With African heads of state due to convene this month in Kampala for the latest African Union summit, the People’s Health Movement is asking people to sign its petition to ensure members of government work to respect budgetary targets for development goals.

Small-holder farmers, who make up almost all of Africa’s agriculture sector, need more support to reduce over-dependence on increasingly costly food imports, states a new report. Policymakers should “strengthen the competitiveness of small-holder farmers, thus avoiding a rural exodus that would put pressure on the cities and lead to more food imports”, according to the 2010 technology and innovation report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

When Sabah Ismail Ali, a social worker in Somalia's self-declared republic of Somaliland, first started working with children, truancy and aggression were common, especially among children from families with problems such as extreme poverty and displacement. "I started off as a child protection officer, then I later trained as a psycho-social worker, qualifying by December 2007. I realized right from the start that many children who showed aggression were being caned by teachers who had no idea of the social problems such children were dealing with."

In appreciation of the tremendous progress made by the authorities in Niger to return the country to constitutional order, ECOWAS leaders decided here Friday that the country can once again attend the meetings of the regional bloc, albeit as an observer. Niger's suspension could be totally lifted if the ongoing political transition programme in the country culminates in the restoration of democracy by March 2011, as contained in the transition time-table rolled out by the ruling junta.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the University of Ghana are pleased to announce the international symposium ”The Dream, The Reality: Re-assessments of African Independence”, to be held in Accra, Ghana, from 27th to 29th of September 2010. The symposium constitutes the central event in the inaugural issue of the Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Intellectual & Cultural Festival Week, a bi-annual event to be held under the Kwame Nkrumah Chair in African Studies.

DRL seeks proposals to build the capacity of local civil society and nongovernmental organizations to advocate against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Capacity building may include, but is not limited to, efforts on coalition building within the countries and the region, decriminalization efforts, public advocacy, legislation, litigation strategies, strategies for promoting advocates’ safety, and media sensitivity (including building professionalism). T

Call Mr. Robeson, an award-winning one-man play about the famous African American actor, singer and civil rights pioneer is to be performed at Rich Mix, Bethnal Green on Thursday to Saturday 29 to 31 July 2010. The play ends its current Spring/Summer tour of England and Northern Ireland with these Rich Mix dates before settling into a three-week residency at Edinburgh Fringe in August. Oliver Carruthers, Arts and Cultural Officer at Rich Mix said, “Rich Mix’s raison d’aitre is to showcase culture from and about BAME artists of the highest caliber, and from what we have heard of Call Mr. Robeson, this really is just such a piece – one which we are very proud and pleased to present to the people of London.”

Southern African Development Community (SADC) Executive Secretary Tomáz Salomão on Thursday criticised the European Union (EU) for trying to “impose” a preferential free-trade agreement on countries in the region. Last year, the EU signed an interim economic partnership agreement (EPA) with Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland to facilitate the free movement of goods between the two regions.

The 1st African Broadcast and Film Conference attracted over 200 participants from across the continent, There was a real buzz in the air as many people within Africa’s broadcast industry met for the first time. This 2nd African Broadcast and Film Conference will take place over two days (28-29 July 2010) in Kenya at the Kenyatta Centre in Nairobi. Key topics include a session on Africa’s newest generation of Free-to-Air and Pay TV Challengers, a look at how broadcasters can generate local content and a look at multi-platform strategies with social networking and blogs.

A journalist working for a private newspaper has been shot dead in front of his house in the Rwandan capital. Witnesses say Jean Leonard Rugambage, the acting editor of Umuvugizi newspaper, was fired on by two men who then fled in a car. The authorities had recently suspended the paper, prompting it to start publishing online instead.

One of the most important vehicles by which CODESRIA has sought to mobilise national-level research capacities and to channel these into organised reflections has been the National Working Groups (NWGs) which it has encouraged African researchers to organise autonomously on priority themes of their choice. NWGs have been supported by the Council in over forty African countries and have resulted in some of the most interesting studies on politics, economy and society in contemporary Africa.

Do you want an insight into the investment opportunities in Ghana right now? Have you been trying to locate means of finance for your enterprise in Ghana? Would speaking to a knowledgeable experienced and well connected business person from Ghana be of use to you? Then this event is where you should definitely be to get some answers!

This one week course gives an introduction to Project Cycle Management emphasising project formulation. Crucial in proper project planning is a thorough analysis of objectives that the project intends to achieve. This course enables participants to employ clear, sequential planning methods such as the logical framework.

A global conversation about the rights of sex workers is happening without African voices, writes Chi Mgbako. While activists on other continents have successfully organised to engage governments in dialogue, the criminalisation of the trade in Africa has pushed sex workers to the fringe, compromising more than economic protection in the industry as health, safety and legal rights are sidelined. Until African voices can be heard in the struggle, African sex workers will continue being denied their core rights as stigma and discrimination plague their ‘illegal’ livelihoods, argues Mgbako.

Pambazuka reader Christiane Ströh de Martínez is looking for information about insurance for migrants. Let us know if you can help.

The family, friends and well wishers of former member of parliament for Nyakach and eminent trade unionist Hon. James Dennis Akumu,

Cordially invite you to a Harambee
on Saturday 3 July 2010
at the United Kenya Club from 5:00pm–8:00pm

Hon. Akumu has been unwell over the past five years due to kidney complications. The Harambee is organised to raise funds for kidney transplant in India at the end of July 2010.

If you cannot make it to the Harambee, you may send your kind donation to:

J.D. Akumu
Standard Chartered Bank Ltd
Yaya Centre
Account No: 01501-9736-9300
Nairobi

You may also contribute via M-Pesa to Mrs Grace Akumu, Tel: 0725-808.292.
Those in Kisumu may also get in touch with his sister Mrs Asenath Bole Odaga on
Tel: 0733-959.681 / 0724-690.137

Thanking you in anticipation of your gracious support.

Ethiopia's main opposition parties on Tuesday won the first round battle in their attempts to challenge the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's (EPRDF) landslide victory in last month's general elections. "At least we have managed to have our case filed at the court," Gidada Negasso, Ethiopia's former president, told PANA on phone after the Supreme Court allowed the opposition coalition to challenge the EPRDF landslide win in the 23 May elections.

A circle of women dance to the beat of drums in the morning sun, a crowd of adults and children watching from under tall, leafy trees. After a lengthy roll of beats, the dancing stops and the circle opens to welcome visitors – a group of water-and-sanitation experts.

The Southern Africa Resource Watch organized a five day training workshop for SADC journalists at Fatmols Executive Lodge in Ndola, Zambia, from 9-14 May 2010. The training focused on reporting extractive industries and tackled a wide range of issues relating to this subject: policy and regulatory issues on SADC’s mining industry, SADC’s economic development debates, media and development in SADC, understanding corporate social responsibility in SADC mining, issues and debates on African forestry, reporting and writing stories on extractive industries, and promoting purpose-driven journalism in African media.

About 3 600 security stewards - half in Durban and the rest in Cape Town - have lost their jobs at the World Cup stadiums after a wage dispute escalated. Now police have taken over the stewards' duties at the Moses Mabhida and Cape Town stadiums at the request of the Local Organising Committee, spokesman Rich Mkhondo said.