Lwati June 2007, Number 36

* LWATI *

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

June 2007, Number 36

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 36th edition of SANGONeT´s monthly e-newsletter!

As of today it is only five weeks to go before the start of the 2007 SANGONeT Conference on 17 July 2007 in Johannesburg.

The conference coincides with SANGONeT’s 20th anniversary celebrations, and will reflect on the progress that South African NGOs have made over the past 20 years in adopting and integrating ICTs in their work.

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

One of the highlights of the event will be the release of the “State of ICTs in the South African NGO Sector" research findings during the opening plenary session.

Although many South African NGOs are already active users of ICTs, much more needs to be done to build the capacity of the sector. The introduction and integration of ICTs represents huge opportunities, as well as challenges, in the process of transforming and strengthening the South African NGO sector.

However, very little is known about the scope of ICT infrastructure and skills in the NGO sector, the impact of ICT applications on the work of the sector, and how the sector is responding to increasing demands for greater efficiency as a result of ICT adoption and implementation.

In response to this situation, we have commissioned leading South African ICT research company, World Wide Worx, to conduct a research project on the “State of ICTs in the South African NGO Sector”. The objective of this project is to analyse the NGO sector’s application and awareness of ICTs in support of achieving its strategic objectives. We hope the findings will inspire ICT companies to take a more active interest in the NGO sector as a market for their products and services, as well as assist funding agencies in making informed decisions about ICT investments in the NGO sector.

The opening plenary session will be dedicated to presentations and analysis of the research findings, both from a South African and international perspective. It will set the tone for the rest of the event, highlighting key ICT issues relevant to the NGO sector which all speakers and participants should engage with both during and after the event.

Speakers in this session will include Arthur Goldstuck, Managing Director, World Wide Worx; Katrin Verclas, Executive Director, Nonprofit Technology Network (N-Ten) (United States) and Doug Jacquier, CEO, Community Information Strategies Australia (CISA) (Australia).

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

I would like to encourage NGOs to register for the event and join us in celebrating our twentieth anniversary.

I would also like to invite NGOs and other development agencies to participate in our new PRODDER Directory project. Refer to http://www.prodder.org.za for more information in this regard.

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

Africa Day was celebrated on 25 May and the SANGONeT NGO Portal took special note of continental issues. Three articles, which can be located below, examined aid in Africa, civil society in Africa and African debt. We are pleased to announce that our articles have been syndicated on other websites and are particularly proud to be contributing to the knowledge bank of indigenous issues from a Southern perspective.

Also during the month of May, SANGONeT hosted a poll seeking to establish perspectives on the strength of the South African NGO sector. The poll results, which can be found below, suggest that the dominant perspective is that the South African NGO sector is weak or weakening. This is a disappointing result.

The results of the poll, which was taken by 200 voters, are as follow:

• I strongly disagree: 53.5%
• I disagree: 19.3%
• I agree: 18.8%
• I strongly agree: 8.4%

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

NGO Profile: Freedom of Expression Institute

Opinion: The Role of Local Government on HIV and AIDS

Feature: Making a Case for Debt Relief with no Strings Attached

The State of African Civil Society

Tracking Official Development Assistance in Africa

For more information about the SANGONeT NGO Portal, please contact Fazila Farouk at SANGONeT on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or fazila@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.

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<> ICT SERVICES

# SANGOTeCH Online Technology Donations Portal

A number of new products have been added to the SANGOTeCH catalogue.

Expression Web replaces and improves the Web authoring technologies of FrontPage by helping beginner users build web pages without knowing any markup or server code. More advanced creative professionals can build websites that fully support Web standards such as Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTM)), cascading style sheets (CSS) and Extensible Markup Language (XML).

In the six months since the launch of the programme, SANGOTeCH has
distributed software and hardware to the value of R5 million to more than 60 South African NGOs at a cost of less than R280 000; a saving to the sector of
over R4.75 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.

# 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

# Thetha - The SANGONeT ICT Discussion Forum

SANGONeT and the Information Technology Association of South Africa (ITA) hosted a one-day conference on "Where does your computer go to die? The e-Waste Situation in South Africa" on 17 May 2007 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton.

The aim of the event was to discuss issues relating to electronic waste and brainstorm viable solutions for dealing with e-waste in South Africa.

The conference was attended by 95 participants from the private sector, government and civil society. Presenters included: Keith Anderson, President, ITA; Klaus Hieronymi, Manager, HP EMEA; Peter Bornard, Chairman, SWICO Env Commission; Frans Dekker, Manager, City of Tshwane Waste Management; Christa Venter, Manager, Pikitup; Horst Seute, Chairperson, Plastics Federation of South Africa; Dr Dick Groot, Lecturer, University of Pretoria and Alan Finlay, Chairman, eWasa.

Refer to http://www.ita.org.za for copies of the papers presented at the conference.

# 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 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 First Cyprus International Civil Society Fair, “Open Voices- Active Citizens", from 3-5 May 2007 in Nicosia, Cyprus.

He also attended the UNDP African Regional Workshop on "Scaling up capacity development frameworks and response strategies in Africa" from 27-28 May 2007 in Accra, Ghana.

# SANGONeT ICT Services Project Assistants, Mzwakhe Makhalemele and Botswang Kgeledi, attended the Futurex exhibition on 16 May 2007 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton.

# SANGONeT Information Coordinators, Badumile Duma and Butjwana Seokoma, attended the launch of Volume 1 of the CIVICUS “Global Survey of the State of Civil Society” on 17 May 2007 in Newtown.

Butjwana Seokoma also attended the Global Compact Africa Meeting on 29 May 2007 at the Ronda Lodge in Centurion.

# SANGONeT’s ICT Services Manager, Matthew de Gale, attended a Telkom Action Group (TAG) event on 28 May 2007 in Rosebank to receive a Telkom share as part of a campaign aimed at increasing shareholder activism in response to the company’s conduct and business practises.

# SANGONeT´s CSI Manager, Fazila Farouk, attended the African Monitor Conference, “A Review of Promises and Progress Made to Development in Africa" on 29 May 2007 at the Parktonian Hotel in Braamfontein.

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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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