Following last year's inaugural Open Source Software Africa conference, Trade Conferences International(TCI) this week announced that they will be hosting the 2nd Open Source Software Africa event next month. It will take place on 26th and 27th August at the Indaba Hotel, Johannesburg.

In an electric session on Wednesday, conference delegates at the International Aids Conference in Thailand witnessed top South African government officials facing off with leading civil society activists over the use of the antiretroviral drug Nevirapine for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The session eventually brought about a better understanding of this issue. The controversy followed a comment made by South African Health Minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, at the opening of the South African stand at the Conference on Sunday. The Minister said that recent studies did not support the use of single-dose Nevirapine for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).

By 2010, about 50 million children in sub-Saharan Africa will be orphans, more than a third of them having lost one or both parents to AIDS, says a biennial report on orphans released by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF. According to Children on the Brink 2004, the number of AIDS orphans worldwide has increased from 11.5 million to 15 million, most of them in Africa. In Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the number of orphans has decreased by about one-tenth since 1990.

Amongst the growing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda are an estimated 50,000 people known as “night commuters” – most of them children, adolescents and women – who flee their homes or IDP camps each night for town centers seeking safety from attack by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA). These night commuters represent only a small portion of the IDP population, but the situation dramatically illustrates how inadequate protection has led to increasing violence against children and adolescents.

The introduction of free primary education in Kenya has been hailed in the country. However, it appears that disabled children are not benefiting from the programme because government has failed to equip schools to meet their needs. Speaking on the issue, Churchill Omondi, Chairman of the Disabilities Without Borders Resource Centre, said that only 500,000 of approximately three million disabled children in Kenya are currently attending primary school.

By 2010 sub-Saharan Africa will be home to an estimated 50 million orphaned children, and more than a third will have lost one or both parents to AIDS, according to a biennial report on global orphaning released this week by USAID, UNAIDS and UNICEF. The report, entitled 'Children on the Brink 2004' presents the latest statistics on historical, current and projected numbers of children under the age of 18 who have been orphaned by AIDS and other causes. In just two years, between 2001-2003, the global number of children orphaned due to AIDS has risen from 11.5 million to 15 million - the vast majority of which are in Africa.

UNICEF has announced that almost a million children in Zimbabwe have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Faced with extreme poverty and forced to look after themselves, many have dropped out of school to find money for food. In addition, the problem has been further aggravated by the 1000% rise in school fees this year.

Belgium has offered to construct a boarding primary school in northern Uganda for former child abductees of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who are currently receiving counselling to overcome the trauma suffered in captivity. Announcing the initiative, the Belgian Ambassador to Uganda, Koenraad Adam, stated that his government had earmarked US $ 2.4 million for the project which would be sited in Gulu, 360 km north of Kampala.

Across Africa and in over 100 impoverished nations worldwide, the most vulnerable children - AIDS orphans, girls and the poor - are denied access to education. The greatest obstacle between these children and a seat in the classroom and in turn their prospect of a better future is ‘the school fees that schools continue to impose'. So says Joanne Carter, Legislative Director of RESULTS, a grassroots advocacy organisation that lobbies the US government and other developed countries for a comprehensive response to the AIDS and poverty crisis in poor nations.

A five-year project encouraging community participation has improved the quality of education in more than 2,000 schools in Malawi, where the system has been battling with an unmanageable number of admission seekers. "The project has mobilised communities to construct additional school blocks in 1,964 schools in 15 districts. Essentially our task was to change the communities' attitude towards education - so we got them to construct the blocks in schools in their localities," Zikani Kaunda, head of CRECCOM told IRIN.

I am doing some research on social movements and groups in Africa that are using direct action practices to resist/impede/create alternatives to the system of states and corporations. Actions such as factory takeovers, road blockages, and neighbourhood assemblies are of prime interest. I would be thrilled if you could provide me with sources of literature or sites on the Internet that address this issue. I am not looking for any particular country in Africa, but rather a more broad survey of the continent. Any assistance would be appreciated.

Action Aid

Action Aid are seeking a Country Director for their programme in Sierra Leone. The post holder will be responsible for the implementation and development of AA's mission in Sierra Leone and for directing the work in accordance with sound management practices and AA's development policies and accountability systems.

Oxfam UK

Oxfam UK is seeking a Deputy Country Programme Manager to act as head of programmes and to devise strategies for unifying the organisation's work in Liberia. The post requires particular emphasis on livelihoods, education and gender.

Save the Children, UK

Save the Children UK is seeking a Programme Manager for the rebuilding of its activities in South Kivu, DRC. The successful applicant will hold a university degree in social sciences or management and have at least 2 years experience managing humanitarian programmes with an international organisation in Africa.

The South African Government's Programme of Action is now available on its website (www.gov.za), enabling the public to keep track and comment on its progress. The Government has described this initiative as part of its efforts to 'realise transparent governance in actual practice' and that it 'contitutes an element of the people's contract for a better life.'

Formal education rarely reaches pastoral communities. Schools usually promote the values and practices of dominant cultures and do not prioritise the needs of marginalised populations. In African states with significant numbers of pastoral and other nomadic groups, there are calls for education to cater for this sector - on political, environmental, economic and health-related grounds. There is considerable pressure for pastoral education to be institutionalised but could there be a non-formal and community-based alternative?

A new joint UNDP/UNESCO project aims at developing a new breed of committed and responsible leaders in Africa across all spectrum and segments of society. The Foundations for Africa's Future Leadership Project recently launched in Dakar, Senegal, mobilizes university students within and outside the continent, as well as young professionals who recently joined the labour market.

Provincial education budgets this year show a stark and widening gap between government policy aims and available funding. This is the main finding of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) in its analysis of these budgets. As a result, apparently priority areas such as early childhood development (ECD), adult education and training, and education for learners with special needs will be especially hard hit, suggests Idasa researcher Russell Wildeman in his provincial education budget analysis, released this month.

Two years after Joseph Kony's Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels launched massive attacks on Lira district, the schools are reeling from the huge impact of the war. With more than a half of the 200,000-strong UPE pupils and secondary schools in the district displaced from their rural bases to urban areas, more children are increasingly dropping out of school.

The Telkom Charity Trust in South Africa invites applications from Non-Profit Organisations to benefit from the proceeds of the 2004 Telkom Charity Spectacular. Eligible for funding are charitable organisations that deal with children’s interests and charitable organisations that deal with socially vulnerable groups (elderly, women, disabled, the infirm).