This paper summarises the findings of a comparative research project on the contribution of civil society organisations to democratisation in Africa. Drawing primarily on empirical case studies of civil society organisations in South Africa and Uganda, and related material from Ghana, the research examines their ability to influence government policy and legislation through tangible shifts in policy and legislative priorities and their implementation, and to widen the opportunities available to citizens to participate in public affairs, promoting a culture of accountability and challenging the power of the state to dominate decision-making.

The "poor are not poor because they are lazy or their governments are corrupt". They are poor because their wealth has been appropriated and wealth creating capacity destroyed, argues this commentary on www.zmag.org "The riches accumulated by Europe were based on riches appropriated from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It was the violent take over of Third World resources and Third World markets that created wealth in the North - but it simultaneously created poverty in the South." The article concludes that "ending poverty is more a matter of taking less than giving an insignificant amount more. Making poverty history needs getting the history of poverty right."

Chairman of Transparency International (TI), Mr. Peter Eigen, has recommended that multi-national companies involved in bribing government officials and decision-makers to influence business transactions should be blacklisted and prosecuted. Speaking when he was received at the State House by the Senior Special Assistant to the President and Head of Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU), Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Eigen noted that such actions could become "some real important sanctions" that could deter corruption, especially in developing countries.

Jubilee South Africa has come out strongly against a deal that would see local South African bank ABSA taken over by Barclays. "All of these and similar actions show that Barclays gave substantial support to the Apartheid regime. This support kept the doors open to international capital and kept mechanised infantry on the move in the townships and neighbouring countries. Pure and simple, this support increased the lifespan of Apartheid." Read the full text of Jubilee's press conference by clicking on the link below.

This Le Monde diplomatique article sharply criticizes France for its role in Ivory Coast’s war and highlights the country’s interests in its former colony. Since Ivorian independence in 1960, France has maintained a tight hold on the country’s wealth, using one-sided contracts to repatriate 75 percent of the wealth generated there. A strong French military presence has enabled the former colonizer to install regimes favorable to Paris’s interests. The author deplores the lack of reaction to the “almost funny” French government line, deploying 3,800 French soldiers to West Africa “with the ethical purpose of preventing a bunch of machete-waving lunatics from dismembering their own country.”

China's rapid ascension as an influential economic and political force in Africa is raising complex questions concerning the security of the African continent and the future of its people. China's involvement on the continent has increased dramatically over the past several years, fueled by Africa's growing demand for cheap Chinese products and the need for greater infrastructure investment in the African energy and transportation sectors. But will China, with visions of global influence and economic growth, act in a more constructive manner toward Africa, avoiding the mistakes made by its Western predecessor?

This paper from the International NGO Training and Research Centre (Intrac) explores the importance of organisational learning in NGOs, drawing on examples gathered from interviews mainly with Northern NGO staff and from an extensive review of the literature. It looks into why NGOs need to provide the motive, means and opportunity for organisational learning, and introduces practical examples of how pioneering NGOs are doing this.

This report from the Global Campaign for Education assesses the aid efforts of 22 industrialised nations belonging to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and grades countries on the quantity and quality of education aid they provide to poor countries. The report finds that rich countries are still falling well short of the financing targets they set themselves. Rich countries need to back the Education for All Fast Track Initiative, and pledge enough resources to expand the FTI to all poor countries that come forward with credible and transparent plans for achieving the education goals.

Between 19 and 28 April 2005 UN Member States participated in four rounds of interventions, based on the following four major themes of the Secretary-General's report, 'In Larger Freedom'. These themes were: development, security, human rights and UN reform. The governmental responses to the recommendations in the report were largely void of a gender perspective and, in particular, a focus on women.

This paper from the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa covers the campaign process during the 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections. These elections in Zimbabwe were aimed at offsetting controversies that occurred in the 2000 parliamentary and 2002 presidential elections. Notwithstanding, as campaign issues are not legislated in the Zimbabwe Electoral Act, it was the SADC Principles that provided the basis in creating a peaceful process. This article seeks to examine whether the campaign in the recent parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe conformed to these regional guidelines.

The Southern Africa Centre for Economic Justice (SACEJ) and Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (RLF) will hold a 'Developing Economic Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism' workshop between 11 to 14 May 2005 at the Elijah Barayi Training Centre, Johannesburg.

Oil giant ChevronTexaco is to rethink its community aid strategies after acknowledging that some of the policies implemented by its Nigerian subsidiary in the oil-rich Niger Delta have contributed in fuelling violence in the region. ChevronTexaco said in a statement on Tuesday that its system of investment in community development in the region that produces most of Nigeria’s oil, has been “inadequate, expensive and divisive,” and would be revamped.

After years of a debilitating debt burden and declining aid flows to Africa, the winds are starting to shift. African and international demands for more support to Africa have been mounting. Now, the continent’s main creditors and donors finally seem ready to move towards real financial relief, which could ease one of the major obstacles to Africa’s development, reports Africa Renewal, a UN magazine.

An account of the phenomenal rise of transnational social movements which have opposed the financial, economic and political hegemony of large international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The conceptual debates, substantive themes and case studies have been selected to open up the idea of global resistance to interrogation and discussion by students and to provide a one stop source for researchers, journalists, policymakers and activists. African examples include the Ogoni people's struggle in Nigeria.

A recent Reuters article examines the many abortions performed each year in Kenya, where the procedure is illegal except when necessary to protect the health or life of a pregnant woman. Under Kenyan law, a woman found guilty of having an abortion in the country faces seven years in prison and anyone performing an abortion procedure on a woman could be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison. Approximately 2,000 women in Kenya die each year because of complications from illegal abortions, and 20 to 30 times that number experience permanent damage to their uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, intestines or bladder because of illegal abortions.

The World Trade Organisation was imperialistic and meant to enrich developed nations, a minister said in Parliament. The trade body would do nothing to reduce poverty in the country, Trade and Industry minister Mukhisa Kituyi said, putting WTO in the same league as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "The WTO is not a development vehicle to deal with poverty. It is a tool of imperialism, which has overtaken IMF," he said.

The IMF and World Bank held their 2005 semi-annual meetings last weekend (April 16-17). It was a good weekend, from the standpoint of the activities organized by civil society. The official meetings, on the other hand, seem not to have gone well for our side. The G7 Finance Ministers issued a communiqué indicating that little progress was made on negotiations for 100% debt cancellation. The major bone of contention was between the US and UK plans for IMF debt relief: the Brits wanted to sell a substantial portion of the IMF's gold stocks to finance the relief, while the U.S. was against gold sales and wanted to finance it through the resources in the IMF's structural adjustment facility (the "Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility").

Saturday 16th April 2005, was a big day for Organisation Development and Community Management Trust (ODCMT) and the people of the eastern province, as it marked the end of the Global Week of Action. The Global Week of Action is a week when global trade campaigns are emphasised. In Zambia, the ODCMT with support from Christian Aid held its major events; a march past, a musical concert and signature mobilisation campaign in the Eastern Province. ODCMT’s campaign team from Lusaka included all members of staff and representatives from its partner organisations which included One World Africa, Civil Society Trade Network of Zambia, Green Living Movement, Zambia Council for Social Development, Social Economic Literacy Development Club (SELIDEC), Twikantane Womens Nutrition Group and a representative from Christian Aid.

Young people and education activists in more than 100 countries will join together this week to protest world leaders' failure to meet a major UN target on girls' education this year – a failure they say will lead to greater poverty and unnecessary child deaths. Five years ago, governments of the world promised to get equal numbers of girls as boys into school by 2005. The target – the first of all the UN's Millennium Development Goals to fall due - will be missed. As part of the Global Campaign for Education's (GCE) 'Send my Friend to School' campaign from April 24-30, children will be presenting politicians, cabinet ministers and even heads of state with colourful cardboard cut-outs, or "friends", each of which represents one of the more than 100 million children out of school.

As a response to failure of achieving the MDG for gender parity in education in 2005, this paper from the Global Campaign for Education proposes a new action plan to get every girl in school and learning. The paper argues that the 2005 girls' education target was neither unrealistic nor unaffordable, but rather it has not been met because both the international community and national governments have given insufficient political attention and inadequate money to meet it.