"History is replete with instances of good concepts weakened by vague definitional parameters and the concomitant blurring of focus. This is equally true in the case of the notion of access to information. A good starting point is the observed variations in the title of legislative instruments – ‘Access to Information’, ‘Freedom of Information’ and ‘Right to Information’." You can read more at the resource page on access to information at the anti-corruption website, Coris.

The Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa has published the second edition of the Compilation of the Decisions on Communications of the African Commission (1994 - 2001). All of the decisions that the Commission has taken on human rights cases brought against states parties have been collected here and indexed by country and by article. This is a valuable resource for those who are interested in understanding how the Commission responds to allegations of human rights violations. Contact the Institute at the website below for more information.

The girl-child in southern Africa is faced with many challenges, which include poverty, effects of HIV and AIDS, dropping out of school, commercial sex work and child abuse. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPFA) mandates governments and states to eliminate all forms of discrimination and abuses against the girl-child, and to ensure that girls enjoy their rights in totality. In the Southern African Development Community (SADC), six countries (Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia and Zambia) have identified issues affecting the girl-child as a priority. However, the region still has insufficient innovative programmes to effectively deal with the challenges of girls in rural communities including those out of the formal education systems and organised groups.
Chipo Chigumira

The Zimbabwean government has proposed obliging its internet service providers to divulge details of e-mails deemed offensive or dangerous. Zispa, the local ISP association, has asked the government to clarify its proposed addendum to providers' franchise contracts. One ISP told BBC News Online it was not a provider's duty to police the net. President Robert Mugabe has suggested the internet, widely developed in Zimbabwe, is a tool of colonialists.

This Research Matters “Call for Proposals: Innovation in the Consolidation and Dissemination of GEH Research” has been designed to advance the GEH mandate through innovation, consolidation, and the on-going dissemination of GEH research results. Grants disbursed under this Call will promote new and creative ways of connecting researchers and research-users, consolidate existing evidence, and disseminate evidence-based research to a larger range of research-users. Grants are not intended to support new research but rather to support the advancement of existing or anticipated research results.

Translate.org.za is a project translating Opensource software into all of South Africa's official languages and offering assistance and creating tools to help other language teams. To subscribe to the newsletter send an email to [email protected] with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.

On-line human rights questions and answers is a free-of-charge on-line human rights information and NGO development service that provides answers to questions specifically related to human rights concepts, institutions and mechanisms and guidance on strategically addressing human rights violations that an NGO or activist is working to overcome.

The Community Information Network for Southern Africa (CINSA) is a project supporting community ICT initiatives in the SADC region. The aim is to build a sustainable network of community ICT projects in the 14 SADC member states - Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. CINSA supports community ICT initiatives, including telecentres, community multimedia centres, community radio stations, community information resource and access centres and the like. Its mandate is to serve those initiatives located within the SADC region through research, networking, facilitating training, service brokerage and more.

Information should be seen as a global public good. In today’s society, access to information means access to development. But information is increasingly treated as a commodity, providing unfair advantage to those with means to access it, and excluding those who don’t. The digital divide is more than a matter of infrastructure, and will not necessarily be overcome simply through technology. The public sector has a responsibility to ensure that fair access is promoted.

The 24th International Fundraising Congress (IFC), a leading conference for fundraising professionals, takes place from the 12-15 October 2004 at the NH Leeuwenhorst Hotel in the Netherlands. The conference programme includes all aspects of fundraising such as research, strategy and communications. The sessions consist of workshops, panels, plenaries, mini-courses and advanced classes.

Three hundred community radio activists, programme producers and community managers met on April 26-30 to formalise a National Community Radio Forum for Mozambique. Activities included discussing statutes and other legal and structural issues, as well the sharing of experiences. The membership-based Forum aims to be a facilitating umbrella for all the 45 community radios and Community Multimedia Centres now on air in Mozambique.

On 11 May 2004, Méité Sindou, a journalist and director-general of the Mayama Group, which publishes the daily "Le Patriote" newspaper, escaped a kidnapping attempt when three assailants abducted another journalist, mistaking him for Sindou. According to Media Foundation for West Africa-Cote d'Ivoire, three unidentified individuals, who had stationed themselves close to the gate of the Mayama Group's offices, accosted Ouattara Kader, general manager of "Le Patriote". They commandeered his car at gunpoint and drove away with him.

The Ministry of Local Government (ministère de l'Administration du Territoire et de la Décentralisation, MATD) has banned the sale of the 9 to 15 May 2004 edition (issue 2261) of the news weekly "Jeune Afrique L'Intelligent". This is the second time in the last two weeks that an edition of the newspaper has been prevented from going on sale. According to Media Foundation for West Africa-Guinea, the MATD was displeased with an article entitled, "Searching desperately for François Fall", published on page 12 of the paper.

Judes Zossé, publication director of the private daily newspaper L'Hirondelle (The Swallow) in the Central African Republic, was released from prison on Friday, May 14, under a presidential pardon. He had served more than two months of a six-month sentence for defaming President François Bozizé. On March 12, Zossé was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine for "insulting the head of state" after his newspaper reprinted an article from the opposition news Web site Centrafrique-presse.com. The report alleged that Bozizé, who came to power after a March 2003 coup, had personally taken over the collection of taxes in the country, prompting two senior Treasury officials to contemplate resignation.

At the Board Meeting of the International Press Institute, held in Warsaw, Poland on 15 May, the Executive Board voted unanimously to add Ethiopia to the IPI Watch List. Zimbabwe is also on the list. IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said, "After a recent fact-finding mission to the country carried out by IPI, we have grave concerns about the deteriorating media freedom situation in Ethiopia. Though the government has expressed its support for diversification of the broadcast media by opening the airwaves to private broadcasters, it has constantly delayed the implementation of this intention and, despite promises to the contrary, there are genuine fears that it will not do so before the next general election in 2005."

This is the email and web network from The Communication Initiative partnership - The Rockefeller Foundation, UNICEF, USAID, CHANGE, WHO, BBC World Service, CIDA, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, The European Union, Soul City, The Panos Institute and UNAIDS. It contains information, ideas, linkages and dialogue on communication, development and change.

hrights provides a forum for the discussion of human rights issues in general as well as for announcing human rights events and getting your questions about human rights answered. To join, send an empty message to: [email protected]

This publication collects 94 annotated resources about modern fundraising. We have sorted those resources into nine key categories, including the use of Email and Community Building.

This conference will focus on:
* Providing the participants a platform for sharing regional and international best practices and success stories;
* Bringing people together to discuss and network on issues of common concern;
* Providing fundraisers with the opportunity to learn the basic principles and new skills and techniques of fundraising;
* Promoting fundraising as a profession.

Electronic Learning (E-learning) is good for the developing countries like Zambia but it is too expensive for the Zambian people, claimed lecturer Billy Kahota, writes News Update's Zambia correspondent Timothy Kasolo. In a contribution to a monthly debate organised by the Computer Society of Zambia (CSZ) with the title "E-learning for Zambia - is it a dream or reality?", Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies (ZCAS) Lecturer Billy Kahota said that though E-learning in Zambia has been welcomed it is very expensive for the Zambian people to pay for E-learning.