As European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson prepares to kick off a new phase of trade negotiations in the Caribbean this week, trade groups are asking the bloc to shelve regional agreements in order to avoid a "development disaster". The Britain-based Traidcraft and the Kenya-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) EcoNews Africa say the bloc's current proposals would require developing countries to open up their markets rapidly to European corporations, threatening jobs, industries, government revenues and public services in some of the poorest countries in the world. Both organisations are members of a 'Stop EPA' campaign launched in October last year.

Frauds and forgeries in banks between April and June 2005, rose sharply by 48 per cent or 107 cases to 329 cases compared to 222 cases recorded in the preceding quarter. Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of Intercontinental Bank Plc Dr Erastus Akingbola citing reports from the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) said the amount involved went up by 25.6 per cent, from N1.15 billion to N1.47 billion.

The paper describes a trend toward including "unheard voices" and diverse groups in international development. Learning "is increasingly recognised as an active and ongoing process....This contrasts with traditional notions of teaching that emphasise the 'transfer' of technology or knowledge." Furthermore, partnerships no longer revolve around discrete project funding; social and economic life is organised through "global flows of information, financial resources, and power in a 'network society'."

Based on analyses of case studies, this report explores research partnerships between institutions in high-income countries and those in middle- or low-income countries. The claim is that the impacts of these relationships extend beyond scientific advancement to include "attitudinal changes", capacity strengthening, and impacts on society or on decision-makers. Participation is considered key in successful partnerships, which "should be based on mutual interest, trust, understanding, sharing of experiences, and a two-way learning process."

This paper produced by DFID argues that social exclusion deprives people of choices and opportunities to escape from poverty and denies them a voice to claim their rights. This policy paper describes how DFID intends to build upon the work it has undertaken tackling social exclusion in Latin America and Asia, and ways it can enhance the work it has recently begun in Africa. The paper looks at the challenges posed by social exclusion, and the ways governments, civil society and donors can help to tackle them.

This paper seeks to show how donors from the UK can support policy leadership in developing countries without imposing their own views. The contention is that, when donors and developing country governments agree on the purpose of the aid, both parties will have a shared understanding of how aid will help reduce poverty, and how they can be held publicly accountable for delivering on their commitments.

While development aid is often vital for combating poverty, is it really being invested in local communities to change the circumstances of the poor? OneWorld concludes this month's "IN-DEPTH" series from its new treeless magazine, Perspectives, which
offers more background and context on the issue, viewpoints from non-profit organizations, and ways for individuals to get involved.

National campaigns and coalitions in Senegal, Australia, the UK, India, Germany, Ireland, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and many other countries are mobilising to lobby their ministers and parliamentarians ahead of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong this December. Plans include a European lobby in Brussels, and mobilisations at the Summit of the Americas in Argentina and at the WTO General Council meeting in Geneva.

On 28 September 2005, free expression advocates in dozens of countries around the world will mark the third annual International Right to Know Day to call attention to the importance of access to information in democratic societies. Founded by the Freedom of Information Advocates (FOIA) Network, an umbrella group of 90 civil society organisations, International Right to Know Day aims to raise awareness about the need for governments to respect the right of citizens to access information held by public bodies. Access to information, or freedom of information, is seen by many as the key to strengthening participatory democracy and ensuring people-centred development. Thanks largely to the efforts of civil society organisations, more than 60 countries have enacted access to information laws, more than half of them in the last decade.

A decade ago, Ubuntu was a word that shook apartheid South Africa. Today, it is a word that may be keeping Bill Gates awake at night. Ubuntu is an African word that is one of the founding principles of the new South Africa, and it also is the name of a new computer operating system developed by South African Mark Shuttleworth and his company Canonical. The word "Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language," writes Archbishop Desmond Tutu in "No Future Without Forgiveness." It means "you are generous, you are hospitable, you are friendly and caring and compassionate. You share what you have." Ubuntu Linux calls itself the "Linux for human beings.

From Thursday, 29 September until Wednesday, 26 October there will be an on-line Global Forum involving the Global HRE listserv and six regional listservs. The topic will be the position of human rights education (HRE) vis-à-vis other "educations", such as education for democratic citizenship, peace education and global education.

On 13 September, one million paper cut-out figures will embark on the final stage of a global journey that has taken them from schools in 170 countries, via the G8 Summit in Scotland, to the 2005 World Summit in New York, being held at the United Nations Headquarters from 14-16 September. These figures represent the more than 100 million children who are not in school. They have been made and sent by children from all over the world in a plea to world leaders to speed up action to “send my friend to school.” The campaign has been organized by the Global Campaign for Education in partnership with the UNAIDS-led Global Coalition on Women and AIDS.

The Global Fund is a critical mechanism in international efforts to eradicate disease and poverty. Donor governments will hold a Replenishment Meeting in London on 5-6 September 2005 to raise the Global Fund’s stated needs: $2.9 billion in 2006 (plus a further $0.7 billion to meet the anticipated 2005 funding gap), and $4.2 billion in 2007, for a total of $7.8 billion. If the Global Fund does not have enough resources, implementing the G8’s recent promise to achieve universal access to HIV treatment by 2010 will be impossible.

Microfinance has gone far beyond a few small loans to struggling female entrepreneurs. These days it adds up to 10,000 lending institutions, at least 50 million customers and nagging questions about high interest rates. Microfinance may be all about small loans to women running tiny enterprises such as selling fruits and vegetables off a cart. But for the world of finance it's also become a big business. After growing by between 20 percent and 40 percent a year for the last decade, microfinance now involves about 10,000 lenders and at least 50 million borrowers. With loans averaging around $530, billions of dollars are reaching struggling entrepreneurs around the world whose incomes are too low to qualify them for traditional bank loans. With some 3 billion people living on less than $2 a day, the client base of people too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans has plenty of room to grow, say industry participants.

Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in Mozambique will go hungry unless the international community provides urgent funding for aid programmes, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. "We urgently need US $19 million to keep essential feeding programmes going for 430,000 people in Mozambique, but we need the assistance now," WFP's Regional Director for Southern Africa, Mike Sackett, said in a statement.

Imo State government has approved the establishment of a Forestry Trust Fund (FTF) in the state. Flagging off this year's tree planting campaign in Owerri, Governor Achike Udenwa, also directed local council administrations to encourage the people to plant economic trees. "In recognition of the role trees and forests can play in realising our tripod vision, my administration approved the establishment of a Forestry Trust Fund in Imo State," Udenwa disclosed.

The Third World Network-Africa has conducted research on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of mining on Obuasi and its satellite communities. As part of the process of validating the findings of the research, TWN-Africa organised a two-day workshop for communities who participated in the workshop. The statement that follows is part of an outcome of the workshop. “We, 18 communities affected by mining from Obuasi, Kenyasi, Bibiani, Himan-Prestea, Hia, Anyinam, Tarkwa, Oseikrom/Twinsaaso, New Bidiem, Ankaako, Ntonsu, Ayankyerem, Kwaberefoso, Jimiso, Ewiase, Dokyiwaa, and Fenaso-Fawoman participating in a two-day workshop in Kumasi, Ghana, from August 24th to 25th, 2005 to validate a research conducted on the environmental and socio-economic impact of mining (Anglo-gold-Ashanti Obuasi Mines) in Obuasi and surrounding communities, and also the potential effects of the mining bill, have come to a number of conclusions.” Please follow the link to read the report in its entirety.

2004-2005 saw an upsurge in seed industry takeovers and a shake-up in rankings. Today, the top 10 companies control half of the world’s commercial seed sales. With a total worldwide market of approximately US $21 000 (21 billion) per annum, the commercial seed industry is relatively small compared to the global pesticide market ($35 400 million), and it’s positively puny compared to pharmaceutical sales ($466 000 million). But corporate control and ownership of seeds – the first link in the food chain – has far reaching implications for global food security. This Communique examines seed industry consolidation and other recent trends in the commercial seed industry.

Governance - which remains a sensitive and misunderstood topic - is now being given a higher priority in development circles. A few donors and international financial institutions (IFIs) have begun to work with some emerging economies to help reduce corruption, and encourage citizen voice, gender equality, and accountability. Click on the link to the article to find out what the 10 “myths” of corruption are.

This paper takes as its starting point the assumption that variations in refugee status determination procedures and the use of evidence by national authorities and UNHCR lead to inconsistent and irregular results. It therefore aims to present a reasonable prescription of remedies, by which the application of the 1951 Refugee Convention definition can be made more consistent and predictable.