Questions relating to the nature of the political and economic context of driving down wages within which the recent Samwu strike occurred and the public and workers perceptions of the strike and its impact will be discussed at a workshop on 10 August in Johannesburg.

The government of Spain is to provide Ghana with 60 million dollars for the execution of projects of high priority in the country. Mr. Amponsah-Bediako said the two governments have already signed a framework agreement and the money would be used to undertake a number of projects to improve the welfare of the people.

The German government has allocated another R125-million to a South African fund which loans money to poor people living in rural areas to build houses. The Rural Housing Loan Fund (RHLF) has improved the living conditions of 200,000 people by lending money to over 34,000 households.

In a show of support for the country's new administration, international donors at the weekend pledged US $2.3 billion in aid to Madagascar over four years.

NGOs can be sustained by mobilising funds from their communities, thereby reducing dependence on donor and foundation grants -- if the Ashoka Citizen Base Initiative (CBI) is anything to go by. This strategic shift for organisational sustainability was displayed earlier this week when Ashoka presented five South African organisations with R250 000 in prize money for demonstrating their ability in tapping resources from the communities they serve.

In a show of support for the country's new administration, international donors at the weekend pledged US $2.3 billion in aid to Madagascar over four years.

A US$24 000 programme to educate indigenous populations in several regions of the Republic of Congo on their basic human rights will begin in August.

The dispute between the South African government and the Global Fund to Fight Aids over funding to KwaZulu-Natal was an “unnecessary controversy” that was damaging South Africa's reputation with the Fund and the international community. More importantly, it was causing a delay in the implementation of programmes to prevent further AIDS deaths and new HIV infections. This is according to a statement signed by a host of organisations and individuals, including the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), the South African Medical Association and Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane.

An estimated 24 million African children are out of school, while of those enrolled, only 61 per cent reach fifth grade, a report by the Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE) has disclosed.

Communities play a vital role in Nigeria's primary schools, helping to build, maintain and run them. But is the 'social capital' of community participation in education being eroded? How far can parents and communities fill the gap when government provision of services is lacking?

Do African adolescents know enough about AIDS to protect themselves against infection? What is the best way to educate them about the risks of HIV? A report from Population Services International evaluates a peer-led HIV prevention programme in a secondary school in Zambia.

In southeastern Ethiopia, a woman like Sedo Osman is a rare sight. She is one of a handful of women teachers striving to get more girls into schools.

Galillee College, the leading management institute in Israel training senior managers from developing countries, is offering tuition scholarships to attend the Environmental Management Program, scheduled for October 9 - 28, 2002.

The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP) provides opportunities for advanced study to exceptional individuals who will use this education to become leaders in their respective fields, furthering development in their own countries and greater economic and social justice worldwide. The International Fellowships Program provides support for up to three years of formal graduate-level study leading to a masters or doctoral degree. Fellows are selected from countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Russia, where the Ford Foundation maintains active overseas programs.

If the poverty of so many children is to be alleviated, it demands that the Departments of Social Development and Home Affairs produce an emergency plan. At present, less than 30% of eligible children (under six years) are registered. This is a massive failure of a very limited but crucial public policy. It is also beset by the problem that the child grant managed within a poor family will not be available just for the child and so its vital public policy ends may not be met.

How is the HIV/AIDS epidemic affecting children and young people? What is being done to address the consequences of the epidemic and what are the possible ways forward? Save the Children UK research suggests that HIV/AIDS is now the greatest threat to child development in many parts of the world and that it is only by combating the root causes of poverty that the HIV/AIDS epidemic can be tackled.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) expressed concern last Friday over claims that several hundred homeless children have been rounded up from the streets of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Most of the children at the Saint Theresa Charity Centre in Ngaoundere, some 622 km north of the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, were taken there at an early age. "We receive children abandoned in the streets or in garbage dumps as well as newborns who lost their mothers at birth," said Sister Agnes Nana, who was temporarily in charge of the centre when IRIN visited it in late June. "We've received newborns who were still carrying their umbilical cord."

A British animal charity is using a R20million bequest to install feng shui gardens for cats, designed to make them more relaxed and more appealing to new owners.

The Eastern Cape province of South Africa is set to benefit from projects worth more than R3billion due before the end of the year.