The findings of the Nepad gender assessment are quite hard to come by, because they involve the rather difficult process of looking for what is not there. Despite the many critical and pervasive gender issues which haunt Africa, and the international commitments to address these issue, Nepad is severely and almost completely gender blind. Whereas assessment of a development plan should more usually entail criticizing the inappropriateness or inadequacy or ineffectiveness of what is in the plan, in this case we are almost entirely looking for what is missing.

A 19-year-old woman from Zaki local government area of Bauchi State, Adama Yunusa, who dragged her fiance, Isa Katagum, before a sharia court over unwanted pregnancy, would receive 100 strokes for indulging in immoral act. Katagun had denied the allegations, saying he never had any sexual intercourse with the complainant.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), along with the government of Tanzania and Akiba Commercial Bank, has launched a project to help tackle the problem of child labour in the country by boosting women's income-earning potential.

The Savings and Credit Opportunity for Women (SCROW), a loans scheme started in the Kaleo area in 1992, is soon to become the first women's rural bank in the Upper West Region.

BRIDGE, gender and development information unit at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex is putting together an information pack on gender and HIV/AIDS and would like to hear about organisations doing innovative work in this field. They are interested in any area of work that involves a focus on gender relations and HIV/AIDS.

Although circumcising girls is now illegal in Kenya, there is no indication the ban is having any meaningful impact on the ground. On the contrary, reports from the media and gender organisations since last December indicate that many communities ignored the legislation.

The Nigerian legislature is set to pass a law banning female genital mutilation and imposing a two year jail term for offenders. The bill, which is currently being considered by the Senate, was unanimously passed by Nigeria’s lower house, the House of Representatives last year. The senate is expected to conclude its deliberations on the bill in May, after which it will be sent to President Olusegun Obasanjo for his assent.

International humanitarian law has always accorded women general protection equal to that of men. At the same time the humanitarian law treaties recognize the need to give women additional special protection according to their specific needs. The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977 protect women (and men) as members of the civilian population not taking part in an armed conflict. Women (and men) as members of the armed forces are also protected when captured by the enemy.

The Know How conference 2002 will be held within Women World's 2002 program from 23-27 July, 2002 in Kampala, Uganda. This will be the 5th conference of specialists in the collection and dissemination of information relevant to women. The conference is being organized by Isis-Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) assisted by the International Information Center and Archives for the Women's Movement (IIAV) in Amsterdam.

The congress is organized around the main theme "Gendered Worlds: Gains and Challenges." This theme provides an opportunity for a broad reflection on the state of women and gender issues from a gendered perspective within the context of change. It enables discussions focused on both differences and similarities and offers positive pointers for future action for gender equity and equality. The Women's Worlds 2002 special focus areas will be the African perspective, young voices, gendering women and men, celebrating multiculturality and diversity and North - South perspectives.

Lawyers for the South African government yesterday in Constitutional Court argued that universal access to nevirapine is unnecessary because on average, pregnant women transmit the virus to their infants only 30% of the time, the South African Press Association reports. "You are giving a drug to 70% who do not need it. And you are introducing a drug of which you do not know the long-term effects," government attorney Marumo Moerane told the court during the first day of testimony in the government's appeal of a lower court order that it make the drug available to all HIV-positive pregnant women through the public health system.

Women and children face increasing brutality in modern conflicts, Save the Children USA, reported on Thursday. In countries at war they had increasingly become casualties of deliberate, systematic violence and were more defenceless against hunger, injury, disease, forced military servitude and sexual exploitation, it added.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO), along with the government of Tanzania and Akiba Commercial Bank, has launched a project to help tackle the problem of child labour in the country by boosting women's income-earning potential.

ICT is a crucial resource for developing countries striving to benefit from the global knowledge economy and replicate its advantages in their own economies. At the same time, ICT poses new challenges for women's inclusion into the workforce, and threatens the efforts toward gender parity and women's empowerment. This study will investigate the various aspects of this dilemma, to discover the most effective way in which women may become active participants in social and economic change, and gain from their involvement in the production, use and application of ICT.

Women radio journalists from southern Africa are invited to apply for a 10-day
training program on reporting on HIV/AIDS. Organized by the African Women's Media Center, the program will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from June 18 to June 29. The training will cover information that is vital to covering HIV/AIDS, provide
an overview on the basics of journalism and offer an opportunity for hands-on
training in radio production. The dealine for applications is May 24, 2002.

The National Portfolio Committee on Health in Parliament, and the South African Gender-based Violence and Health Initiative, will jointly hold hearings in Parliament on Gender-Based Violence and the Health Sector on June 4 to 5, 2002.

The V-Day is global movement set to raise funds and awareness to stop sexual violence that is being perpetrated against women and girls the world over. It is a concerted efforts to fight against the rape of women and girls, against incest, battery, female circumcision and sexual slavery.

Adultery, especially when committed by an 'older' woman cannot be condoned, said presiding Lusaka Boma local court justice Sainet Chitambo as he dismissed a 31-year-old woman's claim for compensation for prostitution remarks.

The Australian Agency for International Development (Pretoria) is seeking a short-term gender consultant to assist with the selection process for the 2002 round of the Addressing Gender Violence Fund (AGVF), a program that provides grants to South African civil society organisations engaged with combating gender violence.

South African Migration Project will convene an international workshop in Southern Africa in July 2002 on the subject of gender and migration. The aims of the workshop are: to assess the current knowledge base on gender and migration in Southern Africa; to set out a research agenda for future research into gender and migration in the region
to discuss and develop appropriate theoretical and methodological tools for a gender analysis of cross-border migration; to establish contacts and build networks for knowledge sharing and collaborative research; to raise the profile of gender in the debates on national and regional migration policies.