DATE: October 8-17, 2001. This conference that focuses on issues relating to women of African descent will gather hundreds of scholars, activists, policy-makers and students from all continents. It will draw attention to the urgency and pertinence of a sense of history as participants engage simultaneously in stocktaking and mapping forward-looking strategies for future engagements. The conference will deal with the following themes: democracy and governance, feminist/womanist theories, war and peace, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction, civil society, human rights and the law, health and services, arts and the humanities, education, political economy, science and technology, religion and culture.

Supermarkets now sell fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers all year round and South Africa, Kenya and Zambia are important suppliers. UK supermarkets are applying codes of conduct to the growers that supply them aiming to assure consumers that produce is grown in a socially responsible manner. Most workers in export horticulture are female - 52 percent in South African fruit, 75 percent in Kenyan flowers, and 65 percent in Zambian vegetables. Employment is casual, temporary or seasonal. Many women do not have stable or independent employment contracts, receive lower wages, and do not have the same access to training, promotion or other employment benefits as men. Discrimination is often embedded in traditional farm employment practice.

Save The Children's State of the World’s Mothers 2001 – in its unique “Mothers’ Index” first presented last year – offers critical information on the status of mothers and children around the world. With the introduction of a new “Girls’ Investment Index,” this year’s report zeroes in on the quality of girls’ and young women’s lives today, and thus provides an indication of how the next generation of mothers and children will fare. By offering critical information about the world’s two billion mothers, this report helps to focus attention on the very real needs of mothers – and their children – and to suggest actions needed to support women who are raising the world’s future generations.

I want to thank you for the noble work you are doing for African non-profit. I read about an international conference of the Canadian Council for Refugees and I applied to participate. I am pleased to inform you that I delivered a paper on trafficking on women and girls to participants from over 120 countries. Keep up the good work.

JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies is an ejournal devoted to the promotion of the research and scholarship of African women to the global African community and friends of Africa. JENdA documents and responds to debates on women's history and studies in African social, cultural, political, and economic systems. It creates a forum for African women scholars, analysts and activists to participate on an equal footing with their contemporaries worldwide in debates, exchanges of ideas, and the creation and documentation of knowledge. JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies is published by Africa Resource Center, Inc, an organization that dedicates resources and staff to the provision of information on and about Africa.

Fifty-one percent of South African internet users are women, up from 38 percent in March 1999, according to new survey data from Webchek. Two thirds of net users in South Africa have English as their home language and 56 percent have a third-level education. Most users tend to have high incomes, but the number of users with lower monthly household incomes is increasing.

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), today announced the appointment of two independent experts, Elisabeth Rehn (Finland) and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), to spearhead the organization's efforts to assess progress of the world's women, particularly those affected by conflict. Heyzer also announced that Victoria Brittain (UK), internationally acclaimed correspondent and Associate Foreign Editor of the Guardian has agreed to document the findings of Rehn and Johnson Sirleaf for Progress 2002.

All Africa Women for Peace (AAWP)'s mission is to advance the participation of women in peace making and development in Africa through research, training, networking and counselling.

HAR's mission is to facilitate the recovery of abused children, women and their families through training, research, advocacy and provision of psychosocial suport services.

This brief previews the forthcoming publication on the Phase I achievements and projects of the Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa (GERA) Program. It highlights 13 projects carried out in 10 African countries as well as the GERA approach to gender equality and economic justice.

Statement by the Women's Caucus of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). In order to ensure that a gender perspective will be included in the forthcoming UN World Conference on Illicit Trade of Small Arms and Light Weapons In All Its Aspects July 9-20, 2001, The Women's Caucus of the International Action Network on Small Arms [IANSA] has prepared a statement showing how the world's women and girls are affected by the proliferation and diffusion of small arms. They would like to have both individual and group support for their statement.

Provide leadership and technical expertise to develop and guide technical assistance, communications, and policy advocacy projects and programs on global HIV/AIDS.
Contact: Michael J. Lavelline

The European Campaign on Women Asylum Seekers is launched to draw attention to the type of persecution women experience and by doing so to exert pressure on Member State governments and the European institutions to develop a gender-sensitive European Policy on Asylum, in which women can claim asylum in their own right, based on their own experience of persecution as legitimate reasons for seeking and obtaining asylum in any of the EU Member States.

This compilation of 'information sheets' and 'funding sheets' has been prepared to raise awareness and gives an overview of European strategies and actions on the growing problem of trafficking in women. It covers elements common to various types of trafficking in human beings and concentrates on the issue of trafficking in women.

In every region, populations are getting older. Moreover, ageing is a gendered phenomenon: women live longer, they have fewer resources, and they are expected to care for elderly relatives as well as young children. The causes are familiar: lower - or nonexistent - pay for 'women's work' and breaks in earnings history add up to lower pension income, while social and cultural norms assign women to take care of both young and old, regardless of the costs to themselves. In many places, women are the community caregivers, yet their own need for care goes unmet.

A Policy Research Report by the World Bank focusing on gender issues and their broad economic and social implications in developing and transitional countries. The report examines the conceptual and empirical links between gender, public policy, and development outcomes and demonstrates the value of applying a gender perspective to the design of development policies.

Human Rights Watch, the international monitoring and advocacy organization, seeks a director to lead its division on women’s rights. The Executive Director of the Women’s Rights Division is the organization’s chief strategist, advisor and spokesperson in relation to its work around the world on the human rights of women. She or he is also a key member of the organization’s central managements. APPLY BY MAY 15, 2001.

When female underachievement is found at every level of the education system, where should policymakers focus their efforts to break its cycle? Should greater attention be given to the creation of female role models and a supportive environment for girls to promote gender equity in schools?

A symposium on the role of women as female doctors is to be held in Durban on May 13-17. The main objective of the symposium is to address the role of female doctors and and leadership in medicine.

Women delegates from 53 African countries are taking part in a conference on peace and development in Tripoli, Libya this week. Delegates are expected to exchange information and experiences on the role of African women regarding the African Union and the elimination of all obstacles to development on the continent.