AgriBusiness Forum 2008

Source: APO News

8 April 2008

EMRC International invites business leaders, investors and development experts to the EMRC AgriBusiness Forum 2008 on Africa’s private sector development.

Brussels, Belgium – The EMRC AgriBusiness Forum 2008 will take place
at the FAO Headquarters in Rome on 18-20 June. Organised by EMRC International in collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the event aims at networking and showcasing success stories in Africa’s agriculture and food industry. To this end, the EMRC AgriBusiness Forum 2008 will gather top-level representatives from around 20 African countries as well as from Europe, the USA and the Near East . In plenary sessions, workshops and one-to-one business meetings participants will showcase investment opportunities and latest developments in Africa’s agribusiness sectors.

Further information

eLearning Africa 2008 conference programme

Source: eLearning Africa

The eLearning Africa 2008 conference programme is now online.

With more than 240 speakers from 51 countries, 4 plenary sessions, 66 sessions in 11 parallel conference strands, 48 demonstrations and best practice examples, 13 workshops and a number of exciting new features, the event will again be a landmark in pan-African capacity-building for ICT-enhanced education and training.

The 3rd International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training will take place from May 28 to 30, 2008 in Accra, Ghana under the Patronage of the Ghanaian Minister for Education, Science and Sports, the Hon. Prof. Dominic K. Fobih.

See also: 2nd-unesco-unevoc-tvet-summit-at-elearning-africa-28-05-08-ghana

2nd UNESCO-UNEVOC TVET Summit at eLearning Africa 28-05-08 Ghana

2nd UNESCO-UNEVOC TVET Summit at eLearning Africa
28th of May 2008 in Accra, Ghana.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming increasingly important in education and training. They are opening up new learning pathways and can provide more widespread access to education and training. Yet in technical and vocational education and training (TVET), the use of ICTs is still very limited in many parts of the world. UNESCO-UNEVOC fosters the use of ICTs in TVET through its various activities. Some of the crucial issues that need to be addressed are capacity development in the use of ICTs in TVET learning and teaching, the nature of participation and collaborative learning in the context of accessibility, connectivity and localisability.

On 28 May 2008, the 2nd UNESCO-UNEVOC TVET Summit on access to and inclusion in TVET in Africa through new ICT-based solutions will take place in the context of eLearning Africa 2008 in Accra, Ghana. UNESCO-UNEVOC is seeking to promote best practice examples of the use of ICTs in TVET in Africa at this Summit, and we invite you to submit to us information about projects you are implementing in this area.

Please note that deadline for submissions is: 28 February 2008

Representatives of three selected projects will be invited to present their work at the Summit (travel will be covered by the Commonwealth of Learning), and the developments of one of these projects will be followed throughout the year. We are also planning to feature the selected projects on the UNESCO-UNEVOC homepage.

We have prepared a form for you to fill out that will help us to best assess your project in a structured way, and we look forward to your contributions!

Please feel free to distribute the forms and this information to interested organisations.
Form Download

• Form: Examples of good and innovative practices (pdf, 37 KB)
• Form: Examples of good and innovative practices (doc, 43 KB)
• Call for Participation (pdf, 21 KB)

We hope to receive very diverse replies! Please return the form to the address below.

Maja Zarini (Ms.)
Head of Communications
UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre
UN Campus
Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10
53113 Bonn
Germany
m.zarini@unevoc.unesco.org
Phone: [+49] 228 815 0115
Fax: [+49] 228 815 0199

See also: http://www.elearning-africa.com/index.php

African conference: On the Brink? Endangered Archives and Endangered Languages in Africa

Posted by sociolingo on April 4, 2008

SCOLMA (the UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa) invites registrations for the 2008 annual conference,On the Brink? Endangered Archives and Endangered Languages in AfricaDate: Tuesday 10 June 2008, 10.00 - 17.00Venue: British Library Conference Centre, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DBSpeakers will include Paul Lihoma, Director, National Archives of Malawi, and representatives and grant-holders from the Endangered Archives Programme (British Library) and the Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London).Fee (including lunch and refreshments): £35 (concessions £15)Further information at:http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/scolma/conference.htm <http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/scolma/conference.htm>To register, please contact Ros Buck, SCOLMA Secretary, email: rbuck@oxfam.org.uk, or by post: Ros Buck, Librarian, Library, International Division, Oxfam GB, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY.Registration closes on Friday 6th June.Please make cheques payable to SCOLMA. (For BACS payments please contact Ian Cooke, SCOLMA Treasurer, email: ian.cooke@bl.uk <mailto:ian.cooke@bl.uk> )

Ghana: Summer School on Documentary Linguistics in West Africa

Summer School on Documentary Linguistics in West Africa

University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

16-27 July 2008

A 10-day summer school on language documentation will be held prior to the 26^th West African Languages Congress (WALC) of the West African Linguistics Society (WALS/SLAO) at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, 28^th July to 3^nd August 2008. The theme of the Congress is “Language Documentation in Support of West African Languages”.

The goal of the Summer School is to provide training for linguists and graduate students in the West African region in language documentation theory and practice.

Pending final approval, the 2008 Summer School on Documentary Linguistics in West Africa will be sponsored by the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) of the Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project (HRELP), SOAS, London.

 

Participants:

The maximum number of participants is 30 and they will be selected so that each country in the region will be represented.

How to apply:

 

Applicants must reside and study/work in West Africa.

They should have a minimum of BA or its equivalent involving some linguistic training.

They should have some fieldwork experience or have concrete plans for doing documentation work.

They should be committed to and have a plan for transferring the knowledge they acquire to others in their universities and countries.

The general lectures will be given in English, hence all participants should be able to read and understand basic English. Workshops and tutorials may be offered in French as well, when necessary.

 

Interested persons should send an application via e-mail or fax to the following address:

 

Felix K. Ameka

African Languages and Cultures

Leiden University Centre for Linguistics

P. O. Box 9515

2300 RA Leiden

The Nehterlands

 

Tel: + 31 – 71 – 527 2243

Fax; + 31 – 71- 527  7569

 

e-mail: f.k.ameka@let.leidenuniv.nl

 

 

Your application must include:

 

A. Personal background Information

 

Full name

Position

Affiliation

Address

 

Telephone, fax, e-mail

 

Country

 

First language(s):

 

Other West African languages you know:

 

B. Curriculum Vitae and Motivation

 

1.     Give a brief statement of your University studies involving linguistics (including degrees obtained). Indicate the courses you have followed.

2.     What experience do you have in linguistic description (e.g. fieldwork)? Indicate whether the languages you have worked on, are your first or other language. 

3.     What experience do you have in language documentation including the use of any tools?

4.     Which language(s) are you working on or plan to work on? Provide information on their geographical location and genetic affiliation. 

5.     Explain your commitment as well as how you plan to transfer the knowledge you would acquire to     others in your institution and/or country.

6.     Provide the name and contact details of your Supervisor or an academic who would like to serve as a referee for you. Explain why you have nominated this person.

C Travel information

 

7.     There will be travel bursaries to supplement the travel costs of participants (mostly by road) from country of residence to Winneba, Ghana. Provide an estimate of the cost of travel from your residence to Winneba.

Send your application in to the address provided above not later than April 30^th, 2008.

Applications received will be acknowledged immediately.

Decisions on the applications will be made by the Organising Committee and communicated to the applicants by 15^th May 2008.

 

The resource persons include:

 

Firmin Ahoua, Université de Cocody, Abidjan

Felix Ameka, Leiden University

Bruce Connell, York University and University of Kent

William Foley, University of Sydney

Dafydd Gibbon, University of Bielefeld

Birgit Hellwig, RCLT, La Trobe, Melbourne

David Nathan, ELAR, SOAS

Sophie Salffner, ELAP, SOAS

Eno-Abasi Urua, University of Uyo

 

 

The topics to be covered are:

 

• What is language documentation (including planning a language documentation project)
• Ethical and methodological issues in language documentation (including fieldwork)
• Techniques and methods of data collection
• Transcription and annotation and their tools (Transcriber, Praat, ELAN)
• Audio and video recording
• Principles of archiving and dissemination: metadata, media, file formats
• Ethnography in language documentation
• Lexicography and tools (Toolbox)
• Field Semantics
• Field phonetics
• Grant application writing

 

—————————————-

Felix K. Ameka

African Languages and Cultures

Leiden University

PB 9515

2300 RA Leiden

The Netherlands

 

e-mail: f.k.ameka@let.leidenuniv.nl

tel: + 31 (0)71 527 2243

fax: + 31 (0)71 527 7569

 

Visit the website of the Journal of African Languages and Linguistics (JALL) at

www.degruyter.de

 

Conference: Africa’s development quest and the challenges of meeting the millenium development goals

REDEEMER’S UNIVERSITY (RUN)

COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES 1ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

ON

AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT QUEST AND THE CHALLENGES OF MEETING THE

MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

July 14th - 18th, 2008 - Redeemer’s University, Redemption

City, Nigeria

Background:

The World Bank Statistics showed that about 1.3 million

people on earth were struggling on less than one dollar per

day. This phenomenon led the Heads of States and Government

of the United Nations member states on 8 September 2002, to

unanimously adopted the United Nations Millennium

Declaration committing their nations to a new global

partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a

series of time-bound targets, with a deadline of 2015.

Though the developed economic and multinational agencies

have voiced discomfort with this global anomaly, even as not

much determined results have been achieved in its complete

eradication.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are internationally

agreed development outcomes to elicit national responses

through initiatives, and strategies that are geared towards

reducing poverty and improving the standard of living of the

poor, especially in developing countries in Africa and Asia,

by 2015. Attainment of the MDGs requires concerted efforts

from all stakeholders, including governments, the

international community, and civil society. Library and

information professionals, especially in Africa, should also

actively contribute to the attainment of the United Nations

Millennium Development Goals. Unfortunately, on the

continent it is not yet clear as to how they are

contributing to the attainment of the MDGs.

The purpose of this conference is to serve as an avenue of

intellectual discourse on the concrete steps and solutions

to end this global malady.

INVITATION FOR ATTENDANCE AND CALL FOR PAPERS

The college of Management sciences, Redeemer’s University,

Ogun State, Nigeria will host the 1ST CMS2008 International

Conference in Redemption City, Mowe, Ogun State, Nigeria

under the theme - AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT QUEST AND THE

CHALLENGES OF MEETING THE MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS The

CMS2008 International Conference Organizing Committee is

inviting researchers and scholars to submit abstract and

full papers focusing on the theme and addressing any of the

following sub-themes of the conference:

-Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.

-Achievement of Universal Primary Education

-Promise of gender equality and empowerment of women

-Reduction in Child Mortality

-Improvement of maternal health

-Combat of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

-Ensuring environmental sustainability

-Development of a global partnership for development

-Indigenous Knowledge and Millennium Development Goals -

what is the significance of Africa’s indigenous knowledge to

the attainment of the MDGs?

The MDGs in the African context - Are there African specific

factors that need consideration in the discussion and in

expounding the MDGs; Is it obvious what roles libraries and

information systems play and need to brace for?

Manuscript Submission

Proposals for papers should be submitted by 15 April 2008

for review, and should include the proposed title of the

paper, author’s name(s), abstract, affiliation/institution,

contact postal address, e-mail address, telephone and fax

numbers, and a short one-paragraph biographical note

(maximum 150 words).

Notification of acceptance of abstracts will be sent by 15

May 2008. Instructions for authors will be available later

on this website. Full conference papers should be submitted

by 15 June 2008. All the papers will be reviewed and only

the authors of papers that will be recommended by the review

panel will be invited to present their papers at the

conference. Papers presented at the conference will also be

published in the conference proceedings and College Journal.

With regard to both the content and formatting style of the

submissions, prospective contributors must follow the APA

format. The length of abstracts should not exceed 500 words.

Submitted papers must be original and must not be under

current consideration for publication in other venues.

Authors should submit an electronic copy either in word of

PDF format of their complete papers via ilesanmio@run.edu.ng

OR toytundun@yahoo.com Please also ensure that you indicate

your role in the submitted project and include your contact

address and all professional details (name, position,

address, telephone and fax numbers, email).