- Nominations for HIV/AIDS Reporting African journalists and journalists working in Africa can now be nominated for the Awards for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Communication in Africa. The deadline is 20 March. Award categories include best mass media campaign, intervention or production; best folk media initiative; best multi-channel communication; best interpersonal/community-based communication; and best HIV- or AIDS-related article, series or column. The African Network sponsors the awards for Strategic Communication in Health and Development (AfriComNet). AfriComNet seeks to support the media in raising public awareness and promoting health development. Interested journalists must…

- African Business Reporting Awards Now Accepting Entries African business journalists can now apply for the annual African Business Reporting Awards, which recognize astute journalistic coverage of business in Africa. The deadline is 15 April. Sponsored by consumer goods company Diageo, the awards seek to encourage excellence in African business journalism and to acknowledge the role of business journalism in promoting economic development in Africa. Interested applicants can submit entries in a total of six categories, ranging from best radio feature to journalist of the year. Entries must include three samples of the applicant's work published between May 2008 and April 2009…

- 10-week Fellowship to Bring Young Journalists to the UN Young journalists from developing nations in Africa, Asia, South America or the Caribbean can apply for the Dag Hammarskjöld Scholarship Fund, a fellowship that grants them a 10-week reporting stint in New York. The deadline is 22 March. From mid-September to late November, selected journalists will be able to see the United Nations at work and report on its proceedings for news media in their home countries. Applicants must be full-time, professional journalists between 25 and 35 years old, be employed by a recognized print, radio, television, or Internet media organization, and have a good working knowledge of English. T…

- Fellowship for Women Human Rights Journalists The Washington, D.C.-based International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) is now accepting applications for the 2009-10 Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship, which is open to women journalists whose focus is human rights and social justice. The tailored program allows one-woman journalist to spend an academic year with access to universities in the Boston area as well as major U.S. newspapers The Boston Globe and The New York Times. The fellowship will run from September 2009 to May 2010. The deadline is 15 April. Elizabeth Neuffer, an award-winning reporter for The Boston Globe who was killed in May 2003 in an automobile accident while on…

- Nomination Deadline Approaching for Courageous Female Journalists Nominations for the next round of the International Women's Media Foundation's (IWMF) Courage in Journalism awards are due 2 March. The international awards recognize the bravery of full, part-time and freelance journalists women journalists working in print, broadcast and online media. Nominees risk political persecution, physical injury and death in their efforts to expose corruption and champion human rights, according to IWMF. Competitive candidates will exhibit extraordinary strength of character, bravery and perseverance in reporting the news; have a strong commitment to press freedom and be well-res…

- Highway Africa Safety-training Course in South Africa A three-day training course in South Africa will focus on safety training for journalists and bloggers operating in fragile states, with particular emphasis on safe communication and publishing using Internet and mobile technology. Highway Africa, a partnership between Rhodes University and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), will be running the course, "Freedom of Expression in Cyberspace," from 15-17 April at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Fifteen full scholarships to attend the workshop are open to journalists and bloggers from Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe…

- Journalists Can Attend Symposium on Kenyan Communications Act Journalists and journalism students can attend a symposium on 9 March in Nairobi, Kenya, organized to discuss the implications of the new Kenyan Communications (Amendment) Act, which grants the government the sole right to distribute media licenses, control media programs and penalize media infractions with prison terms. Hosted by Daystar University, the symposium will discuss the effects of this law on the relations between the media and the government. The event will also look at the legalities of the act, its implications for journalism practice and education, freedom of expression and media ethics. For more informat…

- The South Africa-based Institute for the Advancement of Journalists (IAJ) will offer a series of skills courses throughout the month of March. The courses offer an opportunity to learn new and improve old journalism skills. Five courses will be offered in two-day periods starting on 2 March in Johannesburg, South Africa. The courses will focus on writing and delivering speeches, devising media strategies, skills for working on the Web, writing opinion pieces, and creating electronic newsletters. For more information, visit http://www.iaj.org.za/index.htm?main_category=1 Or contact Gugu Ndaba at cmtu@iaj.org.za.

- Zimbabwe's Harare Polytechnic School of Journalism recently announced a number of short courses for journalists that will help improve the quality of broadcast journalism in Zimbabwe. The nature and details of the courses are currently being finalized. The courses, to take place throughout the year, will aim to bridge the gap between journalism standards in Zimbabwe and internationally. Courses will cover topics ranging from photojournalism to documentary filmmaking, and are intended to be comprehensive and research oriented. For more information, visit http://www.mediainzimbabwe.com/?p=1269 or http://www.hrepoly.ac.zw/index.html.

- - Courses to Improve Journalism in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe's Harare Polytechnic School of Journalism recently announced a number of short courses for journalists that will help improve the quality of broadcast journalism in Zimbabwe. The nature and details of the courses are currently being finalized. The courses, to take place throughout the year, will aim to bridge the gap between journalism standards in Zimbabwe and internationally. Courses will cover topics ranging from photojournalism to documentary filmmaking, and are intended to be comprehensive and research oriented. For more information, visit http://www.mediainzimbabwe.com/?p=1269 or http://www.hrepoly.ac.zw/index.html.

- BONG COUNTY, Liberia. For 5 days beginning March 18 – 23, a group of young African leaders come together to add value to the lives of their brothers and sisters in post-war countries. Under the auspices of AFYUL –African Youths Unite for Liberia, the change project has been designed for 50 (fifty) ex-child combatants (male and female) between the ages of 16 and 28 in Bong County, Liberia. It is aimed at rehabilitating the minds of ex-child combatants thereby giving them the skills necessary to make them change agents and contributors to the rebuilding of Liberia. These young leaders have come to understand the need for the African continent to grow together, as roots meshing…

- New WHO Report on Global Tobacco Epidemic Calls on Nations to Implement Life-Saving Tobacco Control Policies [Port Harcourt, Nigeria] —The World Health Organization (WHO) today released a landmark report that makes clear both the devastating scope of the global tobacco epidemic – it is the leading cause of preventable death in the world today – and the fact that it is entirely avoidable if nations implement proven solutions. This report presents the first comprehensive picture of what the world’s nations are doing to address this public health crisis, and it demonstrates starkly that most nations are not doing nearly enough. Only about five percent of the worl…

- Hopes for the success of the plan increased early in August, following agreement with a UK state firm Sud Energie—controlled by British-owned emerging markets power generator, Globeleg—to build new 200 Mw station at Memve’ele hydropower station.The project is expected to move power supply in Cameroon from the present 900Mw to 2000Mw in the next eight years, according to the country’s finance minister, Polycarpe Abah, who talked to Reuters after the signing ceremony August 9. “This project is really important for the economy of our country. You know that we are facing serious energy problems every day. It on a daily basis affects our industries, our enterprises…

- African Business Leaders in Ghana blaze the trail for an effective continental succession plan. We are all beginning to think sustainably for our organisations, businesses and governments. Asking ourselves, “who takes over the mantle of leadership, can our vision outlive us, are our successors capable and credible, will our interests be protected?” These were the sincere musings of African business leaders at the just concluded African Business Leaders Forum (ABLF), Ghana 2007, organized by the Business in Africa magazine. The key objectives of the event were to create an engagement platform to discuss African issues, enhance knowledge and generate ideas; no doubt a uniq…

- The rich minerals in Madagascar may have attracted the Chinese who have signed four deals worth roughly $78 million for hotel construction and debt alleviation among other things, Malagasy officials said.The deals confirmed agreements made at the China-Africa summit in Beijing last November between the Asian powerhouse and the enormous, mineral-rich island. "The deals cover partial debt cancellation, an agreement on economic and technical cooperation, a preferential loan for the construction of a five-star hotel, and finally a deal for a donation of medicines," said Misa Irodia, director of bilateral cooperation at the ministry of foreign affairs. Also, the World Bank has appro…

- President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe moved from positive to negative on the vexed issue of dialogue with the opposition as a condition for a ‘closer understanding’ by the international community on the economic melt-down facing the country. In the run-in to the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Zambia principally called to look into the crisis in Zimbabwe, Mugabe showed signs of mellowing down and seeing reason to talk with the opposition. By 17 August 17, the deeply troubled leader was on his old turf, saying a vehement no to any dialogue with his arch-opponents. Documents available to Reuters indicated that President Mugabe was “nearing a deal with the o…

- Africa still holds the key to the true origin of man. The search for clues still depends on yields from locations around the continent. Now, archeologists think there are clues to unravel humanity’s attitude on monogamy and polygamy. Scientists in Kenya have reported some useful discoveries. ‘Prior to the discovery of the new specimens, scientists did not know that Homo erectus males were far larger than the females,’ said Dr Emma Mbua, one of the team. “This sexual dimorphism is considered a primitive character because it occurs in other apes,” she said. She said this could also mean the sexual behaviour of Homo erectus was more like that of apes, where individuals, especially males,…

- Cameroon, believed to be the most industrialized of the Central Africa’s CFA monetary union, plans to increase its power supply to 2000 Megawatts by 2015, according to agency reports. Hopes for the success of the plan increased early in August, following agreement with a UK state firm Sud Energie—controlled by British-owned emerging markets power generator, Globeleg—to build new 200 Mw station at Memve’ele hydropower station. The project is expected to move power supply in Cameroon from the present 900Mw to 2000Mw in the next eight years, according to the country’s finance minister, Polycarpe Abah, who talked to Reuters after the signing ceremony August 9. “This project is really imp…