As global attention switches to the next climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, ETC Group releases that lifts the lid on the emerging global grab on plants, lands, ecosystems, and traditional cultures.

Zambia's efforts to strengthen its education system will come to little if no way is found to retain skilled teachers like Caroline Chisenga. She is a maths teacher with ten years of experience under her belt. She has recently upgraded her teaching qualifications with a full degree. But she has one eye on leaving the country in search of higher pay.

There are many myths around the abuse of social grants. In his article 'Social grants: Going beyond basic needs' David Neves from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies shows how social grants not only provide a safety net, but also act as a spring board for all sorts of other unseen opportunities, including small-scale entrepeneurship. Grants are often invested in the future, in ways that meet the needs and constraints of the poor - often either in building or upgrading housing or in their children and grandchildren's education and nutrition.

The Sudanese government should charge or release Darfuri activists arrested between 30 October and 1 November 2010 by national security agents in Khartoum, Human Rights Watch has said. The arrests underscore the government's continued use of repressive laws to target human rights defenders from Darfur and to restrict information about the ongoing abuses there, Human Rights Watch said.

Israel is trying to find ways of repatriating or relocating African migrant workers whose illegal influx via Egypt is alarming authorities, a senior government official has said. Thousands of Africans, many of them from conflict zones such as Sudan and Eritrea, have slipped in across Egypt's Sinai desert in recent years to seek work or claim asylum as refugees.

The overall purpose of this consultancy is:
- To assist INTERIGHTS’ lawyers through in depth legal research on complex or emerging legal issues arising principally, but not exclusively, in our litigation;
- To provide research and analysis of the highest quality, with links to relevant laws, cases and articles;
- To provide high quality written documents in agreed specialist area.
Panellists do not need to be resident in the United Kingdom, as the work would be conducted primarily remotely via email and telephone.

AWID is currently seeking an activist/researcher with a strong background in economics and development to work with our Influencing Development Actors and Practices for Women’s Rights (IDeA) strategic initiative. IDeA is engaged in an exciting action-research agenda that is attempting to connect theoretical debates on development and the need for alternative models with concrete experiences, lessons learned and analysis from a women’s rights perspective.

Non-governmental actors that are taking the lead role in e-education. One such organisation is Kificom, which trains teachers on implementing ICT for learning. Kificom also installs and maintains computers for schools and coordinates content acquisition. So far, 400 teachers have been trained, according to Mathews Kituu, Kificom's director.

In recent years, primary school enrollment has increased across East Africa, but are our children really learning? Uwezo aims to answer that question by assessing the basic math and reading skills of more than a quarter million children in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Uwezo Uganda has released the first ever large scale citizen led national assessment of learning. A total of 1,620 volunteers visited 16,200 households in 27 districts. The results show that 15 per cent of children sampled in P7 could not solve class two level numeracy tasks. There was considerable regional and district variation in the competency level of the children.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has written to Cape Town Opera to ask them to postpone their planned trip to Israel. Tutu says: 'Just as we said during apartheid that it was inappropriate for international artists to perform in South Africa in a society founded on discriminatory laws and racial exclusivity, so it would be wrong for Cape Town Opera to perform in Israel.'

The main aim of The All Africa Dance Conference and Festival is to bring people together to celebrate the wealth and diversity of African dance. This year's event will showcase a rich and vibrant mix of dance and musical performances by more than 100 dance groups and 500 established artists from all over the world.

Cultural Diplomacy in Africa: A Forum for Young Leaders (CDA) is a network of young, dynamic individuals from across the world, who share an interest in the African continent. The program is based on the recognition that cultural diplomacy represents an important tool in helping Africa to address the challenges it currently faces. The network conducts ongoing activity aimed at supporting development and strengthening relations between different countries and cultural groups within Africa, and between African and external partners.

AWID is currently seeking an activist/researcher with a strong background in economics and development to work with our Influencing Development Actors and Practices for Women’s Rights (IDeA) strategic initiative. IDeA is engaged in an exciting action-research agenda that is attempting to connect theoretical debates on development and the need for alternative models with concrete experiences, lessons learned and analysis from a women’s rights perspective.

Somalis from south-central Somalia and those in the diaspora have taken advantage of the stable environment in the self-declared republic of Somaliland to put their children through school there, boosting enrolment in private and public education institutions in the region, officials said. 'About 10 percent of 200,000 primary-school children are from south-central Somalia,' Ali Mohamed Ali, the director-general of Somaliland's Education Ministry, told IRIN.

Officials have called on residents of Masindi to take their children to school. This followed a survey that revealed that about 850 pupils of school going age in the remote village of Nyalyanika II are not accessing education. The area councilor, Ms Gladys Matwarwa, said residents had shunned the government’s universal primary and secondary education.

The Conference of the Democratic Left in the Western Cape reiterates its support for the period of action called in October by Abahlali baseMjondolo in the Western Cape in protest at the lack of housing and service delivery. In contrast to others, we regard the tactic of direct action and civil disobedience as legitimate forms of protest under a neo-liberal and pro-capitalist state.

In what could be a landmark case, seven schools in the Eastern Cape's OR Tambo district, near Mthatha, are taking the local, provincial and national governments to court due to the lack of resources, saying their pupils' right to basic education has been violated. The attorney representing the schools, Cameron McConnachie, from the Legal Resource Centre, said the right to education by means of proper infrastructure had not yet been tested in a court of law.

AWID is currently seeking an activist/researcher with a strong background in economics and development to work with our Influencing Development Actors and Practices for Women’s Rights (IDeA) strategic initiative. IDeA is engaged in an exciting action-research agenda that is attempting to connect theoretical debates on development and the need for alternative models with concrete experiences, lessons learned and analysis from a women’s rights perspective.

The H.F. Guggenheim Foundation makes grants for scholarly research into problems of aggression and violence. One program is reserved for African Scholars under the age of 35, educated and living on the African continent. Selected applicants will attend a methods workshop to refine and improve their research plans in Accra, Ghana, in March 2011, and after submitting revised plans, will receive grants of $2000 each to support their fieldwork. In 2012 they will be funded to attend a professional conference to present their findings and will receive assistance in finding a publisher for their work.

The H.F. Guggenheim Foundation makes grants for scholarly research into problems of aggression and violence. One program is reserved for African Scholars under the age of 35, educated and living on the African continent. Selected applicants will attend a methods workshop to refine and improve their research plans in Accra, Ghana, in March 2011, and after submitting revised plans, will receive grants of $2000 each to support their fieldwork. In 2012 they will be funded to attend a professional conference to present their findings and will receive assistance in finding a publisher for their work.