Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi's passionate and emotive speech at the Growth and Development Summit spared no one from criticism. The speech embodied the frustrations felt by the federation and organised labour in general about many things, such as the absence of a deal on the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, high unemployment and the deepening poverty levels, as well as the relatively low commitment on the part of business to invest in job-creation projects.

Bulawayo businessman Mr Delma Lupepe has donated $100 million to the Great Zimbabwe University in Masvingo and pledged more money over the next five years.

A Sh4.5 billion project to end frequent power blackouts has won donor backing. The project is expected to be completed by May next year and would improve power distribution.

The EU has pledged 10 million euros (US $11.7 million) for a new poverty reduction programme, known as "Ubudehe" in the Kinyarwanda language, an EU official said on Monday. The programme seeks to decentralise poverty reduction efforts and is designed to involve local communities directly in the implementation of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy.

A group of girls from the Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) in Grahamstown will swim across the English Channel to raise funds for the fight against Aids. The girls have already received funds and pledges totalling R800 000. The proceeds of this fundraiser will be used to buy and renovate an Aids day care, testing and counselling centre in Grahamstown.

The world-renowned rock singer, Carlos Santana, has pledged to donate proceeds from an upcoming concert to fight HIV/Aids in South Africa, according to Daily Dispatch. The tour is organised under the auspice of Artists for a New SA (Ansa) Amandla Aids Fund.

Charities' dissatisfaction with Lotto funding will be one of the items on the agenda for the meeting of the United Community Chests of South Africa, being held in Pretoria. Despite dwindling income for Community Chests due to the scrapping of scratch cards after the introduction of the National Lottery, applications for compensatory funding from the Lottery have been turned down.

An online system is giving new momentum to prison reform by helping to improve the reporting of poor conditions in prisons and violations of prisoners' rights. There are many examples of human rights violations against prisoners in South Africa that are given little or no attention by the police. But thanks to the new online system - which makes reporting about prisoner treatment more efficient and transparent - prison officials and the police are being held accountable.

A UK-based NGO, Save the Children, has urged the multinational force currently mobilising in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to take an active role in efforts to prevent use of children by armed groups in the region.

More than 2,500 malnourished children in Ethiopia have been admitted to emergency feeding centres in recent weeks, the humanitarian organisation Save the Children USA said on Monday. It said a further 2,000 children were on the "brink" of starvation as Ethiopia faced what has been described as its worst food crisis in two decades.

Amnesty International has called on the Tunisian government to urgently reform its justice system as the human rights organisation published a new report revealing endemic human rights abuse in Tunisia, where even the number of people held in its prisons is a secret.

A targeted urban intervention programme in Zambia is helping to keep orphans and vulnerable children in school by supporting their caretaker families. Zambia is among six countries in Southern Africa experiencing food shortages due to a combination of factors, including drought and the impact of HIV/AIDS.

"Knowledge and information are power," said Uganda’s Education Minister, Khiddu Makubuya. "Our future is in our youth and we must offer them the best possible start in life". One would be forgiven for thinking that the words refer to kindergarten or primary school education in Africa. But he was talking about secondary schooling at the opening, Monday, of the first regional conference on secondary education in Africa, being held in the Ugandan capital, Kampala. To date, secondary schooling has played second fiddle to primary education, which has attracted most of the funds and attention of both donors and African governments in recent years.

Higher education institutions in the country, the University of Zimbabwe in particular, have lost their status as academic institutions ready to offer a haven for constructive criticism of government excesses, writes Tapera Kapuya, the former Secretary General of the University of Zimbabwe Student Union. 'Bomber' militia run university security. Students are harassed and beaten with apparent impunity. Members of the secret police watch dissident lecturers and students, and armed riot police are ready to pounce at any slightest show of discontent by members of the academic community. As Brian Raftopoulos, a professor at the university’s institute of development studies and chair of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Committee, said in his Canon Collins Memorial Lecture in London last week, its academics are polarised between adjuncts to the Zanu PF propaganda machine and critics of the regime.

Kenya is among nine African countries with the highest number of Tuberculosis (TB) infections. Kenyan Assistant Minister for Health Gedion Konchellah said there had been an upsurge of TB due to the HIV/Aids epidemic, urbanisation, increasing poverty and declining social economic trends.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has protested against the re-arrest of newspaper editor Daher Ahmed Farah on 5 June 2003, just two days after his release from custody. The organisation has called on the authorities to release him immediately. The editor of "Le Renouveau" newspaper and head of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD), Farah is the subject of several libel suits filed by the armed forces.

Write for power! Apply to be part of the Agenda Writing Programme. The programme aims to help women get their voices out and people to express their ideas and experiences of gender. It helps writers develop their writing skills, especially to write for publication. It also gives writers tools to analyse gender issues.

Some R145-billion has been earmarked for investment in a range of projects around the country and many unemployed South Africans stand to benefit not only from the jobs but from new skills that they will acquire. This emerged on Saturday when the much anticipated Growth and Development Summit saw about 300 people descend on Gallagher Estate in Midrand to witness the signing of an historic agreement for all parties to work together to revitalise South Africa's economy and to create jobs. Meanwhile a number of groups gathered outside the convention centre to voice concerns about the plight of the landless poor, those living with HIV/Aids and the inability of the unemployed in Soweto to pay up-front for electricity.

"We have noticed a big increase in the abandonment of babies since the new year," says Clive Beckenham, the co-director of the New Life Home Trust for abandoned, orphaned and HIV-positive babies in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Last week alone, the home was contacted by two hospitals with 11 unwanted babies needing homes.

A Zambian Demographic Education Survey (ZDES) report for 2002 has revealed that education has become more widespread, leading to a significant improvement in girl-child education. A nation-wide survey carried out among primary school children between August and October last year showed that there had been a dramatic improvement in the participation of girls in education.