Monthly Archives: July 2010
Broadband ‘critical’ to future global development
13 July 2010
Broadband networks are as vital to the world’s economic and social future as transport, water or power, according to the United Nations-backed Broadband Commission for Digital Development.
The group met recently in Geneva to discuss its vision for accelerating the development of broadband networks across the globe, and will present two reports to the UN in September.
World Cup leaves no quick wins for South Africa’s poor
12 July 2010
South Africa’s image may have changed after it successfully hosted the World Cup but the billions spent on the event had little impact on improving the life of poor South Africans.
Analysts said the real benefits of the World Cup “” hosted in Africa for the first time “” will only be seen in years to come.
South African lay counsellors can give HIV test
Lay counsellors in South Africa can now legally perform HIV tests, but delays in paying them and shortages of test kits are threatening a national campaign to scale up voluntary HIV testing and counselling (VCT).
Before new regulations came into effect in May 2010 only nurses were allowed to administer finger-prick HIV tests, but AIDS activists had long argued that this not only added to an already heavy work load, but could also hamstring the VCT campaign aiming to test 15 million South Africans by 2011.
Fish nets join mosquito nets against malaria
New drugs to fight malaria may well lie at the bottom of the ocean, according to researchers studying over 2,500 samples from marine organisms collected at depths of over 900 metres. They have already found 300 that contain substances that can kill the parasite.
“So far we have a hit rate of over 10 percent,” said Debopam Chakrabarti, Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at the University of Central Florida, who is leading the research.
Chakrabarti has spent over 20 years researching treatments for the mosquito-borne illness, and turned to the largely unexplored biological potential of the ocean because “[current] drugs are becoming increasingly less effective and [malaria] is still killing,” he told IRIN.
The UN World Health Organization has noted that about 3.3 billion people – half of the world’s population – are at risk of malaria, and around 1 million people worldwide are killed by it every year.
Read the full story at IrinPlus News.
" alt="Orphans and vulnerable children: A corporate social investor's basic guide" />Orphans and vulnerable children: A corporate social investor’s basic guide
According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN CRC), children’s rights are being drastically violated, specifically as a result of HIV/Aids.
These violated rights include: the right to family life and alternative care; the right to an adequate standard of living; the right to social security; the right to life and healthcare; the right to education; the right to play and recreation; the right to be protected from abuse and neglect; the right to be protected from exploitation; the rights of children with special needs; the right to participation, opinions and beliefs; and the right not to suffer discrimination.
" alt="South African education is doomed until teachers are taught" />South African education is doomed until teachers are taught
9 July 2010
Teachers need to be kept up to date with the curriculum especially in subjects that are changing rapidly like maths, science and language.
Jane Roach is a CSI specialist in education at Tshikululu Social Investments.
The Minister of Basic Education’s statement on the review of the national curriculum statement (6 July 2010) highlights the fact that no curriculum can be static. The curriculum should meet the present and potential needs of the country and it has been widely acknowledged there are some glaring gaps in the curriculum which needed to be addressed in order for learners to progress from the GET (General Education and Training) to the FET (Further Education and training) phase smoothly.
But, are the people in the trenches – the school management teams, the teachers, the parents and the learners – going to be supported in the process?
CSI needs profound return on investment
Tracey Henry is CEO of Tshikululu Social Investments.
Albert Einstein once said that “œeverything that can be counted does not necessarily count and everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted”. In all our development work, we should worry less about the rand value of our corporate social investment (CSI), and more about backing real change champions whose work broadens opportunity in South Africa. Our efforts should be to get a proper social return on our investments.
" alt="Why business should stop apologising" />Why business should stop apologising
Ann Bernsteinis the executive director of the Centre for Development and Enterprise.The perspectives and interests of those who live in rich, western countries dominate the global conversation about business and society. Activists, analysts and others – however well intentioned – do not grasp the realities of poverty and the hard choices of development outside the rich industrialised world. As a result, the debate about business, “œresponsibility” and corporate involvement in development is distorted with few voices from developing countries being heard. As a consequence the positive contribution of “˜just doing business’ is almost completely ignored.
Winners of the 2010 De Beers English Olympiad announced
8 July 2010
The Grahamstown Foundation announced the rank order of the top 100 De Beers English Olympiad winners at an official prize giving ceremony held in Grahamstown earlier today.
Shannon Basson from St Mary’s DSG in Pretoria was announced the winner of this year’s competition. Kerstin Hall from Chesterhouse in Durbanville and Kajal Tulsi from Edenvale High School in Johannesburg achieved second and third place respectively. The top three candidates will be treated to a literary tour of the United Kingdom in December
2010.Analysts cautious about South Africa’s education changes
7 July 2010
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s new changes to South Africa’s school curriculum were cautiously welcomed by analysts yesterday.
The changes, together with an action plan known as Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025, were to be gazetted by the end of next month and implemented in 2012. The content was drawn from the existing curriculum and updated, eliminating gaps and fixing imbalances.
