Archive for the ‘Opportunities’ Category
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Program – Apply now!
Business owners need to build deeper understanding, skills and knowledge in the environment where they operate to be able to successfully sustain their businesses. Hence, the need for capacity
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Tuition Scholarship for Management and Development of NGOs Seminar in Israel
Galilee International Management Institute (formerly Galillee College, est. 1987); a leading international management-training institute announces a Special Capacity-Building Seminar on Management of NGOs, scheduled to be held at the Institute Study Centre in Israel from 29th August – 12th September, 2012.
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The seminar has been designed for directors and senior officials in non-governmental organisations. It addresses the current role of NGOs in community development and challenges NGO leaders in their efforts to build their organisations. The seminar provides participants with a learning environment that promotes and encourages the exchange of ideas and experiences and builds international links among NGO leaders.
In recent years the number and scope of non-governmental organisations, responsible for health, education, the economy and the environment, has greatly increased. They are highly influential in communities, at the grass-roots level, in the planning and implementation of social and economic policy. Increasingly, NGOs mediate the relationship between the private and public sectors and facilitate private sector investment in community development and the environment. Therefore, effective leadership and creative management of NGOs are crucial to gain advantage in the competition for the limited resources available to the public sector.
Galilee Institute takes as its mission to sustain development through capacity building. Based on our institution’s scholarship policy, the Institute Board have decided to grant Tuition Scholarships* to qualified candidates. We would therefore like to invite your organisation to nominate a candidate for the programme. Nominees must hold a university degree or have vast work experience within the field and be fluent in English.
Should you wish to recommend a candidate or participate yourself, register online via http://www.galilcol.ac.il/courses/programs/course.asp?courseID=49, or contact the Programme Director by fax or email.
*This does not include the airfare to and from Israel and the living expenses while the participant is in Israel, which are covered by the candidate, employer or other sponsor.
Contact
Mr. Omri Ilan
Programme Director, Management and Development of NGOs
Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI)
E-mail: info@galilcol.ac.il
Phone: 972 4 642 8888
Fax: 972 4 651 4811
Social Capital Market Coming To Africa; The Reality of a New Africa
Femi Aderibigbe, ED, ImpactHouse International
Announcing $1 Million Fund for News Innovation
African News Innovation Challenge (ANIC) is looking for ideas that will transform the way that African media work. This means that your idea should offer significant and tangible improvements to existing tools or techniques, or should propose new ways for African journalists to gather news, tell stories, engage with audiences, or sustain media organisations.
Ideas that have the potential to be replicated or that could scale continentally will have an advantage.
$1m Up For Grabs in African News Innovation Challenge.
Africa’s first major contest designed to promote the development of digital media products and innovations is now accepting applications.
ANIC will provide grants from $12,500 to $100,000 for the best projects aimed at strengthening and transforming African news media. The contest is modeled on the highly successful Knight News Challenge in the United States. Grantees will also receive technical advice, startup support and one-on-one mentoring from the world’s top media experts.
Of particular interest are proposals that improve data-based investigative journalism, audience engagement, mobile news distribution, data visualization, new revenue models and workflow systems.
The African Media Initiative (AMI), Africa’s largest association of media owners and operators, announced the contest last November as part of a pan-African initiative to spur digital experimentation and technology-driven projects and startups.
“African media have a tremendous opportunity to leapfrog the business disruption faced by media in Europe and the U.S.,” says AMI chief executive Amadou Mahtar Ba. “The growing reach of mobile networks and improving Internet access is beginning to reshape the media landscape in Africa. We believe this competition will help African news organizations stay ahead of the curve.”
Contest partners include Omidyar Network, Google, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the U.S. State Department, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
“Omidyar Network is delighted to be supporting the African News Innovation Challenge,” said Stephen King, partner at Omidyar Network. “Across the continent we are seeing innovative ways in which technology is providing people with greater access to information. This challenge is a great opportunity for journalists, entrepreneurs and technologists to join forces and help enable the African media to hold their leaders to account.”
Digital strategist Justin Arenstein, a Knight International Journalism Fellow working with AMI, is leading the initiative. The International Center for Journalists in Washington, D.C., administers the Knight Fellowships.
HOW TO APPLY:
Entries must be submitted to the ANIC website by midnight (Central African Time) on July 10, 2012.
WHO CAN APPLY:
Proposals may be submitted by news pioneers from anywhere in the world, but entries must have an African media partner who will help develop and test the innovation. Projects that are designed for Africa will stand a better chance of receiving support.
Read more here: http://africannewschallenge.org/
How NGOs can obtain Consultative Status with the United Nations’ ECOSOC
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) provides NGOs the opportunity to obtain consultative status which benefits NGOs in attending international conferences and events, make written and oral statements at these events, organize side events, enter the United Nations premises and have opportunities to network and lobby.
Every year, prior to June 1st, ECOSOC seeks applications from NGOs by first asking them to get their profiles registered in their database and then submit their online application for consideration to obtain the consultative status. The NGO Branch at the United Nations receives, reviews and forwards the applications to the Committee on NGOS which meets twice a year to decide which NGOs applying for consultative status it will recommend to the ECOSOC Council.
As this process of obtaining consultative status is beneficial for both NGOs and the ECOSOC, many NGOs around the world fail to apply or get their applications rejected easily either because they have poor knowledge about the process involved in selection or they have less interest in it.
In order to increase awareness about the benefits of the consultative status, the United Nations has published a simple and useful guide outlining the meaning, benefits, process and selection of NGOs. The objectives of the guide are “to encourage relevant NGOs to apply for consultative status with the Council, as well as to help organizations already in consultative status to get the most of this relationship while increasing their contribution to the work of ECOSOC.”
Running to some 44 pages, the guide provides basic information about the way in which NGOs can interact with the United Nations in general and with ECOSOC in particular. It describes the different formal and informal mechanisms that civil society can utilize in order to work with the different ECOSOC Commissions.
The guide available in English and Portuguese versions can be downloaded from this link.
Source Link: http://www.fundsforngos.org/guides/ngos-obtain-consultative-status-united-nations-ecosoc/#ixzz1sOwsDCt3
Call For Nomination for Appointment into the NEITI NSWG
ollowing the outcome of the meeting of the 7-person Committee set up at the Civil Society Strategic Meeting on the NEITI held in Abuja on Wednesday, 18 April, 2012, you are hereby informed that the process for nominating civil society candidates for consideration and recommendation for appointment into the NEITI NSWG is now open.International Investors Chose South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya as top 3 African countries in 2011
International investors chose South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya as the best African countries on the continent for investment in 2011. A survey conducted by Africa Business Panel among 800 business professionals involved with Africa shows that these 3 countries were earmarked as the continent’s favourites when it comes to international investment. Ghana, Angola, Tanzania, Rwanda, Botswana, Uganda and Mozambique are the runners up and complete the top ten countries for investment out of 53 economies on the African continent.
Virtually all African economies show promising year-on-year growth. This is attracting the attention of the international investor community who increasingly see Africa as ‘the last frontier’ for attractive growth opportunities. Research and numerous survey results among the international investor community consistently indicate that investors expect over half of the ten fastest growing economies in the world in 2011 to be African.
The Africa Business Confidence Index has published a month-on-month business confidence index since January 2011. The index results for Africa based on surveys of 800 business professionals from more than 30 countries on the continent consistently show growth. Calculations are based on the purchase managers index methodology used globally. The outcome of the business confidence index for the African continent is consistent with the trust of the international investor community. The manufacturing business confidence index for May is 53.8 and for non-manufacturing 57.1 for the same month. Any number over 50 indicated growth.
It is no coincidence that the top-10 countries selected by the international investor community in 2011 are all sub-Saharan. Northern Africa has suffered a set back in confidence from investors owing to the political turmoil which started at the beginning of the year.
Another interesting outcome with regard to the most attractive African economies to invest in is the fact that they are among the largest on the continent and – with the exception of Rwanda – non-Francophone.
The top-10 African countries selected by the international investor community in 2011 in order of preference:
1. South Africa
2. Nigeria
3. Kenya
4. Ghana
5. Angola
6. Tanzania
7. Rwanda
8. Botswana
9. Uganda
10. Mozambique
About Africa Business Panel
Africa Business Panel (ABP) is a joint initiative of Africa Business Communities (www.africabusinesscommunities.com), a fast-growing network of African entrepreneurs and business professionals, and NarrowMinds (www.narrowminds.com), a leading architect of online market research and loyalty programs.
Africa Business Panel generates reliable indices on business developments and economic outlook in Africa. In doing so, Africa Business Panel wishes to contribute to the continent’s business reputation and produce in-depth market research data for governments, the business community and international organizations. Africa Business Panel provides intelligent matches for African business professionals with the rest of the world which results in promising business opportunities.
Call For Applications: Training On Human Rights Mechanisms For Civil Society Actors In Africa
The African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will organise a training programme on international and regional human rights mechanism. The main objective of the training programme is to build the capacity of representatives of African human rights NGOs with knowledge and skills to effectively use the African human rights and international system in their work towards human rights promotion and protection on the continent. Deadline for applications: August 15, 2011.
At the end of the training course, participants would also participate in the NGOs Forum (Forum on the Participation of NGOs in the Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) as well as the public sessions of the African Commission. This is to enable participants gain first hand knowledge in the practical and theoretical application of the one of the most important regional human rights mechanism, i.e. the African Commission and at the same time provide the platform to practice their newly gained skills. In addition, the training programme is designed to enable participants to acquire in-depth understanding of the interaction and complementarities of the regional and international human rights systems.
Expected Outcomes
At the end of the course, participants will be:
Equipped to engage the African Commission, the African Court (apply for observer status, file complaints/cases, make statements at Commission’s sessions etc) and the UN
Meet in person and forge relationship with the Commissioners and Special Rapporteurs of the Commission
Opportuned to network with a wide range of civil society organisations on issues of common interest
Equipped with increased knowledge in advocacy and lobbying strategies
Course Content and Methodology
The training programme will be conducted in both English and French with simultaneous interpretation provided. The programme will be interactive and would comprise presentations by experts, plenary discussion, debates, case studies, and other similar methodologies that promote effective participation and sharing of experience, skill and knowledge on the following broad themes:
Status of Human Rights and Democracy in Africa
The African Human Rights System (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights etc)
Special mechanisms within the African Human rights system
The United Nations Human Rights System
International Human Rights Law
The Role of NGOs in the African Human Rights System
The Role of NHRI in the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights
Civil Society engagement with UN mechanism (Universal Periodic Review, Special Procedures)
Human Rights of Minorities and Indigenous communities
Networking, Advocacy and Lobbying Strategies
Duration
The training programme, which is scheduled to precede the NGOs Forum, would last for five days. It will be followed by the NGOs Forum (duration of 3 days),which usually precedes the Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The tentative dates are 17th-21st October 2011, which shall be confirmed in due course of time.
Venue
The Venue shall be notified in due course of time.
Participants
Participants numbering about 15 to 20 would be drawn from mainly African countries.
Resource Persons
Resource Persons will be drawn from the organisers’ wide pool of eminent defenders and activists who are experts in the field of democracy, rule of law and human rights on the continent.
Application
Interested applicants should send a letter of application to the African Centre, taking into consideration the following selection requirements:
Selection Requirements
Interested applicants must meet the following selection requirements:
Aged between 25 and 40 years
Must submit abridged curriculum vitae (maximum one page)
Must be fluent in either English and or French
Must occupy position relevant to training as well as demonstrate ability to related training benefits to work
Must have been actively involved in the last three years in human rights work in the continent either in as part of a movement, Non Governmental sector or in a national human rights institution
Must prepare and submit prior to arrival for the course a report on the human rights situation in their respective countries (maximum 5 pages)
Letter of support signed by Head of organisation/institution or designated representative expressing commitment to the implementation of a work plan
Written commitment to participate in the NGOs Forum as well as public sessions of the African Commission confirmed by the responsible official authorizing such delegation
Participant would be required to identify an area of work that puts into practice knowledge/skill gained during the training programme and MUST develop and submit a written project proposal not more than five pages long
Qualified women are highly encouraged to apply.
Selection Procedure
A selection Panel composed of both the ACDHRS and the OHCHR will select participants of the training programme in accordance with above-mentioned selection criteria (on a first-come first-served basis considering the high number of applications to be received).
Applications MUST reach the ACDHRS before 15th August 2011 in order to be considered. The Selection Panel shall notify the final result of the selection process on or before 30th August, 2011. Only selected applicants will be contacted.
Funding/Scholarship
Both the ACDHRS and OHCHR would raise funds for the organisation of the event and would therefore be able to offer partial scholarship to qualified applicants. However, due to the anticipated high demand for participation, participants are encouraged to raise funds to cover the cost of travel, accommodation and sustenance.
A certificate of attendance would be awarded to participants at the end of the training programme.
For more information, click here