Q&A: Unlocking the Power of Constitutional Rights

South Africa's constitution is often celebrated for its protection of social and economic rights; but how readily can this protection be invoked by the most vulnerable?

ZAMBIA: Corruption: Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

Zambia's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) received more than 2,000 corruption complaints from the public for 2008, the ACC yearly report states.

DR CONGO: Speak of the Real Authors of the War

Each episode of the Democratic Republic of Congo's long-running civil war has weighed particularly heavily on women, yet women have relatively little voice in the negotiations for peace.

ETHIOPIA: Political Space Narrowing

Bertukan Mideksa has a reputation in Ethiopia as a competent politician, but voters will not be able to cast ballots for her in the next national election. The revocation of her 2007 pardon has sent a chill through Ethiopia's opposition parties.

KENYA: Press Freedom: Going, Going, Gone

Dark clouds are forming against freedom of expression in Kenya, following the recent passing of a controversial Bill by parliament. The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Bill, awaiting presidential assent to become law, gives the state powers to invade media houses, seize broadcast equipment, control broadcast content, even taking a station off air.

ANGOLA: Deadly Countdown for Small Parties

Angola’s vast, confusing party landscape is about to undergo a major transformation: as of January, 22 parties and coalitions will simply vanish from the political map.

Q&A: Failure to Translate Women’s Legal Rights into Action

Each year, for 16 days in December, the world’s focus shifts towards taking action against gender-based violence. Governments and civil society organisations raise awareness around women’s rights and lobby for gender equality. But activists lament that little action is taken throughout the rest of the year and women’s legal rights often fail to be implemented and put to action.

GENDER-KENYA: Renewed Campaign to Protect Women's Land Rights

Pressure is mounting to include a National Land Policy that ensures equal access to land between women and men in Kenya's new constitution.

POLITICS-AFRICA: Constitutions Affirmed as Essential for Democracy

One of Africa's main challenges is ensuring that constitutions reflect a consensus amongst all sectors of the population, including vulnerable groups such as women, are rarely taken into account in constitutional strengthening initiatives.

ZAMBIA: Violence Against Women on the Rise

"There will be no peace, security and sustainable economic development in Zambia as long as women’s rights continue to be treated as a secondary issue," said Non-Governmental Organisation Coordination Committee (NGOCC) chairperson Marian Munyinda.

Q&A: "How Are We Going to Sustain Gender Approaches?"

The negative aspects of Africa's experience with structural adjustment programmes beginning in the 1990s have been well-documented - facing high debt loads, African governments agreed to liberalise their economies, privatise public enterprises, and sharply reduce social spending with often painful effects on the most vulnerable.

GENDER-AFRICA: "Where Is The Money?"

"Investing in women pays off. It is an effective means to reduce poverty and accelerate the achievement of the rest of the MDGs," says Danish minister for development cooperation Ulla Tørnæs.

POLITICS-MALAWI: New Efforts for Citizen Power

Civil society organisations in Malawi are keen on the newly introduced Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF) which, they hope, will provide people with more power to ensure that there is proper governance and transparency in the country.

AFRICA: Keen on Democracy, Despite Mixed Results

Over the last twenty years, the ballot box has replaced military coups as a means of political change across Africa, says Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, a political scientist from the University of Ghana. However the results of democratic practices are a mixed bag of sand and sim-sim.

HEALTH-AFRICA: Research and Policies Lack Civil Society Input

Health experts and activists have heavily criticised African governments for failing to collaborate with civil society organisations (CSOs) on health research and health policy development.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Governance Still Failing

How can governance be improved to give development a chance in Africa? Political theorist Patrick Chabal believes a role has to be found for traditional methods of accountability to be used alongside formal systems recognised in the West.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Gender Budgeting Still Finding Its Feet

With the world slightly past the halfway mark to the Millennium Development Goal deadline of 2015, pressure is mounting to promote gender equality. Goal Three is to promote gender equality and empower women - but in fact, every goal relates directly to women's rights.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Activists Demand Justice for Politically-Motivated Rapes

"I was raped by four Zanu PF militias at night, just outside their base, during the elections. They took turns to rape me, accusing me of supporting the opposition, MDC [Movement for Democratic Change]", said Pauline Moyana* from Mutasa, a community in Zimbabwe’s eastern Manicaland province.

AGRICULTURE: Swazi Input Trade Fairs Falling Short

Mary Ntshangase sits under a big umbrella - a packet of beans in one hand and a packet of peanuts in the other - wooing customers to her stall.

TRADE-CAMEROON: Borders – Where Two Economies Meet

No one pays full price for petrol in northern Cameroon, not when there's cheaper Nigerian contraband available. In Garoua town for example, there are about 4,000 commercial motorcycles which all depend on "zoa zoa" or "federale" as this highly cherished liquid is generally referred to.

DEVELOPMENT: Zimbabweans Worried About Aid With Strings Attached

Aid with strings attached frequently does not translate into the improvement of the lives of the people for whom that money was ostensibly sourced in the first place. Most of the capital received in aid is used to pay back debt owed to Western donors.