PAMBAZUKA NEWS: IN AFRICA, FOR AFRICA
 Pambazuka News is a weekly electronic newsletter covering news, commentary, analysis and a range of other resources on human rights and development in Africa.
Every week we commission work to provide original commentaries on key events in Africa, combined with a comprehensive weekly round-up of news on human rights, conflict, health, environment, social welfare, development, the internet, literature and arts in Africa.
Produced by Fahamu South Africa and using volunteers based in Africa, Pambazuka News produces 30-40 text pages of information about Africa on a weekly basis. with content categorised into 28 content themes, making it easy for subscribers to access information that is relevant to their needs.
The newsletter has become Africa's most widely distributed electronic newsletter on social justice with a readership estimated at 60,000. Major newspapers have reprinted editorials and since June 2003, AllAfrica.com has also carried all issues of Pambazuka News in full on their Peace Africa subsite (allafrica.com/peaceafrica/).
Apart from alleviating the information deficit in Africa, providing knowledge of trends and happenings across Africa, information about events and areas of concerns, the newsletter is used for networking, advocacy, debate, learning and information exchange.
The newsletter has directly engaged with key issues through:
- The production of a special edition of Pambazuka News on the Pan-African Parliament which was delivered to 260 parliamentarians of the inaugural Pan-African parliament in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia . The key focus was to encourage the parliamentarians to take an activist line with regards their role in Africa's development
- The support of the international campaign to Remember Rwanda. Pambazuka News acted as a forum for distribution of information on the genocide and produced a special edition focusing on Rwanda
- During the run-up to the inaugural African Union session in Maputo, Mozambique the newsletter was used in 2003 to run a petition on media freedom which aimed to lobby the African Union to respect the right to freedom of expression
- The commissioning of editorials in key areas of concern so as to raise awareness and stimulate debate.
Read Pambazuka News online...
Catching history on its wings: the experience of Pambazuka News
by Firoze Manji and Patrick Burnett
This article was published in Development in Practice 16.6 (November 2006) pp. 587-592.
The current and founding editors reflect on the birth and rapid evolution of the African electronic newsletter, Pambazuka News, which was inspired by a motivation to harness ICTs and publication for social justice in Africa. The article describes the history, development and successes of the newsletter. It illustrates how the electronic medium allows information to circulate widely, and for new forms of exchange and accountability. The full text article is available as a pdf file.
This material is adapted by the publisher from Development in Practice 16.6 (November 2006) with the permission of Oxfam GB, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford OX4 2JY UK www.oxfam.org.uk. Oxfam GB does not necessarily endorse any text or activities that accompany the materials, nor has it approved the adapted text.
| 
