Full Coverage: Development

29.01.2008 Rural women in KwaZulu Natal will be using mobile phones to report on violations of their human rights. The UmNyango Project, which is implementing this initiative, was established by Fahamu, a pan African organisation based in Cape Town, Nairobi, Dakar and Oxford

28.01.2008 Sambodhi, a leading research and training organisation, will hold an international workshop on designing development projects from February 18-23 at New Delhi, India. The programme will help development professionals improve their understanding of all relevant factors in planning a successful project.

28.01.2008 The latest issue of the Oxfam journal Gender & Development calls for vibrant and alternative media spaces to prevent stereotyping of women, while providing insight into development initiatives throughout the world. Recommended read for development practitioners, policymakers and academics.

24.01.2008 Tunisia has endeavoured, out of its conviction that a modern tax system is an essential conditions for the setting up of a modern economy integrated in its regional and international environment, to lay down the foundations of a fiscal system likely to meet the targets set by the country in all fields and the expectations of its economic partners.

24.01.2008 Development Alternatives, an Indian NGO working to create sustainable livelihoods, is organising a training programme on Organisation Development from February 12-14 at TARAgram in Madhya Pradesh. The course aims to equip the civil society organisations with necessary skills for social action.

23.01.2008 A Dalit-centric policy framework can help the disadvantaged community to have a greater say in local and national programmes and their implementation, says a report released this month by the people’s campaign Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.

22.01.2008 The six-year long ceasefire between Sri Lankan government and Tamil tigers had seen the economy grow by an annual average of over 12% in the war-affected north-east. The Sinhala-dominated southern and western parts too had gained. It now remains to be seen where the current hostilities will lead the economy.

21.01.2008 The Egyptian government has made information and communications technologies (ICTs) a developmental priority and has modernised and upgraded the sector’s infrastructure, services, regulations and human resource capacity. Egypt had an antiquated ICT infrastructure until the early 1990s.

21.01.2008 A comprehensive data pool on gender issues was launched by the SAARC Secretary General at the inaugural of the recent Sixth South Asian Regional Ministerial Conference by UNIFEM at New Delhi. The Gender Database will provide records on violence against women and trafficking in the South Asia region, and on women’s health and HIV/AIDS.

21.01.2008 As the debate on Special Economic Zones (SEZ) continues, a novel idea has been proposed by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) to make farmers direct shareholders in an agri-based food processing venture at Nellore, in southern Andhra Pradesh. SEZs are lands earmarked for industrial growth with massive subsidies granted to capitalists.

21.01.2008 Panos South Asia invites media and communication practitioners in South Asia for a workshop on online radio broadcasting from March 17-21, 2008 at Kathmandu, Nepal. The workshop will provide hands-on training in digital technologies, audio and content streaming and online material distribution to global audiences.

18.01.2008 Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, invites applications for a five-day refresher workshop from February 12-16 on how to use the environment to eradicate poverty in rural India. By drawing lessons from village experiences, the workshop aims to devise a framework for sustainable villages.

17.01.2008 ICT experts from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted new guidelines on combating cyber crime in the sub-region

17.01.2008 After realising that while significant efforts were made by the government of Uganda and the Non government organisations (NGOs) to disseminate information on a range of issues to promote sustainable development for all, a lot still needs to be done. Most of this information particularly relating to women’s’ economic empowerment is not readily accessible

17.01.2008 Unless something fairly radical happens in the next 12-18 months, the development of mobile content revenues on the continent will be shaped by the “hand-me-down” attitudes and technologies of others.

17.01.2008 Video Volunteers and local NGOs are helping rural communities in India voice their issues to a global audience. Locally relevant video produced by community video units, are empowering people to lead, change and take action.

17.01.2008 In wake of Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis and demands by various activist groups, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has announced doubling its humanitarian aid to £18 million over the next three years. Around one-third of the country's poor survive on less than US$ 1 a day.

16.01.2008 Several organisations from South Asia are opposing the Asian Development Bank’s revision of safeguard policies on environment and resettlement of indigenous people. The Peoples Forum Against the ADB has called for a boycott of the ongoing consultation and held a demonstration outside the venue in New Delhi.

16.01.2008 'If ICTs are to provide equitable distribution of wealth of knowledge, they must also support the languages and cultures of our global society,' the Global Knowledge Partnership, an international network that promotes ICT use for development, said in an international conference it hosted recently in Malaysia

16.01.2008 Algérie Télécom is the first African telecoms operator to put together a business strategy that includes Fibre-To-The-Home. Although the price of connecting households to fibre has dropped considerably elsewhere, it still remains an expensive way to provide a local connection. However, the prize it is seeking to create is a large user base for its forthcoming triple play offer.