Ability to handle confidential client information with complete discretion; and
• Ability to work and travel within Tanzania.

How to apply

Send an email to [email][email protected] with “Tanzania Consultancy” in the subject line, to which you have attached the following three documents:

1. Cover letter highlighting relevant qualifications and salary history;
2. Current resume with three professional references; and
3. English writing sample (5-page maximum).

Héctor Cariño, Recruiter
Wellspring Advisors, LLC
1410 Broadway, 23rd Floor
New York, NY 10018-5007
Facsimile 212/ 609.2633

Applications must be received by May 1, 2010

Due to the high volume of applications received, Wellspring Advisors regrets that it is only able to respond to finalist candidates.

In this week's roundup of emerging actors news, Africa set to grow by 4.8 percent, Indian and Chinese investors identified as the worst violators of environmental regulation, South Africa eyes Uganda’s oilfields, and China and South Africa pledge to upgrade strategic partnership.

Magatte Mbodj Guèye et Madické Diagne

Magatte Mbodj Guèye et Madické Diagne

Register now for “African Refugee and Immigrants: Challenges, Changes, Champions” – From May 3-5, 2010 in Arlington, VA. Ethiopian Community Development Council is hosting a conference on African Refugees and Immigrants. Please join federal and local government officials, NGO and CBO representatives, refugees and immigrants, academics, and other experts engaged in refugee and immigrant issues.

The International Health Partnership and related initiatives (IHP+)[1] has launched a Civil Society Health Policy Action Fund in 2010. This fund is open to support health organisations, networks and coalitions in 21 IHP countries over a one-year period. The countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia.

The game of Niger Delta is an unfair one to which a whistle should have been blown long ago. Yet, the game continues in all unfairness and savagery; it has indeed become a first-come-first-swerve agendum. There’s no gainsaying that the whistle should be blown; but where is the whistle? And who is the Umpire Definitely not Saraba. By creating a collage of art forms behind an evocative front cover, we have neither changed the outlook of the Delta nor influenced it.

Fahamu’s is pleased to introduce the Fahamu Refugee E-Newsletter, a monthly publication thataims to provide a forum for providers of refugee legal aid.

With a focus on the major geographical areas in the global South (Asia, Africa, Latin America, and non-EU Europe), it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership of Pambazuka News.

The E-Newsletter will follow recent developments in the interpretation of refugee law; case law precedents from other constituencies; reports and helpful resources for refugee legal aid NGOs; and stories of struggle and success in refugee legal aid work. It welcomes contributions from legal aid
providers, refugees, and others interested or involved in refugee legal aid.

* Please send comments to
[email protected] or comment online
at Pambazuka News.

Royal Dutch Shell is holding back the tears no more. Shell apologises to all inhabitants of Nigeria’s Niger Delta for the many years of human rights violations, for which Shell takes full responsibility. Confronted with massive evidence of human rights violations that can only be attributed to its operations in the Niger Delta, Royal Dutch Shell is extremely proud to be the first international petrochemical company to publicly say: We are sorry.

A well known artist Owen Maseko and Voti Thebe, the person in charge of the Bulawayo National Arts Gallery, were arrested last Friday, a day after they launched an exhibition of provocative paintings about the Gukurahundi era.

MRS Fellowships are offered by the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American University in Cairo through generous contributions from the Ford Foundation and the International Organization of Migration (IOM). The fellowships are intended to enable qualified Egyptian Students to enroll in any of the graduates programs of the Center for Migration and Refugees Studies.

Even as opposition parties threaten a last-minute boycott, Elections in Darfur and the Consequences of a Probable NCP Victory in Sudan , this latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines how the National Congress Party (NCP) has manipulated the 2008 census, drafted the election laws in its favour, gerrymandered electoral districts, co-opted traditional leaders and bought tribal loyalties. It has done this everywhere in Sudan, but most dramatically in Darfur, where it has greater freedom and means to carry out its strategy because of the ongoing conflict.

Despite continuing tensions, Zimbabwe’s year long Inclusive Government has resulted in significant economic and political changes giving great relief to long suffering Zimbabweans. Considerable as these changes are, a lot remains to be done for Zimbabwe to fully transition to a peaceful and democratic order, particularly in terms of critical political reforms and national healing. In addition, to institutionalize irreversible political reforms, key questions must be addressed in relation to how Zimbabwe’s economy long ravaged by Structural Adjustment Programs and corruption, among other factors, can be reconstructed in the interest of ordinary people.

The conference theme, ‘Dare to Shape the Future’ emphasizes thinking outside the box and encourages participants to creatively imagine and help construct a different future for Zimbabwe, moving away from destructive polarization and conflict to justice, healing and reconciliation. And from repression, exploitation and poverty to freedom, equity and development. The conference will take place within the context of the yearlong existence of the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe and will coincide with Zimbabwe’s 30th independence anniversary. In line with the theme of daring to shape the future – the conference will pioneer a culture of inclusive dialogue among a diverse range of stakeholders of different opinions and political stripes to help forge a new culture of tolerance. Speakers from Zimbabwe will help bring a better understanding of civil society struggles on the ground and how the solidarity community can help and will help shape people centered U.S. policies at a crucial time in Zimbabwe’s history.

For more information visit http://www.africaaction.org/conference-home.html or contact Africa Action at 202-546-7961 or [email][email protected]

One year after the criminal attacks on Egyptian Baha’is in the village of Shuraniya in Sohag, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) expressed its disappointment at the Public Prosecutor’s failure to bring the assailants and those who incited the attacks to justice. For one full year, state authorities have yet to bring justice to the victims of the attacks or enable Baha’is forcibly removed from their homes to return

A pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has authorised the opening of formal investigations into the post-election violence in Kenya; the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) is however concerned that the ICC has not yet implemented measures necessary to ensure the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs) involved in the forthcoming investigation. In a policy brief sent to the ICC Registrar today EHAHRDP therefore called on Court to put in place a protection strategy for HRDs, as key intermediaries, immediately.