He works 10 hours a day and gets only R80 a fortnight. Joel Molungu Mashele, who sustained multiple head injuries when a building collapsed, killing three others, at the weekend, on Tuesday related his painful experience to Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana.

Children continued to be used as soldiers, sexual slaves, labourers, porters and spies throughout 2003 in both newly-erupting and longstanding conflicts, according to a report released in the run-up to the United Nations Security Council’s fourth open debate on children and armed conflict. The report, released by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, details evidence of governments and armed groups recruiting and using child soldiers in numerous conflicts worldwide. The Coalition calls for action by the UN Security Council to insist upon – and enforce – an end to child recruitment.

At a conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Association of Progressive Communications (APC) launched a pioneering project to help charities tap the potential of the Internet. Called APC-ActionApps, the free computer software aims to boost the advocacy powers of charities across the world. APC says it is designed to rival software sold by computer giants, enabling nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to regularly update their websites "cheaply, simply and speedily."

Helpscape, a youth serving, non-governmental organisation with offices in Ibadan, Oyo State and Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria is pleased to announce the 2004 Budding Leaders' Summit (BLS). The BLS is a quarterly summit that draws participants from Secondary Schools and Tertiary Institutions. It is a career and educational/counselling programme for youths in the 12-25 years category. In 2004, there will be five summits in five cities across the country namely: Ibadan (January 28), Lagos (March), Jos (June), Uyo (September) and Abuja (December).

SAT is a leading regional initiative that supports community responses to HIV and AIDS and facilitates networking, skills exchange and lesson sharing throughout the region. To increase the scale and impact of our work we are currently recruiting for these two positions based in our regional office in Harare.

This will be the first post of its kind for ICW. Located in Southern Africa, wherever the selected candidate is based, this is a senior, full-time paid position. The Regional Coordinator will ensure the development of a strong, dynamic and active ICW network in the region, with the capacity to fully involve members in the work of the wider ICW.

Applications are invited for an IT Technical Officer position with the Reflect/ICT Project in Fort Portal, funded by DFID-UK and ActionAid Uganda. Deadline for applications is January 30, 2004.

The continuing struggle between university lecturers and the State is still smouldering and, therefore, worth revisiting. But, unlike the past strikes by the Kenyan working classes, the academics are not publicly demonstrating or picketing. Most are eager to get back to work, but only after their complaint has been addressed. These people are some of the best-educated individuals in Africa. All along the government and the woolly-headed public have taken them for granted. The government, in particular, has always behaved as if the intellectuals do not exist and has preferred to import white advisers, says this editorial in Kenya's The Nation newspaper.

Human rights activists in Zambia scored another victory recently when they got parliament to outlaw corporal punishment in the country. Just six months ago, government also abolished capital punishment and commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment. Legal Affairs Minister George Kunda said corporal punishment could no longer be tolerated, as it went against constitutional provisions that forbade torture and all forms of punishment that were inhuman or degrading. The scrapping of corporal punishment has come as a particular relief to school children who often suffer severe beatings under the guise of regular disciplining. This is despite the fact that school regulations are supposed to control the use of caning.

The World Bank has published a new study looking at how policies can create obstacles to more effective use of remittances: “Migrant Labour Remittances in Africa: Reducing Obstacles to Developmental Contributions”, was authored by Cerstin Sander and Samuel Munzele Maimbo.

Themba Lesizwe, the South African Network of Trauma Service Providers (SANTSEP), has invited proposals from Non Profit Organisations (NPO's) who are members of or in the process of being affiliated to the network and who work in the victim empowerment sector. Themba Lesizwe has identified the following specific geographical priority areas: rural areas in Mpumalanga, Free State, Gauteng and North-West.

A split has emerged among public university lecturers over Tuesday's decision to call off their two-month strike. Some officials of the Universities Academic Staff Union (Uasu) protested at the timing of national vice-chairman Kimani Njoroge's announcement of the end of the boycott. He did not consult the National Delegates Conference, they said. The Moi, Kenyatta and Nairobi universities chapters argued that the union's national officials did not consult the NDC, which was scheduled to meet on Saturday.

The police have defied a High Court order passed on 9 January ordering them to vacate premises of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), publishers of the banned The Daily News and The Daily News on Sunday. Despite being served with the order, police ignored it and stayed put at the premises, preventing journalists from accessing the newsroom. The government argues that there is nothing in the order granting the ANZ the right to resume publishing. The government has appealed to the Supreme Court to have the paper remain closed.

Are you committed to equity in health and health care? Would you like to work with skilled and committed individuals in developing countries around the world? Are you willing to travel? This is an exciting opportunity for a committed, enthusiastic, and hard working public health professional to work with world-renowned researchers, advocates and policy-makers focused on cutting-edge public health work.

This conference will address the challenges and opportunities of the creation and use of free/open source software and open content and their development potential for Africa. The conference has both strategic and practical objectives, bringing together participants from government, education, business and civil society together with the developer community.

It is absolutely essential to reassert the primary, irreducible responsibility of the state for the establishment and maintenance of an adequate higher education system, while the restoration of the “public good” dimension of higher education is key for the revitalisation of higher education in Africa and to ensure the maximum social benefit from it. This is according to a paper from the Association of African Universities (AAU) that looks at the challenges to the university sector in Africa in the context of the current global political economy.

The government of Cote d'Ivoire has sent officials to four towns in the rebel-held north of the country to prepare examinations for thousands of pupils living in rebel territory who were unable to sit their normal exams in June last year, Education Ministry officials said on Monday. Education Minister Michel Amani-N'guessan announced on state television at the weekend that the government would deploy a “minimal administration” to prepare the ground for about 46,000 children to sit exams in the rebel-held cities of Bouake, Korhogo, Odienne and Man.

With schools reopening nationwide this week, teachers in Swaziland are concerned that a weakening economy and HIV/AIDS will affect the number of children enrolling for the 2004 academic year. "The problem is school fees - and it's not a new one. Parents scramble to come up with money for tuition, school uniforms, transportation, boarding and other fees. What is measurably worse this year is the number of parents who are out of work, and the growing population of children without parents," Alexander Tsabedze, a headmaster in the northern Hhohho region, told IRIN.

Over a million Mozambican children of school age will be unable to attend primary school in 2004 for sheer lack of space in the classrooms. According to Virgilio Juvane, the National Director of Planning in the Education Ministry, it is mainly the shortage of schools and of teachers that leads to this situation. The million children in question are aged between six and 13 and should, in principle, be studying in first and second level primary education (grades one to seven).

The European Commission has launched a call for proposals for micro-projects in Ivory Coast under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). Grants will support micro-projects with activities lasting up to 12 months, carried out by grassroots NGOs. The funding is allocated through local calls for proposals. The deadline for the submission of proposals is 10 February 2004.