Lwati July 2007, Number 37

* LWATI *

The monthly e-newsletter of the Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT)

July 2007, Number 37

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

Welcome to the 37th edition of SANGONeT´s monthly e-newsletter!

As of today, it is only one week to go before the SANGONeT Conference held from 17-18 July 2007 at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg.

The Third Annual “ICTs for Civil Society” Conference is of special significance to SANGONeT as it coincides with our 20th anniversary celebrations.

Established in 1987 as Worknet and transformed into SANGONeT in 1993, our history is closely linked to the social and political changes experienced by South Africa during the past twenty years.

From an initial trade union orientation in the 1980s, to a wider civil society role since the 1990s, SANGONeT has always been in the forefront of introducing ICT initiatives in response to civil society requirements and national development priorities.

A special publication, “The SANGONeT Story, 1987-2007, 20 years of linking civil society through ICTs”, will be released at the conference during the gala dinner.

As far as the conference programme is concerned, we have secured more than 50 speakers for the two-day event, including Radhakrishna Padayachie, Deputy Minister of Communications; Lyndall Shope-Mafole, Director General, Department of Communications; James Theledi, CEO, Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA); Godfrey Mokate, CEO, National Development Agency (NDA); Leon Perleman, Chairperson, Wireless Application Service Providers Association (WASPA); Katrin Verclas, Executive Director, Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) (USA); Doug Jacquier, CEO, Community Information Strategies Australia (CISA) (Australia); Daniel Ben-Horin, President, CompuMentor (USA); Dwayne Bailey, Director, translate.org.za and Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director, APC.

Jody Kollapen, Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), will be the keynote speaker at the gala dinner.

Refer to http://www.sangonet.org.za/conference2007 for detailed information about the event.

The conference programme will focus on various strategic ICT issues relevant to the work of the NGO sector, including monitoring and evaluation, building online communities, open source migration, online fundraising, open content, mobile applications, ICTs and HIV/AIDS, ICT procurement and community access to ICTs.

The findings of the “State of ICTs in the South African NGO Sector" research project will be released during the opening plenary session, while the winners of the South African NGO Web Awards 2007 will be announced at the gala dinner.

I would like to encourage NGOs, as well as government agencies, funders and ICT companies with an interest in supporting the NGO sector, to register for the event and join us in celebrating our 20th anniversary.

As always, we are very interested in how you think we could best serve the NGO sector with relevant 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 NGO Portal

The month of June was characterised by a great deal of planning and preparation for the SANGONeT Conference. The CSI team is responsible for the media outreach related to this event. The team will also be blogging from the conference and we encourage you to visit the SANGONeT NGO Portal during the event for daily updates of presentations and discussions.

Members of the CSI team also worked collaboratively with SANGONeT’s ICT Services Programme to develop the prototype of the e-learning platform for the SANGONeT/Hivos Citizen Journalism Project. The platform will be unveiled to project participants during a workshop in July 2007.

The portal’s June poll revealed that the South African NGO sector is in stable hands. A vast majority of voters agreed with the following statement - “The SA NGO sector is able to attract and retain suitable directors.”

The results of the poll, which was taken by 262 voters, are as follow:

• Adequately: 58.8%
• Not Adequately: 27.9%
• Mostly: 6.9%
• Not at all: 6.5%

As always, the CSI team continued to produce relevant civil society and development-related content for the portal. Key articles produced during June 2007 include the following:

Opinion: Public Servants Deserve Better Wages

Feature: SANGONeT Conference 2007

Feature: NGO Web Awards 2007

Feature: Impact of CO2 Emissions on the Developing World

Feature: African Fathers

For more information about the SANGONeT NGO Portal, please contact Badumile Duma at SANGONeT on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or badumile@sangonet.org.za.

# PRODDER: The South African NGO and Development Directory

The PRODDER Directory is due to return to bookshelves later this year and the CSI team used May 2007 to initiate a process of selling advertising and “NGO Profiles” space to NGOs, development consultants, donors and service providers to the NGO sector.

NGOs can secure a special “NGO Profile” entry in the publication for R750. As part of this offer, participating NGOs will receive one complimentary copy of the book and one SN-Announcement. A similar opportunity is available to development consultants and service providers for R1 500.

If you would like to take up this offer or have your contact details included in the new PRODDER book, please send an inquiry to - prodder@sangonet.org.za.

Also refer to http://www.prodder.org.za for more information about how you could participate in the PRODDER Directory project.

# 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.

Subscription to the SN-Announce service is free.

Refer to the SANGONeT NGO Portal (http://sangonet.org.za) for copies of past announcements.

For more information about how to subscribe to SN-Announce or post an announcement, please contact Cathy Niken at SANGONeT on (011) 403-4935 or cathy@sangonet.org.za.

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<> ICT SERVICES

# SANGOTeCH Online Technology Donations Portal

In the seven months since the launch of the programme, SANGOTeCH has
distributed software and hardware to the value of almost R6 million to more than 70 South African NGOs at a cost of less than R350 000; a saving to the sector of over R5 million.

South African NGOs interested in ordering software available on SANGOTeCH should first check their general eligibility for the programme at http://www.sangotech.org/eligibility.

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

For more information about SANGOTeCH, as well as to receive regular updates about new products and services, please refer to http://www.sangotech.org or contact us on 086 110 6443 or support@sangotech.org.

# Telecentre Train-the-Trainer Project

SANGONeT, in conjunction with the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA), Microsoft and Torque-IT, continues to implement a project aimed at improving the capacity of IT trainers based at telecentres in South Africa.

Ten telecentre trainers participated in an assessor training workshop which was held from 18-22 June 2007 in Johannesburg.

# Technology Consulting

SANGONeT offers a range of customised online applications that include
social networking portals, online directories and constituent relationship management solutions. We also offer a linked technical support desk service.

For more information on how we can assist you, please contact Matthew de Gale at SANGONeT on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or matthew@sangonet.org.za

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<> ICT ADVOCACY

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

SANGONeT will host its third annual "ICTs for Civil Society" Conference and
Exhibition from 17-18 July 2007 at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg. The theme of this year's event is "Applications for the Development Sector".

Refer to http://www.sangonet.org.za/conference2007 for information about the conference programme, registration procedures and exhibition opportunities.

For more information about logistical arrangements, please contact Anelja de Bok at Go Girl Events on Tel: (011) 467-1404 or anelja@gogirlevents.co.za.

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NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

# SANGONeT's Executive Director, David Barnard, attended the annual conference of Europe's Forum on International Cooperation (Euforic) from 4-6 June 2007 in Brussels, Belgium.

# SANGONeT’s ICT Services Manager, Matthew de Gale, attended the TASA Telecentre Conference from 15-17 June 2007 in Johannesburg.

# SANGONeT Information Coordinator, Butjwana Seokoma, attended the Paraffin Safety Association of Southern Africa’s “Paraffin Users Household Energy Summit” from 27-28 June 2007 at the Kopanong Hotel & Conference Centre in Benoni.

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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. 2007. SANGONeT.

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

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