New edition: Better Ways to Prepare for Emergencies

Will you have the money for Windows 2012 or Apple SuperDuper? If you may not, think again about the no-cost alternatives. The Word Programme that you already have includes functions that have been around for over 20 years and will be perfectly adequate for your lifetime. OR there are free, good quality Open Source programmes that you can download: for example, OpenOffice does everything Word can: Could you write a good-looking document? Yes. Could you send it to colleagues whatever programme they are using and have them open it? Yes. Could you open old documents? Almost certainly. But if there is a really old document that you need but cannot open, you could consult Jon, our technical expert at networklearning. > Contact

The Open Publishing edition of NGO-in-a-box is a toolkit of free and open source software, tutorials and guides for producing, publishing and distributing content.

We have been contacted by a colleague who works in Nagpur, India. She told us about the work her NGO is doing with urban spaces. The needs (rights) for children to play can be partly met by making parks safe, pleasant and used. The NGO has worked with the community to upgrade eight parks. Some of the parks have also had further work to make them accessible for disabled kids. This sounds like a great development field which is new to us. More info: http://www.esafindia.org/livable-cities-india.html and https://livablecitiesindia.wordpress.com

Are you signed up for The Drum Beat ? The most recent issue is about recognising and rewarding successes. It also highlights a few programmes that champion innovative ideas with rewards that are not just money.

Look at http://www.comminit.com/global/spaces-frontpage . Look under the links Media Development and Science and Media for some interesting developments in this area. I do not know a lot about this area but like a lot of people currently watching events in Iran, its importance is very clear. And these papers have got me thinking.

Hesperian have informed us that a number of their manuals are now translated into Arabic. They cover both health and disability and include “Where Women Have No Doctor”. “Where there is no Doctor” “Where Women have no Doctor” ”Where there is no Dentist” ”Special Education” ”Disabled Village Children” For the above titles, contact Ghanem Bibi Arab Resource Collective (ARC) Beirut email: arcleb@mawared.org web: www.mawared.org “Helping Health Workers Learn” Contact Abd Ilah Hussein Institute for Arab Research P.O. Box 13-5057 (Chouran) Beirut, LEBANON Tel: 810055/6 “Helping Children Who Are Blind” Contact Ashraf Mahrous, Compubraille, P.O. Box 156 , 76th Street #12 , El Mukattam, Cairo, 11571 EGYPT Tel: 00202 25084152 email: compubraille@link.net