The commotion about last year's dismal matric results has subsided, but experts warn that merely focusing on final year pass rates hides the deeper problems facing South Africa's education system. After a three percent drop in each of the last three years, the 2005 pass rate hit 68.3 percent. Although cause for concern, staggering dropout rates and the declining quality and quantity of educators point to a larger crisis.

Ethiopian security forces have detained a correspondent for the US-based Web site Ethiopian Review, its publisher Elias Kifle said. Journalist Frezer Negash has been held without charge in Addis Ababa since Friday, Kifle told the Committee to Protect Journalists. "We are disturbed that Frezer Negash has joined at least 16 other journalists in jail in Ethiopia," said Ann Cooper, executive director of CPJ. "We call on Ethiopian authorities to release her immediately."

The event Africa Source II, focusing on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) took place between January 8-15, in Kalangala, Uganda. The event specialised in hands on skills development for the Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) sector, bringing together over 120 NGO support professionals, staff and software experts. Becky Faith reports on how participants learnt about using FOSS to increase vital access to information and provide inexpensive and efficient ICT infrastructure.

"When the rules of the game change we have an opportunity to change our circumstances.” With these words Mark Shuttleworth, open source advocate and Afronaut, addressed the 140 participants at Africa Source 2 which was held in a beautiful location at Kalangala, on Uganda's Ssese Islands.

The event was intended to provide NGO activists, educators and technologists space to get hands on experience with Free and Open Source Software, but the participatory and enabling environment meant that participants returned home with more than a handful of free CDs.

The three tracks of ‘Migration for Education and Resource Centers’, ‘Migration for Non Profit Sector’ and ‘Information Handling and Advocacy’ showed how participants from these sectors might use open source tools. What was revelatory was not only the fact that the everyday tools we might use for our work have robust free alternatives but that each and every one of us have skills and experiences that are useful for us to share.

In the information handling track some time was spent exploring collaborative software. An introduction to Wiki's showed how they might be easily set up through sites like http://www.wikispaces.com/ and prove valuable in an educational context. Content management systems (http://www.socialsource.org.uk/pmwiki.php/IssuesAndResources/ContentMan…) were demoed and compared as well as tools for the use of SMS in activism and human rights monitoring such as Txtmob (http://www.txtmob.com/) and Asterisk (http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/). Activists from Egypt discussed the importance of blogging in recent political campaigns (http://www.manalaa.net/egblogs) and how RSS feeds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29) were a vital tool in mobilising participation.

Other sessions saw the concepts of open knowledge explored in greater depth. An introduction to copyright and the creative commons movement (http://www.commons-sense.org/) showed how the burgeoning digital commons can benefit Africa and how adoption of creative commons licenses (http://creativecommons.org/license/) can actually be a smart business model.

Yet computers can only serve to empower communities if they are adapted for local needs. Africa Source provided an opportunity for the localisation (http://translate.org.za/, http://translate.or.ug/) of popular software such as Open Office and showed how others might go about localising into their language.

The empowerment of disabled computer users was also addressed. Arun Mehta called for help for the visually challenged from geeks - (http://wiki.africasource2.tacticaltech.org/post/main/02mAzpaeWZNprwBC). He would like to see open source screenreaders to help blind and illiterate computer users - the proprietary Windows software costs in the region of $900.

Throughout Africa Source 2 participants were encouraged to offer their skills and experiences to benefit others. Most technical environments offer a strict division between 'techies' (usually male) and non techies, yet the atmosphere at Kalangala encouraged those with any skills or experience to share them with the group.

Africa Source 2 also saw major progress in the development of the African Linux Chix community. Women from Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and Egypt got together to discuss how they might advocate for open source amongst women. Mentoring for school-age girls to get them to consider information technology as a career was seen as a top priority. The openness of the FOSS community was seen as a great opportunity for learning and participation by women. To join the mailing lists in English and French visit the site at http://www.africalinuxchix.org/.

* Becky Faith is Fahamu’s production manager.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

Website links:

http://www.bytesforall.org/
http://foss4us.org

In the wake of a worsening orphan crisis and accusations against a headmaster who allegedly raped six primary school pupils, the United Nations Children’s Fund has repeated its call for communities to speak out against all forms of child abuse. UNICEF said it was horrified at the continued sexual abuse of children, most of them primary school pupils, and by those in trusted positions. Anecdotal evidence from local NGOs and clinics around Harare show child sexual abuse is rampant.

CIVICUS seeks to commission four writers to play a leading role in the design, development and drafting of four high-quality Background Papers (one per writer) on each of the sub-themes of the CIVICUS World Assembly, to be held June 21-25, 2006. Within an overarching theme for the event of “Acting Together for a Just World”, the four sub-themes to be explored through these papers are social justice, civic justice, economic justice and political justice. The papers are intended to enhance discussions and encourage productive debate at the World Assembly. For more information, see www.civicus.org/new/media/CallforBackgroundPapers20060123.pdf.

The Agenda Feminist Media Project seeks a full-time Project Director and a full-time Journal Editor, to become integral members of its team, which is dedicated to raising women’s voices and discussing women’s issues in Africa. The Project Director is responsible for overseeing Agenda’s operations, which includes Agenda’s quarterly journal publication, website, radio and writing programmes. Past managerial, budgetary and fundraising experience required. The Journal Editor is responsible for conceptualising, commissioning, and editing Agenda’s quarterly journal publication.

The aim of this paper from the organisation Young Lives is to establish a link between micro-level outcomes and macro-level policy initiatives with respect to eight-year-old children's primary school enrolment in Ethiopia. The study investigated external factors associated with child enrolment in school, such as lack of income, child labour, economic shocks, social capital and education of adults in the household.

Scientists in Africa and Eastern Europe can now seek support from a new fund to help them research major challenges, such as climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss. The British Ecological Society's (BES) 'capacity building for ecology fund', launched on Monday (16 January), will develop ecological science in the two regions by helping create national and regional associations, according to SciDev.

The UAB-affiliated Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) is accepting applications for our internship program, termed "HIVCorps." Now in its 3rd year, the HIVCorps program sponsors volunteers in HIV prevention, treatment, and research activities in Lusaka, Zambia. Expatriate volunteers - usually pre-medical / medical students, or recent MPH graduates - are paired with Zambian counterparts of similar training and experience and work under a UAB-CIDRZ faculty mentor. This is a one year commitment and we expect to accept 4-6 expatriate volunteers (and a similar number of Zambian volunteers) for the 2006-7 year.

The Frontiers in Reproductive Health Program (FRONTIERS) of the Population Council is seeking an experienced Program Officer to coordinate a research project in Northwest Province on the integration of Family Planning and Voluntary Counseling/Testing (FP/VCT) services.

Amnesty International today (January 20) renewed its call on the government of Swaziland to take immediate and visible steps to prevent the torture and unlawful killing of crime suspects and political opponents by the police. In a letter to the Head of State, King Mswati III, Amnesty International expressed its concern that the government's failure to act against torture is persisting, contrary to the obligations of Swaziland under international and regional human rights treaties it has ratified and contrary to the new Constitution's Bill of Rights.

Through the African Union, all the African heads of state resolved to promote the unity and solidarity of the African states and to co-ordinate and intensify their co-operation and efforts to achieve better life for the peoples of the continent of Africa. But the spirit and letter of the African Union (AU), United Nations and the Arab League Charter has been breached and desiccated with impunity by Morocco and most African countries in their total dehumanisation of fellow African brothers tagged illegal immigrants, according to this commentary.

In the next few days IRIN will be releasing the latest of its short documentary films. The film is titled ‘Deadly Catch: Lake Victoria’s AIDS Crisis’, and tells the story of just one of many communities in Africa still being decimated by the disease. More than 20 years after the discovery of the AIDS virus the basic message of prevention continues to fall on deaf ears in many parts of Africa.

The Winter/Spring 2006 edition of Cultural Survival Voices, focusing on the impact of fair trade and indigenous peoples, will be available shortly. In addition to several fair trade theme articles, this issue of Voices will feature an extended "Know Your Rights" pull out section with vital information for indigenous peoples. Voices is available in bundles of 50, in both English and Spanish language editions. If you have access to, or contacts with, indigenous organizations anywhere in the world, and you are able to help with Voices distribution, please send an email with your name and address to: [email protected].

The UK secretary of state for international development, Hilary Benn, on Wednesday asked the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for an independent investigation into the alleged human rights violations in the Oromia Regional State. Speaking after his meeting with Meles, Mr. Benn said that complaints had been raised about the current situation in the Oromia region. "I think there should be an independent investigation into the alleged human rights violations in the region," he said. Mr. Benn said Meles accepted his proposal.

The decision by the African Union to meet in Khartoum this week offers an important opportunity for Africa and Sudan to reflect on the continent's progress in achieving gender equality, freedom from violence and the rights of women. The coming into force of the AU Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa on November 25th 2005 offers new possibilities for women and girls across our continent. By the time the Summit opens, seventeen countries from all regions of Africa will have ratified the Protocol. This without doubt marks a significant achievement in the promotion and protection of women's rights in the continent. We must, together celebrate this achievement.

The Centre for Civil Society at the University of KwaZulu-Natal is seeking applicants for the post of outreach officer, based in Durban. The outreach officer will do the following work:
* help coordinate Centre efforts in popular education.
* help steer the Centre's outreach work in local communities.
* contract and manage the writing or translation of one article for the CCS website per month.
* personally translate one article on the CCS website into a South African language other than English each month.
* liase with the editors of appropriate websites with a view to sharing information.
* assist community organisations, NGOs, labour and social movements with the development of websites.
* assist with the Centre's workshop and film projects and their proposed extension off campus and into communities.
* assist with management of the Centre's resource centre.
* participate in the intellectual life of the Centre.

A national and international brouhaha has rapidly developed following the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) decision to bar renowned academic and activist Dr Ashwin Desai from seeking a position at the university. The decision has elicited letters of strong protest to UKZN vice- chancellor Malegapuru Makgoba from Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein - among other well known figures from abroad - and several South African academics.

President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka should repay the cost of her controversial holiday to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said Grahamstown-based corruption watchdog the Public Services Accountability Monitor (PSAM). Mlambo-Ngcuka is in breach of the Executive Members' Ethics Act and should be held responsible for the amount - ranging from R400000 to R700000 - used for her private holiday, said PSAM director Colm Allen. "You have to ask: if she was not in her position of deputy president, would she have been able to make use of such transport facilities for a holiday for herself and her family and friends?" said Allen.

The Egyptian government granted UN refugee agency UNHCR an unspecified amount of time to continue interviewing hundreds of Sudanese. They are still being held in detention centres after their involvement last month in a violent confrontation with police. "We have been given more time," said Astrid van Genderen Stort, spokeswoman for the UNHCR office in the capital, Cairo. "The government has not yet specified how long."