Kwami Ahiabenu,II Knowledge Chief

   

  The centre will provide a real time response mechanism on election irregularities, violence and other concerns by reaching out to key election stakeholders for immediate action. The aim is to monitor all social media platforms during the elections to afford civil society, state authorities and development partners the opportunity to know in real time public opinions, sentiments and attitudes relayed through different social media platforms in order for relevant actions to be taken. The African Election Project, in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) and EnoughisEnough (EiE) with support from the United Kindom's Department for International Development (DFID) is Social Media Tracking Centre (STMC). According to Mr. Michael Ohene-Effah, Governance Advisor at DFID, "Ghana DFID welcomes and supports this ground-breaking social media tracking centre initiative. Although

  In the run-up to Ghana's 2012 general election, leading political parties have gone fully for the door-to-door model of campaigning. Unlike in the past when presidential candidates took to holding huge rallies, they are now criss-crossing the country, moving from community to community, and talking to individuals, and small groups in their homes, and community meetings. This mode of selling campaign messages is a sharp departure from the previous practice of busing supporters to venues for huge rallies. Since 1992 when the country returned to multi-party democracy, after 11 years of military rule, the major political parties - National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention People's Party (CPP), and the People's National Convention (PNC) – have resorted to staging massive rallies. Former president Jerry John Rawlings is believed to have set the tone for such rallies in the 1992 and 1996 political campaigns fo

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About 30 journalists drawn from both print and electronic media in Ghana have participated in a day's workshop on Geospatial Science and Technology in Accra. The event, which was organized by the Africa Media Forum for Geo-information Systems (AMFGIS) in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the International Institute of ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes), was under the theme, "Harnessing Geospatial Science and Technology for Socio-economic Development – The Role of Ghanaian Media." The workshop was aimed at educating journalists on the use of geospatial information in the newsroom by focusing on topics such as Introduction to Concepts of Geospatial Technologies, Case Studies of Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) Applications in Ghana with special emphasis on how to generate compelling stories. Kwami Ahiabenu II, Co-Chair of AMFGIS, stated that "Geospatial science and technology have a lot of

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has established a forum aimed at enhancing the capacity of the media in the promotion, advocacy and awareness-creation of Geospatial Information Science (GIS) on the African continent. Geospatial Information Science refers to the technology used for the measurement, analysis and visualisation of features or spatial phenomenon occurrences. For instance, in the mining and oil sector, resources on the earth's surface require sophisticated technology to discover, extract and manage and since mining and   drilling of oil require accurate knowledge of the earth's surface and subsurface.   Geospatial technology is best suited for the exploration and extraction of mineral deposits. Again, projects such as roads and waterways require geospatial technologies for planning, construction and implementation. According to the UNECA, GIS and related disciplines are now commonly found as the drivin

By Kwami Ahiabenu,II   Paper presented at 2ND ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE USE OF AGRICULTURAL RADIO AND OTHER ICTs TO SHARE AND IMPROVE AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES, INSTITUTE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT STUDIES, ACCRA, 2ND -3RD OCTOBER, 2012. Theme :  "Beyond the Hype: Innovative ICTs for supporting the African farmer"     Abstract In simple terms, e-agriculture articulates the application of Information and Communication Technologies ( ICTs) in agriculture not only for its current realized application but also its myriad of untapped potential with the focus on higher yield and better productivity leading to poverty reduction and wealth creation. Ghana ICTs applications in agriculture policy direction is set within the context of Ghana 's ICT for accelerated development policy ( ICT4AD ) with the vision of promoting the deployment and exploitation of ICTs to support the activities of the agriculture sector including the production, processing, mark

Addis Ababa, 18 September 2012 (ECA) - Media professionals endorsed today, the establishment of the African Forum for Geospatial Information systems. The conclusion followed two days of training aimed at improving the quality of geoinformation, Geospatial Science and Technology reporting and the impact of this area of work on the livelihood of African citizens, The first of its kind, the two-day training of trainers was organized by the ICT, Science and Technology Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Participants hailed from western, southern and eastern of Africa. Speaking at the opening session of the training workshop, Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director of the ICT, Science and Technology Division said that geospatial technology, or geomatics used the measurement, analysis and visualization of spatial features or phenomenon. "As a tool, geomatics is enormously important for decision-makers across a wide range of disciplines, industries and sectors,&q

  By Bernard Tabaire ( email the author ) Posted Sunday, July 29 2012 at 01:00 Sometime in the late afternoon of Tuesday last week, a hush swept through the room affecting only Ghanaians. But amongst them were journalists, and the need to spread news, or some version of it, quickly overcame them. Kwami, seated a table away in a meeting room at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in Accra, passed me a note. President Atta Mills was in a bad way. Then I got another note from another Ghanaian. About an hour later, the Ghanaian journalists in the group had stopped paying attention to their compatriot who was leading a session on how oil is metered. Their BlackBerrys, smart phones, iPads and tablets were aflame inside the room and on the balcony. The President was dead. Later in the GIMPA dining room, debate revolved around whether the presidential passing had altered the dynamic heading into the December presiden

Accra, June 21, GNA-The International Institute for ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) would on Thursday June 21, hold a workshop on "Connecting civil society and media for credible 2012 Ghana Elections." in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region. The workshop forms part of African Elections Project (AEP), "Enabling Peaceful Transparent and Credible Elections in Ghana Using New Media Project" with funding from STAR-Ghana, a release issued and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday by Mr Kwami Ahiabenu II, Team Leader, Penplusbytes said in Accra. It would bring together journalists and civil society actors around the upcoming elections from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. The next workshop is expected to be held in the southern sector of Ghana. The Connecting Media And Civil Society for Credible 2012 Ghana Elections workshop aims at facilitating an effective and efficient civil society interacti

Kwami Ahiabenu, II, is a team leader of International Institute for ICT Journalism [1] , the co-ordination organisation for African Elections Project [2] (AEP). With over nine years of experience in management, marketing, new media, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and development, Kwami was Executive Director of AITEC Ghana and a former board member of Ghana Information Network for Knowledge Sharing (GINKS). He served as a key committee member for the organization of World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) African Regional Meeting 2005. He has undertaken several training sessions on new media across Africa. He is a Steve Biko and Foster Davies Fellow. African Elections Project was established in 2008 with the vision of enhancing the ability of journalists, citizen journalists and the news media to provide more timely and relevant elections information and knowledge while undertaking monitoring of specific and important asp

When the oil sector in Ghana and Uganda are well managed, the revenue generated would be major contributions to both economies, a Senior Geophysicist of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development in Uganda, has said. Mr Bernard Ongodia however warned of many dire consequences that might affect the two emerging economics should they ignore to take measures to manage the sector. Addressing journalists at an ongoing training programme in oil and gas reporting being held in Kampala, Mr Ongodia said Uganda which discovered oil in 2006 had not started producing the product because it had taken time to put the necessary infrastructure and institutions as well as other mechanisms in place before embarking on production. Ghana which discovered it oil finds in 2007 on the other, started the production before putting in place other major infrastructure and frameworks. The 10-day training is being organised by Ghana based Penplusbytes, an International

The Fourth International Institute for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Journalism (Penplusbytes) innovative global online course is underway with 35 participants drawn from Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. A statement issued in Accra by Mr Jeremiah Sam of Penplusbytes, copied to Ghana News Agency on Monday said the objective of the course was to teach the theory and concept of ICT journalism; the impact of ICT on Journalism and how to increase excellence in journalism using ICT as a tool. The course which began on Friday, April 20, would end on Friday, July 20 and would expose participants to the wider context of ICT assisted journalism including how these technologies are impacting on the world of journalism. Mr Kwami Ahiabenu, the course facilitator stated that, “The course is designed to enable participants harness the power of ICT in producing high quality impactful stories, and how to manage change process in using innovative ICT tools.” He noted that

We were privileged to have Dr. Alabi serve on ICONNECT GHANA editorial board during inaugural editions of this GINKS publication May His Soul rest in perfect peace Kwami Dr. Niyi Alabi is dead, burial on Friday Seasoned journalist and media trainer and consultant, Dr. Niyi Alabi has been reported dead. Family sources say Dr Alabi passed away at 3:20am Thursday at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra where he had been on admission for the past two weeks for an ailment. He will buried tomorrow Friday, in keeping with his Muslim calling. Family sources say the body will be conveyed to the Madina Central Mosque at midday for religious rites before interment at the Madina cemetery. Dr. Alabi, who worked with many international organisations around the world, would have turned 60 in September. Dr. Niyi Alabi has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education (1st Class Honours) from the University of Cape Coast; a Diplôme Supérieur d’Etudes Françaises from the Université d’Abidjan, Cô

Ben Akoh & Kwami Ahiabenu II The African Elections Project ( www.africanelections.org ) was established with the vision of enhancing the ability of journalists, citizen journalists and the news media to provide more timely and relevant election information and knowledge, while undertaking monitoring of specific and important aspects of elections using social media tools and ICT applications. Elections are the cornerstone of democracy and the media have a key role to play in deepening democracy by providing impartial coverage of elections. In addition to traditional election coverage, online election reporting on the Africa continent has been experiencing growth in recent years. It takes the form of special election websites that incorporate elements of citizen journalism or crowdsourcing and is mostly driven by mobile phones. It is mashed up with blogs, interactive maps and social media tools such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Facebook among others. This article chronicles the Af

This May, in Kampala, Uganda, Revenue Watch will begin our third class for African journalists seeking new expertise in reporting on oil, gas and minerals. Without an informed, responsive media community providing oversight of the money from these industries, governance weakens, corruption rises and citizens lack the knowledge to hold their governments accountable and the opportunity to benefit fully from their country's natural resource wealth. The application process is open to journalists from Ghana and Uganda. The program is designed for individuals with a demonstrated interest in reporting about the extractive sectors of oil, gas and minerals. To fill out an application now, go to:www.revenuewatch.org/mediatraining2012. This latest class in our ongoing media training program is conducted in partnership with the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) in Uganda, Ghana-based Penplusbytes and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. After the initial Uganda session from 14-23 May, two