The lack of preparedness of school leavers for the world of work is a long-standing and controversial issue. In countries such as Ghana and Tanzania, where the school system has expanded dramatically post-independence, many young people have faced difficulties finding jobs suited to their skills.

E-learning, the use of computer and network technologies in teaching and learning, has taken off at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) as a result of a co-ordinated effort by the E-learning unit of the Information and Communication Services (ICS) and UWC academics. "E-learning encompasses distance learning via the internet, which we do not do very much of at UWC, but also includes the use of World Wide Web, CD-ROM and other computer technologies to enhance the more traditional face-to-face education," says Juliet Stoltenkamp, E-learning manager in ICS.

A study done for Balancing Act shows how important satellites are to African communications. "A specially commissioned annexe study for Balancing Act’s African Satellite Markets shows that some 29 out of 55 African countries and territories get more than 80% of their total international Internet bandwidth by satellite, and many fixed and mobile operators in the region are also dependent on satellite for their domestic communications as well."

"Piracy creates jobs but free and open source software and open standards create opportunity and entrepreneurs." That was the word from Johannesburg-based Anriette Esterhuysen, executive director of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Esterhuysen was speaking at a session during the Internet Governance Forum that ends in Athens, Greece, November 2.

Thousands of rejected asylum seekers have been abandoned by the government and are sleeping rough in parks, public toilets and churches, leading to record levels of destitution across the country, according to a study, by Amnesty International and Refugee Action. It found that a growing number of failed asylum seekers are remaining in the UK without any financial or medical support.

Connecting Africa to the global world, ReConnect Africa is a unique online publication and portal that provides readily accessible information and essential services for employers who recruit, manage and develop African human resources and for graduates and professionals in Africa and the Diaspora seeking opportunities in employment, business and investment in Africa.

The South African Department of Education is to develop a framework, which allows advantaged schools to receive subsidies if they enrolled non-fee paying learners. This after Education Minister Naledi Pandor recognised that the number of fee exemptions granted to poor learners at certain schools was becoming a burden on schools' finances.

The European Commission (EC) has presented a 12 million Euro (US$ 14.4m) agreement to President Johnson-Sirleaf for long-term assistance and quick impact support to the education sector of Liberia. According to a press release, the EC Support to Education in Liberia (ECSEL) Programme was developed after extensive consultations with the Ministry of Education between 2005 and 2006.

The lecturers strike bit harder as another university was closed, while some institutions refused to release the tutors' salaries. It was a rude shock for some lecturers yesterday (30 October 2006) who had gone to banks to withdraw their October pay, only to be turned away. Investigation by The East African Standard showed that at least three universities have not released the salaries. At Kenyatta University, which has 700 lecturers, only 100, who are also administrators, have been paid.

SABC board members did not agree unanimously with the way the state broadcaster handled its response to the report of a commission of inquiry on allegations that it blacklisted political commentators, Parliament’s communications committee heard yesterday. Board member Prof Alison Gillwald said she understood a board decision for an ad hoc committee to draw up a statement meant that board members would have an opportunity to scrutinise it before its release.

The 22 nd Annual Joint Scientific Conference (AJSC) of the National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania will be held at the Arusha International Conference Centre, Arusha, Tanzania from March 06-09, 2007. The Conference will be followed by a Workshop on Translation of Health Research into Policy and Practice to be held on March 9, 2006.

Kenya Community Based Health Financing Association was registered in 2002 under the Societies Act of Kenya. Currently the Association has nine member organizations and it seeks to participate in advancing access to quality and affordable health care through initiatives that are based on the values of justice, peace, good governance, human rights, gender equality and equity and sustainable human resource development.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the eighteenth competition under its Small Grants Programme for Thesis Writing. The grants are intended to contribute to the development of the social sciences in Africa and the strengthening of the research capacities in African universities through the funding of primary research conducted by post-graduate students and professionals.

On the first anniversary of the late John Moru who lost his life in the Bellview plane crash on October 22, 2005 at Lisa, Ogun State, Emman Ozoemena writes that Moru, a social activist and an anti-poverty campaigner, was the Secretary of the Steering Committee of the Nigerian Social Forum and would have been happy to participate in the 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya.

On January 22 this year, the 2006 World Social Forum was held in three different locations, namely Bamako, Mali (Africa), Caracas, Venezuela (South America), and Karachi, Pakistan (Asia) in what its organizers termed ‘polycentric events’. This was the first time the event was organized in three regions of the world so as to focus on the developmental needs of different regions ahead of the World Social Forum slated for early 2007, which is expected to harmonize outputs of three regional forums.

It is pertinent to explain briefly what the World Social Forum is all about. It is a global network of civil society groups seeking to build alternative paradigms for development against the backdrop of the emergent conservative social, political and economic trends being pursued by forces of neo-liberal and colonial powers represented by the Brenttonwood Institutions (the International Monitoring Fund [IMF] and World Bank). Secondly, it was a response to the annual January meeting of world political and business leaders popularly known as World Economic Forum that is held in Davos, an exclusive resort in Switzerland.

Today, civil society groups in Nigeria participate actively at both the World Social Forum and African Social Forum. They have gone a step further to put in motion a process towards a national programme: the Nigerian Social Forum (NSF). There is no doubt that these forums have redefined the role of civil society and social action in development processes. They have continued to engage different levels of governance structures, institutions, citizens and groups on development issues at country, continental and global levels through advocacy and social actions.

The NSF has held two forums in the last two years, in Makurdi 2004 and Lagos 2005 respectively. The quality of the representatives and delegates from various nationalities and organisations attending these forums, and the issues and resolutions reached have created a new paradigm in building a humane and responsive environment where rights of the individuals are respected. Early this year when the Bamako conference opened, my thoughts began to wonder about my brother, friend and colleague, John Moru, the former Secretary of the Steering Committee of the Nigerian Social Forum and Governance Team Leader at ActionAid International Nigeria. John died in the Bellview air mishap on October 22, 2005 at Lisa Village in Ogun State. He was a young and talented Nigerian who had tall dreams for Nigeria, Africa and the world. Though he passed away in his early thirties, he lived light years ahead of his earthly age.

For any one who had the opportunity of meeting him, John was imbued with passion and commitment towards the poor and downtrodden, and committed his energies and talent towards changing the course of the people through his involvement in social action and advocacy. I had wondered what John would have said in Bamako about engaging the government on the changes in the communities across Africa? How would he have used the tools of engagement to impress on the leadership why it should be accountable and responsible to the people that elected them? How would he have advised that grassroots people use God-given resources in the community to improve their lives? And I know my bother John would have loved to have shared so many thoughts with his readers, including a couple of insights on how to proceed on the journey to 2007. But alas, he is no more around to do this.

In retrospect, my thoughts skipped to early September 2004 during the preparations for Nigerian Social Forum 2004, when our paths crossed in the course of my journalistic assignment. I had called the chairperson of the 2004 NSF, Priscilla Achakpa, to ask for an interview with her and the Secretary of the Steering Committee, John Moru at her office in Garki II, Abuja. I had read John’s writings on several occasions as he was a regular contributor to issues of public concerns. In fact, I had looked forward to an opportunity to meet him and maybe discuss some of the issues he had written about in the past that had caught my attention. The first essay I read of John’s was in early 2004 when he raised some poignant points on the desirability of a World Bank promoted macro-economic framework that claims to alleviate poverty through a heavy dose of private sector led economic growth under the guise of privatization. His treatise, in my view, was one of the best I ever read especially as an alternative to the Reform Agenda – the popular propaganda of the day. It was a well-argued analysis that I still keep in my file today.

So invariably, I looked forward to the meeting with NSF team of Pricilla and John. And your bet is as good as mine that the interview session with the team convinced me that the NSF project was one idea whose time has come. I was literally converted by the duo to buy in into the theme of 2004 Forum; “Another Nigeria is Possible!” We spent over two hours discussing issues of development and the challenges facing the Nigerian project, the governance framework, the poor and excluded at the grassroots and other related matters. We also veered into challenges faced by millions of African peoples, and other citizens of the global South. Frankly speaking, I left that day with an impression of having been in contact with a young man who, though he belonged to my generation, seemed to be light years ahead in terms of ideas and vision for a better world.

About a week after our first meeting, asked him if he would be available for another discussion, because we had left many matters unresolved. He obviously obliged me. We met at a joint in town where we explored issues ranging from how civil society groups and the media could build partnerships that will help in moving Nigeria forward, to practical ways of engaging leaders at different levels to respond to the concerns of the person in the street. This was a discussion between two individuals concerned about their community. The second meeting, which lasted for close to two and half hours, was more revealing than the previous one. From then on, John became a close confidant whom I could share issues with any time of the day whenever the need arose.

I had guessed that John had either been trained in the discipline of philosophy or imbibed philosophy as a hobby studied philosophy because of the methodical and analytical approach he employed in his writings. His logic was so well developed that even if you disagreed with his conclusions, you would agree that he had argued his position very well. To our amazement, I discovered that he studied philosophy just like the writer. From then on we shared several sentiments on issues even though our methods or approaches differed slightly at times. There was a kindred spirit between us as ‘professional’ colleagues in some sense. That relationship blossomed as we collaborated in several endeavours such as Civil Society/National Political Reform Conference Engagement Secretariat, Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), and the CIVICUS Civil Society Index Project, among others.

John thought that every individual must use his or her God given talents and resources in the service of humanity and in actualizing a better world where poverty, disease, hunger and under-development would be a thing of the past. He believed that to achieve a world without poverty is possible if leaders became accountable at all levels. He was passionate about the Nigerian project and all his writings and speeches were devoted towards achieving this dream.

A day before the ill-fated flight of October 22, 2005 in which John and two other colleagues, Messrs Chinwuba Egbe and Justice Egware lost their lives I had gone to his desk at the ActionAid International Office in Abuja to see him. We spent a considerable time discussing the challenges facing the Nigerian State, as well as emerging issues in polity and the likely areas where citizens could reasonably input to achieve change in the nation. He shared his expectations for the upcoming second Nigerian Social Forum that was at the time scheduled for Lagos in November of 2005. He had told me that there was need to mobilize media support for the NSF. We drew up plans and strategies that we were to work on separately over the weekend and exchange notes again on the Monday morning. At the meeting, we reached consensus that the Nigerian people could if they so desired, take their fate in their hands through active participation in development processes.

That night remains indelible in my mind as John’s voice (though quiet) rose in pitch. “My guy, you know what we don’t need to waste time again. Just put pen to paper on these issues we have agreed on and lets meet Monday morning to tidy up the rest of the media plans”, he said. I can still picture the desk he sat on, the body language he employed to illustrate the urgency of the matter, and how, in between, he excused me and reached for his phone to put a call through to Justice Egware, the Coordinator of GCAP Nigeria, to confirm his appointment in Lagos the next day. “My guy, hope we are still travelling tomorrow?” he demanded. The answer from the other end was received with a smile. I asked him, yes, what did Justice say? His answer was, “yes, we are traveling tomorrow!”

And John travelled on that Saturday to Lagos for an anti-poverty campaign by GCAP Nigeria to raise awareness on how all segments of the society could join hands in eradicating poverty in Nigeria and Africa. I remembered that as I stood up to leave that Friday night at about 7:45 pm, he asked me in a strong tone, “I hope we are not leaving matters out of our discussions”. “My response was clear, “I think we have sorted out all matters at least for now”. I stood up to leave, extended my hand, said good night and see you on Monday morning. He responded with a smile.

Today, 365 days later, or if you may, one year after the death of John Moru and others, the Nigerian Social Forum, African Social Forum, and World of Social Forum, and other CSO coalitions in the forefront of providing alternative development paradigms still meet to review the state of development in Nigeria, Africa and the World. The lives of millions of poor and excluded people in our communities, counties, countries and continents are not better. Advocacy is still needed to give voice to the voiceless who toil the streets, hamlets, cocoons, cities and villages in Africa, Asia, and the Americas under debilitating social existential conditions fuelled by the neo-liberal and economic policies of the Brentwood institutions and their apostles in the third world.

While the political and business leaders would be wont to pop champagne in celebrating the rape of “the wretched of the earth” according to Frantz Fanon, civil society and non-state actors should continue to interrogate development processes. This includes increasing incidences of poverty; lack of access to basic health facilities; hunger and myriads of other challenges facing developing nations, especially Africa. It is time to evaluate the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS), debt crisis challenges, the World Trade Organization rounds and the challenge posed by HIV/AIDS to the world.

Last week, millions of people across the major cities took a stand against poverty! It was refreshing to watch world leaders make a fresh commitment to tackle poverty in the world. John, Chinweuba and Justice, all campaigners against poverty who laid down their lives for that course, would have loved to be around in this season to watch how the world have moved from “Make Poverty History!” to “Stand Up, Against Poverty!!” just like the slogan of the 2004 World Social Forum in Mumbai, India, “Another World is Possible”. A world where all children (no matter the circumstances of their birth) have inalienable rights to education; right to access anti-retroviral drugs for persons living with HIV/AIDS; where the rights of women and children and poor and vulnerable groups are protected.

I am sure that John, Justice and Chinwuba would have been happy to participate in the 2007 World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya. May the voices of the social crusaders John Moru, Justice Egware, and Chinwuba Egbe continue to rest in peace. I want to tell you, my brother John, and others that “Another world is still possible!”

• Emman Ozoemena, a public policy analyst from Abuja, previously collaborated with late John Moru in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty Nigeria (GCAP) Nigeria. He can be reached on e-mail: [email][email protected]
• Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org/

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

"God looked at my work and he was pleased. But when he looked at my salary, he wept," says the computer-generated poster in Norbert Booi's office at A. Shipena Secondary School, a government school in Windhoek's oldest suburb, Katutura. The poster speaks volumes about what is going through the English teacher's head as he pages through the classified sections of the 'Republikein', one of Namibia's three daily newspapers.

Poor infrastructure and inadequate infrastructure services are among the major factors that hinder the continent’s development. More concerted international efforts are also needed to address Africa’s engineering needs. The development policies advocated for Africa in the past two decades have generally failed to draw from experiences elsewhere.

A consultant appraising the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) E-Learning initiative has urged the Government to support local E-Learning materials development. The NEPAD E-Learning, also known as the E-Schools initiative, aims at achieving a 50% internet accessibility for all people in Africa by 2015.

The idea of saving money for an education is a universal concept. Ami and Alice are no exception. They head to the Adjame market in Cote d’Ivoire’s main city, Abidjan, most days to earn cash for school by selling little bags of water from bowls they balance on their heads. What is different about them is their age: Ami is six and Alice is seven.

It is hard to write about Wanjiru in the yesterday. Her indefatigable, vibrant energy, her love of freedom, justice and equality defy that.

I met Wanjiru in those grim Nyayo years and did not realise what a huge impact she was going to have not only on my life and the lives of many others. For instance, she was present when I had my first labour pang, and she read the eulogy for me at my sister’s funeral when I was unable to go home. These moments are not personal to me in the way they seem here but epitomise Wanjiru, private yet public in a seamless way, always present for others, compassionate and caring.

Much of her contributions in the public have been spoken about in the years she has been recovering from the fatal plane crash, which ultimately took not only her life but that of the Labour Minister Ahmad Mohammed Khalif with two pilots in the crash in the town of Busia in 2002. We all believed that she was going to pull through and even then, she managed to comfort us with her courage summing up how she lived her life, with stoicism and optimism.

As has rightly been said repeatedly in this period when Wanjiru was ill, she was a leader, activist for democracy, freedom, human rights, equality and justice and always stood on the side of the oppressed, particularly women and the poor. She worked tirelessly and with courage, using her razor-sharp intellect to focus thousands, of the task at hand in creative ways which brought her knowledge and everyday life together in very practical ways. For she was an intellectual and academic and she brought this to her activism. Equally, she brought her activism into her academic and intellectual life. One day she would be working with global power brokers in suits, and the next she was in the grass roots, engaging power in its different manifestations and locations with equal ease. This subtle ability to succinctly carry what was applicable in one context to another successfully and appropriately was Wanjiru’s greatest strength and she had many. Her sense of humour allowed her to do this.

We spent many a day and night together particularly in those tough Nyayo years when many, including her husband were jailed, tortured, disappeared, killed, exiled or harassed in other ways. What was moving during this period is the way in which Wanjiru applied herself to the personal as well as the public matters with equal fierceness and compassion. Many will attest to her generosity in these difficult days when she became the hub of activity around all matters freedom, not only for Kenyans and women, but for the international community as it is represented in the United Kingdom and elsewhere and she has been recognised with public accolades for her contribution.

Wanjiru urged particularly women and others to take responsibility for their lives by become leaders and to live their lives in the centre-fold of humanity, not its margins and she did this by example through practicing what she preached, but also training others and advocating for others. This is exemplified by her work in Akina Mama wa Africa which she founded with others and later, she took the principles of working to bring women into the centre-fold of life through her work with ABANTU where they developed policy, training and advocacy from feminist perspectives through all aspects of life particularly in Africa, but also globally. She firmly believed that feminism would benefit all of society and therefore engaged with men, women and children.

Despite her very public life, there was a seamlessness in Wanjiru’s life which made the saying the personal is political real, even her love life from start to finish. She met and fell in love in politics and she has passed away in love and politics with her loving and courageous husband at her side very publicly as they began. If you went to Wanjiru’s house, you would just as easily find her rolling out another mandazi or chapati just as readily as she would be unfurling yet another freedom manifesto for Kenya, South Africa, Grenada, Nicaragua, political prisoner or the women’s movement.

Similarly, her public life carried a great deal of her public life as she worked closely with her sisters who adored and emulated her as well as her husband and many of her friends such as those with whom she experienced the plane crash. I met her children, Wangui, Pambi and Mugure involved in the performance of the Trail of Dedan Kimathi! She was a family oriented person, and although many would wonder where she found the time, she did, and in very personal ways. She would write that card with her fountain pen when she could not come and if she could, she would trek to you at night or morning and give you her own personal touch. This is the way she was with her family and with the young ones particularly who always adored her. She was loved by her immediate and her wider global family and she had a way of making you feel that you were part of her world. Wanjiru also drew inspiration from her parents whom she kept abreast of the developments whether she was abroad or at home. This was very moving as it fed both ways and inspired everyone. She would tell us of her family’s acts of courage and said how much her mother’s acts of courage were an inspiration to her. This courage has been witnessed in the last few years as the family supported Wanjiru through her illness daily.

There was a vulnerable and shy Wanjiru which made her self effacing to a fault, as it was so incompatible with the giant that she was. This for me, is her most endearing quality and it drew many people because she did not hide it. It made her human and exceptionally lovable. I write these things with a heavy heart because I had plans like everybody else who was waiting for her to recover.

Her life spans very long days and very long nights and vast, vast spaces, cultures and individuals across the globe. Her impact will reverberate for years to come and her name is now written amongst those other greats that she sang of: Mekatilili, Mbuya Nehanda, Queen Amina of Zaria, Mary Muthoni Nyanjiyu, Muraa wa Ngiti, Anumbai Patel, Sojourner Truth and many many other living heroes and heroines of our time.

Wanjiru always sang but also told the funniest anecdotes at every possible occasion and in a very natural way, so it must be with song that we must say goodbye:

For me, what Wanjiru really epitomised came to me when I lost my sister and did not hesitate in thinking about who would represent me at the funeral when I could not go home due to my exile: She was my comrade, my sister, my friend and my ‘mother’ (I share her daughter’s name) and nobody else could be those things for me. And I know that these sentiments are shared by many others across the world in public and in private and hope that her legacy will endure, for the things that she held dear and the things that she cherished, this monumental life. This was a life well lived and much more will be said by all those lives she touched and hopefully, we will all carry fragments of what she was into our daily lives both at home and in our work where-ever we are. And us she leaves behind, we are very, very proud to have been blessed to share special time with this very special ray of hope.