The 2011 STARS Impact awards recognise outstanding organisations working in children's health, education and protection. Organisations working with children in Africa, the Middle East, Asia or Pacific are invited to apply. Each Award carries US$100,000 of unrestricted funding.

State doctors in Zambia have returned to work a week after going on strike, but say the government has yet to resolve the problems facing the health sector, their union announced on Monday. 'We would like to inform the general public that the work stoppage by Resident Doctors Association of Zambia (RDAZ) has been suspended in the interest of our patients,' the union's acting president, Amon Ngongola, said at a news conference in the capital, Lusaka. The doctors went on strike last Monday after talks with the government broke down.

Ever wanted to know and share ideas on how we as contract or casual workers can organise and bash the boss? Then come and see this movie.

Venue: Cape Town Democracy Centre, 6 Spin Street, Cape Town

Date: Saturday 16 October, Time: 2pm

For more information, Contact Sheina at [email]iww-ct@live.co.za

Stigma has allowed a disfiguring microscopic worm to thrive in Kenya's coastal region, but with adequate funding, the spread of lymphatic filariasis (LF), also known as elephantiasis, could easily be stopped in the east African country with the help of just a couple of pills a year. Spread by mosquitoes, elephantiasis can cause severe swelling of the limbs, breasts, and scrotum as well as thickening and hardening of the skin.

The second issue of the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch is a powerful tool to put pressure on policymakers at the national and international level to take the human right to food and nutrition into account. The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch provides a platform for human rights experts, civil society activists, social movements, the media, and scholars to exchange experiences on how best to carry out right to food and nutrition work, including lobbying and advocacy. The 2010 version notes the unacceptable number of 925 million people suffering chronic hunger in a world that has enough food for all and the dramatic increase of land grabbing.

The 11.7 billion dollars pledged Tuesday to replenish the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the coming three years falls significantly short of the 20 billion dollars hoped for, threatening to undo the progress made in the fight against these diseases - the three largest infectious killers in the world.

The European Union has signed a voluntary partnership agreement with Cameroon, the largest African exporter of timber products to the EU. By July 2012, all shipments of wood products from Cameroon to the EU will be required to carry a license showing that they contain timber and wood products from a legal origin. This agreement expresses a strong joint commitment to eradicate illegal logging.

A team of technical experts has been instructed to draft terms of reference acceptable to all five member states of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), local media reported on Wednesday. South African President Jacob Zuma said this was being done in order to resolve the contentious issue of an economic partnership agreement with the European Union. Zuma was speaking on Tuesday at Pretoria's Union Buildings, where he hosted Botswana's President Ian Khama on a two-day official visit.

If you are an African journalist or aspirant journalist under 30 and would relish the chance to study on the continent’s premier Journalism Programme and then join the Reuters news team for 6 months work experience, read on. With the FitzGerald Prize, Thomson Reuters is offering a scholarship to do a post graduate BA hons degree at the University of The Witwatersrand ’s Journalism Programme in Johannesburg followed by a stint in a newsroom in Africa.

If there is one group that faces special challenges in Southern Sudan, it is women. Principal among them is gender-based violence, which is under-reported and spreading given the long history of conflict, certain traditional practices and weak judicial systems, say specialists. Concerns include inadequate data, lack of security, transport and education.

The Bank Information Centre (BIC) has made available a new toolkit for civil society on how to access information at the World Bank. The resource is available for download as a .PDF from BIC's website.

With India's role as 'pharmacy to the developing world' seriously threatened by a free trade agreement to be signed with the European Union in December, the fate of cheap or free antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV and AIDS hangs in balance. At the next EU-India free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, due to be held 6 -8 October in the Indian capital, Europe is expected to push for TRIPS-plus provisions that major non-government organisations such as Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have warned will put the lives of those on antiretrovirals at risk.

AFLA’s “ flagship journal”, the Africa Legal Aid Quarterly, highlights the often marginalised voices of Africa in human rights discourse. Since its launch in 1996, the AFLA Quarterly has produced a wealth of information from African legal scholars, judges, gender advocates, legal practitioners and opinion leaders, on human rights and justice developments relating to Africa. Due to its affordability at €100 for four issues, the only major journal addressing human rights and justice developments in Africa in popular legal discourse is accessible to all. So if you believe there is a need to mainstream African Voices in popular legal discourse, a need for a comprehensive analysis of the most pertinent issues at the heart of the African continent, and a need to make African issues visible on the International Agenda, then the Africa Legal Aid Quarterly is for you. Confirm your subscription today at [email]publications@africalegalaid.com
For more information on AFLA Publications and a free sample of the AFLA Quarterly, visit www.africalegalaid.com

The Mandela Park Back-yarders, a social movement in Cape Town, describes the aftermath of the situation in Hout Bay in Cape Town, where the City of Cape Town attempted to demolish shacks they claimed where illegally built.

The UN children's agency UNICEF is taking the lead in an intense global campaign to provide schooling to some 69 million children who are unable to go to school - or don't have any schools to go to. A new report, titled 'Back to School?' by the Global Campaign for Education, says that two of the worst places to be a school child in 2010 are Somalia, long described as a failed state, and earthquake-devastated Haiti.

Attajdid Movement secretary Ahmed Ibrahim went on trial for an article published by his party newspaper, the editor of Progressive Democratic Party newspaper Al Mawkif went on a hunger strike, and jailed Tunisian journalist Fahem Boukadous left a prison cell for a Sousse hospital, all in the course of a week.

Freedom House recently joined Global Witness, The Center for Economic and Social Rights, EG Justice, Human Rights Watch, The Open Society Justice Initiative, and Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de España in calling on UNESCO to cancel the UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences. The prize is named for, and funded by, President Obiang of Equatorial Guinea, whose highly corrupt regime led Freedom House to list the country as one of the world’s worst human rights abusers.

Development models that harness the potential of specific areas can help solve the problem of regional disparities in social advancement in the world’s poorest countries, according to experts attending a United Nations - convened forum on local development. Participants at the three - day First Global Forum on Local Development, which opened in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, yesterday, stressed the importance of taking a regional or even district or commune - level approach to local development in developing countries.

Poor education among women and lack of access to health facilities in many rural areas of war-torn Somalia have increased risks surrounding child birth, according to health officials. 'Home delivery and hospital maternity is not the same; when women deliver at home, some traditional midwives use unclean knives, increasing the risk of death even in cases where the process gets completed successfully,' said Habiba Isack Adan Hurmo, a doctor in Galkayo, Mudug Region, central Somalia.

As the Senior Program Specialist, you will identify critical research issues; assist in developing the research strategy; and take the lead in developing, managing, monitoring and evaluating a portfolio of research projects. In particular, you will develop programs related to health information systems and primary health care focusing on Africa.