Kwami Ahiabenu,II Knowledge Chief

Penplusbytes in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association will be organizing a first ever boot camp on online for future journalists at the Accra International Press Centre on 21st October 2011 with support from Main One and Raycom Technologies . The boot camp forms part of 10th anniversary of the International Institute for ICT's Journalism (Penplusbytes), which was establish on 18th July 2001 with the vision of  empowering the media through the use of ICTs. Under the theme "ENHANCING YOUR FUTURE AS A JOURNALIST THROUGH ONLINE JOURNALISM" is aimed at educating budding journalists on online reporting and related technologies and how they can take advantages of opportunities offered by online journalism as part of their career development plan.  as journalists. www.penplusbytes.org

Accra, Aug. 16, GNA - Staff of African Elections Project (AEP) would participate in the coverage of the Liberian Referendum scheduled for August 23. This would be under its Liberia Elections Incidents Monitoring system project in strategic partnership with Humanity United. This was contained in a statement issued in Monrovia on Tuesday by Mr Jeremiah Sam of Penplusbytes and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra. AEP was established in 2008 to enhance the ability of journalists and the mass media to provide more timely and relevant election information and knowledge while undertaking the monitoring of specific and important aspects of governance. "Liberia's referendum has largely been viewed as a giant stride in the country's democracy since the end of the civil war in 2003. It entails a "yes" or "no", to the four proposed constitutional amendments, including whether the country should hold its general elections in October or November ...

African Elections Project (AEP) is covering Liberian Referendum scheduled for 23 rd of August, 2011 under its Liberia elections incidents monitoring system project www.myliberiawins.org in strategic partnership with Humanity United ( http://humanityunited.org/   ) Liberia's referendum has largely been viewed as a giant stride in the country's democracy since the end of the civil war in 2003. A "yes" or "no" to the four (4) proposed constitutional amendments, including whether the country should hold its general elections in October or November during its elections year.   In addition to its main website www.myliberiawins.org AEP is working with the Liberia Media Centre, Ushahidi Liberia and other partners to provide comprehensive report of happenings and events from all the 4,457 polling places spread across the 1,780 voting precincts via an SMS system,   a Call centre   and   the use of social media tools such as twitter , facebook   an...

Rhodes University's Highway Africa programme and its partners are pleased to announce the opening of the nomination process for the prestigious Highway Africa New Media Awards.   For 11 years these unique awards within the profession of journalism on the continent, have been rewarding pioneering, innovative and creative use of technology in journalism and the media. The Awards were established reward and recognise African innovation in the area of digital media and to highlight the role that digital technologies play in journalism and the media at large.   The Highway Africa New Media Awards are in three categories:   Individual – awarded to individual persons who design or appropriate new affordable applications of communication technologies to overcome the limitations of existing infrastructure and / or capital resources.   Not – for – profit – awarded to users of appropriate media technology to advance and assist communities and persons limited by infrastruc...

African Elections Project Liberia monitoring team has spotted a new group on Facebook for upcoming Liberia 2011 Elections called Liberia Elections 2011 Media Monitoring Group According to the group page it is designed to discuss media coverage of the elections based on media monitoring results and alerts of on media compliance to code of ethics, journalism standards and conflict sensitive elections reporting. join the group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_137338993012105

With a lot of high-speed Internet cable landing on the coast of Ghana the expectation was that Internet prices will go down. With a majority of persons in Ghana accessing  Internet on the mobile phones using internet dongles, it quite interesting for MTN to increase  its pricing on its mobile data service. According to the company, the prices went up in the name of price rationalization, not sure what that means. Internet campaign currently going on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/MTN-your-new-internet-charges-are-too-much-aba-do-something-about-it/118902514865411   and   http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=240006512691473 to aimed to pushing MTN to reduce prices. see MTN Ghana official customer satisfaction page at http://www.facebook.com/mtnghanacustomers

Monday's arrest of former President Laurent Gbagbo, ending the four-month post-election standoff, was largely met with relief in Ivory Coast. But the divisions in the country—possibly worse now than at the time of the election last November—means the nation's legitimate president, Alassane Ouattara, will have to be a skillful broker if he hopes to bring the battered nation together. Ouattara, a former deputy director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), had the support of a majority of voters in last November's election. Nevertheless, the vote split between Ouattara and Gbagbo ran along much the same lines as north-south alliances in the 2002–3 civil war. Gbagbo posited the fight for the presidency—and his fight to stay on even after losing the election—as a battle for the nation itself for true Ivorians, accusing Ouattara of being a puppet of France and the West. On April 1, with the support of France and the United Nations, Ouattara launched what became a...

Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is organizing a one-day workshop on the impact of new/social media on development, scheduled for Tuesday, 19th April 2011 at 9:30 a.m. at the Ghana International Press Centre, under the theme: "The Role of New/Social Media in the Promotion of Press Freedom". The workshop is part of GJA's celebration of the 2011 World Press Freedom Day on May 3, which is under the theme: "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers".           Chairperson – Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, Chairman, National Media Commission  ( NMC)       Welcome Remarks – Mr. Ransford Tetteh, GJA President   Speakers/Topics The State of Social Media -Global overview and The Frontiers and Barriers to Social Media   -  Ms. Myra Michele Brown U.S. Embassy Challenges to Journalistic Standards in a Digital Age -Kwami Ahiabenu,II www.penplusbytes.org Professor Linus ...

Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is organizing a one-day workshop on the impact of new/social media on development,   scheduled for Tuesday, 19th April 2011 at 9:30 a.m. at the Ghana International Press Centre, under the theme: "The Role of New/Social Media in the Promotion of Press Freedom". The workshop is to usher in the GJA's celebration of the 2011 World Press Freedom Day on May 3, which is under the theme: "21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers". During this workshop, I hope to make a presentation on the topic :  Challenges to Journalistic Standards in a Digital Age (Kwami Ahiabenu,II www.penplusbytes.org ) Other topics and invited speakers include : Chairman of National Media Commission The President of GJA The State of Social Media – Global overview/ The Frontiers and Barriers to Social Media    -   Ms. Myra Michele Brown   U.S. Embassy   Professor Linus Abraham, Director, NAFTI Social Media: the Gender ...

African Elections Project (AEP)  http://www.africanelections.org/niger , your authoritative elections information and news services is covering Niger Elections 2 nd   round slated to take place on Saturday the 12 th   of March 2011 between the former   Prime Minister Seini Oumarou(MNSD-Nassa ) and   long-term opposition figure Mahamadou Issoufou(PNDS-Taray) The Niger 1 st   round general elections, took place on  Monday 31 st  January 2011 to elect a president out of 10 candidates and 113 members of parliament. The final results indicated that, none of the 10 candidates who aspired to be president got more than the 50% required thereby necessitating a second round to take place.  According to Gerard Guedegbe, who is leading a team of reporters to cover this elections said "African Elections Project is set to provide timely  and relevant elections information and knowledge while undertaking covering specific an...

Served as a facilitator  at this workshop, it was a great experience : A six day workshop under the theme "Enhancing the Role of the media for Effective Electoral Coverage" took place in Monrovia, Liberia from 21st to 26th February. The workshop is under the 5year The Civil Society and Media Leadership Programme of IREX www.irex.org in partnership with USAID, Liberia Media Centre, International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) and African Elections Project www.africanelections.org . The workshop is part of the process to prepare Journalists in Liberia to cover upcoming October 2011 general elections Participants are being taken through topics such as, voter Registration, Exhibition and the Final Process, The National Referendum; Facts You Ought to Know, Drawing of Electoral Districts, Prospects and Challenges to the 2011 General and Presidential , PUL'S Code of Conduct (Elections) & Code of Ethics, Liberia's electoral history, Understanding Liberia's E...

  Communiqué de presse Niamey Niger , 29 Decembre 2010 Le projet sur les Elections en Afrique   (AEP)   couvrira les élections législatives et présidentielles au Niger 2011 Le projet sur les Elections en Afrique   (AEP)  http://www.africanelections.org/niger  couvrira les élections législatives et présidentielles qui se tiendront le Lundi 31 Janvier 20011 pour élire le président de la république et les 113 membres du Parlement.  AEP a été mis en place en 2008 pour renforcer les journalistes à couvrir les élections   grâce aux Technologies de l'Information et de la Communication à travers le continent   AEP a couvert avec succès les élections au Botswana, Namibie, Ghana, Guinée, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritanie, Mozambique, Malawi, et au Togo. Les prochaines étapes du projet sont   la couverture des élections au Nigeria, Liberia, Uganda et   Cameroun.   L'équipe d' AEP a lancé ce jour, le projet   AEP-Niger à Niamey au cours d'une session de formation qui a ...

Because Accountability Counts – A Journalist guide for covering post-elections in Ghana is one of the key building blocks for Ghana Post-elections Intervention Project whose main objective is to help overcome the challenges and problems affecting citizens' ability to hold elected representatives accountable for promises they make during pre-election campaigns. The guide's main objective is to empower journalists and other stakeholders with an information and knowledge resource for playing the watch and guide dog role in holding elected officers accountable. It provides an overview of post-elections landscape of Ghana, covering governance, legislative issues, political parties and their manifestoes,ruling party, opposition and governing after an election and provides guides for covering: 1. Parliament, Political Parties, Ruling Government (mapping campaign promises & manifesto), Opposition and Key Governance Issues 2. Investigative journalism and post-elections coverage 3. ...

We are running up the coverage of Guinea runoff with the declaration of provisional results by Guinea Electoral Commission Chief - Siaka Toumany Sangare The results shows  Alpha CONDE of RPG earning 1,474,973 votes representing 52.52% of votes cast while his rival Cellou Dalein DIALLO of UFDG closely followed  with  1,333,666 votes (47.48%) We are now looking forward to Cote d'Ivoire second run elections scheduled to take place on 28th November 2010 between Laurent Gbagbo and  Alassane Ouattara Hopefully launch coverage of Niger 2011 elections soon as well follow us at http://twitter.com/africanelection join us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117355568298287

As the number of mobile phone subscribers in Ghana increases, so does the market for mobile money services. The majority of Ghanaians lack any formal bank account. Kwami Ahiabenu II reports on how mobile money could change the shape of financial transactions in the country. By Kwami Ahiabenu II An estimated 80 percent of Ghanaians are "unbanked" – meaning they conduct their transactions outside the banking sector with no access to financial services. Products like "mobile money," that enable safe and secure money transfers without the use of a bank account, could have a major impact on this unserved segment of the population. Mobile money gives anyone with a mobile phone the ability to transfer money, make cash payments and conduct other financial transactions over the phone. Mobile money is a relatively new phenomenon in Ghana. It was first introduced by the telecom company MTN a year ago. MTN Mobile Money operates in partnership with nine banks. Cur...

Mobile phones turned citizens into election observers in Guinea's landmark presidential election. The technology will also be used to help voters in the upcoming September run-off poll. By Kwami Ahiabenu II On June 27, 2010, Guinea held what is widely being hailed as the nation's first freely run democratic election since gaining independence in 1958. A run-off between the two presidential candidates earning the most votes will take place on September 19, 2010. Another first in this landmark election process is the use of mobile phone technology. Mobile phones have become a preferred means of communication in Africa because they are convenient and affordable relative to other methods. Most countries on the continent are now recording the use of mobile phones by all key stakeholders in their elections: from electoral officials, political parties and individual candidates, to electoral security agencies, civil society organizations, and local and international obse...

Kwami Ahiabenu,II Introduction Ghana can be counted among leading countries in West Africa's information and communication technology (ICT) space; its industry is growing with new developments being recorded each passing day. In recognising the potential of ICTs as an important tool, the government and industry stakeholders are aggressively pushing to accelerate the growth and development of the country in all sectors. Ghana's Extractive Economy with weak Industrial Base At independence, the Ghanaian economy was relatively robust and well supplied with natural resources, skills and finance with an average per capita income of US $600.(1957). Over time, however, the structure of the economy has not seen any significant change, it is still an extractive-based economy with gold, timber and cocoa constituting its main sources of foreign exchange. Another key characteristic of its economy is a heavy dependence on international financial and technical assistance in all...

The West African Media Development Fund opens it doors to facilitate the growth of media in the region. AudienceScapes interviewed the fund's CEO about their plans to sow the seeds of a vibrant and pluralistic media sector. By Kwami Ahiabenu II The growth and development of the media as a business venture in West Africa is hindered by a number of factors. The region possesses a limited professional capacity to produce journalism, operating a media outlet is expensive, access to credit facilities is limited and the cost of borrowing is typically high. These factors are threatening the growth of pluralistic media in the region. To solve some of these challenges, media funds have been established to provide media organizations with affordable and readily available lines of credit. Examples of media funds active on the continent include country-based funds like the Tanzania Media Fund , regional funds like the Southern Africa Media Development Fund , and at the global leve...

ACCRA- GHANA -PROGRAMME DETAILS:   DAY-1 – 18    AUGUST 2010   7.00 am-10.00am - REGISTRATION .............................................................................................................................................. 9.30am WELCOME COCTAIL RECEPTION & CULTURAL PERORMANCE BY     THE GHANA DANCE ENSEMBLE. .............................................................................................................................................. 10.00 am –10.05 am - INTRODUCTION & WELCOME: MRS - DEMAY ALARBI 10.05 am– 10.15am - CHAIRMAN OPEN REMARKS - PROF. KWAMI KARIKARI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (Media Foundation For West Africa-MFWA) 10.15 am -10.25 am- ADDRESS BY DIRECTOR OF AMDMC- BARIMA ADU-ASAMOA 10.25am- 10.50 am- OFFICIAL OPENING ADDRESS BY H.E. JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMAH - THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF GHANA. 10.50am – 11.10am - CHAIRMAN CLOSING   REMARKS     *GROUP PHOTOGRAPH - ALL DELEGATES AND VIPS ........................