<incom> LWATI - The SANGONeT e-Newsletter, March 2007

Tue Mar 13 11:15:31 CET 2007

* LWATI *

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

March 2007, Number 33

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 33rd edition of SANGONeT´s monthly e-newsletter!

The third annual SANGONeT “ICTs for Civil Society” Conference will be 
held
from 17-18 July 2007 at the Wanderers Club in Illovo, Johannesburg.

The theme of the event will be “Applications for the Development 
Sector”.

The 2007 event is of special significance to SANGONeT as it coincides 
with
our twentieth anniversary. As part of the overall focus of the event we
will not only reflect on SANGONeT’s achievements since inception, but 
also
the progress that South African NGOs have made over the past 20 years in
adopting and integrating ICTs in their work.

Very little is still known about how South African NGOs are adopting, 
using
and managing ICTs. The objective of the 2007 event is therefore to 
develop
a deeper understanding of this situation by focusing on both past and
present experiences, as well as expected future developments. This will 
be
accomplished by two interrelated approaches.

Firstly, the conference programme will be strategically informed by the
findings of the “State of ICTs in the South African NGO Sector” research
project that we are implementing in conjunction with World Wide Worx. 
The
opening plenary session will be dedicated to presentations and analysis 
of
these findings. Secondly, the conference will be used to showcase 
specific
ICT experiences and expertise of local NGOs, thus creating an 
environment
for peer-learning and support.

The conference will cover various key 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, ICT procurement, CRM, and the ICT experiences of NGOs in
rural areas and the rest of Southern Africa.

Furthermore, the winners of the South African NGO Web Awards 2007 will 
be
announced at the gala dinner on 17 July 2007.

The conference is aimed at senior managers, communication and 
information
officers, and technical employees in the NGO sector, as well as 
individuals
who work with these organisations, including international funding
agencies, the private sector, parastatals and government.

Detailed information about the event will be published on the conference
website by the end of March 2007 - http://sangonet.org.za/url/5q4. 
SANGONeT
invites anyone interested in participating in the event as a speaker or
participant to register their interest at - info at sangonet.org.za.

Reflecting on other important ICT developments, on 22 February 2007 
Cabinet
approved a policy and strategy for the implementation of Free and Open
Source Software (FOSS) in government. All new software developed for or 
by
the government will in future be based on open standards and government
will migrate all current software to FOSS. This important Cabinet 
decision
has the potential to transform the software landscape not only in
government, but in South African society at large.

Refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/5pv for information about this
announcement.

Although the adoption of a FOSS policy has been on the government agenda
for the past few years, civil society played an important role in
advocating for government to bring finality to this issue. In September
2006 SANGONeT and the Internet Society of South Africa coordinated a 
civil
society petition (http://sangonet.org.za/url/5m2) which called on the
Minister of Public Services and Administration to adopt an open source
policy.

Civil society will closely monitor the FOSS implementation process and
continue to make critical inputs as required. It is therefore 
encouraging
to notice that Cabinet has also approved the creation of a partnership 
with
ICT NGOs, to be called the Information Society and Developmental
Intergovernmental Relations Forum (ISADIGRF). This initiative will form
part of the implementation of the National Information Society and
Development (ISAD) Plan, aimed at building an inclusive information 
society
in South Africa.

This development and will provide a much needed platform for regular
engagement between government and civil society about national ICT 
issues,
including the implementation of the FOSS policy.

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 at sangonet.org.za)

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<> CIVIL SOCIETY INFORMATION (CSI) PROGRAMME

# SANGONeT NGO Portal

SANGONeT’s CSI programme hosted an annual planning meeting during 
February
2007 to determine how best to develop content for the SANGONeT portal,
including the PRODDER Directory.

An upshot of this planning exercise was the identification of a number 
of
offline activities that we are planning for the latter half of 2007. An
activity worth noting is our planned focus group discussions in three
provinces, namely Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North West Province. The 
CSI
team hosted similar meetings in other parts of South Africa in the run 
up
to the launch of the SANGONeT portal.

The month of February also witnessed two national events of great
importance for all South Africans, especially for development 
practitioners
and activists. On 9 February 2007, President Thabo Mbeki made his annual
State of the Nation Address, which SANGONeT reflected upon in our 
monthly
portal editorial. Arguing from a social justice perspective, our 
editorial
contends that the President’s address did not deal with the problem of
inequality in an adequate manner. Find the link to the article below in 
the
editor’s choice listing.

The second important event in February was the Minister of Finance’s 
annual
budget speech. The CSI team released a special edition of NGO Pulse on 
22
February 2007 which covered a civil society response to the budget.

To coincide with these two events, the SANGONeT portal hosted a poll 
which
attempted to generate a response to the following statement - “The South
African government is making adequate progress delivering basic 
services to
the poor.”

The results of the poll, which was taken by 202 voters, are as follow:

-	I strongly disagree - 37.6%
-	I disagree - 30.7%
-	I strongly agree - 16.3%
-	I agree - 15.3%

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 February 2007 includes the following:

Opinion: A Civil Society Response to the Budget Speech
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/5mp

Toolkit: 18 Ideas for Avoiding a Funding Crisis!
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/5mi

Toolkit: NGO Technology Planning
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/5mm

Editorial: A Social Justice Response to the State of the Nation Address
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/5mj

Analysis: Understanding South African Civil Society
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/5mk

NGO Profile: People Opposing Women Abuse
http://www.sangonet.org.za/url/5mn

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

# PRODDER: The South African NGO and Development Directory

SANGONeT 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.

For more information about PRODDER, please contact Aadila Molale at
SANGONeT on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or aadila at 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 covers vacancies, events, new 
publications,
funding opportunities, tenders and services for the development sector.
Subscription to the SN-Announce service is free.

Refer to http://sangonet.org.za/url/55u 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 at sangonet.org.za.

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<> ICT SERVICES

# SANGOTeCH Online Technology Donations Portal

SANGOTeCH has recently updated its Microsoft product line to include new
versions of Windows and other server products. Windows Vista Business
Upgrade is now available, as is Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Plus.

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. 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.

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 www.sangotech.org or
contact us on 086 110 6443 or support at sangotech.org.

# Technology Consulting

SANGONeT offers a wide range of customised technology solutions around
online application development and programme support.

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

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<> ICT ADVOCACY

# Thetha - The SANGONeT ICT Discussion Forum

The first South African Thetha forum of 2007 will be held in May 2007. 
The
event will focus on the issue of e-Waste, and will be held in 
conjunction
with the Information Technology Association of South Africa (ITA).

If you are interested in participating in this event, please contact
Nthabiseng Taole at SANGONeT on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or
nthabiseng at sangonet.org.za.

# Third Annual 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 Illovo,
Johannesburg.

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

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NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

# SANGONeT's Executive Director, David Barnard, attended the Cisco
Community Knowledge Centers workshop on 12 February 2007 in Netanyah,
Israel. He also attended The Edge Institute’s Harold Wolpe Seminar on 
“The
Developmental State at the Local Level” on 14 February 2007 in 
Johannesburg.

# SANGONeT’s Portal Editor, Fazila Farouk, attended a presentation about
“How to Make Markets Work for the Poor”, hosted by the Building
Communication Opportunities (BCO) Alliance, on 19 February 2007 in
Johannesburg.

# SANGONeT’s Information Coordinator, Badumile Duma, attended the 
Gauteng
Department of Community Safety’s "Crime Sector Summit for NGOs and Civil
Society" on 26 February 2007 in Johannesburg. Refer to
http://sangonet.org.za/url/5nz for more information about this event.

# SANGONeT’s ICT Advocacy Manager, Nthabiseng Taole, and ICT Services
Manager, Matthew de Gale, attended the OSISA ICT Cluster meeting from 
27-28
February 2007 in Randburg.

# SANGONeT’s Information Coordinator, Butjwana Seokoma, attended an Open
Society Foundation (OSF) event on 28 February 2007 at Gallagher Estate 
in
Midrand during which a series of publications dealing with “Sentencing 
in
South Africa” was launched.

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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 at 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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