The Firelight Foundation supports the needs and rights of children who are orphaned or affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Firelight increases the resources available to grassroots organisations that are strengthening the capacity of families and communities to care for children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. The Foundation provides one-year grants of $500 to $10,000 to community-based initiatives that work directly and effectively to support the fundamental needs and rights of children (birth to 21 years) orphaned/affected by HIV/AIDS in Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. (Source: News on the Edge; Skoll Foundation through the e-CIVICUS newsletter)

The fundraising experts agree: "fundraising is friend-raising". The importance of building strong relationships with donors for financial sustainability is a topic that always inspires interest in the NGO world. However, in recent times, the issue of relationship building for sustainability beyond traditional donor engagement is a subject gaining a great deal of interest. In this age of scarce resources, donor fatigue and the need for innovation in resource mobilisation, an organisation's survival seems to depend not only on relationships with donors, but also with its peers, beneficiaries and other stakeholders for reasons that include strategic campaigning, fundraising and impact. Read the rest of this article by visiting www.thusang.org.za, the Southern African funding information facility.

Antiretroviral drug researchers, study sponsors and AIDS advocates in a meeting that began last week in Seattle reached some agreement but failed to resolve completely conflicts over the conduct of clinical trials testing whether the antiretroviral drug Viread, which is made by the pharmaceutical company Gilead, can prevent HIV infection among people in developing countries, the Wall Street Journal reports. At issue is whether researchers should provide lifelong antiretroviral treatment - not just a referral for care - to people who become HIV-positive while participating in the trials.

This report from Save the Children Fund argues that girls' education is essential to ensure a more healthy and prosperous future for all children and for countries as a whole. The study shows which countries are succeeding and which are failing to make progress in girls' education and examines the ways investments in schooling for girls can benefit society as a whole, highlighting successful programmes and policies even in very poor countries.

"We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our serious concern at an attack on editor Harry Yansaneh and the temporary closure of six independent newspapers. According to reports, on 10 May family members of the parliamentary representative for the Tonkolili Central Constituency, Fatamata Hassan Komeh, were involved in an incident in which Mr Yansaneh, acting editor of the daily For Di People, was assaulted, allegedly for writing negative comments about the government. Two of Mrs Komeh's sons and three others reportedly entered the newspaper's offices and Mr Yansaneh was assaulted. They also chased other staff members out of the offices and damaged computers and other equipment."

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI or the Institute) is a nonprofit organization working to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide. Calling on a global network of volunteer experts, NDI provides practical assistance to civic and political leaders advancing democratic values, practices and institutions. NDI works with democrats in every region of the world to build political and civic organizations, safeguard elections, and to promote citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites applications from African scholars to fill a vacant position of Program Officer in the Department of Training, Grants and Fellowships in its pan-African Secretariat located in Dakar, Senegal. This position is categorized as belonging to the senior staff of the Council and as such is filled on the basis of an international announcement. The successful candidate will work as a member of the Secretariat under the overall supervision of the Executive Secretary of the Council.

The education gender parity target for 2005 will be missed in a number of countries, especially in sub- Saharan Africa and South Asia, says the Global Education Digest 2005 that compares education statistics across the world and is authored by UNESCO's Institute for Statistics. "In 2002/03, 56% of the world's primary school-age population still live in countries without gender parity, at the upper secondary level, this increases to 87% of the relevant youth population. Gender parity in lower secondary will become more prevalent for Benin, Burkina Faso and Mozambique, but greater gender disparity will emerge in Tanzania and Turks and Caicos Islands. In many countries, girls are increasingly disadvantaged at higher levels of education," the report says.

Leading figures from universities across Africa are to hold a five-day meeting in Britain next month to discuss detailed plans of how rich nations can help support the growth and development of higher education institutions across the continent. Their discussions, to be held in Dundee, Scotland, are expected to lead to a 'blueprint' for such a strategy that will be presented to the leaders of the G8 group of the most industrialised nations. The G8 will be holding its annual meeting in nearby Gleneagles in July.

Sudanese and UN officials have called for calm after 30 people were killed when Sudanese security forces tried last Wednesday to forcibly relocate internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Soba Eradi camp, 30 km south of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. In a statement, Jan Pronk, the special representative of the UN Secretary-General in Sudan, said he was "deeply concerned by reports of death in the Soba IDP area."

The postholder will be responsible for leading and managing CIIR’s programmes in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Somalia (Somaliland), Yemen and East Timor.
The successful applicant should have:
- Minimum 3 years of significant experience of programmes management and administration in the international development field
- Minimum 2 years experience of living and working in a developing country.

The Communication and Social Change (CSC) Award is an annual award given to an individual or organisation for contributions to the theory and/or practice of communication for social change. Major theoretical contributions, and applied communication practices that are illustrative of frontline change and long-term sustainable development will be considered for this award.

African governments at the weekend in Abuja spoke in one voice, demanding outright cancellation of all multinational and bilateral debts owed to the creditor countries of Europe and America. They said this measure has become imperative if African countries are to conquer poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) is a regional specialized human rights organization. It was established in 1994. The CIHRS enjoys a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It also has an observatory status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. The CIHRS is also a member to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX).

Riot police in Zambia fired tear gas on Monday night at hundreds of students from the country's biggest university who stoned vehicles and barricaded main roads to protest the government's refusal to increase their allowances. Students from the University of Zambia battled police for over three hours before they were forced back to their campus, a law enforcement spokesperson said.

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL), based in Canada, has re-affirmed its commitment to assist Nigeria and other developing African countries to strengthen their Open University and Distance Learning Scheme (DLS) in order to enhance the quality of the programmes. COL regional representative, Prof. Aisha Kanwar, who spoke at the weekend in Kaduna during the closing ceremony of an international workshop on instructional design for DLS, noted that the distance learning programme was an effective way of meeting the increasing demand for higher education in the African continent.

Education Minister Naledi Pandor has criticised tertiary education institutions for focusing on claiming funding without making enough effort to ensure that students passed. SA spent R1,5bn a year - about half of the state's higher education subsidy - on students who dropped out of study, Pandor said on Friday.

In the run-up to examinations, students frequently complain that teachers pile too much work on them. In Cameroon, however, the opposite is true. Since the academic year got underway in 2004, strikes by teachers have disrupted the education of millions of secondary school pupils, and the sight of small groups of students roaming the streets when they should be in class has become a common one. Figures on the number of teachers involved in the stay-aways are hard to come by; what is known is that most of the strikers are staff who have been going without pay - some for up to two years.

The Liberian NGO Save My Future Foundation (SAMFU) has conducted an inquiry into the Firestone Rubber Plantation Company's 69 years of operation, and the result is the report "Firestone: The Mark Of Slavery" (to see the full report: http://www.samfu.org/firestone.html). Firestone's plantation - established in 1926- is amongst the world's largest rubber plantations. The area it now covers --a coastal low-land, interspersed with marshes, creeks and streams-- was originally owned and inhabited by the Mamba Bassa tribes who were evicted from there by the Firestone Plantations Company and the Government of Liberia during the signing of concession agreement without benefits to these local inhabitants.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the biweekly newspaper The Independent, which lost its printing press in an unsolved arson in April 2004, has been forced to stopped publishing entirely after its printing arrangement with the private Daily Observer was abruptly terminated. The Independent has not published since May 6 and is still looking for an alternative way to print, according to Editor Musa Saidykhan. Other Gambian printing and publishing outlets have refused the paper's requests for a contract.