Lwati December 2006, Number 30

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

December 2006, Number 30

www.sangonet.org.za

"Lwati" is an isiSwati word meaning information.

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

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<> EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS

Dear reader

Welcome to the 30th edition of SANGONeT’s monthly e-newsletter!

SANGONeT is very pleased to announce that its new online technology donation portal, SANGOTeCH, is now accepting registrations from South African non-profit organisations. This exciting new initiative will present South African NGOs with an opportunity to access software and other ICT solutions at discounts of up to 95% of their retail value.

SANGOTeCH is a partnership between SANGONeT and TechSoup, a San Francisco-based non-profit technology capacity building organisation. The TechSoup programme has been running for four years in the United States, and has already distributed over $250 million worth of software to nearly 50 000 non-profit organisations. TechSoup expanded to Canada in 2004, and the United Kingdom, Belgium and Poland earlier this year. In the three months since going live in these three countries, the programme has already reached the $1.5 million mark in software donations.

SANGONeT is the first Techsoup partner to be based in a developing country, and SANGOTeCH will ultimately be expanded to the rest of Southern Africa.

The first two SANGOTeCH donation partners are Cisco Systems and Microsoft. Various other local and international ICT partners, as well as an expanded range of ICT applications, will be finalised in coming months, including open source solutions. SANGOTeCH will also start publishing practical technology articles relevant to NGOs in South Africa.

SANGOTeCH will be officially launched during a function on 12 December 2006 in Johannesburg.

For more information about SANGOTeCH, refer to www.sangotech.org, as well as the ICT Services section in this newsletter.

As this is the last Lwati of 2006, I would like to wish all our clients, partners, funders, supporters and Lwati readers a happy festive season. Thank you for your support during the past year and I wish you a wonderful and prosperous 2007!!

David Barnard (dbarnard@sangonet.org.za)

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<> CIVIL SOCIETY INFORMATION (CSI) PROGRAMME

# SANGONeT Portal

During November 2006, a feasibility study was completed to determine the need for a quarterly hardcopy NGO newspaper, which we hope “NGO Pulse” can develop into. The study revealed that there is a market for such a paper, particularly amongst the current subscribers of NGO Pulse, but that much more research is required to identify the target audience more clearly as well as the content, format and distribution channels of the publication.

In addition to 17 in-depth interviews, the study included a survey of 121 NGO Pulse subscribers. We took the opportunity to generate some feedback about the current electronic version of NGO Pulse, with 70% of those that actively read NGO Pulse reporting that the newsletter meets their expectations. Most active readers of NGO Pulse read articles which are of relevance to their programmatic work. They are also interested in information related to organisational sustainability as well as employment opportunities. The feasibility study was implemented by the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE).

During the past month the SANGONeT portal was featured on the website of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). Refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4yr to read the article.

Our November 2006 portal poll sought to find out who NGOs are accountable to. The results of the poll, which was taken by 135 voters, are as follow:

Nobody: 30.4%
Their donors: 22.2%
Their beneficiaries: 20%
Broader civil society: 12.6%
Themselves: governing body: 8.9%
Government: 3%
I don't know: 3%

As always, the CSI team continued to produce relevant civil society and development-related content for the portal. The editor’s choice for articles produced during November includes the following:

National Civil Society HIV/AIDS Congress: A Victory for Civil Society Activism
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4yj

NGO Tax Campaign Yields Results
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4yk

NGO Profile: Ditsela
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4ym

Case Study: Integrated Rural Development
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4yn

Book Review: Islamophobia or Restorative Justice - Tearing the Veil of Ignorance
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4yp

Editorial: NGO Accountability
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4yq

Finally, the SANGONeT CSI Team welcomed Lara Scott on board during November 2006. She will act as Development Communications Project Manager.

For more information about the SANGONeT NGO Portal, kindly send a query or comment to the 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.

The PRODDER team has made substantial progress in developing the human rights component of the PRODDER Directory. This project is a partnership between SANGONeT and the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR). Please note that we are looking for organisations that are engaged in a rights-based approach to development and urge such organisations to submit information about their activities.

For more information about PRODDER and the FHR project, please contact Aadila Molale at SANGONeT on prodder@sangonet.org.za.

# SANGONeT Development Calendar 2007

SANGONeT is currently compiling its 2007 Development Calendar, which will once again be produced in the form of a year planner. The Calendar, to be released in January 2007, will cover a comprehensive list of international, African and South African dates (e.g. World AIDS Day, 1 December) of significance to people involved in development and civil society issues.

If you know of any dates and events which should be included in the calendar, please forward the information by 15 December 2006 to info@sangonet.org.za.   \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

<> ICT SERVICES

# Launch of the SANGOTeCH Technology Donations Programme

In the past few weeks the SANGONeT ICT Services Programme has been involved in the final preparations for the 'live' launch of the SANGOTeCH technology donations portal.

SANGOTeCH aims to assist NGOs by providing software and hardware for very low or discounted fees in conjunction with ICT donor partners, as well as by supporting NGOs to make the most of their ICT purchases and infrastructure.

Registration has been open since 1 December 2006 and the programme already attracted significant interest from the NGO sector. The programme is open to South African NGOs with Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) or Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) status, while access to specific donor partners’ products is subject to additional criteria.

Eligibility requirements can be viewed at http://www.sangotech.org/eligibility.

Organisations should first check their general eligibility for the programme. If an organisation fulfills these requirements, then check the specific eligibility requirements of our initial donor partners, Cisco and Microsoft. If you qualify for at least one of these, then register for the programme at http://www.sangotech.org/user/register.9

The product catalogue can be viewed at http://store.sangotech.org/directory.

In addition to providing donated and discounted technology products to the NGO sector, the SANGOTeCH partnership also presents an opportunity for sharing knowledge and experiences about ICT and development across countries and continents.

All the Techsoup programmes in other countries are implemented by NGOs with a history of supporting local NGOs with various ICT interventions. The Techsoup programme has already demonstrated the synergy generated where such organisations share resources and work for the benefit of the entire network.

The actual online platform used by SANGOTeCH is a case in point; it has been developed by an international team using the open source content management system Drupal, the e-commerce module within Drupal and CiviCRM, which is relationship management software aimed specifically at the civil society sector. Significant work has been done in improving integration between these components, and Techsoup has committed resources to feeding this work back to the Drupal and CiviCRM development communities.

For more information about SANGOTeCH, please contact us on 086 110 6443 or support@sangotech.org.

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<> ICT ADVOCACY

# Thetha - The SANGONeT Regional ICT Discussion Forum

SANGONeT and the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) hosted the fourth Southern African Thetha forum from 22-23 November 2006 in Maseru, Lesotho. More than 70 people representing civil society, government, private sector and academic institutions attended the event.

The event sought to highlight ICT policy issues in Lesotho and the benefits of ICTs in relation to educational development and poverty eradication. It also provided a platform for discussing ICT challenges and opportunities facing civil society in Lesotho. In addition, participants were given practical sessions in blogging and website design.

For more information about the Lesotho Thetha forum, refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4zq

SANGONeT and Development Workshop/Angonet will host the fifth Southern African Thetha forum from 31 January - 1 February 2007 in Luanda, Angola.

If you are interested in participating in the Angolan event, please contact Olivia Augusto of Development Workshop before 30 January 2007:

Tel: (+244) (222) 44-8366 / E-mail: olivia@angonet.org.

# Third Annual SANGONeT "ICTs for Civil Society" Conference and Exhibition

SANGONeT will host its third annual "ICTs for Civil Society" conference in June 2007 in Johannesburg. Building on the success of the first two events, the next conference will focus specifically on how the NGO sector is adopting, using and implementing ICT applications in their work.

SANGONeT invites anyone interested in participating in the event as a speaker or participant to register their interest at - info@sangonet.org.za.

We are especially interested in receiving information on any case studies, technology solutions, etc. which could be incorporated into the conference programme.

Refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4zr to assist us in shaping the conference programme.

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NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

# SANGONeT’s Information Coordinator, Badumile Duma, attended the Ipelegeng Youth Leadership Development Programme on 9 November 2006 in Braamfontein.

# SANGONeT's Executive Director, David Barnard, attended the European Commission’s “European Development Days” event from 13-17 November 2006 in Brussels, Belgium. Refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4zp for his article about the event.

# SANGONeT’s Information Coordinators, Badumile Duma and Butjwana Seokama, attended the SABC Gender and Media Debate, hosted by GEMSA, on 15 November 2006 in Auckland Park.

Butjwana Seokoma also attended the launch of a new publication, “Africa on the Move: African Migration and Urbanisation in Comparative Perspective”, on 29 November 2006 at Constitutional Hill in Braamfontein.

# ICT Services Programme Assistant, Botswang Kgeledi, attended Ditsela's 10th Anniversary Celebration from 28-30 November 2006 at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg. He managed updates to the Ditsela website during the conference.

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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.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and modify this document. Please provide an acknowledgment to SANGONeT.

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