Cofinancing will only be granted to operations, which are based on the initiative of local partners in the developing countries.

The pre-Forum virtual conference series features monthly topics from February to July 2002. COL will host the conferences, but each will be moderated and co-ordinated by a different member organisation of the Federation of Commonwealth Open and Distance Learning Associations. There will be six monthly conferences, each lasting two to three weeks, and a plenary session will be held at the Forum where moderators’ reports will be presented and discussed.

UN Report of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance Durban, 31 August - 8 September 2001.

In 1996, Rwanda's fertility index was one of the highest in the world, the product of a culture in which families of all social backgrounds typically have many children. Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which claimed an estimated 800,000 lives over the course of 100 days, left permanent scars on Rwanda, its culture, and its children.

"The free market model of globalisation has failed the world's workers," declared Mamounata Cissé, Assistant General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the world's largest trade union body, at the start of a
trade union-organised seminar on decent work at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. "Inequalities are widening everywhere - between poor and rich, between women and men, between governments and the international economic institutions, and between the developing and the industrialised countries."

When Asfaw Yemiru was 9 he lived alone on the streets in Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa. Now he will soon be 60 and has helped tens of thousands of poor children to go to school and achieve a better life. Asfaw is a very simple man. His only riches are all of his students, says Behailu Eshete who attended Asfaw's first class nearly 45 years ago.

Ten schools which were closed last year due to insecurity in the Kerio Valley will reopen next month. The Rift Valley Provincial Commissioner, Mr Peter Raburu, said security had been restored and ordered chiefs in Marakwet District to ensure that the schools are reopened.

UNICEF said on Wednesday that at least 600 children separated from their parents following the eruption of Mt Nyiragongo on 17 January had been identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo and across the border in Rwanda.

Thousands of doctors, researchers and health policy-makers in about 70 developing countries can now receive free internet access to the world's largest collections of biomedical literature. The Access to Research initiative launched by WHO and the world's six biggest medical journal publishers will help bridge the health information gap between rich and poor countries by providing universities, medical schools and research centres in developing countries access to more than 1000 biomedical journals from the six publishers.

A unique public-private financing partnership, initiated by the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), has been launched . The partnership aims to create a long term synergy between the developmental and commercial objectives of the public and private sector participants to the benefit of sub-Saharan Africa’s economic development.

The Patrick Stewart Human Rights Scholarship offers a unique opportunity for students to gain practical experience in the field of human rights. Amnesty International USA awards these scholarships to student activists for summer internships or other short-term human rights projects.

This website allows viewers to get a broader perspective of the career and educational opportunities within the Middle East.

From 5th to 9th January, 2002, over two hundred social movements, organizations and individuals from forty five African countries met in Bamako, Mali, in an open African Social Forum. The 'Bamako Consensus', which emerged from the gathering, endorses the Charter of the World Social Forum to build a different world. Under the theme "Another Africa is Possible", participants undertook analyses, shared experiences and heard testimonies on wide-ranging economic, social, political and cultural matters affecting the African peoples. The ASF identified a number of recommendations and proposals for activists and networks to include in their work, and a steering committee is now in place to move the process forward. A report on the ASF is being prepared by MWENGO.

Timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum, WEF, the World Social Forum or WSF was launched last year as a venue for the creation and exchange of social and economic projects that promote human rights, social justice and sustainable development. Thousands of civil society activists will gather at Porto Alegre, Brazil from January 31st to February 5th, to participate in activities reflecting the slogan "Another World is Possible". This year, the World Economic Forum, WEF, will be held in New York from 31st January to 4th February, 2002.