donors

A group of non-profit organisations, viz. Inyathelo -  The South African Institute for Advancement , Rural Education Access Programme (REAP), Social Change Assistance Trust (SCAT) and Community Development Resource Association (CDRA), have formed a partnership to research funding practices in South Africa starting with the National Development Agency (NDA) and the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF). The group have contracted a research team from Advocacy Research and Training consultancy to conduct this research.

‘Governance Assessments and Domestic Accountability: Feeding Domestic Debate and Changing Aid Practices’ follows on from recently completed research that investigated the impact of donor harmonisation on domestic processes of democratisation. The aim of this research is to further inform donors on how they can operationally redirect their day to day work, if the rhetoric of both partnership and domestic accountability is to be taken seriously.

The United Nations’ World Food Programme has rejected claims that some of its staff had diverted aid to hardline Somali rebels and called on the United States to free up millions of dollars meant for the Horn of African nation.

WFP spokesperson in Nairobi, Peter Smerdon, points out that, "WFP has concluded an internal investigation and we found no evidence that our staff divert food and there was no evidence that our transporters did the same."

We live in an era of crass exploitation of suffering for perceived image and commercial gain. It is a time when product or company and brand image is often being pushed on the back of communities and individuals who have fallen by the wayside of life. No ethical brand custodian, communications specialist, marketer or chief executive officer should properly be a part of this. Rather, their communications should be of an altogether deeper and more nuanced explaining of reality.

The Department of Social Development in the Western Cape will fund fewer NGOs in the coming financial year.  This was announced by MEC Ivan Meyer.

Meyer says one-thousand-eight-hundred NGOs and NPOs have been audited to determine which of them have provided the best quality service to people in the province.

"Given that our current economic circumstances force us to do more with less, this government intends to empower the best NGO and NPO bodies to further improve and expand their services to the people of this province," says Meyer.

Analysts say that proposals to have all funding and assistance to Zimbabwe from humanitarian organisations channelled through government would present administrative and operational problems.

The National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) communications manager, Farai Ngirande, points out that it is too early to have the government controlling the funds as there is a serious need for institutional change.

Omidyar Network will give US$1.4 million over two and a half years to Ushahidi, for a so-called ‘crowdsourcing’ system in Kenya.

Ushahidi, which means ‘testimony’ in Swahili, plans to spend the money improving its open source system to collect and pass on citizen-generated information, particularly during a crisis.

Ushahidi was first developed as a web site tracking violence in Kenya after its election nearly two years ago. Developers plan to adapt the system for use by NGOs and others around the world to use in trouble spots.

The global response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been unparalleled. Between 2007 and 2008, funding increased from US$11.3 billion to US$ 13.7 billion globally (UNAIDS, Fact Sheet AIDS Funding 2008-09). However, the global economic crisis is having dire consequences for HIV and AIDS funding. These effects are felt particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest levels of HIV and AIDS infection in the world, with approximately 25 million people infected.

Zambian Home Affairs Minister, Lameck Mangani, says the country’s Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested two NGO officials who allegedly transferred K200 million from the organisation's account to their personal favour.

According to Mangani, those arrested are John Munsanje, executive director of the Family Health Trust (FHT) and Harrison Chibale, who is the finance and administration manager at the same organisation.