Burkina Faso's prime minister, Ernest Paramanga Yonly, launched a campaign on Friday to eradicate the tsetse fly and sleeping sickness from Africa.

The Nigerian Senate's committee on women's affairs and youth has announced that it will hold public hearings to investigate child labour, sex trading and other forms of exploitation to which minors are subjected, AFP reported on Sunday.

An eight-member Human Rights Watch delegation, led by Board Member Joel Motley and Advocacy Director Reed Brody, participated in the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) in Durban, South Africa (August 31 to September 7). HRW played a key role in several programmatic victories that set the stage for future activism on issues including the protection of migrants and refugees, repairing the legacy of slavery, the equal application of criminal justice, and equal nationality rights for women.

Nonprofit organizations working for peace are showing a growing vitality in the wake of the 9-11 attacks.

Effective Capacity Building in Nonprofit Organizations, published in August 2001 by Venture Philanthropy Partners, brings some common language to the discussion of capacity building and offers insights and examples of how nonprofits have pursued building up their organizational muscle. The report contributes to the growing national conversation about how to help nonprofits become stronger, more sustainable and better able to serve their communities. McKinsey & Company prepared the study at the request of VPP. McKinsey also developed a practical assessment tool for this report that nonprofits can use to measure their own organizational capacity. We hope that nonprofits and funders alike find value in this report.

Please read, copy to new e-mail, sign and forward to friends - the petition is going to the UN.

Privacy advocates are urging U.S. citizens who are concerned about maintaining our constitutionally protected civil liberties to sign the "In Defense of Freedom" statement before Congress votes on proposals to expand electronic surveillance and include all hacking offenses in the anti-terrorism bill drafted in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

To coincide with the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Brisbane, Australia on Saturday 6 October, there will be two large, colourful, and peaceful demonstrations - one in London, and one in Pretoria. It is very important that a strong protest is registered, to make sure that the delegates to CHOGM fully appreciate the importance of holding the government of Zimbabwe to the public promises it recently made in Abuja and Harare. Pretoria : Starts at noon at the Union Buildings. London : Starts at noon on Saturday 6 October outside the Zimbabwe High Commission.

What follows is a petition that will be forwarded to President Bush, and other world leaders, urging them to avoid war as a response to the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon this week. Please read it, sign below, and forward the link to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. We must circulate this quickly if it is to have any effect at all, as the Congress of The United States has already passed a resolution supporting any military action President Bush deems appropriate.

The Information and Communication Network (ComNet) has just published the third publication of its capacity building guide series, Dealing with Advocacy - A Practical Guide, written by Ms. Joke van Kampen. It contains detailed chapters on the necessity of NGOs to deal with advocacy, how to develop an advocacy strategy, the advantages of forming coalitions and how to incorporate advocacy into your everyday work.

The Zimbabwean government has raised the stakes in the impending do-or-die presidential election. It plans to plough about ZIM$6,5-billion into social services and housing projects, including funding so-called self-help projects in rural areas.

"Never again shall South Africa be the fountainhead of conflict in the region and further afield. Never again shall our country be the source of armaments used to suppress our neighbours. Never again shall we spend our people's resources to develop weapons of mass destruction." - Nelson Mandela, March 1995 The Ceasefire Campaign joins the world in condemning the devastating unleashed through attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, USA.

There is an amazing and wonderful thing that happens in the darkest times. Right now, most of the people of the United States and many throughout the world are asking themselve the definitive question of all nonprofit work: How can I make a difference?

The Information and Communication Network (ComNet) has just published the third publication of its capacity building guide series, Dealing with Advocacy – A Practical Guide, written by Ms. Joke van Kampen. It contains detailed chapters on the necessity of NGOs to deal with advocacy, how to develop an advocacy strategy, the advantages of forming coalitions and how to incorporate advocacy into your everyday work. All three guides are available online.

Interested in how nonprofits are using email to reach stakeholders? The Gilbert Center surveyed 900 nonprofit organizations to find out.

Engaging in online community outreach is more than just putting up a Web site; it involves planning and acting strategically, finding and posting to appropriate Internet discussion groups, sending e-mails directly to current and potential customers, perhaps even starting your agency's own online community of volunteers, supporters and others. Online outreach must be proactive, interactive and ongoing. It needs to be nutured and fully supported, just as with all your offline interactions (direct mail, phone support, onsite presentations, etc.). And it MUST be MISSION-BASED.

Human Rights ought to become the common language of humanity and all organs of society have a duty to get the message out. It is when people are aware of their rights that they can best defend them and respect the rights of others. Advocacy is about changing peoples minds and actualizing human rights values that are dear to society; it has the power to bring out voices, aspirations, thoughts and realities that otherwise would have no space in the prevailing public agenda. Human rights situation in the Commonwealth countries is appalling. [...] The sad reality is that human rights are normally taken and not given and for one to take her rights unless she needs the power. Advocacy is a source of power.

High profile campaigns such as those directed at Shell and Nike have shown that NGOs can turn corporate unethical behaviour into a cost which business is keen to avoid. Where is this process heading? Are campaigners unwittingly assisting multinationals to consolidate their market share? Are campaigners improving conditions for multinational employees whilst having minimal impact on workers in export enterprises in developing countries?

Are NGOs suited to advocacy? Traditionally, NGOs have been involved in hands-on development work, but in an effort to increase impact, UK NGOs are shifting towards advocacy and policy work. How do they grapple with issues of legitimacy, accountability, governance, and evaluation? Do they need to strengthen links between their operational activities and advocacy work, and mainstream advocacy within their overall activities?