Lwati August 2006, Number 26

* LWATI *

The monthly e-newsletter of the Southern African Non-Governmental Organisation Network (SANGONeT)

August 2006, Number 26

www.sangonet.org.za

"Lwati" is an isiSwati word meaning information.

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<> EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS
<> CIVIL SOCIETY INFORMATION
<> TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
<> ICT ADVOCACY
<> NETWORKING AND OUTREACH
<> CONTACT DETAILS

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<> EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS

Dear reader

Welcome to the 26th edition of SANGONeT’s monthly e-newsletter!

SANGONeT hosted three Thetha ICT discussion forums in the past month. The Namibia and Swaziland events, held from 12-13 July and 2-3 August 2006 respectively, formed part of the regional expansion of the Thetha initiative, while the Johannesburg event formed part of our ongoing ICT advocacy and awareness-raising activities aimed at the NGO sector in South Africa.

The regional Thetha forums aim to increase the use and awareness of ICTs in the NGO sector in Southern Africa. Both events were used to highlight ICT policy issues in the respective countries, develop an understanding of the ICT capacity of local NGOs, introduce participants to various open source applications and solutions, and demonstrate the relevance of social networking tools such as wikis and blogs. The events also received coverage on local television and in the print media.

Although it is too early to confirm specific ICT trends among NGOs in Southern Africa, NGOs in Namibia and Swaziland share similar experiences in terms of the negative impact of high telecommunication and ICT costs on the general uptake of ICTs, the lack of involvement by NGOs in local ICT policy processes, the absence of local NGOs specialising in ICT issues and services, and the limited uptake and awareness of open source software (OSS) solutions and applications.

More work needs to be done to develop a better understanding of the ICT trends among NGOs in Southern Africa, and the regional Thetha forums are an important first step in this regard. We will continue to focus on these issues in the forthcoming Botswana, Lesotho and Angolan events and provide more detailed feedback at the end of the 2006 regional Thetha process.

For more information about the Namibian and Swaziland events, please refer to the Thetha website at http://www.sangonet.org.za/thetha

In addition to our interest in the ICT experiences of NGOs in the rest of Southern Africa, SANGONeT will soon embark on a comprehensive study of ICT trends in the South African NGO sector. The results of this study will be released during the next SANGONeT Conference in March 2007.

One of the key objectives of the study will be to use the findings to create deeper awareness and understanding not only in the NGO sector, but also amongst government and the private sector, especially ICT companies.

The NGO sector continues to be an unknown quantity for the South African ICT sector, both in terms of business opportunities and corporate social investment (CSI) activities. It is for this reason that SANGONeT hosted a Thetha forum on 20 July 2006 in Johannesburg that focused on "CSI and the IT Sector in South Africa - Strategies for Engagement with the NGO Sector".

The event aimed to create an opportunity for dialogue and interaction between IT companies and NGOs, highlighting different CSI strategies and approaches that are being implemented by IT companies, and how these interventions relate to the needs and expectations of NGOs and the communities they serve. We will host more of these events in future.

We are also drawing to a close a research study that analyses the CSI websites of 50 listed and 20 non-listed companies. The results will be available shortly.

As always, we are very interested in how you think we could best serve the NGO sector with relevant information and ICT products and services. Please send us your views, comments and suggestions.

Best wishes

David Barnard (dbarnard@sangonet.org.za)

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<> CIVIL SOCIETY INFORMATION (CSI) PROGRAMME

# SANGONeT Portal

The month of July marked the beginning of a period of consolidation for the SANGONeT portal (www.sangonet.org.za). As it entered its ninth month of existence, increasing numbers of visitors engaged proactively with the portal, making the most of opportunities to seek advice, express their views and promote the work of local civil society.   SANGONeT’s 10-year old e-mail advertising service, SN-Announce, demonstrated a spurt as a growing user base exploited the opportunity to reach a niche development audience. At the same time the CSI team handled higher numbers of direct e-mail queries. These were largely related to fundraising and institutional development.   In addition, a healthy 125 people participated in the July 2006 poll which sought to establish perceptions about non-profit accountability. In a shocking result, more than 57% of our poll-takers were of the opinion that “NGOs lack accountability”.

This interaction between the portal and its visitors demonstrates a strong connection with an audience that is keen to be engaged on relevant issues.   As always we continue to deliver on strategic content for and about the South African NGO sector and the editor’s choice for articles produced in July 2006 include the following: 

The National Lotteries Development Trust Fund: Grappling with Grantmaking
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/42k  

Book Review: South African Social Attitudes, Changing Times, Diverse Voices
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/42m  

NGO Profile: The Environmental Justice Networking Forum
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/42n  

Co-operatives as Alternative NGO Project Models
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/42p 

Olive (OD&T) Announces Closure
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/42q  

For more information about the SANGONeT portal, kindly send a query to SANGONeT's Deputy Director and Editor of the portal, Fazila Farouk, at fazila@sangonet.org.za or editor@sangonet.org.za.

# PRODDER: The South African NGO and Development Directory   The SANGONeT portal continues to house the most up to date online directory of NGOs and development agencies in the form of PRODDER, and we remind you to list your organisation on this free and searchable database.

The directory is available at http://www.prodder.org.za.

For more information about PRODDER, please contact Aadila Molale at SANGONeT on (011) 403-4935 or prodder@sangonet.org.za.

# SN-Announce

SN-Announce is an e-mail advertising service that provides an invaluable service to the NGO sector in Southern Africa. With a potential readership of more than 10 000 people, it remains one of the most cost-effective and efficient ways to reach non-profit organisations, development practitioners, grantmakers and others working in the development sector.

All members of the development sector can advertise on SN-Announce. The type of information distributed includes alerts for vacancies, events, campaign launches, conferences, meetings and services for the development sector.

For more information about how to subscribe to SN-Announce or post an announcement on it, please contact Diane Babak at SANGONeT on (011) 403-4935 or diane@sangonet.org.za. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

<> TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

# Capacity Building - Open Source Desktop Environment

The Technology Services Programme is building in-house capacity in open source applications for the desktop environment. This will complement the programme's usage of Open Source Software (OSS) at the enterprise level. Currently all the web applications and servers at SANGONeT run on robust open source software.

Two staff members have already attended Linux introductory and intermediate courses. This capacity-building process will be completed over the next few weeks, leading to the introduction of in-house desktop support for the Linux operating system.

# Practical Demonstration of NGO-in-a-Box

NGO-in-a-box offers a set of peer reviewed and selected Free and Open Source (FOSS) software that is specifically tailored to the ICT needs of NGOs.

The applications bundled with NGO-in-a-Box were demonstrated during the regional Thetha forums in Namibia and Swaziland.

For more information about this initiative, please visit http://ngoinabox.org

# Technology Consulting

SANGONeT offers a wide range of customised technology solutions, including open source software consulting, facilitation of web workshops and developing a technology plan for your organisation.

For more information on how we can assist you, please contact Joseph George on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or joseph@sangonet.org.za

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<> ICT ADVOCACY

# Thetha - The SANGONeT Regional ICT Discussion Forum

SANGONeT will host the third and fourth Southern African Thetha forums from 3-4 October 2006 and 18-19 October 2006 in Gaborone, Botswana, and Maseru, Lesotho, respectively.

If you are interested in participating in these events, please contact Nthabiseng Taole at SANGONeT on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or nthabiseng@sangonet.org.za

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<> NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

# SANGONeT’s Information Coordinators, Badumile Duma and Butjwana Seokoma, attended the media launch of “Harambe - A Celebration of Employee Volunteering” on 13 July 2006 in Sandton. This initiative recognizes best practice and excellence in employee volunteering.

# SANGONeT's Deputy Director, Fazila Farouk, attended the Synergos and Social Change Assistance Trust (SCAT) seminar, "Making Rights Real: Advancing a Human Rights Approach to Grantmaking and Development", on 19 July 2006 at the Goethe Institute in Rosebank.

# SANGONeT's Executive Director, David Barnard, made a presentation at the “ICT and Poverty Alleviation” Conference, organised by Trade Conference International, from 19-20 July 2006 in Randburg.

# SANGONeT’s Technology Services Assistant, Botswang Kgeledi, attended a CompTIA certification course (Linux+) from 24-28 July 2006 at the New Horizons Computer Learning Centre in Randburg.

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<> CONTACT DETAILS

SANGONeT
P O Box 31392
2017 Braamfontein
SOUTH AFRICA

29th Floor,
UCS Building
209 Smit Street
Braamfontein

Tel: (+27) (11) 403-4935
Fax: (+27) (11) 403-0130
E-mail: newsletter@sangonet.org.za
WWW: http://www.sangonet.org.za

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CopyLeft. 2006. SANGONeT.

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