A new wave is sweeping through Africa. The driving forces behind this wave is the spirit of the African youth and the Voices of Africa Media Foundation. The Voices of Africa Media Foundation is an innovative organisation that empowers young Africans with limited media experience to take advantage of new media and build careers as journalists. The foundation is registered under Dutch Law and they coordinates their activities from their office in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

Using the power of cell phones, potential reporters are trained to create objective news about their own communities. Media professionals are employed to coach trainees online. Trainees are then encouraged to create news and publish the stories on a training website. Alumni of this program create news that fall under these categories; health, society, economy, governance, environment, and youth. A selection of the best reports is published on third party publication platforms.

Although founded in 2006, the foundation has conducted training programs in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa. These feats have won them  a BoB Award (Best Videoblog 2008), Webby Award (Official Honoree News category 2008), and a World Summit Award (e-Inclusion and Participation 2009).

We’ve recently discovered some of the fantastic youth-oriented African programming provided by Plan’s Youth Media and Development Program.

Kids Waves, funded by Nokia, is one example:

Kids Waves is a regional radio project hosted by children in 10 West African countries that helps them to make their voices heard and to learn about issues relevant to them.

In the town of Kongoussi in Burkina Faso, many births are not registered, depriving children of access to the national health and education systems and, more importantly, to protection from illegal trafficking to neighboring agricultural regions. A Kids Waves broadcast inspired a youth group to canvass the town to verify that children in each family were registered and to assist parents in completing registration formalities.

The YMDP program also made progress by hosting the Media and Development Forum in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) in 2008.

Finally, have a look at the intriguing “Virtual Village” website for Nyalakot Uganda.

Thanks to Gina Robbins for contributing to this post.

Kenyan Internews journalist Tole Nyatta interviews people about the violence that followed a disputed Presidential Election result in early 2008.

Founded in 1982, Internews has been empowering local media in the developing world for over two decades.  With its stated goal as that of an International Media Development Organization, Internews’ core mission is to enhance and assist in sustaining local media through its variety of programs; from staff training to the support of journalist associations.   To date, Internews has aided in the development of around 4800 independent media venues to include newspapers, radio outlets and television stations.  In addition, Internews trains between 8,000 to 10,000 people every year in management, journalism and production.

Internews’ mission has taken it to some of the most difficult environments around the world.  Presently Internews has programs in Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Chad and Rwanda; as well as Latin American, Eurasia, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

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Sarata Jabbi-Dibba is a powerful inspiration to us at Radio Free Africa.

On September 3, 2009, Sarata Jabbi-Dibba, vice president of the Gambia Press Union and reporter for the independent newspaper, The Point, was granted a presidential pardon and released from prison. Dibba, along with six other journalists, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for defaming President Jammeh. The sedition charges stemmed from an incident in which the GPU issued a statement criticizing the president for slandering the memory of the late Deyda Hydara, editor of The Point, who was brutally murdered in 2004.

At the time of the arrest June 15, 2009 Dibba was still nursing her 7 month old son. She was allowed to have her son with her the first three days. Prison officials took him away on the third day. Dibba and her lawyer went to the prison director. The director relented and allowed family members to bring her son to the prison for breast-feeding.

Since her release, Dibba has resumed writing her column, “She, She, She”, which addresses women’s issues. It was her late editor, Deyda Hydara, who supported Dibba when she started the column. Dibba attributes Hydara as her reason for going into journalism.

In a country where journalists are under serious threats and subject to an array of human rights abuses, the courage displayed by Dibba and her colleagues is laudable. Their fallen comrade, Deyda Hydara lost his life fighting for press freedom. Hydara was killed one day after publishing an article railing against two new Gambian laws that infringed upon freedom of expression. His killers were never found. The six journalists remain committed to his memory even if it means losing their own freedom.

What sort of news would you hear from an industry by and for the world’s poorest? This is what the Video Volunteers are about. As a non-profit organization based in New York City, the Video Volunteers envisions a “global social media network, which provides solutions-based media for marginalized and poor communities around the world.”

Their vision is shared by Radio Free Africa which aims for an independent, free media to “facilitate the free flow of information, expose criminal wrongdoing, and disseminate ideas.”

What motivates the Video Volunteers? A 2002 World Bank study asked over 60,000 people living on less than a $1.00 a day what they consider to be the single greatest hurdle to their advancement. The poor placed “lack of voice” above things like food, shelter and education.

The Video Volunteers are working to provide an alternative media landscape to thousands of people around the world.  They help those living in slums and villages to produce high quality video content that brings awareness and empowers communities.  They envision something like a BBC or CNN for the poor.

Their strategies include Community Video Model, and Community Journalism Program. Currently they have 8 Community Video Units (CVUs) across India.

Here’s an example of some of their fantastic work:

Radio Free Africa is  going to investigate the feasibility of a CVU for villages with no electricity during our trip this month to Burkina Faso.