Officials at the Social Security Commission (SSC) paid two investment brokers N$5 million to manage funds allocated illegally. Most of the money was eventually shared as kickbacks, a probe into the parastatal reveals.

The cultural practice of the extended family caring for orphans is rapidly unravelling in Botswana under the strain of HIV/AIDS, exposing children to possible exploitation.

Thousands of teachers from two rival unions joined forces Tuesday in observing a strike for more pay and better working conditions. Members of the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), which called the strike, and the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta), whose leadership had opposed it, both staged sit-ins at schools around the country.

The Kenyan government will deploy about 52,000 personnel from the Ministry of Education, retired teachers and other government officials to administer national examinations following the two-week national strike by teachers pressing for the implementation of a pay award.

A huge new research initiative, PROTA, aims to produce an Internet database, a CDROM and a 16-volume handbook of critically reviewed knowledge on 7000 useful African plant species. PROTA will promote the use of these resources for sustainable land-use, biodiversity and rural development.

Charities in KwaZulu-Natal lost about R100-million in donations because of the change-over from a provincial to a national lottery, according to a comparison of funding done by the two lottery organisations.

The WWF is calling on governments around the world to undertake comprehensive risk assessment of coastlines and to identify Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) after an Italian freighter ran aground off the East coast of South Africa.

We need someone to manage one of our core services: placing finance staff from our register with NGOs in the field. You will take the lead in recruiting new, highly skilled people on to the register and maintaining good relationships with them. Working closely with our partner NGOs, you will help them to define their needs and find the right people for their field jobs.

Charities Aid Foundation in the UK, working together with CAF Southern Africa, is creating an international database of organisations eligible to receive online donations. 'CAF's aim is to help donors make the most of their giving and charities the most of their resources,' says Bongi Msimanga, an administrator with CAF Southern Africa. 'Through the creation of this database, CAF creates opportunities for individuals and companies to give via the Internet and to create another avenue for organisations to raise funds online.'

In the context of increased education service provision being channelled by donors through NGOs, there was a disparity between governments' and NGOs' perceptions of their capabilities and roles while NGOs needed to work with government to avoid antagonism and to affect policy change. This is according to a paper that explores the relationships between NGOs and governments and donors and their influence on policy and civil society in Ethiopia, Guinea, Malawi and Mali.

The Joint Regional HIV/AIDS Project in the Abidjan-Lagos Transport Corridor aims to improve access to HIV/AIDS prevention services, care and support to National HIV/AIDS Control Programmes with special emphasis on migrants, drivers, sex workers, and local populations living in the border towns along the Abidjan-Lagos transport corridor.

The Senegalese Ministry of Health has reported some 12 cases of yellow fever particularly in the central Mbaké department, which includes the city of Touba with 800 000 inhabitants, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

Applications are invited for the two positions of lecturer/senior lecturer/associate professor in International Relations commencing January 2003 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Fear of the social consequences of testing positive for HIV is "threatening to undermine" efforts in Zimbabwe to reduce infant mortality rates, according to a health ministry official.

As the stalemate between striking teachers and the government threatens to enter into the third week with no solution in sight, The East African Standard speaks to Professor Okoth Okombo of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nairobi and the Secretary of the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), Nairobi branch, Mr Kamau Mureu, on the implication of the strike and the possible ways out of it.

Calm has reportedly returned to Shabunda Centre in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following large civilian displacements that occurred in the wake of the recent withdrawal of Rwandan-backed rebels and the invasion of Congolese Mayi-Mayi fighters, who took control of the area.

The Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, Center for Civil Society Studies is pleased to announce a call for applications for the International Fellows in Philanthropy Program for the 2003-2004 academic year. This program based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, affords an opportunity for advanced study, research, and training for up to eight participants each year who are involved in studying or managing private nonprofit, or philanthropic organizations outside of the United States, or working as NGO liaisons in the public or commercial sectors. Fellowships, which can be an academic year or semester, are available at both the Junior and Senior level. Special funding is available for Fellows from East Africa.

Members of Parliament could face restrictions on what jobs they can take after leaving public office if proposals on an expansion of the MPs' ethical code of conduct find favour with Parliament's ethics committee and the National Assembly.

The Certificate in Managing NGO Resource Centres will provide participants with the opportunity to gain or improve skills in managing information, as well as to analyse the dynamics of indigenous knowledge, appropriate media, information sharing and networking. During the program participants will develop an action plan for their resource centre's contribution to the community-based development, information and education strategies of their organization.

The focus of the conference will be to examine best training practices used in international healthcare settings, with particular emphasis on family planning and reproductive health in Africa. In addition, training practices that have been employed successfully in sectors other than healthcare will be examined and discussed for their applicability to reproductive health programs.