As is customary, Pambazuka News is taking a break during August to rest and recharge the batteries. The next issue (No 317) is scheduled for 30 August 2007. We wish all our readers and contributors a good break - and thank you for your continued support in making Pambazuka News the platform for discussion, analyses and advocacy in Africa.

The British Council is looking for young people who have an interest in exploring past and present relationships between Africa and the UK by documenting the personal histories of families over three generations, highlighting shared experiences, and creating fresh understanding to build new relationships for the future. Forms must be returned by 3 September 2007.

ICTVillage is inviting individuals and organizations to apply for registration as digital village enterprises in the digital village network as owners/managers of digital facilities (centres, schools, kiosks) located in each constituency and location in Kenya in collaboration with key stakeholders.

Africa is witnessing impressive growth in the development and use of mobile communication networks and the Internet. This development is changing the face of media and the way people are informed. Open communication and uncensored exchange of opinions are helping to build transparent societies. This serves good governance and helps to build stronger democracies.

Costly delays at border posts, caused largely by a shortage of experienced staff and the manual clearance of goods, have resulted in SA’s rail utility, Transnet Freight Rail, formerly Spoornet, calling for the introduction of “borderless communities” or the creation of a single inspections standard for freight trains.

The mammoth task of electing CSOs to the ECOSOCC substantive assembly can not be left to few individuals as heard in the Ghana ‘credentials’ report. In a world where legitimacy, credibility, transparency, ownership and rights-based approaches are increasingly becoming buzz words and have taken center-stage it will be amiss for the African Union ECOSOCC elections to be done in an ‘instant coffee’ and haphazard manner.

The Amy Biehl Foundation is a non-profit organization in Cape Town South Africa whose programmes are designed to develop and empower youth in the impoverished and poverty-stricken townships, contribute to community building efforts and give children hope and a brighter future.

It’s never easy for working class households to pay for a university education. Family members must tighten their belts to the backbone so a favoured child can get a degree. But the rewards for society and the household are great. And few things are more moving than the graduation of a student who was the first in their family to make it through university.

An exciting opportunity exists within the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences for a dynamic person to join and give direction to this fast-growing section of the Department of Modern Foreign Languages. All foreign language programmes are based on an intercultural and communicative approach and are designed to provide thorough competence in the spoken and written form of the target language.

Education experts have welcomed the Tanzanian government’s pledge to hire more teachers in the 2007-2008 financial year to improve the quality of education in the country. “Many will agree that the most important thing in education is the interaction between motivated, competent teachers and their students," Suleiman Sumra, a retired professor of education and researcher with Hakielimu, an NGO dealing with educational issues, told IRIN.

Deaths of detainees in the hands of national police officers of Rwanda have now become norm, a new report released by the New York-based Human Rights Watch has unearthed. From November 2006 to date, at least 20 such killings have taken place in the east African country. Suspecting that some of the police killings appear to be extra-judicial executions, the rights watchdog asked for prompt investigations by an independent and impartial board of inquiry to take place.

Providing women with affordable, accessible, and safe health services is a key obligation of the government of Kenya. However, as a new report produced by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Federation of Women Lawyers—Kenya vividly illustrates, Kenya’s health care sector suffers from systemic and widespread problems that deny women high quality family planning and maternal health care.

Rwanda, the country of a thousand hills, has been hosting the working session of the meeting of Member States’ experts on integration in Africa. The experts’ meeting, which will last from the 23 to 25 July 2007, is holding in the Conference Hall of the Rwandan Prime Ministry and precedes the Conference of Ministers which will hold in the same venue from 26 to 27 July 2007.

Hundreds of African migrant children in the Canary Islands are at risk of abuse, a human rights group has said. Children are being beaten and left to go hungry by staff in overcrowded government emergency centres, Human Rights Watch said in a report. More than 900 unaccompanied children have arrived in the Spanish territory after dangerous journeys in makeshift boats in an attempt to reach the EU. In 2006, about 30,000 immigrants were caught trying to reach the islands.

Reporting to the International Fundraising Director, this exciting new position within the International Fundraising Team will require the ideal candidate to:
Enable ActionAid country programmes to sustain and increase their income through providing great supporter care for child sponsorship and other individual fundraising products; Achieve the ambitious targets and change agenda the international fundraising strategic plan; Manage a team of international fundraising coordinators to build the capacity and capability of national operations. Deadline: 31 July, 2007

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)is currently seeking a committed individual to join as Africa Research and Policy Associate (Horn, East and Central Africa), for a fixed-term, one-year position. Our program staff works both regionally and thematically. The position will be based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Deadline for applications is August 1, 2007.

Elements of the defunct Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and Interahamwe, a Genocide militia, have infiltrated Uganda and are systematically carrying out violent attacks on a section of Banyarwanda living in the country, The New Times has learnt.A recent investigation by The New Times established that at least 10 people were in recent months killed by the militias in Masindi District in western Uganda.

Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) seeks to recruit a General coordinator, programmes. Under the supervision of the Director General, he/she i) is in charge of the planning and of the implementation of tools for the monitoring and evaluation of all activities. Deadline for receiving applications is 10th August, 2007.

The Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites applications for three Managing editor positions. Under the overall authority of the Executive Secretary and the direct supervision of the Senior Programme Officer (Publications and Dissemination), the managing editors, will be expected to serve primarily as the officers responsible for the day-to-day management of the CODESRIA publications that fall within their portfolio. All applications must be received by 31 October 2007.

We are currently seeking a committed individual to join us as Africa Research and Policy Associate (Horn, East and Central Africa), for a fixed-term, one-year position. Our program staff works both regionally and thematically.