You will have a minimum of 3 years work experience with LNGOs in an advisory/support capacity and proven knowledge/experience of organisational development and capacity building within the NGO/CBO sector. Proven experience in training/facilitation methodologies and direct training ability and experience of liaison with a range of different organisations at a policy level are essential.

The ongoing world-wide fight for the democratization of communities and states has been conducted through the prisms of many different historical experiences. But a simple question has to be asked: Why keep on keeping on with the struggles for democracy, not to mention all the other isms? The answer lies in the stark reality of the violent greed of imperialist expeditions and authoritarian local elites under whom even bare life can only be defended by a fight for the right to live. Africa is no exception. Memories of wars against colonial domination and the taste of virtual victory are still so fresh yet the continent is riddled with authoritarian and comprador elites and so teems, as it must, with virbant struggles to constitute counter-power, writes Hopewell Gumbo in an article on the website of the Centre for Civil Society at the University of Natal, South Africa.

The publishers of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper began legal action Wednesday seeking to resume publication after twice being shut down by the government. Associated Newspapers Zimbabwe applied to the Administrative Court for permission to immediately resume publication of the Daily News, company lawyer Gugulethu Moyo said.

Secondary schools in Benin have been shut down and many government offices have been under-staffed as a result of a three-day strike by public sector workers to demand higher pay.

Education is not a basic human right, Zambia's education minister Andrew Mulenga has told Parliament. This was after Chimbamilonga Movement for Multi Party Democracy (MMD) member of parliament Chipampe Sakalani asked him to explain why government was depriving children of their basic right to education.

In Somalia, if parents do not take the initiative their children will not get an education. Only 17 per cent of school-age children attend school in this war-scarred country. Yet, in the small village of Bansofe, its 270 families banded together to make educating their children possible.

The Provincial Manager will play a key role in the programming of all GOAL's activities in Hurungwe District in Mashonaland West Province. The Provincial Manager will be responsible for the day-to-day management of all of the activities in the province, and in particular that the activities meet the donors' and GOAL's standards for humanitarian assistance activities.

CAFOD has been supporting peace and reconciliation work in DRC since 2001 and has recently secured funding from DFID for the next 3 years of its programme. This period will see the programme broaden its coverage within eastern DRC, and also expand into neighbouring countries in recognition of the regional nature of many of the underlying issues.

George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs will award a fellowship to a mid-career professional from a developing nation to pursue the Master of International Policy and Practice (M.I.P.P.) degree program for the 2004-2005 academic year. The award covers tuition, fees, and a living stipend and is worth approximately $37,000.

A school meals programme, whereby free meals are distributed to orphans and disadvantaged girls in primary schools, is now catering for a total of 122,000 children in six provinces of Mozambique. The programme, conducted by the World Food Programme (WFP), in coordination with the country's Education Ministry, was launched in Zambezia, in the centre of the country, in November last year, and now has been extended to Manica, Sofala, Tete, Nampula and Cabo Delgado provinces.

For a long time, lecturers of the public universities in Kenya have stagnated at a salary which cannot sustain their livelihoods for even a week. Due to this situation, it has been very difficult since 1989 for most university departments to attract new members of staff. Attrition of the staff members has been on the increase, and most of those who have remained have been forced to moonlight and engage in other activities that leave very little room for serious academic work. This is a very unfortunate situation. The consequence, as in many other universities in Africa, has been the tendency for academic standards to fall. Education, and especially higher education for any nation is an investment in the future.

Although governments have increasingly become aware of the problem of orphans and vulnerable children in Southern Africa, countries still lacked the capacity to effectively deal with the problem, a regional workshop heard on Monday.

International aid organisations on Tuesday welcomed a government decision to double state pensions, but warned that more had to be done for Ethiopia’s elderly. Peter Bofin, the head of HelpAge International, said that whereas the move was a positive step, it was noteworthy that about 3 million old people in the country were receiving no pension at all.

ActionAid Africa Region is seeking competent and qualified applicants to fill the positions of Thematic Regional Coordinators. These are all senior program management positions in Actionaid. These positions require self-driven and motivated persons able to work in a fast paced environment with multiple accountabilities and minimum supervision.

The International Human Rights Exchange (IHRE) is seeking a dynamic and energetic full time Project Coordinator to work on this intensive, month-long, international, interdisciplinary course in human rights that is offered each June-July. The IHRE consists of a consortium of 14 partner universities and colleges in Southern Africa and the United States. The Project Coordinator is formally employed by the South African secretariat which is based at the University of Cape Town and is subject to its personnel and administrative policies.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is launching the 4th Phase of the Assisting Communities Together (ACT) Project, which makes grants up to US$ 5,000 available for community-based organisations to support them in their human rights education activities.

The Western Cape department of education is awaiting a report into allegations of racism at the Edgemead High School in Cape Town, the department said. A 16-year old black schoolgirl was allegedly physically abused and defacated on during the alleged incident under investigation.

Amorkor Amarke has four children. Two of them, Emmanuel Tetteh, 7, and Nortei Tetteh, 11, are of school going age. But, instead of attending school, they spend their days either sitting at home or fishing. It's not a lack of finances that keeps these children out of the classroom and Amarke does not need the extra funds earned by their labor. Amarke desperately wants to educate her children. Why, then, are the boys not in school? The answer is simple. There is no space for them.

All students completing secondary school by 2008 will be required to be computer literate, according to a Nepad plan. They will be followed by primary school leavers five years later in 2012 if the New Partnership for Africa's Development e-schools initiative succeeds. Prof Peter Kinyanjui, the Nepad programme coordinator, said yesterday the schools initiative, which would eventually serve the entire African continent, would require sufficiently trained teachers in information and communication technology (ICT).

Roger Southall, the executive director of the democracy and governance research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), says accessing donor funds by various government departments is not always without complications. Southhall was responding to allegations in a report tabled in parliament by the Auditor-General yesterday, that spending agencies were slow in processing requests for money. As a result, huge amounts of donated money went unspent.