LOCAL governments have been urged to ensure integration of gender concerns into their budgeting and planning, for effective utilisation of the Local Government Development Program (LGDP) funds.

Rural women produce more than three-quarters of the world's food and play a crucial role in fighting the 'evil twins' of poverty and hunger, says Mpumalanga premier Ndaweni Mahlangu. Speaking at a conference to promote women's access to land in the province, Mahlangu said land redistribution urgently needed to be fast tracked so that women could participate in mainstream farming.

The Ministry of Education has allocated over Sh 540 million for the school bursary scheme, with a strong focus on promoting girl-child education. The Permanent Secretary, Mr Japheth Kiptoon, said a policy has been adopted to ensure that all girls attend school. "All Provincial and District Education Officers have strict instructions to have all disadvantaged girls taken to classrooms," said Kiptoon.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2002 is the fourth in a series of conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industrial, academic and government communities. Leading researchers present their current work, while special sessions focus on the role of women in today's technology fields.

Forum for Women in democracy (FOWODE) with the assistance from UNDP is organising a gender budget sub-regional conference. This conference is the last activity of our grassroots women leaders project. Other activities done under this project include a gender budget training workshop, gender advocacy training workshop and the gender budget advocacy campaign workshop. This is a five-day conference and is scheduled to take place in June 2002.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Eritrea has warned that it is facing a serious shortfall in funding for this year, putting vital work with vulnerable women and children at risk.

Women from the horn of Africa, have launched a website to enhance access and sharing of information. The Horn of Africa Region Women's Knowledge Network (Hawknet) will serve as a channel for information exchange in business, health, development and gender issues, in relation to women.

Women lawyers in the country have called on the Federal Government to seek judicial interpretation of the constitution on the issue of Sharia legal system in order to prevent continued human rights abuse on its implementation. The female lawyers made the call in Abuja when they visited President Olusegun Obasanjo under the umbrella of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA).

The WSIS Gender Caucus consists of representatives of organisations that responded to an invitation by UNIFEM to contribute to ensuring that gender dimensions are included in the process of defining and creating a Global Information Society that contributes to sustainable development and human security.

Recognizing that HIV/AIDS has a differential impact on young women and men, the Eastern and Southern African Young Women’s symposium on HIV/AIDS is expected to bring together young women from academic institutions in the region, gender-based organizations, NGOs, Donors and governments to reflect on the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on young women and to design strategies for greater practical action to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS among young women. Young women in academic institutions are arguably Africa’s hope in terms of enhancing gender-responsive development, thus justifying the need for such an event. The Workshop will be held in Nairobi, Kenya between 27th and 29th November 2002, to coincide with the World AIDS Day Celebrations.

Rwanda has launched an 18-month programme to combat gender and sexual violence, the minister of gender and women's development, Angeline Muganza, said on Thursday from the capital, Kigali. The US $627,379 USAID-funded project, launched on Tuesday, has four components. One of these is to conduct a survey in August for women of reproductive age covering the period before and after the genocide of 1994. The results would assist in understanding how women in this category had experienced sexual violence during the specified periods, the similarities and differences in terms of who was affected, who perpetrated the offences, where, when, and why, USAID-Rwanda reported on Thursday.

A series of resources on why women become sex workers, and how they can get out, from the Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN).

Small farmers across sub-Saharan Africa, many of them women, are at the centre of a strategy to introduce new rice varieties developed in West Africa that can dramatically boost harvests, reduce poverty and save millions of dollars in imports, according to the UNDP.

Women, according to a report prepared by the Women's Environment and Development Organization, demand that governments stop various violent actions, which is incompatible with sustainable development. They urged governments to promote the universal ratification and implementation without reservation of the International Criminal Court, emphasizing the responsibility of all states to put an end to impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including those relating to sexual and other violence against women.

The Transform Network comprises 6 training organisations in East
and Southern Africa as well as a partner, Transform Africa, in the UK. Our four-year gender project seeks to research, train and advocate new ways of tackling gender issues from an African perspective, with a focus on African NGOs. We also seek to advocate to European NGOs.

Women in Zanzibar and Pemba islands of Tanzania will find a bit of relief as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) implements six water projects that will benefit 45,000 people.

Magistrate in charge of the family and juveniles court, Matilda Ssengooba have urged women to aspire for political positions in leadership at any level without fear during the world YWCA membership celebrations in Kampala.

The American Association of University Women Educational Foundation and the Educational Testing Service will host a symposium on "International Perspectives: Global Voices for Gender Equity," to be held from 15 to 17 November 2002.

Women in the Southern Africa region have mandated the Women and Land in Zimbabwe organisation to represent them at regional level in championing for women's land rights.

Zimbabwe's world renowned female sculptor, Agnes Nyanhongo's work deals with the standing of women in traditional and contemporary African society. She is a staunch advocate of the freedom of women.