Nokia launched a regional research center in Nairobi on Sept. 30 to gain a better understanding of the needs of African consumers, said Dorothy Ooko, communications manager for East and Central Africa. Nokia Research Africa (NoRA) will work with universities and NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) to develop prototypes of devices that are suitable for the African market, with an eye on offering benefits in health care and education. Nokia researchers will also study the telecommunication services sector on the continent.

When in 2003 Kenya followed its neighbours Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi in introducing free and compulsory primary education for all, the response from the public as well as international donors was overwhelming. Within the first few weeks more than 1.3 million new students were enrolled. Those who had previously not been able to send their children to school rushed to the school gates and the trend has continued ever since.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, the international NGO tracking the social & environmental conduct (positive & negative) of over 4000 companies, is seeking a highly-motivated person to be its Francophone Africa Researcher & Representative. The Centre’s website (www.business-humanrights.org) is recognised as the leading information hub on this subject. closing date: 28 October 2008.

The Forced Migration Studies Programme (FMSP) in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand is Southern Africa’s premier centre for academic research and teaching on migration and social transformation. The FMSP is seeking a researcher for its Migrant Rights Monitoring Project (MRMP). The MRMP builds on the FMSP’s record of research and advocacy with sustained, rigorous social science research into migrants’ access to basic social services; the implementation of asylum policy; and the nature and causes of rights abuses against non-nationals in South Africa. Closing Date: 31 October 2008.

From January 27th to February 1st 2009, the city of Belem will host the World Social Forum. During six days, the city assumes the position of being the center of planetary citizenship and a global reference for those who don't agree with inequality, injustice, intolerance, environment destruction and prejudice.

Elimu Yetu Coalition – Kenya’s National coalition(network) of Civil Society Organizations committed to the realization of Education For All goals (EFA) as spelt out in the Dakar framework for action – wishes to confirm to all that we will host CONFINTEA VI Africa’s Civil Society Summit on 3rd November 2008 at the Hilton Hotel, Nairobi Kenya. Find attached the registration form.

Sexual exploitation in African schools has become so widespread that children have come up with their own terms to refer to sexual relations with their teachers. From ‘Sexually Transmitted Grades’ to ‘BF’, or bordel fatigue, which refers to exhaustion from multiple sexual activities with teachers, this slang hints at the prevalence of exploitation in Africa’s learning environments.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Southern Africa Regional Office is planning a consultation meeting to develop a CEDAW project document. This meeting is scheduled to be held in Johannesburg from 4 to 5 November 2008.
Although the focus will be on CEDAW, consideration will be given to incorporating activities regarding the Women’s Protocol and the SADC Protocol.

An $8.6 million grant to enhance agricultural production and provide food security for poor people in rural areas of the Republic of Congo was announced today by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The initiative is part of a larger $18.7 million project in the Likouala, Pool and Sangha Departments, which aims to reach 250 villages and some 20,000 households, according to a news release issued by the Rome-based UN agency.

A pilot project to introduce payphones, connected to satellite networks, is providing telephone services to remote communities and helping to develop the telecoms market in Zambia. The unprecedented success of mobile phones across Africa is well documented and clear for anyone to see. But leave the cities and main roads, and the mobile phone is quickly transformed from an economic success-making tool into an interesting but essentially useless accessory.

Rwanda's parliament has decided that all education will be taught in English instead of French. Officially the Rwandan decision is a result of joining the English-speaking East African Community. But relations between Rwanda and France have been frosty following the 1994 genocide, when France was accused of supporting Hutu militias.

About 100 migrants are feared to have drowned after being thrown overboard by smugglers in the Gulf of Aden, the UN refugee agency says. The migrants were attempting to flee to Yemen from war-torn Somalia but were forced off the boat about 5km (3 miles) from the coast, a UN official said.

On 20th October 2008 Heads of State from three sub-regional economic organizations COMESA, EAC and SADC will come together in a first historic tripartite summit in Kampala to “decide on matters related to enhancing cooperation among EAC, COMESA and SADC, including deepening trade, investments, and infrastructure, linking transport corridors, promoting joint projects to boost of industrialization agriculture and food security as well as enabling free movement of people between the three RECs”.

The Centre for Sociological Research seeks applications for up to four post-doctoral fellowships. The PDFs are tenable for two years and successful applicants will be paid R160,000 in the first year. The CSR's PDFs will be expected to publish a book and/or a series of articles based on their doctoral research; begin a new research project; and participate in the intellectual life of the centre.

ANLoc, the African Network for Localization, has started an initiative to build locales for over 100 African languages. The project is now ready to line up volunteers. We are NOT quite ready to begin the technical work for the specific languages, but we ARE in the process of finding volunteers to help out for each language.

The ICASO network of networks operates globally, regionally and locally, and supports community advocates in over 100 countries. ICASO operates from its International Secretariat in Canada and through Regional Secretariats based on five continents. Recently, the ICASO Board created two new Board positions specifically dedicated to representatives of people living with HIV. By doing this, ICASO aims to ensure that the voices of people living with HIV are an integral part of ICASO’s strategic decision-making plans and processes.

As a rickety garbage truck rattled to a halt and discharged its contents, Francis Adigwe, an unemployed textile engineer turned scavenger, rushed over and emerged with his find of the day, a piece of metal he estimated will bring in more than $2. Adigwe is haunted by two concerns, the toll that the job he has done since he was laid off five years ago is taking on his health and his ever-dwindling chances of finding a wife.

Magnus Kamara is a school inspector with a difference. He has been hired to find schools that don't exist."It has been a shocking experience. In some of the towns and villages we visited, there were neither school structures nor genuine teachers, but the government was always paying salaries and subsidies to them, on monthly basis."

In its most recent rankings, Transparency International classifies Algeria as one of the more corrupt countries of the world, despite a modest move upward of seven places to 92nd out of 180. Financial and economic experts in Algeria say the low classification is a product of growing parallel trade, weak independent oversight and a failure to apply and enforce the law.

Law Society of Kenya vice-chairman James Mwamu says that the report has no new information in spite of the millions of shillings spent on the commission. "It is full of contradictions when it says it cannot tell who won the elections due to immense irregularities and in the same breath says there was no rigging at KICC. Who is Kriegler trying to fool?" posed Mwamu.