* LWATI * The monthly e-newsletter of the Southern African Non-Governmental Organisation Network (SANGONeT)
April 2006, Number 22 www.sangonet.org.za "Lwati" is an isiSwati word meaning information. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- <> EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS <> CIVIL SOCIETY INFORMATION SERVICES <> TECHNOLOGY SERVICES <> NETWORKING AND OUTREACH <> CONTACT DETAILS --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- <> EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS Dear reader, Welcome to the 22nd edition of SANGONeT's monthly e-newsletter! The past month has been an exciting and challenging period for everyone at SANGONeT. The highlight of March 2006 was definitely the second annual SANGONeT "ICTs for Civil Society" Conference and Exhibition which we hosted from 7-9 March 2006 at the Indaba Hotel in Fourways, Johannesburg. Bringing together more than 250 participants, the event was characterised by many interesting and stimulating presentations, discussions and practical technology demonstrations, focusing on key issues such as telecommunications policy, open source, open content and how the Internet is impacting on social change. An encouraging development was the high level of delegate participation in discussions, especially as the aim of the annual conference is to contribute to increased ICT awareness and investment in the NGO sector. Refer to the conference website - <www.sangonet.org.za/conference2006> - for copies of all the speaker presentations, daily conference newsletters, a list of media references and a photo gallery. One of the highlights of the event was the announcement of the five winners of the "South African NGO Website Awards 2006" during the gala dinner on 8 March 2006. Each winner received a prize to the value of R10,000. The purpose of this new annual award is to promote excellence in non-profit online communications. The following five organisations were announced as the winners: * Engender <www.engender.org.za>; * Idasa <www.idasa.org.za>; * Noah - Neighbourhood Old Age House <www.noah.org.za>; * Sustainable Energy Africa <www.sustainable.org.za>; * Transkei Land Service Organisation <www.tralso.org.za>. The judging panel comprised representatives from civil society, government and the private sector with a skills base incorporating the fields of online communication and ICT for development. Torque-It and Sentech sponsored the prizes. As far as the future of the conference is concerned, we are very encouraged with the feedback received from participants in response to both the 2005 and 2006 events, and hope to organise another high quality event in 2007. I would like to thank all participants, sponsors, exhibitors and SANGONeT staff members for their contributions to the overall success of the 2006 event. With the conference something of the past, our focus now shifts to a number of new and ongoing strategic operational priorities. These include the ongoing expansion of the SANGONeT NGO portal and PRODDER NGO directory (refer to the Civil Society Information Services section), as well as the roll-out of Thetha ICT discussion forums in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. The first event will be held in Namibia during June 2006. Nthabiseng Taole, who has recently joined SANGONeT as our new ICT Advocacy Manager, will coordinate the implementation of the regional Thetha events. Another exciting new opportunity that SANGONeT is currently finalising is a partnership with Techsoup Stock, an initiative of Compumentor based in San Francisco. The aim of this initiative is to distribute donated and discounted software to US and Canadian nonprofit organisations, and in future, to other parts of the world. Starting in August 2006, SANGONeT will manage the Southern African roll-out of this initiative. Linked to SANGONeT's NGO.ZA facility, this new initiative will make a significant contribution to the ICT uptake and investment levels in the local NGO sector. To learn more about Techsoup Stock, please visit http://ww.techsoup.org/stock As always, we are very interested in how you think we could best serve the NGO sector with relevant information and ICT products and services. Please send us your views, comments and suggestions. Best wishes David Barnard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ <> CIVIL SOCIETY INFORMATION SERVICES The month of March proved to be most challenging and at the same time rewarding for the CSIS team. The team was deeply involved in coordinating SANGONeT's "South African Website Awards 2006" which was aligned to the conference process. We were overwhelmed by the response to the awards and humbled by the calibre of the entries. We look forward to viewing next year's entries. In addition to this, on a weekly basis between 70-90 new articles are posted on the SANGONeT portal. The number of original articles produced by the team is also on the ascendancy. In March 2006 we posted a new donor interview, another NGO profile, started our series of sectoral profiles and produced three feature articles. In addition, we also had an opinion piece contributed to the portal as an exclusive SANGONeT article. Our reward is that the five-month old portal has had more than 72,000 visitors to date that have viewed more than 620,000 pages. In the month of March 2006 alone, 18,000 visitors came to the SANGONeT portal. A promising 157 people participated in the March 2006 portal poll which sought to test perceptions about transparency in the NGO sector. The results came out in favour of increased transparency. Pollers were tested on whether they believed NGO directors should publicise their salaries in annual reports or not. A total of 58.6% of poll takers believed that this is absolutely essential. An additional 18.5% argued that it is preferable. Only 8.3% of poll takers believed that it was totally unnecessary while 14.6% believed that it is a discretionary choice. To visit the SANGONeT portal, please refer to http://www.sangonet.org.za However, feedback from visitors as well as interaction with delegates at the SANGONeT conference has given the team much food for thought in terms of enhancing the SANGONeT portal so that it aligns more closely to user requirements. At the end of March an entire day was set aside where the CSIS team reviewed the portal. In coming weeks visitors will notice subtle changes aimed at bringing to the fore information that is more deeply embedded in the portal. The PRODDER team has also worked extremely hard and at the end of March had validated 1,542 organisations on the directory. Each of the organisations have been contacted individually to validate their details. For more information about NGOs and development organisations in South Africa, please visit <http://www.prodder.org.za> The portal's editor is also coordinating what could potentially be South Africa's first online workshop for NGOs. The workshop will be conducted entirely in the online environment and Michael Gilbert, an international expert in non-profit technology issues based in Seattle, will host the two-hour event on 8 May 2006 to coincide with World Information Society Day. The aim of the workshop is to encourage IT managers working in NGOs to apply technology in an upstream manner in order to enhance the strategic focus of their organisations. There is space for only 12 people to participate at the Rand equivalent of US$50 per person. Interested individuals are invited to submit queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information about the SANGONeT portal, kindly send a query to SANGONeT's deputy director and editor of the portal, Fazila Farouk, at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> / <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ <> TECHNOLOGY SERVICES # Technology Resource Centre for NGO.ZA Civil society organisations need to make informed decisions about their technology purchases. Frequently this is not possible due to the lack of relevant and easily understandable information on technology options and implications. Hence the NGO.ZA portal is currently being augmented with the addition of a Technology Resource Centre. This online resource centre, to be launched by the end of this month, will contain information on available options and emerging trends in non-profit technology. It will also contain an indexed list of publications on ICTs and technology planning that are currently available in the public domain. NGO.ZA already carries a number of automated newsfeeds on Open Source Software, Broadband in South Africa, Technology Planning and PC Security. It also features a shopping cart mechanism that allows for the online procurement of 18 technology products and services. Visit the NGO.ZA portal at <http://www.ngo.za> # Central Case Management System (CCMS) - Paralegal Sector SANGONeT has developed a Central Case Management System (CCMS) for the paralegal sector in South Africa. The CCMS was launched on its own domain and is available for online testing by interested parties. A default user name and password is available on site for this purpose. A number of minor functionality changes have been enabled in response to feedback received. These include better management of server resources in order to optimise operation and the addition of a user- assistance note at the point of log-in. The efficacy and value of any technical solution is linked to accessibility and awareness by the constituency it serves. In this context, all organisations working in the paralegal and related sectors are encouraged to visit the CCMS website and submit feedback to Joseph George on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information about the CCMS, please visit <http://www.ccms.org.za> # Technology Consulting SANGONeT offers a wide range of customised technology solutions, including open source software consulting, facilitation of web workshops and developing a technology plan for your organisation. For more information on how we can assist you, please contact Joseph George on Tel: (011) 403-4935 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ <> NETWORKING AND OUTREACH # SANGONeT's Information Coordinator, Butjwana Seokole, attended the World Bank Civil Society Workshop on 13 Mach 2006 in Pretoria. # SANGONeT's Executive Director, David Barnard, attended the Nonprofit Technology Conference from 22-24 March 2006 in Seattle, United States. He also attended the TechSoup Stock project meeting from 27-31 March 2006 in San Francisco. # SANGONeT's Deputy Director, Fazila Farouk, attended the Telkom ICT Journalist of the Year Award on 28 March 2006 at the Castle in Kyalami. # Fazila Farouk and SANGONeT's Civil Society Information Services Manager, Diane Babak, attended the Atlantic Philanthropies office welcoming function on 31 March 2006 in Rosebank. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ <> 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: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW: http://www.sangonet.org.za \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ CopyLeft. 2006. SANGONeT. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and modify this document. 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