Africa, technology, media, humanitarian issues, Africa jobs.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

BostonHerald.com - the Edge: Give till it rocks: All-star humanitarian CDs are back in vogue: "Watching Live Aid, whether for the first or second time, brings up tough questions. Do musical charity efforts really help the intended beneficiaries? Or do they do more to make well-off musicians and their fans feel good about themselves? "

Development Gateway Award: "Washington, DC, November 23, 2004 -- The Development Gateway Foundation is seeking nominations for the second Development Gateway Award. The $100,000 award will recognize outstanding achievement in using information and communication technologies (ICT) to improve people's lives in developing countries. "

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

International Development Jobs, Vacancy, careers: "FARM-Africa is an international NGO committed to improving the lives of marginal farmers and herders through innovative approaches to natural resource management. FARM-Africa has ambitious plans to extend its successful grass root development and research work in Africa and disseminate its expertise more widely through training, publications, policy influencing and working with local organisations.
We wish to appoint two experienced, committed and dynamic professionals to work with our team in London and our country programmes in Africa. Our strategy focuses on building the capacity of individual staff in our country programmes to plan, fund, manage and evaluate their own initiatives. Your role will be to work alongside these staff to pass on your expertise and skills and promote learning. " [Addis Ababa/Nairobi]

United Nations Environment Programme - UNEP Job Vacancy - Publications Officer: "Under the supervision of the Senior Environmental Affairs Officer of the Global Environment Outlook Section (GEO), Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA), and within delegated authority, the incumbent will be responsible for the following: Plan, develop and co-ordinate comprehensive production schedules for the GEO report series and other relevant documents generated by the GEO Section and ensure compliance by staff of the section, collaborating centre network and other contributors. "

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Banned additives in award-winning wine: "The previous vintage of KWV's Reserve Sauvignon Blanc won a double gold medal at South Africa's top wine competition, the Veritas awards, in September. But tests KWV carried out in the past few weeks have shown the 2003 wine was also artificially flavoured with pyrazine, a widely used food flavouring. "

Monday, December 20, 2004

Frame grabbing or Sceencapping New one on me: screencapping seems to be DVD-ese for frame grabbing...

Moreover to harvest blogs quicker with ping server: "We are pleased to give publishers control over the speed with which they notify Moreover of new content,? said Jim Pitkow, Chief Executive Officer and President of Moreover Technologies. ?By using our Ping Server, publishers can ensure that their content is immediately available across Moreover's unparalleled distribution network.? "

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Google Checks Out Library Books: "The Libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford, and The New York Public Library Join with Google to Digitally Scan Library Books and Make Them Searchable Online "

Foreign Policy Association - Job Board: "The Africa Center for Strategic Studies is looking for an Information Technology Specialist to perform the following duties in support of the information technology database management and services at the Center. This is a temporary, until April 1, 2005, position to be filled while the position is being advertised and filled as a US Government term position. "

ISS Vacancies: Director: Research: "The Institute for Security Studies is advertising for a new senior management position. The Director of Research will be responsible for the overall management of the Institute's programme of research and publications. (S)he will co-ordinate the work of other ISS offices, Programme Heads in Pretoria and the publication staff. (S)he will be managing editor of the Institute's journal the African Security Review. The Institute has programmes on early warning, civil-military relations, arms management, crime and justice, peacekeeping, organised crime / corruption / money laundering / terrorism, plus a number of smaller projects. "

Thursday, December 09, 2004

The velocity of aid money... : "War, Money and Aid
Is the impact of humanitarian aid on local economies overstated? A closer look yields some surprising results."

Desmond Tutu lecture: "The Berlin Wall fell in November 1989. Nelson Mandela was released in February 1990. But what is happening in Russia today? The level of mafia controlled crime, the conflict with Chechnya giving such awful examples of carnage as the theatre hostage disaster and more recently the Beslan School hostage catastrophe makes what occurs in South Africa look like a Sunday school picnic."

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Jobs: Regional HIV/AIDS Advisor - East/Central Africa: "Based in Nairobi, the Regional HIV/AIDS Advisor will assist the country offices and regional management unit in East and Central Africa to deepen the quality of HIV/AIDS programming. The Advisor will take the lead on developing strategic approaches to HIV/AIDS programming as it relates to the Regional Strategy?s focus on inequality and discrimination, particularly issues of stigmatization and related challenges. S/he will provide technical assistance and leadership in mainstreaming HIV/AIDS within rights based programming and the Household Livelihood Security framework across COs. S/he will support country office staff in the design, monitoring and evaluation of programs. "

TZ-Dar Es Salaam-Chief Financial Officer - Tanzania: "Is a fast growing International Mobile Phone Operator that is expanding operations across Sub-Sahara Africa. To assist the growth they now wish to appoint a Chief Financial Officer to their Tanzanian OpCo."

XAccess Projects - Kenya - Cargo Bikes: "In early 2005, XAccess will lead a flagship project in Makindu, Kenya, in which we will distribute 50 of our low-cost load-carrying bicycles through a combination of retail sales, daily or weekly rentals, and microcredit. We will also investigate, quantify, and catalog the results as a major step in the large-scale dispersal of the technology. The Makindu Project will be a six-month project with a brief 12 month follow-up visit. "

Angola job: Editor Discussion Programmes: "Editor Discussion Programmes, BBC World Service Trust

Angola

You?ll provide dynamic, creative leadership and management of a radio production team taking responsibility for delivering a youth-oriented radio talk show and an array of radio spots in support of an HIV/AIDS campaign in Angola. "

$93 billion a year in developing country remittances: "The International Monetary Fund reports that at least $93 billion a year is sent to developing countries from migrants supporting family and friends back home. In many countries these private remittances amount to many times the value of official government-to-government aid flows. Once almost the sole domain of Western Union and informal ?money movers,? the money transfer industry is seeing many new entrants and business models. This session focuses on how new business models are offering the poor better prices and more options for funds transfer, and how better service can provide greater profits by integrating remittances more fully into financial services offerings for migrants and their families."

Monday, December 06, 2004

klnX: The Open Swahili Localization Project: "Today, 4th December 2004, The Open Swahili Localization Project, also known as Kilinux, is proud to announce the first ever release of a free office suite software in Swahili, called 'Jambo OpenOffice.'


A full coverage of the release in six languages is now available in the website: http://oo.o.ne.tz "

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Foreign Policy Association - Job Board: "The International Crisis Group is seeking an intern to work in the Southern Africa region from January 2005 for three up to six months supporting the Director of the Southern Africa Project. The internship will provide valuable research and political analysis experience. This unpaid posting (ICG only pays for the flight ticket) would suit a candidate with a recent post graduate degree in political science, conflict studies or public administration and with specific knowledge and/ or experience in the Southern Africa region. "