A History of the Yoruba People is an audacious comprehensive exploration of the founding and growth of one of the most influential groups in Africa. With a population of nearly 40 million spread across Western Africa and diaspora communities in Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America and North America, the Yoruba are one of the most researched groups emanating from Africa. Yet, to date, very few attempts have tried to grapple fully with the historical foundations and development of a group that has contributed to shaping the way African communities are analysed from prehistoric to modern times.

New research could bolster arguments for a controversial approach that could eradicate HIV transmission in South Africa within five years, said Dr Brian Williams of the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis (SACEMA).

Reporters Without Borders joins its partner organisation in Somalia, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), in expressing deep concern about the fate of Ali Yusuf Adan, a journalist who was arrested on 21 February in an area controlled by the Islamist militia Al-Shabaab.

Poor governance and management are jeopardising efforts to provide quality basic education in seven African countries according to a new report published today by Transparency International (TI). The report, Africa Education Watch: Good governance lessons for primary education, shows that despite ten years of efforts to increase school enrolment through the Education for All initiative and the Millennium Development Goals, deficient or non-existent governance systems and practices are limiting progress.

South Africa’s children, the country’s most vulnerable population group, will benefit through the increase in social grants recently outlined in the national budget. South Africa’s finance minister, Pravin Gordhan’s national budget speech on Feb. 17 has largely been met with approval by development experts for the social grant increases.

Nigeria's much-bashed electoral umpire Maurice Iwu is under fire again, after the country's main opposition party Sunday demanded his sack over a series of allegations. Iwu heads Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and has been widely vilified for organising what local and foreign observers consider to be the worst elections in the country's history in 2007.

Ng'ana'a Thiong'o, Kenyan social activist and legal adviser for the people, sadly passed away on 7 February 2010. ‘It is not easy to write a tribute for a true comrade, a revolutionary, an environmentalist, a peoples’ advocate, a principled politician, a global citizen, an intellectual and creative thinker like Ng’ang’a Thiong’o’, writes Stephen Musau.

*The Right to Know: The Fight for Open Democracy in South Africa*

- A Short Film Showing and Discussion -

*7pm - Wednesday 3rd March*

*Room 4418 (4th Floor, SOAS Main Building)*

Transparency International (TI), the global leader in the fight against corruption, will release Africa Education Watch: Good Governance Lessons for Primary Education, a new report on education in seven African countries on 23 February. Despite ten years of international efforts to provide universal basic education, the report shows that poor management and lack of training is compromising the delivery of quality basic education. The report documents a broad range of problems, from deficient or non-existent accounting systems to illegal fees.

The coming 12 months are very critical for the political history of Sudan. Two landmark events in the country’s history will take place. In April 2010 Sudan is expected to organise the first multi-party general executive and legislative elections after more than 20 years of authoritarian military rule. In January 2011 the people in Southern Sudan will exercise, in a popular referendum, their right to self-determination and decide on the future of the country. This DRDC report is documenting for some aspects of Sudan’s 5th Population and Housing Census and drawing attention to key areas of weaknesses of the census operation.

Vrije University (VU) Amsterdam has established the Desmond Tutu Programme in honour of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M. Tutu. This Programme focuses on the theme Youth, Sports and Reconciliation and aims to strengthen the co-operation between VU Amsterdam and South African Higher Education Institutions.

The University of Stellenbosch will be hosting the bi-annual conference of the South African Association of Political Studies (SAAPS) in Stellenbosch from 1-4 September 2010. The Theme for the Conference is Democracy in the First Decade of the 21st Century

Support is growing for a bid to persuade the G8+5 nations to fund 1,000 senior research positions in African universities. The Academic Chairs for Africa initiative would require the rich G8 countries and the emerging economies that now attend the group's gatherings — Brazil, China, India, South Africa and Mexico — to commit US$100m per year over a five-year period.

Before the opening of the main conference at eLearning Africa, pre-conference meetings, seminars and workshops will be held on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010, offering participants the opportunity to learn a new skill, enhance their knowledge or gather information about a specific topic. Such activities are not only excellent opportunities in themselves, but are also valuable pre-conference networking activities in their own right.

The 2010 session of the CODESRIA sub-regional methodological workshops will explore the conditions for the employment and validation of qualitative perspectives in African contexts. To this end, the workshops will be open to all the social research discipline. The East and Southern Africa edition of the methodology workshops is designed for doctoral and masters students and young, mid-career African researchers resident in East and Southern Africa.

African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), a project of the CGIAR Gender & Diversity Program, is now accepting applications for its 2010 fellowships. The deadline for all applications is 22 March 2010.

This edition of the methodological workshops that is on offer for 2010 is designed for doctoral and masters students as well as young, mid-career African researchers based in Nigeria and elsewhere in English speaking Central and West Africa.

The Peking University Law School Research Centre for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law ( RCHR) is offering visiting scholar positions at our centre to facilitate solo and collaborative research and teaching. Visiting scholars will be expected to make a modest contribution to the masters’ programme, teaching a one semester course in a specialist topic of their choice.

Created in Cairo, the World Forum for Alternatives was established in 1997. In this summary of its 2010–11 proposals, the forum sets out a radical vision for a global network of progressive forces rooted in enabling the peoples of the South to organise and determine their own future.

Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) invites young women aged between 21 - 25 years who completed their university or any tertiary institution and are interested in Leadership to apply for a Leadership Training Camp scheduled for March 2010. The camp runs for three weeks and is residential.