In and around the Kiunga National Marine Reserve on Kenya's northern coast, basic services are hard to come by. Pushed by poverty and the decline of marine ecosystems the use of resources is intensifying. In Kiunga, the World Wildlife Fund is supporting a small number of girls' scholarships. These are paired with environmental education, including in-school activities and a week-long conservation camp.

A petition from the NGO Gender Co-ordination Network to State President Bakili Muluzi calls for greater women's participation in political and decision-making structures. By signing the petition, you will participate in a chance-of-a-lifetime opportunity to actively support in the SADC Declaration on Gender and Development.

The Acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has welcomed the decision taken at the recently concluded African Union Summit in Mozambique to strengthen women's rights by adding gender specific provisions to an existing charter. "The adoption by the African Union of a specific treaty on the rights of women reinforces the message that women's rights require priority attention in the protection of universal and inalienable rights," Bertrand Ramcharan said in a statement from Geneva.

When Asha Ahmed Abdalla was a teenager in her native country of Somalia, she used to daydream about what it would be like to be Somalia’s first lady, and decided to set her sights on achieving that goal. But Abdalla grew up and her dream evolved. After years of humanitarian and political activity, the 45-year-old mother of three has set her eyes on the ultimate prize: to become Africa’s first woman president.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Liberia has ended a campaign to vaccinate 128,000 children under five years old and 230,000 women of child-bearing age around the capital, Monrovia, despite the recent escalation in fighting between government troops and rebels.

In African tradition an important visitor is welcomed with drums, dancing and singing. But, says this press release from Health Rights Action Group in Uganda, the arrival of U.S. President George W. Bush in Uganda was more likely to be received with mothers wailing for the loss of their children. In this context - and with tears rolling down his cheeks - President Bush should leave Africa with the $3 billion cheque for 2004 to fight AIDS signed and an immediate plan to put more money into the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria.

The South African man’s reputation is in crisis. He is held responsible for one of the world’s highest rape rates, including the rape of children and babies. He perpetrates domestic violence, which is commonplace. And womanisers who prefer condom-less sex are driving the HIV/AIDS epidemic, experts tell us. A range of researchers grappling with what has, and is, framing this male identity have identified economic circumstances, the new political order and HIV/AIDS as important factors.

Half of the ten member commission of the African Union (AU), to be elected in Maputo this week, will be women, according to Ana Nemba, the permanent Mozambican ambassador to the AU.

Faced with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection, environmental degradation and sluggish economic growth, young women professionals in Malawi have put their heads together and intensified efforts to bring about a major paradigm shift. The women, under a grouping called the Young Women Leaders Network (YWLN), want to put fellow women in the fore of developing this impoverished southern African state of 10 million people, of which women make up 50 percent.

Whatever the other shortcomings of representative democracy, one issue that clearly remains largely unresolved is the participation and policy impact of women. This comparative study examines two African countries, South Africa and Uganda, both of which have attained greater women's political participation than most African - or indeed Western - democracies. How did women in these countries achieve some 30 per cent representation in both national and local political institutions? How far did women's mobilization in civil society play a part? How sustainable are the gains? And what is the impact of women politicians on policy?

Anti Mines Network Rwenzori (AMNET-R), a Kasese-based non-governmental organisation has received a donation of Shs 30 million from Human Rights Network to help rehabilitate formerly abducted women and their children.

The Tanzanian government is to fund a highly successful initiative to increase the number of women studying science subjects at university. The 'pre-entry programme' - which gives a six-week 'booster' course to women who initially fail to meet the entry requirements of science courses - has increased the proportion of women studying science at the University of Dar es Salaam from three to 28 per cent over the past six years.

Experts have said that when U.S. President George W. Bush arrives in Africa next week for a six-day trip to five African countries, he will have to focus on an issue related to security, health, education, hunger, foreign aid and global trade — gender. Of the 30 million people affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, 58 percent are women. Women account for more than 60 percent of the agricultural labour force on the continent and contribute 80 percent of the total food production. In countries facing armed conflicts, experts predict that most of those affected by the war are women and children.

They were "mannerless boys" for whom rape was a sport after a day on the army firing range and who perhaps never imagined their alleged deeds would come to light. But now, their victims - Kenyan Maasai and Samburu women who claim they were raped by British troops training in east Africa - are emerging from anonymity to tell of their ordeal.

"The international community has just been informed by a number of organisations, among them, the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and Sudanese Human Rights Organisation (SHRO) in Cairo, that the Government of Sudan (GOS) arrested 38 Nuba women and 3 men on their way to a peace conference in Kauda in the Nuba Mountains. The international attempts of your government to show your commitment to human rights is being undermined by the inhumane arrests." This is according to a recent letter sent to the Government of Sudan by The International Committee in Support of Nuba Women and Children, in conjunction with the Sudanese Women and Human Rights Group.

President Thabo Mbeki is to ask the government for money to help women to play their role in the transformation of Africa. "We have to look at what we can do from government's side, if we are serious about the empowerment of women and the involvement of women in changing the continent," he said.

As the deadline to achieve at least a 30 percent inclusion of women in politics and decision-making in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) draws closer, women in Tanzania still face marginalisation in the political arena.

A group of 650 Kenyan women who claim they were raped by British soldiers have won legal aid to sue the Ministry of Defence in a UK court. The women, from rural Masai tribal lands, tell harrowing stories of gang rape, unwanted pregnancies, ruined lives and mixed race children shunned by the community. They allege that the MoD did nothing to stop systematic rape by soldiers despite complaints dating back almost 30 years.

An open invitation has been issued to civil society organisations committed to the transformation of the lot of women in Nigeria in terms of access to healthcare and the realization of women's human rights in general. The invitation is to be a part of a coalition to implement the Nigerian Chapter of the Women's Access to Health Campaign (WAHC).

Women's organisations in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have accused the United Nations mission there of turning a blind eye to ongoing fighting.