Kajiado is a part of Kenya where prevalence rates for female genital mutilation (FGM) are at their highest, and communities are deeply resistant to cultural change. However, Kajiado district is also an area where simple conversations hold out the promise of helping to end FGM.

Women's unpaid housework may be of critical importance in the determination of household wellbeing, but unfortunately it does not get as much recognition as paid work does. In order to get such recognition, many recent studies are advocating an inclusion of the imputed value of women's unpaid work in the construction of national accounts.

Applications are invited for the Regional Master’s in Women’s Law which will be offered by the Southern and Eastern African Regional Centre for Women’s Law (SEARCWL), University of Zimbabwe, in January 2007. The Master’s will consist of three semesters over a period of 18 months.

The Sexual Offences Bill in Kenya has come closer to enactment after sailing through the second reading in Parliament. The Bill, sponsored by Nominated MP Njoki Ndung'u, will now go to the committee of the whole House where members will scrutinise it clause-by-clause. In this stage, members are allowed to amend it on the floor of the House. Once members agree on the amendments, the Bill goes to the third stage, for presidential assent.

In Kajiado district in Kenya, simple conversations hold out the promise of helping to end female genital mutilation (FGM). These conversations are taking place under the auspices of "intergenerational dialogue" (IGD), an approach jointly supported by the Ministry of Health and German Development Co-operation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, GTZ). The dialogue enables young and old people to talk about the practice of FGM.

Internews Network, an international media development NGO, is seeking an expert on violence against women/post conflict trauma to work with residents of the Darfur refugee camps. The advisor will first conduct a needs assessment and then develop radio programming to address the specific needs of women.

This paper analyses the relationship between gender, time use and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The volume analyses current research and surveys on time use in Africa as well as its impact on other development indicators. In addition, this volume presents a conceptual framework linking both market and household work, and use tools and approaches drawn from analysis of consumption based poverty to develop the concept of a time poverty line and to look at the relationship between time poverty, consumption poverty, and other dimensions of development such as education and child labour.

This resource has been put together to meet the need of women's group to access information on funding opportunities. It is divided into five sections: Women's Funds (those dedicated to gender-equality and women- focused rights projects), Foundations, International Development Agencies, Prizes, On-line Directories. The Women's Fund section provides website links, contact information for the funder along with information on what types of projects are funded, size of grants and applicant criteria. For the other sections, website links are given as well as a brief description of the type of issues that the funder is interested in.

This paper gives an overview of the achievements (or lack of achievement) for the area of gender equality ten years after the Beijing Conference. The report acknowledges that there has undoubtedly been significant progress made in the social, political and economic status of women in public life in many countries. However the paper also gives several examples of slow progress, or lack of progress, made in reducing gender inequalities.

This bibliography gathers together a range of materials which discuss women's empowerment from varied perspectives in order to provide an accessible introduction to key concepts, approaches and debates.

This paper analyses the issue of women and conflicts. It looks at women as victims of violence, and also as active participants in wars and conflict situations. The author also points out that women's issues and rights are usually ignored in conflict situations, and in the context of post-conflict rebuilding of peace.

IRC currently seeks a Gender Based Violence Program Manager.

Earlier this month, security agents in Zimbabwe told Jenni Williams that if she continues to organize demonstrations she is going to pay for it with her life. Williams received the threat upon being released from jail. She and 165 other WOZA activists had been arrested for demonstrating against a hike in public school fees.

Former MP of South Africa’s ruling party, ANC, and well-known gender activist Pregs Govender said the Jacob Zuma rape trial that rocked the country this month raised important questions about the role and responsibility of leaders worldwide. Govender, who spoke at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, last week closely investigated the global context in which the trial against South Africa’s former deputy president Jacob Zuma took place.

Given the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence in Darfur, why are safe abortion services and treatment of complications resulting from unsafe abortions or miscarriages not provided at all refugee/ IDP health facilities? Cases of rape of and violence against women in Darfur and in refugee camps in Chad are well-documented. These occur while women are collecting water, fuel or animal fodder, or during imprisonment. There have also been cases of women being forced to submit to sex in exchange for ‘protection’ by police officers and male camp residents.

The UN office of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in New York has, with a number of other groups, been advocating for women in the UN reform process. Our aim is to place gender equality, women’s rights and women’s issues centrally on the agenda. In particular, we have been working to ensure that gender equality, women’s machineries and gender mainstreaming within the UN are addressed at this time of fast-paced UN reform.

A Regional Network of Women for Greater East Africa, Women Direct, has urged women to actively involve in providing transformative leadership. Speaking at a workshop organized under the theme "Beyond Numbers: Towards Transformative Leadership" Network Executive Director Dr. Margaret Jesang Hutchinson said that women should participate in providing trasformative leadership at home, in farming and other workplaces so as to address the pressing challenges facing women.

This report outlines six successful strategies used by interfaith community groups to encourage women's political activism and leadership. These programs provide women something both simple and profound: the resources and opportunities they need to claim a voice of political and religious authority.

The Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) on behalf of the Eastern Africa Gender Budget Network (EAGBN) is pleased to announce activities of the EAGBN to take place from 12th – 14th June 2006 at Colline Hotel Mukono, Uganda. The activities include a two-day Gender budget training workshop in HIV/AIDS and the 5th regional one-day annual gender budget Network meeting. The training will run for two days from 12th – 13th while the annual meeting will be held on 14th June 2006.

For women who are victims of rape, recovery from the violation is typically arduous and draining. In Kenya, the post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), an anti-HIV treatment, is available in just seven of the 73 government district hospitals and one of the eight provincial hospitals. PEP reduces the chance of HIV infection when a woman is raped by someone carrying the virus, if administered within 72 hours of the crime.