A vacancy exists at the Electoral Institute for Southern Africa (EISA) for the position of Manager, Elections and Balloting Services (BES). The position is based in Johannesburg. Qualified South African nationals are encouraged to apply. EISA offers a competitive remuneration package based on qualifications and experience. Closing date for submission of applications is Friday, 20 May 2007.

Fazel Khan, a sociology lecturer at the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN)has been fired by the university after a 7 month disciplinary process.

With tens of thousands of youths still out of work more than five years after the end of Sierra Leone’s civil war, many say that prospects for employment will be what they demand of the new leaders they are to elect in July.

Emmanuel Barasa, 17, is a former primary school pupil from the Mt Elgon district in western Kenya, along the Kenyan-Ugandan border. Barasa, who is now living with relatives in Bungoma, a neighbouring district, spoke to IRIN during a food aid distribution about the effects the fighting has had on his education.

Aid agencies are scrambling to help Madagascar recover from a succession of natural disasters, feeding whole communities cut off from desperately needed food supplies and helping thousands of children get back to school.

In the world’s poorest countries many children have gone without quality education for far too long, and as a result, the human capital that these countries need to grow and develop sustainably is still in desperately short supply. A new research report by Action Aid on Malawi, Mozambique and Sierra Leone shows that a major factor behind the chronic and severe shortage of teachers is that International Monetary Fund policies have required many poor countries to freeze or curtail teacher recruitment.

A regional NGO based in Harare seeks to recruit a suitable candidate for the post of executive director. The executive director currently reports directly to the board of trustees and heads the organisation’s secretariat. deadline for applications is 9 May 2007.

The Distance Education and Teacher Training in Africa conference is taking place from 5-8 August 2007 in Kampala, Uganda. Interested educationalists are invited to submit abstracts under a number of streams. The presentations in these parallel sessions will be limited to 15 minutes, with an additional five minutes for questions. Abstracts must reach the organising committee not later than 31 May 2007.

The Head of External Relations & Communications will work in a highly-driven, complex and demanding environment. Working closely with AKDN Communications Heads s/he will develop effective, well-researched communications materials to promote and find a constructive balance between communications and content to serve a variety of purposes.

Human Rights Watch Africa Division seeks a South Africa Director to coordinate its efforts from its office in Johannesburg, South Africa, contribute to the organisation’s human rights policy and advocacy work, and serve as the organisation’s principal spokesperson in South Africa. Please apply immediately.

Save the Children UK is seeking a programme manager - North Kivu to work in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Closing date: 20 May 2007.

INTRAC Open Training Programme: June - July 2007.

Kabissa: Space for Change in Africa is seeking three summer interns from 15 May -15 September based in Washington DC.

The East African Telecentre Leaders Forum (EA-TLF) is around the corner. This third of its kind will be co-hosted in Kenya by UgaBYTES and Kenya Network of Telecentres – KenTel in Kenya Siaya District on 4th/5th June, 2007. The theme of this year's event is "Promoting ICT for rural development: Meeting movement challenges". Telecentre Visit: 6th June, 2007 Deadline for express of interest: 11th May 2007

The African Sociological Association announces its 1st Congress which is scheduled to hold in Grahamstown-iRhini, South Africa, from 15-18 July 2007. The African Sociological Association was formally constituted in December 2000 on the back of the 10th General Assembly of CODESRIA, in Kampala, Uganda.

The Kenya Government is facing renewed pressure to employ more teachers and increase their salaries to improve education standards. Lobby groups from the education sector yesterday said the Government should also plan for an overwhelming demand for secondary education due to the high number of pupils benefiting from free primary education.

A world-class education cannot neglect the basics. This is the main reason why the Mauritius ministry of Education has endorsed an international workshop on early childhood care and education held from 18th to 26th of April. Representatives of the educational sector of Sub-Saharan Africa are in Mauritius to try and make Africa move forward in the inclusion of every young child in education.

History was made in the energy sector when a licence was granted to investors for the erection of a large wind-power project that could eventually generate 25 per cent of Namibia's electricity supply. This makes Namibia the first African country to embark on large-scale wind-power generation.

There are children in Namibia who are out of school for one reason or another, even though education is a human right. This is the view of the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Becky Ndjoze-Ojo, who was the keynote speaker at the opening on Monday of the Education for All Global Week at the UN Plaza. Hundreds of learners from schools in the capital Windhoek attended the event, which is celebrated in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Senegalese authorities had agreed to allow a Spanish hospital ship, Esperanza del Mar, which has 91 illegal African migrants on borad, to disembark in the port of the capital Dakar on Thursday. Mauritanian authorities had earlier refused the Spanish request to allow the ship to disembark in their country on humanitarian grounds, arguing that the rescue mission took place within the maritime area of Senegal.