Filmmakers are key agents in keeping a watchful eye on not just on social and political issues but on environmental abuse that often slips unobtrusively into our daily lives. A number of films at this year’s Durban International Film Festival conscientise us about the need for integrated approaches to development, and the threats to human ecology and environmental balance.

The African Humanities Program at the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), with financial support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, announces competitions for:
• Early career postdoctoral fellowships in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania,
Uganda, and South Africa
• Dissertation completion fellowships in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda (there are no dissertation fellowships in South Africa)
Both fellowships provide one year of support for research and writing to scholars based on the continent and affiliated with institutions of higher learning in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa. Scholars working in any humanistic discipline normally supported by the ACLS are encouraged to apply.

Mango's mission is to help NGOs working around the world to strengthen their financial management and accountability. We are widely respected as the leading specialists in our field and recently received one of the UK's most prestigious awards at the Annual Charity Awards 2009. This particular course is aimed at senior managers and those responsible for strategic management, including maintaining the financial continuity and security of their NGOs. The workshop focuses on strategic financial management challenges, such as financing strategies for sustainability, building reserves, financing core costs and managing donor relationships. The course is 5 days long and non-residential, and will be offered to NGO staff in South Africa and Zambia during August and September 2010. We are also offering a few scholarships to poorly-resourced local NGOs - more details

Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has announced plans to launch a new political party after years of harshly criticising corruption and mismanagement in the oil-rich nation. In brief comments at an event to commemorate the renowned writer’s 76th birthday, Nigeria’s only Nobel laureate said he hoped to form a party of “progressives” to contest elections expected early next year.

AMwA will be holding a West African Sub Regional African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) on the theme, “Building African Women’s Leadership to Address Long-Term Forced Migration”, that is scheduled to take place from 19th – 25th September 2010 in Accra, Ghana. The countries from which young women will be selected to participate in this AWLI will be from Anglo-phone West African countries. The deadline for the receipt of applications for this unique and exciting training programme is 30th July 2010.

At the end of the AU civil society pre -summit meeting organized by the African Union Commission in collaboration with the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC), we as civil society and peoples’ representatives from across the continent welcome this opportunity to jointly reflect on the condition of the continent, the issues facing it and the developments since the last Summit, to arrive at a common position from which to communicate substantive recommendations to Heads of State and Government, Permanent Representatives, Peace and Security Council and Foreign Ministers. It is our hope that such forums and spaces, which are indicative of our commitment to a people driven African Union will continue to be encouraged.

Following the publication of racist references to migrants in South Africa in a London Review of Books blog by R.W. Johnson, a collection of writers, academics and publishers demands a public apology.

The latest and 9th Berghof Handbook Dialogue, entitled: "Human Rights and Conflict Transformation: The Challenges of Just Peace". (Edited by Véronique Dudouet and Beatrix Schmelzle. Berlin: Berghof Conflict Research, 2010.) Contributors to this Dialogue aim to go beyond the divide and polarising language of “peace versus justice” in order to gain a clearer understanding of the potential – and limits – of bringing together human rights and conflict transformation in specific contexts.

Female condoms have been widely celebrated as an answer to putting reproductive health and HIV protection in the hands of women. Yet, the South African government fell far short of its promise of distributing 7.5 million female condoms during the World Cup, with only 1 million finding their way into the hands of consumers. On the other hand, male condoms were available in high numbers - 565 million - though even these were 20% fewer than expected.

On Monday, August 30th, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR) at Columbia University will welcome as the 22nd cohort of the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP). The intensive HRAP curriculum is defined by academic coursework, skills-building workshops and networking opportunities with the human rights communities in New York and Washington, DC. By the time the advocates complete the program in mid-December, they will have acquired the knowledge, skills and connections necessary to further develop themselves as human rights professionals and their organizations back home.

After a month’s engagement with the World Cup, South African President Jacob Zuma is reportedly set to resume his SADC mediation role in Zimbabwe to try and bridge the gap between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai. Talks to iron out outstanding Global Political Agreement issues between Mugabe and Tsvangirai have dragged on since the two leaders agreed to join hands in February 2009 to form the coalition government.

ViiV Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer's joint venture company for AIDS drugs, is opening its entire product line-up to generic drugmakers working in the world's poorest countries. The announcement, on the eve of next week's international AIDS conference in Vienna, means generic companies will be able to obtain royalty-free voluntary licences for all current ViiV products, as well as products still in development.

When the United Nations hosts a summit meeting of world leaders next September to assess the current state of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it is expected to single out one of the major "success stories" of the day: a reduction in global poverty. But have there been any real, significant successes in the absolute number of people worldwide who have escaped poverty?

African countries should deepen their tax bases to collect more revenues to finance their development, build state institutions and to improve national dialogue and, more generally, their social contracts with citizens. These are some of the conclusions in two new studies on the taxation systems in Africa.

It does not rain, but it pours for the GALZ duo, who are facing charges of allegedly possessing pornographic material as they are likely to stand trial on a second charge of undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe. In a letter given to representing lawyers by state prosecutor Memory Mukapa the two Ellen Chademana and Ignatious Muhambi are being accused of contravening Section 33(2) (ii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23(undermining authority of or insulting President) ARW Section 277(4) &(5) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act.

The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve its mission, OSI seeks to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI builds alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. OSI places a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of marginalized people and communities.

In 1993, investor and philanthropist George Soros created OSI as a private operating and grantmaking foundation to support his foundations in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Those foundations were established, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. OSI has expanded the activities of the Open Society Foundations to encompass the United States and more than 60 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Each foundation relies on the expertise of boards composed of eminent citizens who determine individual agendas based on local priorities. In addition, over twenty thematic specialist platforms serve as OSI Network Programs frontlining OSI’s engagement with various issue areas.

The Higher Education Support Program (HESP) is one such Network Program. It is supported by the Higher Education Sub-Board (HESB). HESP, through its support to institutions and individuals, promotes the advancement of higher education. HESP provides assistance – both financial and technical – to a network of institutions, ranging from undergraduate universities to doctoral programs and centers for specialized advanced studies. Institutional support tends to focus on sustainable curriculum and faculty development and the improvement of methods of teaching and learning. In the future, an important component of the work of HESP will be to collaborate with the School of Global Public Policy that is currently being established at Central European University. Drawing on the synergistic strengths of both Central European University and Open Society Foundations, the School of Public Policy addresses important contemporary issues in international public affairs.

The Director of HESP will be based in any of the three principal offices out of which Network Programs operate: Budapest, New York or London. S/he will report to the OSI Director of Programs and will work closely with the OSI President.

Responsibilities:
The Director of HESP will:
• Provide strategic leadership in the development of OSI's higher education program efforts.
• Manage the resources, including staff and budgets, of the Higher Education Support Program.
• Serve as program officer for the HESP grants portfolio.
• Serve as OSI’s focal point in networks of relevance to the organization's higher education program objectives.
• Develop, on the basis of priority regions agreed within OSI, cutting-edge programs in new geographies where HESP has not operated before.
• Strengthen OSI's effectiveness in its ongoing programs in the region of the organization’s traditional efforts, including the former Soviet Union.
• Contribute to the conceptual and strategic articulation of HESP as part of a composite OSI intervention in education – an intervention that includes the Education Support Program, Early Childhood Program, Roma Education Fund, the University-based Initiative on Climate Change Adaptation, and the Network Scholarship Program.
• Align, in relevant instances, the higher education support efforts of OSI with the Central European University's School of Public Policy.
• Support tertiary institutions and academics in the defense and enlargement of freedom of inquiry, in the context of initiatives such as the Bologna process, the Dar es Salaam Declaration on Academic Freedom and the Social Responsibilities of Academics, etc.
• Facilitate the work and role of the HESB in the furtherance of OSI's higher education support efforts.

Qualifications:
• A respected leader with a minimum of ten years of involvement in a higher education setting. A research background in higher education policy would be an advantage.
• Advanced academic training.
• Some experience of high-level programmatic work in thematic issues of OSI’s interest, such as human rights, public policy, etc.
• Strong international-level reputation and demonstrable track record as a program innovator.
• Strong program and staff leadership and management record.
• Superior analytical skills and an ability to deal simultaneously with a range of complex thematic issues.
• Superior written and verbal communication skills in English. Additional language skills would be an advantage.
• Willingness and ability to travel extensively.

Compensation: Commensurate with experience.

To apply:
Please send a covering letter, CV and writing sample; with ref: HESP in the subject line to: [email]recruitment-admin@osf-eu.org

Application Deadline: August 31, 2010

Please note:
Due to the large volume of applications expected – only those candidates selected for interview will receive notification.

No phone calls, please. The Open Society Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Leaders of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) agreed on Friday to reconsider how they share their trade duty revenues, a move that could hit Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Lesotho very hard. Tensions have been mounting within the 100-year-old SACU, the world's oldest customs agreement, because of a perception in South Africa, easily its biggest economy, that its customs receipts are bankrolling its four smaller neighbours.

A new report from AVAC surveys the state of biomedical HIV prevention research, including the first evidence of vaccine-induced protection in humans and the emergence of ARV-based prevention—and provides strategic recommendations for moving forward in a time of constrained resources and faltering commitment to ending AIDS.

Josephine is just one of the more than 250,000 people who have been forced to flee their homes in this isolated and chaotic corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The reason for her flight – and that of many others – is one of the world's most ruthless armed militias, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) which is infamous for its attacks on civilians. Thirty-five year old Josephine arrived at the Li-nakofu site for internally displaced person (IDPs) following an LRA attack on her village.

The World Cup is wreaking havoc with a key millennium development goal in South Africa: as the football tournament hit its stride, not a single child across the nation attended school. It's temporary, of course: the winter holiday has been extended so schools are closed during the month-long tournament.