Urgent Action Fund Africa is accepting applications for a full-time, salaried Program Officer with a focus on grant making in Africa. The position will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. The Program Officer will work with the US-based Program Team in reviewing and managing correspondence from African organisations that request support from the Urgent Action Fund. The Program Officer will report to the Director of UAF-Africa and will supervise a Program Associate.

The Municipal Services Project (MSP) is looking for an experienced Project Coordinator to manage research and administrative activities in the project. This is a two-year contract position from March 2004 to March 2006 with the possibility of a one-year extension. The Coordinator will be based in Cape Town at the International Labour Research and Information Group Trust (ILRIG) offices, affiliated with the University of Cape Town.

Women for Women International is seeking an individual to serve as Country Director in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a period of eighteen months. The Country Director is the official representative of Women for Women International in the country, overseeing staff, programs and administrative activities.

This report presents the main findings of an international research project evaluating the further education and employment experiences of secondary school leavers and university graduates in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and
Zimbabwe. Using a standard tracer survey methodology, the study provides data for monitoring and evaluating the impact of educational reforms. The report finds that leavers and graduates are involved in three main activities: wage and self-employment, unemployment, and further education and training. It also assesses the impact of the AIDS epidemic, and discusses the gender, socio-economic background, and religion of those surveyed.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites proposals for the constitution of Comparative Research Networks (CRNs) in Africa. The primary objectives of the CRNs are to carry out comparative studies on various themes, and develop and consolidate a comparative analytic perspective in the work of African social researchers.

The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) calls for summary proposals for pilot projects or from new and ongoing small-scale initiatives. The grants offered to projects are between US$10 000 and US$15 000 with the focus on developing countries. The projects proposed should contribute to the innovative use of information and communication technology (ICT) for civil society strengthening and participation in the Information Society; and/or promote partnerships to support and develop small-scale and community-based initiatives.

A new report released this week by Amnesty International reveals UK Home Office asylum decisions based on inaccurate and out-of-date country information, unreasoned decisions about people's credibility and a failure to properly consider complex torture cases. Government figures show that the Home Office gets the initial decision wrong on nearly 14,000 asylum cases in the last reported calendar year (2002), meaning around 1 in 5 cases are overturned after costly appeals. This figure rises to nearly 4 in 10 cases from Somalia, and more than 1 in 3 Sudanese and Eritrean asylum applications.

African governments recently faced renewed demands to introduce and enforce tough laws to stamp out female genital mutilation (FGM) and protect the women of their countries. Leading health and human rights experts on the continent called for legislation to end the practice to which 2 million African women and girls in 28 countries are subjected every year.

Conservation and sustainable development efforts in the isolated and biodiverse nation of Madagascar received a boost Wednesday in the form of four grants totalling $1.6 million from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation based in Chicago. The good news comes just as the island nation is cleaning up after tropical cyclone Elita which hit Madagascar on January 28 with winds averaging 200 miles per hour.

ActionAid International is relocating its headquarters from London to South Africa. Brendan Gormley, Chief Executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee "believes the ActionAid International model is the future" as the organisation strives to transform itself into an organisation made up of equal partners from the developed and developing world.Senior staff members will relocate to Pretoria whilst the fundraising staff, long-term aid and disaster relief programmes will be administered from the UK.

Alcan, a Canadian-based aluminum company, is awarding a US$1mn prize to NPOs globally in recognition of their contribution to economic, environmental and/or social sustainability.The prize is intended to assist NPOs to continue and further their impact on sustainable development. Co-CEO of the World Economic Forum, Maria Figueres, will be chairing an international selection panel.

Three years ago World Bank President Wolfensohn agreed to commission an Extractive Industries Review (EIR) to examine its controversial support for the oil, gas and mining industries. In mid-January the report of the review was tabled, containing many strong criticisms of the Bank's record in this sector and a series of detailed recommendations, reports the latest edition of the Bretton Woods Update. Nur Hidayati of WALHI, an Indonesian environmental NGO, commented: "The review acknowledges that the benefits of oil, mining and gas projects are often questionable and that there is much evidence that the extractive industries violate indigenous peoples' rights and are associated with loss of livelihoods and climate change."

Schools in the rebel-held north of Cote d'Ivoire were supposed to have reopened this week for a belated start to the academic year, but officials said on Wednesday that few classes had started. They predicted that it would be at least another two weeks before lessons began in those schools in the main towns which were able to muster enough teachers to start the new term.

The Natal Witness reports that South Africa is set to receive an initial US$40mn grant from the United States to fight the spread of HIV/Aids in 2004. The US Embassy in Pretoria will be responsible for the administration of the funds and has already identified worthy projects in consultation with NPOs and government.According to the US ambassador to South Africa, Cameron Hume, the grant allocated to South Africa is not enough to combat the Aids scourge but is a step in the right direction.

The UK-based Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) - a long-standing donor to South African development projects - initiated a consultative review of its South African grantmaking programme in 2002. The review has now been concluded and the Trust has announced some important changes.From 2004, the JRCT only considers applications for projects in KwaZulu-Natal, and primarily in the rural areas of the province.

As the international community meets in New York on 5 and 6 February to discuss post-conflict reconstruction in Liberia, Amnesty International has urged that good governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights are given the highest priority. "Protracted conflict has not only destroyed the social and economic fabric of Liberia, it has also eroded the most fundamental human rights," Amnesty International said. "Unwavering political commitment and prompt, generous and sustained funding are needed to meet the ambitious plans for the next two years - not least for the protection and promotion of human rights," Amnesty International added.

Zambia's already understaffed schools were dealt another blow this week after the government announced that some 9,000 teachers would not be deployed because of a lack of resources. The education ministry's press officer, Michael Katowa, on Tuesday countered media reports that the failure to employ teachers trained in 2002 and 2003 was due to World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) budget conditionalities.

University of Zimbabwe's (UZ) lecturers and non-academic staff on Friday gave the Public Service Commission (PSC), through their employer the University Council, a 14-day notice to go on strike following delays in awarding the workers a salary increment as ordered by the court last year. In September last year, the government was ordered by the Labour Court to award the UZ employees salary adjustments of more than 800 percent backdated to July of that year but nothing has been done by the government.

Uncertainty shrouds the generous pay proposed for university lecturers and the next phase of teachers' salary increment. In an interview with the East African Standard last Thursday, Finance Minister, Mr David Mwiraria, said the Government may find it difficult to convince the IMF to approve further salary hikes following the recent pay increment for police and prison staff.

Martin Oketch, 13, sat his Primary Leaving Examinations in Uganda late last year. His first choice for secondary education was St Mary's College Kisubi, one of the country's best boys' schools. "I want to become a doctor like Uncle Nathan,” he says, pointing to his relative. However, Martin's exam results - though good - were just shy of the grades needed to gain admission to Kisubi. He was just one casualty of an increasingly fierce competition to get a place in secondary school - this as Uganda's system of universal primary education (UPE) yields record numbers of primary school graduates.