SANGONeT Launches South African NGO Portal www.sangonet.org.za
----------------------------------------------- The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT) is pleased to announce the launch of a new Internet portal for and about the NGO sector in South Africa. This portal is primed to become the gateway to the South African NGO sector, boasting the most comprehensive, validated and easily searchable NGO directory in the country, containing information about more than 2,500 organisations. This directory is augmented by wide ranging and diverse information for and about the NGO sector, including general news, press releases, campaigns, vacancies, event calendars, case studies, toolkits and research reports. This is further enhanced by the inclusion of a technology planning and procurement facility, NGO.ZA. Another bonus for the NGO sector is the inclusion of a donor database on the portal, viz., the Thusanang Donor Database, which includes information about more than 100 donors, including the kinds of projects they fund, the size of their grants, their geographical focus and their contact details. The new portal will provide an important resource for the NGO sector, giving it access to information that will develop its institutional capacity, build cohesion and increase its impact. At the same time, it will map the work of the sector, providing donors and other stakeholders with valuable information about NGO activities on the ground, the challenges they face and their impact. The portal is also intended to inform strategic decision making for all development stakeholders engaging with the NGO sector. According to SANGONeT's Executive Director, David Barnard, the portal will become an important community space, providing NGOs with a strategic platform to communicate with each other and other stakeholders. It will be a mechanism for NGOs to air their views, while also creating the opportunity for other stakeholders to critique and evaluate the sector. Moreover, it is envisaged to become a market place where services can be procured and exchanged. The establishment of this new portal is the culmination of SANGONeT's years of experience of working in the online environment, as well as an extensive consultation process conducted during the past year with NGOs, funders and other stakeholders throughout South Africa. The aim of this process was to assess the information needs of the NGO sector as, ultimately, the success of the new portal will be determined by the extent to which NGOs and other stakeholders use the information on the portal, as well as actively contribute information on their own activities and experiences. The new portal has replaced the SANGONeT website at <www.sangonet.org.za>. For more information about the portal and how you could contribute information on your organisation's activities, please contact: Fazila Farouk, Deputy Director, SANGONeT Tel: (011) 403-4935 / E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
