http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/386/OxfamGB.jpgGlobal awareness about economic injustice in Africa is growing. Great news, except that change isn’t happening fast enough. To make matters worse, the effects of climate change are starting to have a serious effect across the continent.
Starting GBP £24,100 net per annum

Be challenged
Debt. Unfair trade. Climate change. Somehow, the world’s poorest people get stuck paying the price. Each poses a serious threat to the lives of millions of Africans. And we’ll look to you to come up with the strategies to bring about real change – right now. It won’t be easy. But by targeting influential decision makers and policy-making institutions, you’ll put economic justice on the top of their agendas. A consistent and coordinated approach across all of our country programmes will be key to changing continental policies. Which is why you’ll need to work closely with the rest of the Oxfam International team.

Be involved
53 countries. 30,221,532 km2. More than 920 million people. Responsibilities don’t come much bigger, which is why we’re looking for someone with a practical understanding of economic justice issues and experience building strategic relationships on a regional, national and Pan-African level. A thorough knowledge of campaigning is essential, as is the ability to lead and coordinate multiple teams from a distance. And with superb negotiation skills and fluency in French or English, you’ll have the tools needed to influence the way the media, government officials and other key decision makers respond to economic justice issues.

Be Oxfam
A simple, inescapable truth underlines everything we do at Oxfam. There’s enough wealth in this world to go around. It’s not unfortunate that people live in poverty. It’s unjustifiable. It’s not just their problem. It’s ours too. And with the right support, we can beat poverty and injustice. More than 8,000 people already commit their time and talents to our campaigning, humanitarian and long-term development projects. Now we’re looking for yours.

To find out more about this role and to apply, visit and quote ref: INT2825.
Closing date: 21 July 2008.

Clinical trials of a new molecular technique have found it to be effective at quickly identifying multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in resource-poor settings. As a result, the WHO has endorsed the use of the test in all countries with MDR-TB.

While lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in countries such as Uganda continue to fight for their inclusion in the HIV and Aids programmes, Malawian LGBTI community is making noticeable strides towards recognition. This comes after the Center for the Development of People (CEDEP), a Malawian human rights organisation, presented research findings on HIV sero- prevalence study among men who have sex with other men (MSM) in Malawi.

Somalia has been without effective central government for almost two decades. Most state institutions have vanished in large parts of the country -- schools are no exception. In the northeast and northwest of Somalia, where there has been relative stability, schools have been operating almost as normal; it is in the southern and central regions of the country -- including the capital -- that the education system has collapsed.

Irregular migrants trying to reach Europe are being arrested, ill-treated and collectively expelled from Mauritania without opportunity to challenge the decision according to a new Amnesty International report.

The Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA) is pleased to call for applications for the position of Regional Coordinator, based in Bamako, in the Republic of Mali. The deadline for receipt of applications is 14 August 2008.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/385/49136awaaz.jpgThe latest issue of Awaaz Magazine features a 40 page tribute to Apa Pant, India's first post independence envoy to Kenya. Coming into Kenya at the height of the struggle for Kenya's independence Apa Pant supported the Kenyan Nationalist struggle against British Colonialism. 3 stories by Benegal Pereira, Peter Wright and Angelo Faria takes the readers through Apa Pant's life chronicling his early life and politics.

The High Court has freed MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti on $1 trillion bail. Biti was in detention since his arrest on June 12 at Harare International Airport after returning home from a two-month self-imposed exile in South Africa. He was charged with treason arising from allegations that he authored a document, The Transition Strategy, plotting to overthrow or alternatively subvert the constitutionally elected government of Zimbabwe.

The United Nations refugee agency has restored 134 primary schools in northern Uganda, allowing thousands of children to return to classes, after the damage and destruction caused by two decades of conflict between Government forces and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

A senior Ghanaian justice department official has expressed surprise that the government has failed to ban capital punishment, implicitly censuring lawmakers for their recent endorsement of two new pro-death penalty judges to the Supreme Court. The current law permitting the death penalty was ''obnoxious'', the deputy attorney general, Kwame Osei-Bempah, told IPS. ''There is no reason why it should remain on our law books.''

Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG) is seeking for qualified and experienced Programme Interns to provide support in all matters relating to the programme implementation functions of the organisation.

CIDSE, APRODEV and the Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network (EZN) welcome the UN Security Council statement condemning the campaign of violence against Zimbabwe’s opposition party. However, diplomatic efforts are clearly failing to provide adequate protection to the people of Zimbabwe or to guarantee a democratic electoral process. CIDSE, APRODEV, and EZN reiterate their call for the United Nations (UN) to conform with its own Security Council resolution 1674, which confirms the “Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity” as a fundamental international norm.

On 2nd April 2008, Bunge La Mwananchi through its network and Starehe Social Movement notified the officers in charge of Central Police Station, Pangani Police Station and Huruma Police Station of their intention to hold a peaceful procession on 31st May, 2008 starting from Jeevanjee Gardens Park to Huruma Sports Ground. The procession was to protest the unchecked escalating food prices and demand Government intervention.

Joomla! is a Content Management System and is for a start not complicated; Joomla makes it easy for non-technical people to create professional and dynamic websites. Why? Because it has been developed with the masses in mind. Joomla! is easy to install and administer. You do not need any programming knowledge such as HTML or PHP to use Joomla for web creation. Joomla! is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable. Using Joomla! is like using a word-processing program.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/384/48993hunger.jpgCIDSE, APRODEV and the Ecumenical Zimbabwe Network (EZN) welcome the UN Security Council statement condemning the campaign of violence against Zimbabwe’s opposition party. However, diplomatic efforts are clearly failing to provide adequate protection to the people of Zimbabwe or to guarantee a democratic electoral process. CIDSE, APRODEV, and EZN reiterate their call for the United Nations (UN) to conform with its own Security Council resolution 1674, which confirms the “Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity” as a fundamental international norm.

With no possibility for a legitimate Presidential election on 27 June, the international community should act immediately to ensure that ballots are not replaced by bullets. “What is needed” said John Stewart, Director of NOVASC, a Zimbabwean human rights NGO “is international intervention. The direct intervention of an international, African led presence to guarantee security and the protection and safety of the people is necessary. Militias have to be disarmed, disbanded, demobilised; the state security agencies must be reined in and kept under scrutiny, to prevent them continuing with their campaign of violence and terror, and to prepare the processes of a return to the rule of law and extensive security sector reform”. Concerted international action is needed to encourage and accompany a determined process to protect and assist the Zimbabwean people, while creating the conditions for legitimate elections in as short a time as possible.

Ahead of the first round of elections in Zimbabwe, CIDSE, APRODEV, EZN and partners in Zimbabwe cautioned that the elections could not be free or fair. “We fear that the government will ruthlessly use fraud and intimidation to steal the elections,” said John Stewart at the time. These fears were unfortunately well founded. .Since 29 March, the world has watched the electoral process unravel, the situation deteriorate, and the people suffer. Across the country instances of political killings, violence and torture have been well documented, with over a hundred deaths reported, thousands tortured and beaten and tens of thousands displaced[1]. The June 21st withdrawal of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from the second round of the Presidential election must finally end the pretence of a democratic process.

In a country where more than one in four children is orphaned and an estimated four million people are vulnerable and in need of aid, the population is being intimated and lives put at risk by government restrictions on humanitarian aid distribution. Since the government’s decision of 4 June to ban humanitarian organizations from distributing aid international and local aid agencies, including CIDSE, APRODEV and EZN members, have been forced to suspend vital support to the Zimbabwean people. The poorest and most vulnerable communities are being hit hardest.

As a joint statement on May 28th from the Archbishops of Canterbury and Cape Town pointed out the violence has extended to attacks inside Anglican churches. The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference has called “for an immediate cessation of violence and all provocative statements and actions” and warns that “electoral processes and outcomes are not an excuse for breaching God’s commandments”[2] Churches worldwide joined in a day of prayer for the people of Zimbabwe on 22 June.

*Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

African Council of Religious Leaders (ACRL) has established a project known as Religious Leaders Peace Initiative in the Horn of Africa (RL PIHA) and the position of a Project Co-ordinator. ACRL wishes therefore to recruit a suitable person for the position of a Project Co-ordinator.

This report is the result of a participatory survey of 512 children aged from 7 to 14 years from ten regions in Mainland Tanzania. Children want and need to be heard – they can provide a valuable perspective which should be taken into account by adults. As the ‘consumers’ of education, children provide useful information for those working for and with children – from policy makers to teachers. This report contains their opinions on a range of issues relating to education, such as school services (including healthcare, water supply and food), textbooks, performance by teachers, discipline, extra charges, and their desired improvements to education.

At least 40 people drowned and about 100 are missing after a boat carrying illegal immigrants from Libya to Italy capsized, an Egyptian security official said on Monday. Forty bodies have been recovered after the boat sank shortly after leaving the port of Zuwarah, about 100km west of Tripoli, on June 7, the official said, citing a report from the Egyptian embassy in Libya.

Mauritanian media is buzzing with news about the upcoming baccalaureate exams. Both parents and students are apprehensive about the bac, hoping and praying for good results. This year's stress level is even higher due to a teachers' strike which may cause the exams to be postponed.

Many impositions on young people masquerade as concern for their welfare but have tragic consequences. In 2005, a matriculation student from Manxele High School in Eshowe hanged himself after receiving news that he had failed the final examination for a second time. He obviously believed, as many young people are led to do, that without a matriculation certificate he had no future