"The big relief is that the debate around the information society no longer needs to be tied to the WSIS process," said communications expert David Souter at Panos London's final briefing in Tunis. Very true, writes Murali Shanmugavelan in this article on the Panos iWitness web page. The information society is broader than the agenda of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) could ever have hoped to cover. And the resulting non-binding Tunis Declaration has produced little in concrete terms for developing countries.

This guide is intended to enable teachers to enhance and develop quality reading programmes at the primary school level that lead to improved reading outcomes. This manual is based on the results of work with teacher trainers as well as studies carried out by UNESCO in China, Ethiopia and Jamaica. Literacy is one of UNESCO’s three special target areas to accelerate progress towards Education for All by 2015; the others are Teacher Training and HIV/AIDS prevention education.

New guidelines prepared by UNESCO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) offer tools and sets of useful orientations to assess the quality of higher education provided across borders. They aim to protect students and other stakeholders from the risks of misinformation, low quality provision and qualifications of limited validity.

This report stresses the urgent need to look beyond aid projects, debt relief and trade reform, and focus on local natural resources to address the crisis of poverty in all parts of the globe. ‘Traditional assumptions about addressing poverty treat the environment almost as an afterthought,’ said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute (WRI). ‘This report addresses the stark reality of the poor: three-fourths of them live in rural areas; their environment is all they can depend on.’

The draft Ministerial text for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong on 13-18th December was issued on Saturday 26th November. The text was presented by the WTO Director General Pascal Lamy and the General Council chair. "This draft text for Hong Kong is heavily imbalanced and biased towards the rich countries", warns Peter Aoga from EcoNews Africa. "Particularly the part on services is a major flaw, and, if agreed, would prove disastrous for African and other developing countries".

A humanitarian assistance programme to help stranded and distressed migrants abandoned to their fate return home on a voluntarily basis has been launched by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva. The programme will help address the growing need to provide assistance to irregular migrants stranded in either transit or destination countries, often far from home without any means to move onwards or return home.

BBC listeners and readers share their personal experiences of the African continent. "Why do I love Africa? Because we are all related. All Africans are brothers and sisters says Jonathan Tommy. Biologically, where ever you are from in Africa, we are related. In Africa if you are from the same house - you are related, from the same village - you are related; from the same country - you are related. Even from the same regional grouping like west, east, north and southern Africa - we are related as long as you are an African we are all related. We refer to each other as brother and sister in Africa. We do not have cousin or nieces - all we have are brothers and sisters. That is why I love Africa - so let us stop killing one another."

A report released by global development, advocacy and relief organisation Oxfam International a few days ago concludes that several countries, including SA, could bring multiple cases against the European Union (EU) and the US - and win. The report showed SA had legal grounds to drag the EU before the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over illegal subsidies for six products, including citrus juice, wine and butter, Hilton Zunckel of trade consultancy Floor Incorporated said. SA could also take the US to the world trade body for its illegal subsidisation of maize and sorghum, Zunckel said.

id21 communicates international development research to policymakers and practitioners worldwide. id21 now has two new categories - rural development and natural resources and are offering two new email newsletters.

The International Crisis Group has announced the launch of a new Text Only version of their website. Crisis Group has developed the Text Only version to allow users with slow internet connections easier access to reports and resources available on the Crisis Group website.

The Global IDP Project of the Norwegian Refugee Council has changed its name to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The name change is accompanied by a relaunch of the IDMC's website and its online IDP database. Visit the website to register for email alerts.

The World Renewable Energy Assembly (WREA) 2005 in Bonn/Germany has ended with the adoption of the final communiqué entitled "The Human Right to Renewable Energy". More than 450 representatives from politics and parliaments, from science and industry as well as NGOs and social movements met in Bonn from November 26th to 30th, 2005, following an invitation of the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE). For the full communique, please follow the link.

On December 10th, White Band Day 3, millions of people will unite in solidarity against trade injustice. Join the largest anti-poverty campaign in history and help us put the Spotlight on Trade Injustice. We need the World Trade Organization to deliver a fair deal on trade and agriculture. For events being held in Africa, please follow the link.

Campaigners from Southern Africa are bracing for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks to be held in Hong Kong later this month. Some plan to send representatives to the meeting, to protest against unfair trade legislation - particularly as this relates to agriculture. These representatives will include two cotton farmers from Zimbabwe, says Ntando Ndlovu of the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the capital, Harare. "The two farmers will be in Hong Kong and make noise using anything, including the beating of drums," she told a gathering of Southern African activists at a conference held in the South African commercial hub of Johannesburg. Ndlovu also urged Mozambique and South Africa to send cotton farmers in support of their Zimbabwean counterparts.

African elephants are facing a renewed threat from poachers who are after the tusks in order to sell the ivory to China's emerging and luxury-hungry middle class, conservationists warn. Although the global ivory trade was banned in 1990, it has persisted in places like Sudan's capital Khartoum and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where a lot of ivory is reportedly transferred to shops in China.

In January 2005 at the World Social Forum a Global Call to Action against Poverty was launched to encourage campaigners to mobilize at key moments of 2005. Many active campaigners of GCAP have decided to continue to unite in solidarity beyond 2005. Some initial discussions of the International Facilitation Group have produced some broad ideas on how this could be done. Before these are discussed at the next IFG meeting in Beirut in early March 2006, it was unanimously agreed to gather as many reactions and alternative ideas as possible.

AIDS activists around the world face frequent government repression and abuse and need substantially increased support and protections, said Human Rights Watch on World AIDS Day. "The few success stories we have in the global fight against AIDS are the result of the heroic efforts of courageous individuals mobilizing impoverished, marginalized, and stigmatized populations to action," said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS Program at Human Rights Watch. "But AIDS activists and outreach workers are often harassed or even jailed by their governments for simply standing up and speaking out about AIDS, and the international donor community is doing too little to protect them."

Organised by the Global Movement for Children and supported by the World AIDS Campaign and the Global Call to Action against Poverty, Lesson for Life, is a 'lesson' on HIV, AIDS and the effect of the crisis on chidren. In 2004, 67 countries from all around the world, working in coalitions of organisations ranging from National AIDS Trusts to international and local NGOs ran the Lesson for Life. 4.3 million people took part. From schools to youth centres, sports clubs to village squares, the Lesson for Life involved everyone, everywhere. For a listing of global events, follow the link.

The draft ministerial text for the upcoming WTO heads of state meeting in Hong Kong put forward on 26 November by the WTO Director-General and the General Council chair received, at the informal heads of delegation meeting on Monday, some pleasantries over the so-called 'bottom up' approach on how the text was put together, with several developing countries however highlighting the fact that many parts of the current draft did not enjoy the agreement of all members.

This new UNESCO publication argues that language, specifically the language used in schools, is one of the principal mechanisms through which inequality in education is reproduced. It shows how the learner’s mother tongue holds the key to making schooling more inclusive for all disadvantaged groups, especially for girls and women.