Lwati July 2006, Number 25

* LWATI *

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

July 2006, Number 25

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
<> VACANCIES
<> NETWORKING AND OUTREACH
<> CONTACT DETAILS

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<> EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS

Dear reader

Welcome to the 25th edition of SANGONeT’s monthly e-newsletter!

Greetings from Windhoek in Namibia. Today is the start of SANGONeT’s first regional Thetha ICT Discussion Forum, a new series of two-day events that we will be hosting in Namibia, Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho and Angola during the next few months.

SANGONeT's Thetha Forums were launched in March 2003. The events aim to provide NGOs with the opportunity to discuss information communication technology (ICT), including challenges facing the NGO sector, highlighting and promoting practical benefits, opportunities and lessons learned.

Based on the success of the more than 20 Thetha forums that we have hosted in South Africa during the past three years, the objectives of the regional forums are to create awareness amongst NGOs in other Southern African countries about various ICT policy issues and applications, as well as to build the capacity of local NGO coordinating bodies to convene similar events in future.

Information on the outcomes of the Namibian event and other regional Thetha forums will be published on the Thetha website - www.sangonet.org.za/thetha

In addition to the Namibian event, SANGONeT will host the next South African Thetha forum on 20 July 2006 in Johannesburg. The theme for discussion is "Corporate Social Investment (CSI) and the IT Sector - Strategies for Engagement with the NGO Sector".

This event will create an opportunity for dialogue and interaction between IT companies and NGOs, highlighting different CSI strategies that are being implemented by IT companies and how these interventions relate to the needs and expectations of NGOs and the communities they serve.

One of the key issues to be addressed during the event involves identifying the needs of both IT companies and NGOs so that more regular interaction takes place and information is more readily available about their respective activities.

Through the implementation and facilitation of these events, the ongoing development of the SANGONeT NGO portal and the forthcoming introduction of the Techsoup Stock software donation service, SANGONeT is committed to continue building the ICT capacity of the local NGO sector.

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

In June 2006 the CSI team was joined by Aadila Molale, SANGONeT's newly appointed Database Manager who, amongst other organisational databases, is responsible for the implementation of the PRODDER NGO and Development Directory. PRODDER now boasts more than 1700 validated entries that include NGOs, donors, consultants and other development agencies. If you are a South African NGO or development agency not listed on the PRODDER directory, we encourage you to take some time to contribute your details to this database. Visit www.prodder.org.za to submit your details online.
 
The PRODDER team is also involved in providing validation support services to other organisations and is currently supporting the University of South Africa (UNISA) to validate their list of NGOs, as well as the DIMITRA initiative, which has a Southern African regional scope.
 
SANGONeT Deputy Director and Portal Editor, Fazila Farouk, attended the Civicus World Assembly from 21-25 June 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland, and blogged her coverage of the event. An important aim of Fazila's blog (http://ngo-scoop.blogspot.com) was to demonstrate the power of ICT as a tool that can be used to promote issues of relevance and concern to civil society.
 
The CSI team continues to work hard to ensure that the SANGONeT portal is kept relevant and up to date in addition to sending out our weekly NGO Pulse e-newsletter. The team is keen to capture the spirit of the South African NGO sector on the portal and invites you to contact us should you have information about relevant issues. To date, 127 724 people have visited the portal viewing 1,001,483 pages – more than a million.

If you've been too busy to keep up with SANGONeT's articles, why not peruse the editor’s choice for articles that were published on the portal during June 2006:
 
NGO Profile: South African NGO Coalition
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/3t8
 
World Environment Day: Are we Focused on the Real Enemy?
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/3t7
 
SANGONeT's Blogging Toolkit
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/3t9
 
Evaluation of the Civicus World Assembly
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/3ta
 
To visit the SANGONeT portal, please refer to http://www.sangonet.org.za

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.

# 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.

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<> TECHNOLOGY SERVICES

# NGO.ZA Portal Changes

A number of usability changes were implemented to the NGO.ZA portal with the aim of making access to content easier for users. Among the changes are the following: the Newsfeeds menu is now on the left panel for quicker access to news items, while the Technology Resource link is also prominently placed below the Newsfeeds menu.

The Interactive Polls now feature on all pages. All the mail functionality items for NGO.ZA dial up and ADSL clients have now been clustered together on the right side of the site.

# ItrainOnline Resources on NGO.ZA

The Technology Resource Centre at NGO.ZA contains a collection of ICT-related presentations made at various SANGONeT events. In addition to this, we have now added links to publicly available ItrainOnline technology resources under three categories, namely Web Development, Multimedia and Technical.

The ItrainOnline initiative aims to assist NGOs and other development actors in developing countries to confront the challenges posed by new ICTs.

Visit the NGO.ZA portal at http://www.ngo.za

# Thetha Website

The Technology Services team built the Thetha website based on the Joomla platform. The site features a comprehensive content management system, online registration, news centre, facility for interactive polls, calendar and multiple forum discussion forums.

Visit the Thetha website at http://www.sangonet.org.za/thetha

# 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 ICT Discussion Forum

SANGONeT will host its next Thetha forum in South Africa on 20 July 2006 in Johannesburg. The theme of this event is "Corporate Social Investment (CSI) and the IT Sector - Strategies for Engagement with the NGO Sector".

The event will be held in the Microsoft Auditorium at 3012 William Nicol Drive in Bryanston, Johannesburg.

If you are interested in participating in this event, please contact Cathy Niken at SANGONeT before 18 July 2006 on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or cathy@sangonet.org.za.

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<> VACANCIES

SANGONeT is currently recruiting for the following position:

Receptionist / Office Support.

SANGONeT would like to appoint a receptionist who also provides general office support.

Detailed information about the position is available in the Vacancies section on the SANGONeT portal.

The deadline for applications is Monday, 31 July 2006.

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<> NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

# SANGONeT’s Information Coordinator, Butjwana Seokoma, attended the Civil Society Summit hosted by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) from 4-5 June 2006 in Midrand.

# SANGONeT’s Technology Services Assistant, Mzwakhe Makhalemele, attended a training course on Linux Fundamentals from 5-9 June 2006 at Leading Edge in Woodmead.

# SANGONeT's Deputy Director, Fazila Farouk, attended the Civicus World Assembly from 21-25 June 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland.

# SANGONeT hosted the third meeting of the CEO Circle on 23 June 2006 in Braamfontein. SANGONeT and Project Literacy have initiated the CEO Circle to create a platform for discussion within the leadership of the NGO sector in Gauteng, encouraging networking, collaboration and peer support. An important objective of the forum is to create a safe space for decision-makers to discuss common institutional and strategic development issues, creating the opportunity to highlight problems and share solutions.

The topic of discussion was “Financial Reporting and Auditing in the Non-Profit Environment”, with Karun Naidoo of Ramathe Inc as the guest speaker.

# SANGONeT’s ICT Advocacy Manager, Nthabiseng Taole, attended the LinuxChix FOSS workshop on 24 June 2006 in Johannesburg.

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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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