WELCOME

Firstly I'd like to welcome new members and thank all existing members for the great interest and demonstration of support shown towards eCommonwealth. Any NGO's who receive this, our first, newsletter who aren't already associates of eCommonwealth are welcome to join. eCommonwealth was launched in April 2000 and has already become an effective tool in bringing together the people and communities of the Commonwealth. You can find us at www.ecommonwealth.net

In this issue we have :

WHAT OUR ASSOCIATES SAY ABOUT eCOMMONWEALTH ASSOCIATE NEWS

SHOWCASE EVENTS CREATE A FREE WEB SITE

WHAT OUR ASSOCIATES SAY ABOUT eCOMMONWEALTH

Here's what just some of the 100+ organisations who have already

become associates have said:

"I just wanted to let you know that I checked it out and

found it to be very interesting and exciting, both in terms of

purpose/content and the innovative system used to implement it ... Best

wishes, and congratulations on making available a great resource!" Tobias

Eigen, Kabissa

" Yes, we most certainly will love to become affiliated to

your e-organisation." President Global Youth Organisation

"We would be delighted to create a connection between the

Earth Action site and eCommonwealth" Nicholas Dunlop

"This sounds very interesting and we would like to be

involved." Jeff Howarth, Anti-Slavery

"We would love to become one of your associates. Your site

is extremely informative and certainly seems to be something that will

benefit my young entrepreneurs." Marcia Brandon, Barbados Youth Business

Trust

"The site was very interesting and offered a HUGE variety of

information and services...great job!" Manije Kelkar,

"I have visited your website, and it is my view that the

CARICOM Secretariat, and especially its web site, will certainly benefit

from becoming an affiliate of eCommonwealth" Indrowty Dianand Senior Project

Officer

"I have visited your eCommonwealth site, and I think your

concept is wonderful. I would like my Institute to be an Associate." Romona

Khan

"We did go through your site, it indeed is very impressive

and we would definitely like to be associated with your organisation."

Sheetal, Propoor Infotech Centre

"The eCommonwealth concept is terrific! I've just had a

quick visit and can well imagine that we might be able to begin with links

to each other's site and take it from there." Wendy Robbins CACLALS

President

"Your site looks good." Mike Guzzi Coordinator, Central

Okanagan Crime Stoppers.

"I'm very impressed with your website and am happy to list

the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's website with you" Lisa Weekes

"I went on your website and saw the useful possibilities you

could offer us. Our Institute is very interested in your site and in

becoming an associate" Elisabeth, Assistant of the President in Geneva,

International Institute of Humanitarian Law

You can see from the list, our Associates include organizations and

individuals working in support of the ideals of the modern Commonwealth, and

businesses wishing to develop trading links across the national boundaries

of the Commonwealth.

ASSOCIATE NEWS

Here news from some of our associates. If you would like your news

posted here please forward to hq@ecommonwealth.net.

MMPZ

The Media Monitoring Project (MMPZ) is a joint initiative of three

organizations: the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern

Africa (MISA), the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe

(CCJPZ) and ARTICLE 19, the International Centre Against Censorship which

is based in Johannesburg and London. For more information about the Project

please visit our website at http://www.icon.co.zw/mmpz or contact the

Project Coordinator, MMPZ, 221 Fife Avenue, Harare, Tel/fax: 263 4 733486,

734207, E-mail: monitors@icon.co.zw

COMMONWEALTH SOUTH PACIFIC SYMPOSIUM ON GENDER, POLITICS AND

CONFLICT/PEACE

Women and men Ministers, parliamentarians, senior officials,

academics, and representatives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs),

inter-governmental organisations (IGOs) and other agencies from 13

Commonwealth countries in the Pacific participated in a regional symposium

on "Gender, Politics and Conflict/Peace",which took place in Wellington, New

Zealand, from 16 to 19 June 2000. The participating countries were:

Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue,

Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Parliamentarians and senior officials from 4 countries/parliaments of the

wider Commonwealth also

participated in the symposium, namely: India; Seychelles; Trinidad

and Tobago; and the National Assembly for Wales, United Kingdom.

For more information contact:

Gender and Youth Affairs Division (GYAD)

Commonwealth Secretariat

Marlborough House

Pall Mall

London SW1Y 5H

Tel: 00 44 020 7 747 6332; Fax: 00 44 020 7 930 1647

E-mail: r.baksh-soodeen@commonwealth.int

K A B I S S A

The Kabissa newsletter appears weekly and contains information

relevant to

the African non-profit sector. Visit http://www.kabissa.org to

sign up or write to majordomo@kabissa.org with only the words

'subscribe

newsletter' in the body of your message.

GLOBAL YOUTH ALLIANCE

The Global Youth Alliance believes that we have the power and the

resources to reverse many of the problems that face us a race - from human

rights abuses to issues of education and the environment. The Global Youth

Alliance is seeking to bridge all resources in the fight against some the

problems young people(especially) face. As such we have embarked on a

campaign of national youth summits that will bring youth leaders together

and offer them the opportunity to build consensus and find effective and

pragmatic solutions to common problems.

Visit the summit website,

http://www.globalyouth.org/ghana for more information.

SHOWCASE EVENTS

To ensure people using www.eCommonwealth.net are fully aware of all

the facilities and possibilities the site has to offer, we have been asked

to host a series of sessions every few months to demonstrate how the site

can be used and how it will benefit people of the Commonwealth.

Final dates of the sessions will be made known in subsequent

newsletters - provisionally these are 21st and 25th September, December

2000, February, May, July and September 2001. If you are in London on any

of the days that the sessions are running, all you need to do is send us a

mail to hq@ecommonwealth.net

CREATE A FREE WEB SITE

Most of the Associates already have a web site, however you might

like to produce another, or your staff might want to produce their own site

giving details of their CV perhaps, or their professional interests.

To get to this facility all you have to do is to register with the

eCommonwealth web site, login, select Services, then Free Web Site then

just follow the simple instructions.

You can have your own web page up and working within minutes.

FEEDBACK

Who better than the user to tell us how we can improve and make

eCommonwealth a better and more effective tool. With your input we can

further refine eCommonwealth to better meet your needs and expectations. We

welcome any suggestions form members on how we can serve you more

effectively and thereby strengthen the Commonwealth. Send your feedback to

hq@eCommonwealth.net