OneWorld describes itself on its website as "the world's favourite and fastest-growing civil society network online." And this is more than an empty boast. The organization supports people's media in order to help build a more just global society.
OneWorld has been involved in many innovative projects and programs, such as creating a tool for activism which was demonstrated at the G8 summit in Edinburgh which allowed persons attending the rally to use their mobile phones to send short video messages to OneWorld that were then posted on the website for the world to see.
They have also engaged in a project that was piloted in Kenya where mobile phones were used to share local knowledge such as important employment information and information about HIV/AIDS.
Within the OneWorld network is "OneWorld Africa," which figures in to OneWorld goal of "Bringing together a network of people and groups working for human rights and sustainable development from across the globe." And to date, they have approximately 1,500 partners. At their "Partners" web page, one can search by "Area of Work" and "Country/ region" for the various partners. This makes the OneWorld network an excellent portal for research on the numerous organizations that are involved in human rights and sustainable development.
For example, when I entered "Children" for the "Area of Work" and "East Africa" as the "Country/ region" the search engine returned the following 31 organizations without giving me any clutter whatsoever.
Active Youth Initiative for Social Enhancement
Africa Community Publishing and Development Trust
African Regional Youth Initiative
Assitej Zambia
Child Rights Information and Documentation Centre
Children in Distress - Kitwe
Children in Need Network
Christian Council of Mozambique
CINDI Kansenshi (Children in Distress)
Combined Harare Residents Association
Development Network of Indigenous Voluntary Associations
Faith Orphange Foundation
Fatumatu Zehara Aid Organization
Haggai Philanthropy Centre Uganda
Harvest of Hope Self-Help Community Center
KABETE YOUTH CLUB
Kadoma Writers Association
Kenya AIDS Intervention/Prevention Project Group
Neglected Orphans and Widows Ministries
Nkana Orphans and Vulnerable Children's Foundation
Non-governmental Organisations Coordinating Committee (NGOCC)
Southern African Research and Documentation Centre
Story Workshop Educational Trust
STRAIGHT TALK c/c Kenya Association of Professional Counsellors
The Humanitus Foundation
The Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe
United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network
Women For Change
Women of Uganda Network
Youth Net and Counselling
ZIFF Festival of the Dhow Countries
In addition to being able to select "Africa" generally, you can also specifically select Central, East, North, Southern or West Africa. Additionally, one can browse by "organization name" using the alphabetical index on the page.
Under the "In Depth News" section, on can also select news by the various region of Africa as well as using Keyword and Topic. I entered a keyword of "AIDS" and a topic of "Children" and requested articles in English from East Africa from January 1, 2005 to June 30, 2005 and the search engine returned three stories: one from Kenya, one from Uganda and the third from Ethiopia.
Alternatively, one can search within the "Full Coverage" Regional sections for news from a particular country. Clicking on the link to Malawi at "Full Coverage East Africa" page took me to a list comprised of eight web pages containing over one hundred stories, stretching back to 1998.
OneWorld says that it has over two million indexed documents and partner pages in its archives that can be accessed through their "In-Depth Section," so, there is a pretty good chance that you will find what you are looking for within the context of human rights and sustainable development. The topical areas are listed in the following manner:
Development
Agriculture, Aid, Capacity Building, Children...
Economy
Business, Consumption, Debt, Trade...
Environment
Animals, Climate Change, Genetics, Pollution...
Health
AIDS/HIV, Disease, Narcotics, Nutrition...
Human rights
Disability, Gender, Indigenous Rights, Social Exclusion...
Information and Media
Culture, ICT, Media, Science...
Politics
Activism, Democracy, Globalisation, Justice...
War and Peace
Conflict, Nuclear Arms, Security, Terrorism...
Finally, (not that this is all there is, but this is all I am going to write about it, because I think you should discover some of their gems for yourselves) they have "Topic Guides" that have many sub-headings such as:
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
CIVIL SOCIETY and
GOVERNMENT
And sub-sub headings such as:
ICTs
Community Radio
Women's Empowerment
Farmers and Fisherfolk
Refugee Education
And many, many more.
So, like I said, I am going to let you discover the rest of the wonderful things to be found at this site (although it will probably take many months - if not years - to discover them all.).
The home of the web site is found at:
http://www.oneworld.net/
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