This is a discussion-based interactive seminar on the two major issues that affect Sub-Saharan Africa: HIV/AIDS and Poverty. AIDS and Poverty, seemingly different concepts, are more inter-related to each other in Africa than in any other continent. As MIT students, we feel it is important to engage ourselves in a dynamic discussion on the relation between the two - how to fight one and how to solve the other.

The shift from apartheid to a constitutional democracy in South Africa brought with it a plethora of questions concerning ideas of nationhood, citizenship, and organisational transformation. Integrally caught up in the revolution, the South African Police Service (SAPS) faces transformative challenges on scales far larger than most other organisations in the country. From being the strong arm of the oppressive elite, it has had to restructure and rearticulate its function, while simultaneously attempting to maintain law and order. Like many other corporations and organisations, the SAPS has engaged in interventions aimed at aiding the fluidity of this process. This report is an analysis of one such intervention. It attempts to ascertain the extent to which members are changing as a result of particular diversity workshops conducted in a region of the Western Cape. The analysis focuses on members at one particular station.

Although there are over a quarter of a million open courses published by an increasing number of universities, it remains unclear whether Open Education Resources (OER) is scalable and productively sustainable. The challenge is compounded when OER is examined in the light of its potential to allow both educators and learners in developing countries to contribute geographically bound learning resources in the context of varied infrastructural, technological and skill constraints. Between October and December 2009, 52 participants involved in various roles related to Health OER from five universities (one in the USA, two in Ghana and two in South Africa) were interviewed. The aim of the study was to investigate sustainability of OER based on possible cross-institutional collaboration as well as social and technical challenges in creating and sharing OER materials. The analytical framework was adopted from prior research in related areas: distributed scientific collaboration; cyber infrastructure; open source development; and Wikipedia. We adopted a qualitative approach for data collection, which included semi structured interviews and document analysis. The findings were analyzed and reported with many direct quotations included. The outcome of the data analysis is a model for productive, scalable, and sustainable OER based on cross-institutional collaboration. The report concludes with practical recommendations on how to the model can be operationalized.

The Human Rights Key serves as a valuable infographic to guide students to connect their classroom learning with the reality of local regional and international health and human rights issues. The framework enables students in the health professions to recognize relationships and connections between human rights, their own personal realities, legal mechanisms, and their future clinical practice. The tool was developed for Year 3 medical students in their Obstetrics and Gynaecology rotation. The heuristic Human Rights Key promotes their learning for and about human rights in women's health. It provides a medium to guide self-reflection through a sequential process helping clarify complex concepts. Health professionals are in powerful positions to advance social justice as duty bearers and as rights holders. The Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Cape Town, UCT South Africa, has included human rights learning in its reformed curriculum since 2002, in recognition of the need to develop socially responsible practitioners.

The aim of this teaching resource is to share a visual tool for integrating and linking human rights education with health. The innovative Human Rights Key has served as a valuable infographic to guide students to connect their classroom learning with the reality of local, regional and international health and human rights issues. The framework enables students in the health professions to recognize relationships and connections between human rights, their own personal realities, legal mechanisms and their future clinical practice. The roles and personal agency of health professionals are illuminated through the metaphor. In this website the Key is introduced and explained through different mediums and themes. Weblinks to legal instruments and diverse examples and resources offer guidance to other educators in the Health Sciences. The tool was developed for Year 3 medical students in their Obstetrics and Gynaecology rotation. The heuristic Human Rights Key promotes their learning for and about human rights in women's health. It provides a medium to guide self-reflection through a sequential process helping clarify complex concepts. Health professionals are in powerful positions to advance social justice as duty bearers and as rights holders. The Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, has included human rights learning in its reformed curriculum since 2002 in recognition of the need to develop socially responsible practitioners. Drawing from experiences in several related courses within the Faculty, this new teaching and learning tool was developed and used, then favourably evaluated by students and educators.

This 4 week module, supported by powerpoint slides, uses climate change to explore key environmental and geographical issues, including justice scale, international equality, global political processes, and environmental change. We begin by examining the foundation and principles of the environmental movement, distinguishing between different types of environmentalism and articulating early environmental conflicts between the North and South. We then develop ideas of environmental justice and how it applies to climate change.

This website is designed to contain up-to-date news and information about the issues facing penguins in their natural habita,t specifically the African Penguin. Penguins feed at or near the top of food chains in many ecosystems and so are sensitive to alterations in the marine habitat. They are also highly visible enigmatic birds which as a family have a circumglobal distribution within the southern hemisphere. However, many of the world's 18 penguin species are facing threats to their existence. In 2010, 11 species were considered of conservation concern and five of these, including the African Penguin, were listed as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, The threats facing penguins are not unique, but generally represent more widespread impacts by man on the marine environment or its islands. Measure, will also be advantageous to the health of the wider marine environment and the other species that inhabit it. In other words, penguins are ambassadors of marine biodiversity and they should be seen as flagship species for conservation with their fate representing that of many of the worlds marine ecosystems and organisms.

The South African Child Gauge is produced annually by the Children Institute University of Cape Town to monitor government and civil society progress towards realising the rights of children This issue focuses on child health. The South African Child Gauge is divided into three parts: PART ONE Children and law reform. Part one discusses recent legislative developments affecting child health In this issue there is commentary on the Children's Act the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act provincial health legislation Tobacco Products Control Amendment Acts regulations to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and new regulations to the Social Assistance Act. PART TWO: Healthy children From survival to optimal development. Part two presents a series of 12 essays Essays one and two set the scene by examining children's rights to health and the status of child health in South Africa Then come three essays that look at key health challenges and how to address them HIV and TB malnutrition mental health and risk behaviour These are followed by four essays that examine how to strengthen the health care system's response to childhood illness and injury This includes defining a package of basic health care services managing resources and building capacity providing child and family-friendly services and strengthening community based programmes The next essay shows how the roots of childhood illness and injury often lie outside the health care system and calls for concerted action to address the social determinants of health Two further essays point the way forward In the first the Minister of Health describes his vision for child health in South Africa The second draws on the findings presented in the earlier essays to outline recommendations for a system and a society that support child health PART THREE Children Count the numbers Part three updates a set of key indicators on children's socioeconomic rights and provides commentary on the extent to which these rights have been realised The indicators are a special subset selected from the website www.childrencount.ci.org.za

This collection of papers focused on the theme 'Healthy children: From survival to optimal development' can be used for independent study/research or for integration into child development curriculum. The South African Child Gauge is produced annually by the Children's Institute, University of Cape Town to monitor government and civil society's progress towards realising the rights of children. This issue focuses on child health. The South African Child Gauge is divided into three parts: PART ONE: Children and law reform Part one discusses recent legislative developments affecting child health. In this issue there is commentary on the Children's Act, the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act, provincial health legislation, Tobacco Products Control Amendment Acts, regulations to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and new regulations to the Social Assistance Act. PART TWO: Healthy children: From survival to optimal development Part two presents a series of 12 essays. Essays one and two set the scene by examining children's rights to health and the status of child health in South Africa. Then come three essays that look at key health challenges and how to address them: HIV and TB; malnutrition; mental health and risk behaviour. These are followed by four essays that examine how to strengthen the health care system's response to childhood illness and injury. This includes defining a package of basic health care services; managing resources and building capacity; providing child- and family-friendly services; and strengthening community-based pro-grammes. The next essay shows how the roots of childhood illness and injury often lie outside the health care system, and calls for concerted action to address the social determinants of health. Two further essays point the way forward. In the first, the Minister of Health describes his vision for child health in South Africa. The second draws on the findings presented in the earlier essays to outline recommendations for a system and a society that support child health. PART THREE: Children Count -- the numbers Part three updates a set of key indicators on children's socio-economic rights and provides commentary on the extent to which these rights have been realised.

The South African Child Gauge is a special book about children in South Africa. It is put together every year by the Childrens' Institute at the University of Cape Town and helps people understand what needs to be done to improve the lives of all children in South Africa. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 looks at laws and policies that affect children, Part 2 takes a closer look at a particular topic such as health or education, Part 3 looks at numbers on children's access to schools, clinics, social grants, and other services. The sixth issue of South African Child Gauge looks at childrens' right to participate and to have a say in decisions that affect them.

In December 2007, the founder of South Africa's Free High School Science Texts (FHSST) project, Mark Horner, visited ISMKE's offices to talk about the origins of his project, and what is involved with creating open educational resource projects.

You can view the entire transcript here, or focus on the specific questions and responses below, offered as text and videos:

This 4 week module on vulnerability to environmental change is part of a third-year course called Sustainability and the Environment (EGS 3021F) in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science. The course introduces the concept of vulnerability and explores its origin drawing on three different conceptual approaches,namely: risk/hazard, political/economy/ecology, and ecological resilience. It then looks at different methods for undertaking vulnerability assessments. Building on the theory and method sections, it focuses on why the concept of vulnerability is important in the field of environmental change, with a focus on climate change. The international process of assessing the science is explored, followed by material addressing adaptation to climate change and examples of vulnerability and adaptation in practice in South Africa.

Wayne will be writing about his experience with WikiEducator, the freedom culture, and education. I first met Wayne in New Zealand while he served at the University of Auckland. He visited the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand where I was working and our conversation immediately turned to open source software and its potential impact on the landscape of New Zealand tertiary education.

Wayne will be writing about his experience with WikiEducator, the freedom culture, and education. I first met Wayne in New Zealand while he served at the University of Auckland. He visited the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand where I was working and our conversation immediately turned to open source software and its potential impact on the landscape of New Zealand tertiary education.