Donald Lobo from CiviCRM directed me today to a new version of the very handy Prodder Directory of Southern African NGOs, which SANGONeT launched yesterday at http://beta.prodder.org.za.

This is exciting news for me since we at Kabissa also are using Drupal and CiviCRM as the backbone of our own online community website for African civil society. I like the look and feel of the new Prodder site and am pleased that CiviCRM is finding broader use in Africa.

Browsing the site, I was also intrigued to see that a print version of the Prodder Directory is available. What a terrific resource! I have floated tihs idea in the past for Kabissa: wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to offer a print edition of the Kabissa Member Directory, on an annual basis and also in custom print runs for specific purposes - eg in support of national, regional or sectoral networks, or to distribute at conferences.

SANGONeT official press release follows.

SANGONeT Launches Beta Version of the New Prodder Directory
SANGONeT, 1 April 2008.

The Southern African NGO Network (SANGONeT) has launched ‘beta version’ of the new Prodder Directory.

SANGONeT Executive Director, David Barnard, notes that, “The new Prodder Directory has been developed on the open source Drupal/CiviCRM platform and will see a number of new features introduced in coming weeks.”

To view the new Prodder Directory, click here.

Both the current version of Prodder and the new beta version will be available concurrently for a number of weeks.

SANGONeT encourages NGOs to review their entries and forward information about changes and corrections that need to be made. Any feedback about the new platform in general, including additional features and information to be added, will also be appreciated.

Please forward your comments to - \n prodder@sangonet.org.za This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

NGOs and other development organisations not yet listed in Prodder are encouraged to complete the Prodder Input Sheet on the beta site.

For general news and information about the NGO sector in South Africa, please visit the SANGONeT NGO and Development Information Portal.