This article gives some pointers for NGOs experiencing a funding crisis. 'In recent years, NGOs nationally have faced dire circumstances due to the reduction of funding by, or the exit of, key funders both local and international, inadequate funding and, in numerous cases, delayed disbursement of funds by the South African government. These funding shocks - financial challenges with deep negative impact - have resulted in many NGOs downsizing staff, services and branches, or closing altogether.'

Dakar, Senegal
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Governments have tasked the United Nations with a growing number of global mandates, but they have provided it with very few resources to carry out the work, according to this article on Worldwatch Institute's website. 'UN funding is minuscule in contrast with that of other public bodies. The regular budget of the organization - $2.2 billion in 2011 - is less than the total annual spending of the Tokyo Fire Department. The small UN budget is striking in view of the multiplying global crises that need commonly decided international solutions - including climate change, financial instability, resource limits, transborder disease, and poverty.'

One and a half years since the beginning of the Arab Spring, activists who guided their fellow citizens through the relatively unchartered terrain of social media activism feel their fight for human rights, democracy and transparency is only just beginning. Many of the leading social media activists in Tunisia, birthplace of the ongoing wave of revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, are not satisfied with the results of the uprising and have set their sights on more ambitious goals: transparency in government actions, monitoring of electoral processes and abolition of laws limiting internet freedom.

The Angolan Constitutional Court has received lists of candidates from 27 political formations for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 31 August. Making the announcement, court boss Onofre dos Santos said the 19 parties and eight coalitions now had 10 days to correct their nomination irregularities or inadequacies. Mr Santos said the irregularities or inadequacies would include replacement of candidates.

Botswana has condemned the African Union (AU) for enticing Malawi to host Sudan president Omar al Bashir at the AU summit that was supposed to be held in Malawi in July. The summit has now been relocated to Ethiopia after Malawi refused to host Al-Bashir and threatened to arrest him if he attended over crimes al Bashir committed against humanity in Darfur and is on the wanted list of the International Criminal Court.

A participant of the UN Summit in Rio de Janeiero was denied entry into Brazil by the Brazilian authorities. Jeremias Vunianhe, a journalist and member of Friends of the Earth Mozambique, was denied entry at the airport of Rio de Janeiro on 13 June. Vunjanhe was expected to expose the negative impacts of Brazilian mining corporation Vale at the Peoples Summit, a parallel event of the UN Rio+20 Summit. Vale is one of the official sponsors of the UN Summit. Friends of the Earth Mozambique supported hundreds of Mozambican families which were resettled by Brazilian company Vale in the Moatize district and carried out demonstrations in recent months to reclaim their rights.

A new report by UNESCO has revealed the extent of homophobic bullying worldwide, recognizing the problem as a human rights issue. The UN agency’s first ever international consultation on the issue brought together experts from NGOs, ministries of education and academia from more than 25 countries around the world.

Sudanese activists said the security forces have dealt with protesters over the last three days with unprecedented violence, saying that Sunday was the bloodiest day in Sudanese street history. Sudan’s capital Khartoum has seen mass protests, which started on Friday, when hundreds of students took to the streets in protest of high costs of living and plans to cancel fuel subsidies.

Everybody’s trying to rebrand Africa, and it isn’t going so well, reports this piece on the blog Africa is a Country. 'Vogue Italia’s latest issue - boosted by great billowing gusts of editorial hot air from both the New York Times and the Guardian - is called 'Rebranding Africa', and as you’d expect the whole thing is an embarrassing and insulting shambles...First: you’re re-branding the continent of Africa - as one does - so who do you pick as your cover star? Well, it was the obvious choice. What self-inflating fashion magazine wouldn’t lead their Africa edition with a picture of a South Korean diplomat sitting behind a desk in Manhattan?'

Senegalese security agents have arrested over a hundred illegal immigrants in the capital Dakar and its suburbs in a major operation at the weekend. The round up was sparked by the killing of a Nigerian national allegedly by three Senegalese over fake currency notes.

As leaders of the Group of 20 (G20) countries head into a second day of talks at the grouping's seventh summit this week in Los Cabos, Mexico, calls are strengthening for a new debate around the group's lack of accountability. 'The G20 has liberally imposed itself over other institutions to mandate those other institutions to take on its agenda,' Gawain Kripke, a researcher with Oxfam America, said in Washington. 'That's potentially a problem, when you have this fundamentally unauthorised organisation setting the agenda and work plans for other institutions that do at least have bylaws and so forth.'

“Finally, if you do not abide, then know your legal permission to operate will be terminated.”

At least 80 people have been killed since Monday 18 June in clashes in northern Nigeria triggered by Islamists waging an insurgency against the government, figures from police and the Red Cross showed on Wednesday. The violence - some of which was sparked by church bombings over the last three Sundays - has heightened sectarian tensions in Africa's most populous country, which is evenly split between Christians and Muslims.

Seven members of the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) were arrested and then briefly detained on Tuesday, after a ‘die-in’ protest in Bulawayo. The ‘die-in’, which saw three different groups of WOZA members lying down at main traffic intersections in the city, form part of a WOZA led campaign to pressure for a devolved system of government to be included in the draft constitution.

The government is insensitive to the needs of the poor and does not understand the economic plight faced by many state employees. This is the sentiment of many public sector workers as the state and unions wrangle through wage negotiations, and while unions haven’t explicitly threatened to strike, their members are already preparing themselves for industrial action. The government suspended talks with unions last week, claiming they had no more money to put on the table.

Zambia's government estimates that some unscrupulous mining companies may owe the country up to $1 billion in unpaid taxes. What difference could that make to Zambia? A staggering one when we consider that Zambia’s external debt in 2011 was $1.6 billion. Countries like Zambia need fairer international tax rules to stop companies from dodging the taxes they owe, says this Christian Aid blog post.

After a year-long incubation process supported by the World Bank Institute, 19 Ugandan civil society organisations this week formally established a ‘contract monitoring coalition’ that aims to involve local communities in the oversight of government-funded projects - including those related to oil - awarded to private sector contractors. 'There have in the past been incidents of alleged collusion between contract parties,' Gilbert Sendugwa, who chaired the coalition in its formative stages, told Oil in Uganda. 'Our coming on board is going to minimise that possibility and also improve the flow of information.'

Reporters Without Borders has strongly deplored the two-year jail sentence that a Marrakech court imposed on well-known blogger Mohamed Sokrate on trumped-up charges of drug possession and trafficking. He was also fined 5,000 dirhams (450 euros). Arrested on 29 May as he was leaving an Internet café, Sokrate was tried and convicted with unusual speed. The trial began on 7 June but was adjourned at the defence's request.

Gunfire and rioting rocked two northern Nigerian cities Tuesday in a fresh round of unrest, prompting authorities to slap curfews on both after weekend violence killed 52 people. The unrest broke out in the cities of Kaduna and Damaturu, adding to fears of spiralling violence in the country's north, where Islamist group Boko Haram's insurgency has been concentrated.