Yohannes Woldermariam

Sanou Mbaye

Ababacar Fall-Barros

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In a landmark decision delivered on August 1 2010, the Court of Appeal of Kenya declared the mandatory death penalty for murder to be unconstitutional. This decision will benefit all prisoners presently under sentence of death. The ruling follows the recent decisions from Uganda and Malawi restricting the use of the death penalty in accordance with contemporary human rights standards.

Background
Fahamu focuses on working with grassroots social movements and organizations that address the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized in society. We do so because we believe that the potential impact of these organizations to create change will enhance participatory democracy and human rights in Africa.

Based on our long term needs to support social movements and grassroots organizations, we intend to deliver cutting edge human rights education using a diversity of tools and platforms to strengthen these movements and assist them in creating the change that they seek.

This has been necessitated by the fact that grassroots social movements and organizations in Africa face a dearth of access to knowledge, information and learning tailored to their needs.
Within this framework Fahamu has planned to develop courses and training packs that promote competencies in the following themes,informed by a needs assessment with our constituents, trainings alumni and beneficiaries;
• Movement building and grassroots organizing in Africa
• Africa-centred advocacy
• New tactics in human and peoples' rights
• Sexuality and reproductive health rights

Objective of the assignment
Fahamu is looking for consultants to coordinate the curriculum development process for these courses using participatory approaches.

Scope of work
Each course curriculum development consultant will be expected to meet the following specific tasks:
• Plan and conduct a learning needs assessment with Fahamu’s alumni, constituents and partners
• Analyse and share results of the LNA
• Analyse and evaluate existing tools and training materials on the course themes by organisations or institutions
• Draft and share with Fahamu a curriculum development process
• Manage discussion/planning sessions of the curriculum development committees /partners
• Coordinate review of the first and second curriculum drafts and incorporate feedback.
• Facilitate curriculum pre-testing and validation process

Expected outcomes
• Curriculum development guide /summary
• Course curriculum
• Curriculum development process report

Consultancy duration
The assignment is to expected to take 90 days .

Skills required
• Advanced university degree in education,social studies, international law and/or human rights;
• Proven experience in curriculum development; use of adult education methodologies; developing training manuals and engagement in activities of social justice
• Experience working with and in community based organizations and social movement in Africa.
• Experience in conducting qualitative research using various methods
• Excellent oral and written skills in English
• Strong analytical skills
• Excellent facilitation skills
• Be creative and take own initiative
• Able to work to tight deadline

Application Procedures

Interested candidates are expected to send an abstract not exceeding 600 words on how they will manage the curriculum development process and the topics they intend to cover in the specific course.
The abstract should be sent together with a copy of the C.V to [email]winnie@fahamu.org

The deadline of application is 4th August 2010. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

ackground
Fahamu focuses on working with grassroots social movements and organizations that address the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized in society. We do so because we believe that the potential impact of these organizations to create change will enhance participatory democracy and human rights in the Africa.

Based on our long term needs to support social movements and grassroots organizations, we intend to deliver cutting edge human rights education using a diversity of tools and platforms to strengthen these movements and assist them in creating the change that they seek.

This has been necessitated by the fact that grassroots social movements and organizations in Africa face a dearth of access to knowledge, information and learning tailored to their needs.
Within this framework Fahamu has planned to develop courses and training packs that promote competencies in the following themes,informed by a needs assessment with our constituents, trainings alumni and beneficiaries;
• Movement building and grassroots organizing in Africa
• Africa-centred advocacy
• New tactics in human and peoples' rights
• Sexuality and reproductive health rights

Objective of the assignment
Fahamu is looking for consultants to coordinate the curriculum development process for these courses using participatory approaches.

Scope of work
Each course curriculum development consultant will be expected to meet the following specific tasks:
• Plan and conduct a learning needs assessment with Fahamu’s alumni, constituents and partners
• Analyse and share results of the LNA
• Analyse and evaluate existing tools and training materials on the course themes by organisations or institutions
• Draft and share with Fahamu a curriculum development process
• Manage discussion/planning sessions of the curriculum development committees /partners
• Coordinate review of the first and second curriculum drafts and incorporate feedback.
• Facilitate curriculum pre-testing and validation process

Expected outcomes
• Curriculum development guide /summary
• Course curriculum
• Curriculum development process report

Consultancy duration
The assignment is to expected to take 90 days .

Skills required
• Advanced university degree in education,social studies, international law and/or human rights;
• Proven experience in curriculum development; use of adult education methodologies; developing training manuals and engagement in activities of social justice
• Experience working with and in community based organizations and social movement in Africa.
• Experience in conducting qualitative research using various methods
• Excellent oral and written skills in English
• Strong analytical skills
• Excellent facilitation skills
• Be creative and take own initiative
• Able to work to tight deadline

Application Procedures

Interested candidates are expected to send an abstract not exceeding 600 words on how they will manage the curriculum development process and the topics they intend to cover in the specific course.
The abstract should be sent together with a copy of the C.V to [email]winnie@fahamu.org

The deadline of application is 4th August 2010. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

Recently leaked draft report from the World Bank, The Global Land Rush: Can it Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits, challenges the publicly held position of the World Bank on investments in agricultural lands in poor nations - a trend that has come to be popularly known as land grabbing. Although such investments have been hailed by the World Bank as a way to generate jobs and infrastructure, the report states, "investors are targeting countries with weak laws, buying arable land on the cheap, and failing to deliver on promises of jobs and investments," and in some cases inflict serious damage on the local resource base.

As many African countries battle to bring down staggering rates of maternal and child mortality, maternal and child health made for a fitting theme at the African Union (AU) Summit this week in Kampala, Uganda. At the summit, African leaders came under fire for failing to live up to the 2001 Abuja Declaration, in which they agreed to commit at least 15 percent of their national budgets to health. To date, only about five countries have done so.

Kenya is quickly gaining a competitive advantage in the mobile payments space. Led by mobile operator giant Safaricom with their Mpesa product, the market locally sees huge value in mobile money transactions. Add to that a regulatory system that is relaxed enough for innovation to be encouraged, and you have a great space for interesting things to happen.

New research is challenging conventional medical wisdom, forcing health workers and governments in cash-strapped countries to confront new risks and rethink old ones. IRIN looks at what has been accepted as medical truths - until now.

Broadband for All aims to provide broadband connectivity to South Africa’s under-served areas through a community-centric model rather than a telco-driven model. The model leverages wireless-mesh technologies to link priority government sites and high bandwidth users such as schools, municipalities and government offices, who in turn provide a link to smaller customers such as businesses, NGOs and individuals.

It is a sunny day at the Mashango primary school in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) North Kivu Province. That is good news for teacher Dusaba Mbomoya who is holding a geography exam under a roof filled with holes in a classroom where flapping pieces of plastic do duty as walls. Even the blackboard has holes large enough for students to peer through. When it rains we allow the pupils to go back to their houses,” said Mbomoya. Those who want to wait out the rain at school sometimes shelter in newly-constructed latrines put in by an international organization.

Less than three years after a closely fought presidential election plunged Kenya into widespread violence and displaced thousands, the country is bracing itself for another crucial and equally divisive ballot, this time on a new constitution. "There is sufficient justification for people to be afraid, mainly because of hate messages and leaflets asking some communities to leave certain areas," said Ozonnia Ojielo, senior peace and development adviser at the UN Development Programme in Kenya. "There are also political actors using innuendoes."

On 24 July 2010 at about 12:15 p.m., thugs suspected of being loyal to the Action Congress (AC) political party assaulted three journalists in Edo state during the re-run election for a constituency in the state House of Assembly. The thugs, numbering over 30, were reportedly led by a leader of the AC, the ruling party in Edo state.

Slightly built Nokwanda, 12, buried her head in her hands every time someone asked her a question. Her participation in a recent UNICEF-supported photography workshop here looked like it would be limited. Yet when asked to pick a favourite photograph, Nokwanda was transformed. She knew immediately which to choose, pointing to a photo of police officers at the Lyndhurst Primary School, which she attends.

Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is targeting 70 million voters in its planned fresh voter registration exercise, after the government acceded to the commission's de mand for 72 billion naira (about US$500 million) to compile a new electoral register ahead of 2011 polls.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned death threats and outrageous claims made last week by a member of Swaziland's royal family against local journalists over their critical coverage of the country's leadership. During a 21 July public forum called the Smart Partnership National Dialogue in the central commercial city of Manzini, Prince Mahlaba, brother of Swaziland's absolute ruler King Mswati III, was quoted by local media as saying: 'I want to warn the media to bury things that have the potential of undermining the country rather than publish all and everything even when such reports are harmful to the country's international image. Journalists who continue to write bad things about the country will die.'

Four years after the moratorium on Terminator technology was reaffirmed by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), proposals to develop and commercialize ‘genetic-use restriction technologies’ (GURTs) are back on the agenda for policymakers and the biotechnology industry. Terminator is a threat to food sovereignty and agrobiodiversity: ending the moratorium on Terminator will increase control of seed by transnational corporations (TNCs) and restrictions on farmers’ rights to save and plant harvested seed. Additionally, pollen from genetically-modified (GM) crops with Terminator will contaminate non-GM and organic crops, and native plant species.

The UN refugee agency has urged Saudi Arabia to stop deporting Somalis, saying 2,000 people have recently been sent to Mogadishu. The UNHCR says those forced back to the Somali capital are at risk. There is almost daily fighting there between Islamist militants and government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers.

The global carbon market, which trades “pollution rights” to encourage industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions, grew in 2009. Far from signaling a success, this reflects a huge increase in fraud, the dumping of surplus emissions permits by industry, and a rise in financial speculation.

The high-level debate which opened in Kampala, Uganda, yesterday on “Promoting Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa, ended this evening with an agreement by Africa’s leaders on an action plan to kick-start the effective implementation of existing resolutions and decisions on maternal, infant and child health in the continent.