Africa now accounts for about one per cent of global manufacturing, and cannot realistically hope to reduce widespread poverty if its governments don't take effective measures to expand this vital economic sector, says a new joint report by UNCTAD and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. The 'Economic Development in Africa Report 2011', subtitled 'Fostering Industrial Development in Africa in the New Global Environment', calls for a practical, well-designed approach to industrialisation, that is adjusted to specific country circumstances and based on extensive discussion with and feedback from businesses and entrepreneurs.

CODESRIA and SEPHIS are pleased to announce the first edition of the African-Arab Advanced Institute. This annual advanced institute on African-Arab relations will be held alternatively in North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Institute is conceived as a high-level knowledge-building, agenda-setting and networking forum for scholars in the prime of their careers desirous of experimenting with new fields of knowledge and exploring new conceptual terrains.

Commercial sex workers in Nigeria are demanding more respect and more rights. Nongovernmental organisations have been promoting various rehabilitation and education initiatives. But prohibative costs for these programs lead some advocates to believe that the best option is to decriminalise commercial sex work. The Nigerian Criminal Code penalises prostitution with imprisonment, but some say the law shouldn’t govern morality. The government has mentioned no plans to decriminalise sex work and instead promotes education and alternative employment.

The African Studies Association is pleased to announce three pre-conference workshops to be offered on Wednesday, 16 November 2011. Participants will have the opportunity to explore governance and development at American University in depth or go behind the scenes to learn about the resources employed by The Library of Congress and the Museum of African Art.

The TASENE programme is a unique collaboration between COSTECH (Tanzania), Sida (Sweden) and NWO-WOTRO (The Netherlands). TASENE invites applications from recent PhD graduates in any discipline to conduct full time research over two years, jointly with colleagues from the other countries. The researchers will work in Tanzania and in either Sweden or The Netherlands. Research should be relevant to the research and university system in Tanzania.

Neera Kapur-Dromson pays tribute to Cynthia Salvadori, who wrote extensively about the peoples and culture of Kenya. 'Cynthia never got the full recognition that she deserved, yet she left us an invaluable legacy with treasures of well researched and documented works. We in Kenya remain indebted to her generosity,' she writes.

This report documents the state of Zimbabwe's education sector in the year 2010. It is the latest edition of the Students Solidarity Trust (SST)'s 'Inside the Pandora's Box' annual series. This 2010 report focuses on the material and democratic tenets in its evaluation. The gist of the 2010 argument is that whereas there have been some minimal and noticeable improvements in the availability of education little of that has been premised on democratic tenets. Consequently, explanations of educational change rooted in material analysis premised in the political economy are helpful but inadequate to capture political dynamics in contemporary Zimbabwe.

This report argues that missed opportunities in the education sector can be traced back more than 15 years to when, ironically, the Free Primary Education concept caused a vicious cycle of challenges which impeded on progress in the delivery of education services in Malawi. The report focuses on the issues of governance in the sector that place constraints on realising such goals as free primary education, capacity building of staff, investment in infrastructure and the increased efficacy of oversight mechanisms.

Fahamu has a vision of a world where people organize to emancipate themselves from all forms of oppression, recognize their social responsibility, respect each other’s differences and realize their full
potential. Fahamu is looking for a qualified and passionate Intern to work with us for a period of three
months July?September 2011. The intern will be responsible for promoting Pambazuka books including coordinating sale of Pambazuka books; distribution of publicity materials and coordinating the participation of Fahamu/ Pambazuka in book fairs and related events.

Millions of Congolese have lost their lives in a conflict that the United Nations describes as the deadliest in the world since World War Two. United States allies, Rwanda and Uganda, invaded in 1996 the Congo (then Zaire) and again in 1998, which triggered the enormous loss of lives, systemic sexual violence and rape, and widespread looting of Congo’s spectacular natural wealth. The film, 'Crisis in the Congo: Uncovering The Truth' explores the role that the United States and its allies, Rwanda and Uganda, have played in triggering the greatest humanitarian crisis at the dawn of the 21st century. The film is a short version of a feature length production to be released in the near future. It locates the Congo crisis in a historical, social and political context. It unveils analysis and prescriptions by leading experts, practitioners, activists and intellectuals that are not normally available to the general public.

Somali Journalists Association Network has learned that a Puntland court in Bosaso, the capital of Bari region, sentenced a local reporter to one year in jail. The verdict of the court was announced Saturday by judge Sheikh Adan Aw-Ahmed after it was alleged the journalist supplied false information on the Puntland administration.

'We need to let the outside world hear our voices.' We are working to bring the voices of the Symphony Way Pavement Dwellers to the outside world with the launch of a new campaign. The aim is to bring three authors of the acclaimed book 'No Land! No House! No Vote! Voices from Symphony Way' on a tour of the USA and the UK. Their story is testimony that there is thinking in the shacks and that there are complex humans who dialogue, theorise and fight to bring about change. This tour is a response to global interest and will allow the authors share in person the story of their struggle against injustice with dignity and courage. Every donation is rewarded, from books and DVDSs to personal meetings with the authors themselves, and every donation helps carry their message further. See the campaign on IndieGoGo for details at and follow the struggle on Twitter at #symphonytour.

The North-South Institute (NSI) is pleased to invite applications for two Helleiner Fellow Visiting Researcher positions in 2011-12. The program is open to post-doctoral students or mid-career policy researchers working in a university, policy research institute, think-tank, or other relevant organization.

Dr. Sreeram Sundar Chaulia
Professor & Executive Director of the Center for Global Governance and Policy, Jindal School of International Relations, and author of International Organizations and Civilian Protection: Power, Ideas and humanitarian aid in Conflict Zones (IB Taurus)

4:30-6.30 pm, Tuesday 5 July 2011

A J Herbertson Room
School of Geography and the Environment
South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY
()

All welcome -

Patrick K. Wrokpoh, Liberian journalist and contributor to Pambazuka News, died last Friday following a brief illness. C. Winnie Saywah looks back on his career.

The conflict that began in Libya on 17 February 2011 with a popular revolt against Gaddafi’s regime has triggered a mass exodus of the civilian population into neighbouring countries. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled, mainly into Tunisia and Egypt. An International Federation for Human Rights report, based on the findings of a mission to the Egypt-Libya border, reveals the vulnerable situation of refugees and migrants stranded at the Salloum Land Port and presents numerous accounts of violence targeting Sub-Saharan African migrants in Eastern Libya.

Of all the vulnerable groups in the country, the most affected are nearly a million children, most of whom either stay home or have returned to schools looted or destroyed during the fighting.
The UN Children's agency UNICEF and the US-based non-governmental organisation Save the Children have been actively involved in a 'Back to School' initiative with support from the Ministry of Education.

Ghana has a free education system, yet over a million of Ghana’s children do not attend school, says this article from Ghana's The Mail. 'Ghana’s government has a duty to create an environment that facilitates education. It should provide not only the education itself, but the means to get materials such as books and pens if a family cannot afford it.'

Malawi's President Bingu wa Mutharika said Saturday he would not take International Monetary Fund (IMF) advice to devalue the local currency because he was protecting the poor. Both the business community and the IMF were 'pressuring the government' to devalue to Kwacha to K180 to a dollar, he said. 'If we do that, prices of essential products and services will go up including transport. Who will win?' asked Mutharika. The president was speaking after the IMF said its programme in Malawi had stalled over policy disagreements.

Following a series of shipwrecks and deaths, as well as reports in the Guardian newspaper about the failure to rescue migrants in boats or dinghies that are adrift by ships and patrols deployed in the Mediterranean by NATO and the EU to stop migrants reaching Europe, Migreurop has issued a press release to mark the fact that over 1,000 people have died in this context since January 2011. It argues that the failure to assist migrants who are in distress at sea is in violation of the 1951 Geneva Convention and international maritime law.