An afternoon stroll down the streets of Harare shows how we Zimbabweans just love our food especially chicken and chips. Almost every vacant building in the city center is being turned into a food court. Anyway who doesn’t fancy sizzling hot wings for lunch especially after going through the grind of looking for the money?

Since our chicken farmers took an early vacation we now have to rely on imports from as far away as Brazil as well as neighboring countries to meet the demand. Like all cheap imports coming into Zimbabwe not much concern has been raised over the quality of food we take into our bodies. Maybe we have been silently munching on cancerous chicken for sometime. Instead of producing our own local chickens we now prefer chemical infested dead chickens from other countries.

Not appetizing to know that chickens are being preserved just the same way we do to corpses. You cannot expect much from these countries we trust so dearly as reliable sources of food for our country as some them have their own food safety problems to deal with.

A sad tale indeed of what used to be the break basket of Africa. As long as we don’t prioritise our own chicken farming and other industries the sad realities of dangerous imports will continue to live with us.

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Finance Officer: Local NGO
Deadline: 5 November 2013

This position has arisen due to a new project with funding from USAID. The organization is seeking for a Finance Officer reporting to the Finance & Grants Manager. The position will be expected to capacity build sub-grantees in USAID financial maintenance & reporting.

Interviews for this position will be held on Thursday 8 November 2013. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Overall Responsibilities
-Provide accounting and finance support within the organization
-Mentor & Support Sub-grantee & Implementing Partners in USAID finance maintenance & reporting
-Consolidate VAT for reimbursement
-Accurately record daily transactions in cashbook and produce monthly bank reconciliations
-Handle and disburse cash funds at workshops, and ensure secure custody of cash and timely banking
-Process payments and prepare payment vouchers for the project
-Writing and distributing cheques, transfers, RTGS and other payment modes
-Ensure that adequate supporting documentation is obtained after payment is processed
-Follow up and assess acquittals from staff on outstanding supporting documentation submitted and any issues arising from submission of acquittal report
-Follow up and assess financial acquittals from project Sub-Grant Partners and any issues arising from submission of acquittal report
-Communicate and follow up with staff and partners on outstanding supporting documentation and acquittals
-Processing payments and disbursements
-Maintaining cashbook and monthly reconciliations in Pastel accounting system
-Filing vouchers and ensuring intactness of all supporting documents
-Filing of all project documents, correspondences and payment vouchers
-Maintenance of filing system for finance records of organisation and consortium
-Follow-up and review of partner acquittals

Minimum Qualifications and Experience
-National Diploma or equivalent
-At least a year’s experience in NGO sector
-Auditing background will be an added advantage
-Knowledge in handling & reporting on USAID funds

Skills
-Ability to review data, identify & adjust discrepancies
- Ability to operate a variety of computerized programs & office equipment
-Good written and spoken English
-Good interpersonal skills and team player
-Clean Class 4 Drivers Licence Required

To apply
If you are interested and meet the above requirements please send your application letter, detailed CV and copies of your certificates to the following: programs13 [at] hotmail [dot] com

Successful candidate to start immediately

Information Officer: Local NGO
Deadline: 10 November 2013

Location: Harare

Job Purpose
The Information Officer will be responsible for coming up with an effective communication strategy so as to link the organisation with its strategic partners.

The purpose of this job is to promote the visibility of the organisation’s work, programmes and resources through various means of communication and to provide administrative, policy & research support to staff on the overarching goal and core themes of the organisation.

Principle responsibilities
-Review, support, maintain and manage electronic, manual communications and information effectively within the organisation and externally with partner organisations
-Assist in research and administration tasks
-Spearheading the information management and research component of the program
-Assist in maintaining and updating the website
-Produce an electronic newsletter with support/input from staff, members and board
-Explore, establish and manage ICT platforms
-Contribute to overall organisation support regarding internal/ external communication with partners,

Research / Evidence
-Assist in the collation of research/good practice that will be used to influence key areas of work and policy responses
-Review and maintain the electronic resource/library on the website and promote this as a resource to partners.

Database
Maintain and update database containing contact details for members and external partners

Skills
-Be flexible and adapt to organisational needs and ways of working
-Excellent written and oral communication skills
-Ability to meet tight deadlines
-Proficient in computer skills
-Research skills

Qualifications/Experience
Should possess a relevant qualification in a social sciences field. A Degree will be an added advantage .The applicant should have proven experience in communication and Zimbabwe’s media field.

To apply
Interested applicants should submit their CV and motivational letter with an indication of expected salary to: informationofficer2013 [at] gmail [dot] com

Please note that only short listed applicants will be contacted.

The 29th of October is celebrated the world over as International Internet Day and today Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in commemorations. The sharing of information is now just a click of a button away. A conversation, which used to cost a couple of dollars to make, can now be made with a few cents. The Internet has brought communities closer closing on the gaps created by physical barriers of distance.

The first Internet message was sent in 1969 by Professor Leonard Kleinrock from a computer laboratory at University of California in Los Angeles and from there the world witnessed the invention of electronic mail by Ray Tomlinson in late 1971.

According to Internet World Stats, Africa has 167,335,676 Internet users complemented by a 15.6% penetration rate. Despite the challenges of exorbitant Internet costs and the unavailability of infrastructure in most African countries, Zimbabwe has experienced a huge leap in internet usage from 50,000 users in 2000 to around 1,981,277 internet users in 2012.

As the Internet continues to grow so is the government’s interest in monitoring and eavesdropping on citizens. The Internet is used to perpetrate human right abuses under the guise of the protection of national security. A report by Freedom House notes that internet freedom worldwide is on the decline, with 34 out of 60 countries assessed in the report experiencing a negative trajectory. Growing arrests of social media users and the control of web content can be attributed to the sharp decline in internet freedom in the past year and Zimbabwe is among such countries where the state continues to have the authority to monitor and intercept ICT communications at will.

In the Newlands vlei, I spot a squatter walking towards his grass hut. He’s wearing a Zanu PF 2013 election t-shirt / empower, employ, indigenise, develop.

Along Kew Drive a pedestrian saunters along carrying a Mugabe portrait under each arm. Is there much of a market for door to door sales of RGM I wonder?

Later, I spot Bob unhung.

No idea of the origin of this but a great reminder to encourage change in ourselves and the people around us . . .

Identity is no museum piece sitting stock-still in a display case, but rather the endlessly astonishing synthesis of the contradictions of everyday life.

Where from, this outlandish collection?

one of pink cloth and blue wool,
white string and shiny blue feathers
some soft white fluff torn from the inside of a cushion
and carefully chosen fragments
from a pink and blue British Airways blanket

the other less colour-coordinated
more eclectic

black wool, black plastic string
white plastic string, white knitted plastic thread
a touch of blue wool, red wool, and a darker shade of leaf green
a portion of shoe lace,
gauze from an old forgotten fly trap,
grey wool, grey cloth
brown wool, a short piece of grey-green wool
thick string, thin string
a fragment of sky blue cloth
a piece of bark,
a dash of dead leaf and small portion of old carpet

lovingly collected parental assemblages,
innovative homes
for new born squirrel mice
and a pair of Curricane Thrush fledglings

remember the old days
when nests were built of grass and leaves?