afrikafé International First Friday. Featuring Eric Waha, Writer (Cameroon), Bossa Bistro & Lounge (Adams Morgan), 2463 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC. Cost: FREE; Complimentary Hors D' Oeuvres - Cash Bar. Dress: Casual. Contact: events@afrikafe.com; No need to RSVP. For more information visit: www.afrikafe.com.

Saturday, October 2. 3:30 PM -5:30 PM
Arthur R. Ashe, Jr. Foreign Policy Library 11th Anniversary Reception featuring writer Walter Mosley. Mimi's American Bistro, 2120 P Street, NW, Washington, DC. Your support helps TransAfrica Forum continue to promote U.S. policies that are supportive of Justice for the African World! For more information visit: http://www.transafricaforum.org/calendarmain.html

Taking Stock of the PRSP Process and Looking Toward the Future. InterAction. Venue: Friends of the Earth, 6th floor, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036. (202) 667-8227. Nearest Metro stop: Dupont Circle, South exit. The IMF's Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) and the World Bank's Operations Evaluation Department (OED) have recently published studies on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers process. These are the first evaluations of PRSP conducted by the World Bank and IMF's independent evaluation offices, and their recommendations are to feed into a variety of Bank and Fund reports and processes. Please join us for two panel discussions: the first will focus on the evaluations themselves and the second will address emerging PRSP issues including process, implementation, and the upcoming 2005 Progress Report. RSVPs by COB September 28th, to lsapozhnikov@interaction.org. More information: http://www.interaction.org/wb/stock_PRSP.html

Tuesday, October 5. 9:30 A.M.
Hearing: The Millennium Challenge Corporation: A Progressive Report. Before The Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate. 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building. Presiding: Senator Lugar. Witness: The Honorable Paul V. Applegarth, Chief Executive Officer, Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Tuesday, October 05. 2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
A Book Launch – Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror. 6th floor auditorium, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20004-3027. The Wilson Center's Africa Program invites you to join us in a Roundtable discussion with Douglas Farah, an award-winning investigative journalist for the Washington Post. Mr. Farah will be discussing his recently published book, Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror. In Blood From Stones, Farah depicts, in chilling detail, a vast illicit financial network stretching from Osama bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan to the diamond fields of Charles Taylor’s Liberia. Farah chronicles how, as West Africa Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, he stumbled upon Al-Qaeda involvement in the “blood diamond” trade in West Africa, just a few weeks after the September 11th attacks, and how he traced this terror money from Liberia and Sierra Leone to financial centers in Europe, America and the Middle East. There will be a live webcast of this event.

Wednesday, October 06. 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Sustainability: A Security Imperative. 6th floor Auditorium, Woodrow Wilson Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20004 -3027. Featuring Klaus Toepfer, Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive-Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Launch of UNEP’s latest report Understanding Environment, Conflict, and Cooperation. Report suggests productive paths for analysts and policymakers grappling with the complex relationships between environmental degradation and political instability.

Wednesday, October 06. 9:30 A.M.
Hearing: Addressing the New Reality of Current Visa Policy on International Students and Researchers. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Wednesday, October 06. 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Broadcasting the War of Ideas. A Director's Forum with Seth Cropsey, Director, International Broadcasting Bureau. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20004-3027. In this Director's Forum, Cropsey will offer an overview of the public diplomacy efforts of the U.S. government, and a look at what is being done to reach out to a world that the public is told is increasingly skeptical of the United States.

INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES' Defining The Issues Series presents
The World Bank and IMF at Sixty: What is Next for the Institutions, What is Next for the Activists? Institute for Policy Studies, 733 15th Street, NW (15th and H), Suite 1020, Washington, DC. Nadia Martinez, Institute for Policy Studies’ Sustainable Energy and Economy Network; Abdulai Darimani, Third World Network;
Lawrence Egulu, International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (invited); Njoki Njehu, 50 Years Network; David Ugolor, African Network on Environmental and Economic Justice; Moderator: Emira Woods, Co-Director, Foreign Policy In Focus. For more information visit: www.ips-dc.org.

Wednesday, October 06. 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

A Book Launch -- Engaging Africa: Washington and the Fall of Portugal’s Colonial Empire. 5th floor Conference Room. The Wilson Center’s Africa Program and the Cold War International History Project join in inviting you to a roundtable discussion with Witney Schneidman, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Clinton Administration and author of Engaging Africa: Washington and the Fall of Portugal’s Colonial Empire. Schneidman’s book was recently characterized in Foreign Affairs as “a must-read for anyone interested in decolonization or Cold War diplomacy,” and “the definitive diplomatic history of U.S.-Portuguese relations in the 1960s and 1970s, in the context of Portugal's 1974 revolution and the end of its African empire.” There will be a live webcast of this event.

Thursday, October 7. 12:00 - 2:00pm. Start time for for those calling in: 12:15 pm. Lunch will be served

The Advocacy Network for Africa's (ADNA) Africa Trade Policy Working Group -- a new coalition working on the US-SACU free trade agreement. Exploratory meeting of key NGOs working on Africa, trade, HIV/AIDS and access to medicines, and agriculture issues, to explore the possibility of working together to address the US-South African Customs Union free trade agreement negotiations. United Methodist Building – Room 3, 100 Maryland Ave, NE, Washington, DC. Conference call #: (760) 477-2024 code: 7771# (the charge is for a regular long distance call). Local folks please RSVP to jwalkerbeaumont@afsc.org for an accurate lunch count.

Thursday, October 7. 12:00-1:30 pm
Communications in Overseas Operations - Wireless ICT Solutions, Benefits and Challenges. The Society for International Development (SID). Panelists include:  John Chromy, Vice President, CHF International, Kristina Kavaliunas, Program Development Officer, CHF International, Joel Schroeder, Vice President ICT Solutions, I-LINX, LLC and Rosalie Vasquez-Yetter, Vice President Development Solutions I-LINX LLC. The panel will discuss some of the latest advances in communications technology for both private and public sector development groups. Location: Chemonics International, 2nd Floor Auditorium, 1133 20th St., N.W. (between L and M Streets), Metro Stop: Dupont Circle or Farragut West. Contact: Please RSVP to sid@aed.org or call (202) 884-8590.

Thursday, October 7. 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

The Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, Howard University and TransAfrica Forum Present Meet the Ambassador series with Ambassador Dr. Zac Nsenga. Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States: “Ten Years after the Genocide in Rwanda: Taking Stock of the Reconciliation Process” discussion on the current situation in Rwanda. The keynote speaker will be the Republic of Rwanda 's Ambassador to the United States Dr. Zac Nsenga discussing the process of reconciliation in Rwanda through the Gacaca courts and the International Tribunal for Rwanda, ten years after the genocide in the country. This event is part of the Meet the Ambassador series sponsored by the Bunche Center and TransAfrica Forum and will take place at Howard University, NW, Washington, DC. Meet the Ambassador series is open to the public.  For more information please call 202.223.1960 extension 137 or 202.806.5909 or email info@transafricaforum.org. http://www.transafricaforum.org/calendarmain.html

Thursday, October 7. 6-9pm

Project Namuwongo Zone B invites you to join Winner of Survivor: Africa, Ethan Zohn, as we kick off the Namuwongo Youth Football and Basketball League. The Namuwongo Youth Football and Basketball League (NYFBL) is an after-school recreational program initiated by Project Namuwongo Zone B that, in partnership with Grassroot Soccer, will bring an internationally recognized HIV/AIDS prevention curriculum to the community. Warehouse Theater, 1021 7th Street, NW (7th and L) Washington, DC. 6pm hors d'oeuvre and cash bar; 7:30pm documentary screening; 8:30pm Ugandan coffee and dessert hour. Students: $15 Young Professionals: $25 Adults: $50. Purchase tickets online at www.RelieveZoneB.org or RSVP to info@relievezoneb.org. Tickets at the door are limited. Add $5 per ticket. Warehouse Theater only accepts cash.

Friday, October 8. 10:00 A.M.
Hearing: Peacekeeping in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities. Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building. Subcommittee on Africa, Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Friday, October 8. 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Foreign Policy In Focus and TransAfrica Forum's Writers' Corner present Power & Press Freedom in Liberia, 1830-1970: The Impact of Globalization and Civil Society on Media-Government Relations, by Carl Patrick Burrowes. TransAfrica Forum, 1426 21st Street, NW, Second Floor, Washington, DC. For more information visit: http://www.transafricaforum.org/calendarmain.html.

October 8-9, 2004
Continental African, Caribbean and African American Washington/Baltimore Area Conference:

Friday October 8, 2004
The Leadership Africa Forum - 8:00 am to 4pm. Fairland Community Center, 14904 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville, MD
Theme: Strength through Community Identity

Saturday October 9, 2004
The Continental African, Caribbean and African American Agenda. 8:00 am - 4pm. New School for Enterprise and Development Public Charter School, 1920 Bladensburg Rd, NE, Washington, DC
Theme: Reconnect for Common Cause

For more information contact: Evelyn at Conference service at 301-422-8756; Phil Watson, Booker Washington Foundation at 202-841-9933; Chuks, African Peoples Action Congress at 202-746-3419; Email: msjoe21st@aol.com. Conference Mailing Address: 7915 24th Place, Adelphi, MD 20783. Make checks payable to K.I.S. for sponsorship, reservation to reception and gala or advertisement.

Tuesday, October 12. 9 a.m.

Conflict Management Program: "Children in Armed Conflict". Kenney Auditorium, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. Saji Prelis, executive director of the Center for Peace Building International, and Martin Masumbuko Muhindi, youth coordinator for the Ethiopian Community Development Council, will discuss this topic. RSVPs are required. Members of the public should RSVP to Search for Common Ground, the event’s co-host, at cprfnewsletter@sfcg.org or 202.777.2225. Note to reporters: The speakers’ comments are not for attribution.

Risk, Science, and Public Policy - Setting Social and Environmental Priorities. St. Regis Hotel, Mount Vernon Room, 923 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. Online registration is now closed for this event. Walk-in registrations may be accepted. We all wish that there were money enough to solve all of the world’s pressing social and environmental problems: HIV and malaria kill tens of millions of people each year; eight hundred million people are malnourished or starving; billions lack proper sewerage; and by some accounts, climate change may threaten the future of the planet. But means are limited. What should be the world’s humanitarian priorities? In 2001, in The Skeptical Environmentalist, Bjørn Lomborg challenged the establishment view that the environment is deteriorating. Again questioning the status quo, Professor Lomborg recently assembled several distinguished economists to explore how the developed world might most effectively marshal its resources to address social and environmental problems. The Copenhagen Consensus, as it was called, is sparking an international debate over global priorities. This conference will critically review the Copenhagen Consensus in anticipation of the publication of its findings in Global Crises, Global Solutions. More Information: Sasha Gentling, 202-862-5903; Fax: 202-862-7169; sgentling@aei.org

Tuesday, October 12. 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Remittances and the War on Global Poverty: Private Sector Innovations and Public Policy Issues. Peter G. Peterson Conference Center, Institute for International Economics, 1750 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. Center for Global Development, Development Alternatives Inc., in collaboration with the Society for International Development. Last year migrant workers sent an estimated $80 billion to family members in their home countries. These transfers are mostly made by the poor to the poor and are used for consumer spending and investments in health, education, housing, and businesses. This huge—and rapidly growing—source of cross-border financial flows is capturing the attention of policy makers and practitioners concerned with economic development, poverty alleviation, labor mobility, and security issues. Private sector innovations and emerging technologies are driving the trend. Nevertheless, the impact of remittance flows on poverty is profoundly affected by public policy decisions regarding national security, financial regulation, immigration, and development policy coherence. As a result they are also increasingly being explicitly integrated into development strategies and practices. Seating is Limited So Please RSVP to Sarah Dean via e-mail to sdean@cgdev.orgor by phone at (202) 416-0748.