Lwati November 2006, Number 29

* LWATI *

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

November 2006, Number 29

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 29th edition of SANGONeT’s monthly e-newsletter!

In the past month we have once again implemented a number of significant activities and events.

To coincide with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, SANGONeT and the National Development Agency (NDA) hosted a National Poverty Conference on 17 October 2006 in Johannesburg. More than 300 representatives from the NGO and broader development sectors attended this important event.

As a follow-up to the conference, the SANGONeT NGO portal will continue to provide a facility for development practitioners to comment on critical issues related to the challenge of poverty and inequality in South Africa.

Refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4s6 for copies of the conference presentations.

On 24 October 2006 we celebrated the first anniversary of the launch of the SANGONeT NGO Portal. The portal has already achieved significant results and has gained widespread local and international recognition as the online community platform for the South African NGO sector. Furthermore, in attracting an increasing number of international visitors, the portal also elevates the profile of the local NGO sector in the global arena.

Refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4s7 for an overview of the portal’s objectives and achievements.

SANGONeT also announced the introduction of the new SANGOTeCH online technology donation and discount portal on 24 October 2006. In partnership with TechSoup, the San Francisco-based nonprofit technology capacity building organisation, SANGONeT is finalising a web-based platform that links technology donations and the South African NGO sector. Ultimately, this initiative will be expanded to the rest of Southern Africa.

SANGOTeCH will start processing registrations for software donations on 1 December 2006. The first two donation partners are Microsoft and Cisco Systems. Various other partners and applications will be added in coming months, including open source solutions. SANGOTeCH will also start publishing practical technology articles relevant to NGOs in South Africa.

For more information about SANGOTeCH, refer to www.sangotech.org.

Looking to the future, we have decided to move the annual SANGONeT “ICTs for Civil Society” Conference and Exhibition from its traditional time slot in March to June 2007.

To register your interest and assist us in shaping the conference programme, refer to http://www.sangonet.org.za/conference2007.

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

October witnessed two important developments related to the SANGONeT NGO Portal. Firstly, in order to generate debate about poverty issues in the run-up to the National Poverty Conference, a comment section was added to the home page articles to facilitate feedback and discussion. A fair amount of feedback was received in relation to the articles that were produced both before and after the conference. Refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4s3.

The past month also heralded the launch of a new-look HTML version of the NGO Pulse e-newsletter. Currently this newsletter has more than 7 000 subscribers. It is released weekly and informs subscribers about new postings on the SANGONeT portal. To subscribe to NGO Pulse, refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4s2.

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 October focuses mainly on the poverty debate.

October Editorial: Poverty Eradication - Holding our Leaders Accountable
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4rs

Feature: Civil Society Partnership with NDA: Beggars Can't be Choosers
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4rq

Feature: Closing the Gap on Local Government Finance
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4rt

Opinion: Women on Farms Violated due to Alcohol Abuse
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4rr

Opinion: World Habitat Day - Cities are Magnets of Hope
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/4ru

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 continues to make progress with the development of a human rights directory for the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR). The directory is developed as a component of PRODDER, thus deepening the human rights and social justice focus of SANGONeT's work in general.

For more information about PRODDER and the FHR project, please contact Aadila Molale at SANGONeT on 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. 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. The CSI team published 16 announcements during October 2006.

Subscription to the SN-Announce service is free.

For more information about how to subscribe to SN-Announce or post an announcement, please contact Butjwana Seokoma at SANGONeT on butjwana@sangonet.org.za or visit http://sangonet.org.za/url/4rz.

# SANGONeT Development Calendar 2007

SANGONeT is currently compiling its 2007 Development Calendar, which will once again be designed and produced in the form of a year planner. The Calendar covers 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 which should be included in the calendar, please forward the information to info@sangonet.org.za.

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<> ICT SERVICES

# 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 training project aimed at improving the capacity of IT trainers based at telecentres in South Africa.

Twelve representatives from telecentres in Kwazulu-Natal completed a three-week train-the-trainer course during October 2006 in Johannesburg.

# Central Case Management System (CCMS)

SANGONeT is implementing a series of improvements to the Central Case Management System (CCMS) with funding from the International Commission of Jurists-Sweden (ICJ).

With this additional funding, the CCMS project aims to create a centralised source of information for advice offices that can be processed, analysed and packaged with reference to social justice issues and trends.

For more information about the CCMS, refer to http://www.ccms.org.za.

# Joomla Content Management System

Botswang Kgeledi trained SADTU staff in the basics of using the Joomla Content Management system. SANGONeT provides content management services and training on both Joomla and Drupal.

# Technology Consulting

SANGONeT offers a wide range of customised technology solutions, including open source software consulting, facilitation of web workshops, portal and other web-development queries, as well as assistance in developing a technology plan for your organisation.

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

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<> ICT ADVOCACY

# Thetha - The SANGONeT Regional ICT Discussion Forum

SANGONeT and the Botswana Council of NGOs (BOCONGO) hosted the third Southern African Thetha forum from 5-6 October 2006 in Gaborone, Botswana. More than 100 participants drawn from civil society, government, private sector and academic institutions attended the event.

For more information about the Botswana Thetha Forum, refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4ry.

SANGONeT and the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) will host the fourth Southern African Thetha forum from 22-23 November 2006 at the Lehakoe Club in Maseru, Lesotho.

If you are interested in participating in the Lesotho event, please contact Thandiwe Solwandle at LCN before 20 November 2006:

Tel: (+266) (22) 31-7205 / E-mail: thandiwes@lecongo.org.ls

For more information about the Lesotho Thetha Forum, refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/4s4.

# 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 therefore 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://www.sangonet.org.za/conference2007 to assist us in shaping the conference programme.

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<> NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

# SANGONeT and Project Literacy hosted the fifth meeting of the CEO Circle on 27 October 2006 in Pretoria.

# SANGONeT’s Information Coordinator, Butjwana Seokama, attended the National Civil Society HIV and AIDS Prevention and Treatment Congress from 27-28 October 2006 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.

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

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