The African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) funds local, national, sub-regional, and regional organisations in Africa working towards women’s empowerment. The AWDF is an institutional capacity-building and programme development fund, which aims to help build a culture of learning and partnership within the African women's movement. In addition to awarding grants, the AWDF attempts to strengthen the organisational capacities of its grantees. The AWDF funds work in six thematic areas: women's human rights; political participation; peace building; health, reproductive rights; economic empowerment; and HIV and AIDS. Applicants are expected to build relevant and reasonable running/core costs into their project proposals. Grants are made to national and regional organisations for aspects of organisational growth and development such as strategic planning, developing fundraising strategies, communications systems, retreats, governance systems etc. Grants cover capital costs such as purchase of computers, printers, and photocopiers. The AWDF makes grants in three cycles each year. Applications can be sent in at any time. Organisations can apply for grants ranging from US$1,000 - US$40,000. Grants over US$20,000 are only made to organisations which operate on a regional basis.
Jobs and Announcements
The Building and Social Housing Foundation is seeking entries for the World Habitat Awards 2010. Now in their 25th year, the World Habitat Awards seek to identify practical, innovative and sustainable solutions to current housing issues faced by countries of the Global South, as well as the North, which are capable of being transferred or adapted for use elsewhere. The competition is open to all individuals and organisations, including central and local governments, non-governmental organisations, community-based groups, research organisations and the private sector. Each year a panel of international judges assesses the projects entered for the competition and selects two winners. An award of £10,000 is presented to the winners at the annual United Nations global celebration of World Habitat Day. This year’s World Habitat Awards were presented to the Local Housing Movement Programme, from Egypt, and Ekostaden Augustenborg, from Sweden. You can find details of these two winning projects and the competition finalists on the World Habitat Awards website.
Biomed Central is calling for contributions to AIDS Research and Therapy, and the rest of the BioMed Central journal portfolio, which are all covered by an open access license agreement, meaning that anyone with internet access can read, download, redistribute and reuse published articles. In other words, if you publish your next article with AIDS Research and Therapy, you will be able to reach a potentially wider audience than you would by publishing in a subscription journal. Your published article can then be posted on your personal or institutional homepage, e-mailed to friends and colleagues, printed, archived in a collection, distributed on CD-ROM, included in coursepacks, quoted in the press, translated and further distributed as often and widely as possible.
The draft version of UNAIDS’s strategic plan for 2011–2015 is now available for input from interested parties around the world. To add your comment, visit the link given here. The main goals of the plan are to help achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, halt the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). UNAIDS aims to revolutionise HIV prevention efforts by supporting communities to demand effective prevention approaches and supporting countries to deliver the appropriate combination of biomedical, behavioural and structural approaches. It also aims to support the development of more effective, ethical, affordable and sustainable approaches to treatment including its delivery and to scale up HIV counselling, testing and treatment access and coverage. UNAIDS will intensify its support to governments to realise and protect human rights in the HIV response, promote the enactment and enforcement of supportive laws and the removal of punitive laws, support communities to challenge harmful social and gender norms, address gender-based violence and promote the rights of women and girls for gender equality.
In partnership with Computer Aid International, BioMed Central will be hosting a two-day conference on open access publishing at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, from 11-12 November 2010. Open access to the results of scientific and medical research has potential to play an important role in international development, and this conference will discuss the benefits of open access publishing in an African context, from the perspective of both readers seeking access to information, and researchers seeking to globally communicate the results of their work. Attendance at the conference is free and is open to researchers, librarians, vice-chancellors and funders for discussions on access to scientific research. However, space is limited so, to reserve your place, please send an email to the address given here.
Community Toolbox, a global resource of free information on essential skills for building healthy communities is inviting applications for its Out of the Box Prize 2010. The Prize has been established to honour innovative approaches to promoting community health and development worldwide. Non-governmental organisations and other groups working in the areas of community health, education, urban or rural development, poverty, the environment, social justice or other related issues of importance to communities in any part of the world can apply for the Prize. The Prize is looking for innovative and promising approaches implemented in these areas. Innovative approaches may include ‘a unique or effective way of planning or implementing a change effort, creative use of existing community resources, original ways of generating participation and collaboration, implementing a best practice within a new context or group, or other innovative and promising approaches. The grand prize consists of a US$5,000 cash award and a customised WorkStation for your organisation to the value of $2,100.
Registration for the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners on ‘Science to Accelerate Universal Health Coverage’ closes on 1 October. Registration can be done at http://www.hsr-symposium.org/index.php/registration. The event will be attended by researchers, policy-makers, funders, and other stakeholders representing diverse constituencies who will to share evidence, identify significant knowledge gaps, and set a research agenda that reflects the needs of low- and middle-income countries. The specific objectives of the symposium are to: share state-of-the art research on universal health coverage; develop a global agenda of priority research on accelerating progress towards universal health coverage; facilitate greater research collaboration and learning communities across disciplines, sectors, initiatives and countries; strengthen the scientific rigour of the field of health systems research including concepts, frameworks, measures and methods; and identify mechanisms for strengthening capacities – individual, institutional and infrastructural – for research on health systems particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
The ninth of a series of seminars of the African Nutrition Leadership Programme (ANLP) will be held in South Africa from 15-25 March 2011. The aim of this programme is to assist the development of future leaders in the field of human nutrition in Africa. Emphasis will be on understanding and developing participants’ qualities and skills as leaders, team building, communication and nutrition information in a broader context, and to understanding the role of nutrition science in the world around us. The programme is designed for individuals who have experience in various fields of nutrition. Preference will be given to candidates with a postgraduate qualification, postdoctoral fellows and candidates with comparable working experience in the broader human nutrition sciences, studying or working in Africa. ANLP is also actively seeking applications from participants who are under the age of 40 years. The maximum number of participants is 30 and the course fee is €1,200.
The Third HIV and AIDS in the Workplace Research Conference, taking place in Johannesburg from 9-11 November, will reflect on the intersection of workplace HIV responses, academic research and surveillance, with a particular focus on strengthening prevention interventions in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa, linking prevention research to workplace practice. Prevention will be a key priority focus area, as success in preventing new infections is now widely accepted as the key to ultimately curbing the impact of HIV and AIDS on South Africa and its people. The Conference offers an opportunity for business to step back and reflect on HIV and AIDS programmes, using the lens of research and practice to consider what has worked and what lessons can be extracted. The Conference is also a platform to translate research into meaningful and sustainable responses that can be applied in the workplace.
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNFPII) is the advisory body to the United Nations Economic and Social Council for discussing indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. It has a trust fund on indigenous issues relating to the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People. This Fund is now offering funding for non-governmental organisations for 2011. Projects can be proposed in the areas of culture, education, health, human rights, the environment and social and economic development. All projects should primarily be focused upon indigenous peoples and they should directly benefit them. The guidelines suggest that the project proposals should be developed by indigenous people, but in cases where non-indigenous organisations are submitting proposals, they should develop them with full participation, consultation and free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples, groups or committees receiving the benefits of the project.