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).

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.

Shortwave is your answer.  A shortwave radio can receive transmission on frequencies between 3 and 30 MHz. They offer the possibility to transmit over for long distances.

Shortwave broadcasting sites use Antenna Arrays supported by miles of wires suspended in the air or buried in the ground. These arrays are used to direct signals toward the ionosphere. Using calculations based on electronic directionalizing, power, and atmospheric conditions, these antennas project their signals so they will come down on specific target areas around the world.

A receiver can then tune in to listen to information being broadcast. A simple receiver able to receive some desirable frequencies is all that is need.

The shortwave radios are widely available. Repressive governments find it difficult to censor them.  In places where there is no electricity, hand-cranked shortwave radio can last indefinitely. Shortwave radio travels much farther than broadcast FM (88-108 MHz). Shortwave broadcasts can be easily transmitted over a distance of several thousands of kilometers, i.e. from one continent to another, especially at night.

Major broadcasting corporations such as Voice of America and BBC World services continue to use shortwave in their international broadcasting.

Appfrica International is a unique for-profit organization based in Uganda. While doing well as a software development firm producing innovative products and services, Appfrica is doing good by offering opportunities and work experience to East African software entrepreneurs and graduates.  They aim at augmenting the growing local software development market. The video below gives a 60 second overview.

With a CEO, Jon Gosier, who clearly falls under what Radio Free Africa’s Prof. Ayittey calls the cheetah generation, Appfrica is performing what they termed “alchemy” on a shoestring budget. Their success is sure proof that the African needs only to be unchained to release his or her dream.

In pursuing their mission, Appfrica runs Appfrica.net as their publishing arm disseminating news on emerging technology. They also produce Appfricast, which is available on iTunes.

Moreover,  Appfrica Labs provide a physical space with solid Internet connection, servers, software and computers to individuals to develop their ideas in a constructive environment under the mentorship professionals. The Lab recently started an International Fellowship Programme, bringing well renowned developers from around the globe to share experiences with up and coming developers in East Africa.

Appfrica gives East African graduates hand-on programming experience in various programming languages with a vision to make the sub-region an attractive place for software development.

Here’s a 60 second video overview:

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.

Internews’ modus operandi is very practical.  The organization adapts its focus according to the local needs of the community that they serve.  Internews achieves this objective several ways, one of which is by partnering with local organizations.  For example, Internews founded Radio Absoun in a remote region of eastern Chad.   Staffed by Sudanese and Chadian journalists Radio Absoun provides information to refugees from Darfur as well as the communities that host the refugees.   In another example, Internews established Local Voices in Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria to enhance journalism on HIV/AIDS.

Apart from local organizations, Internews also collaborates with international organizations such as UNICEF and UNHCR, governments programs such as USAID, and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Currently, Internews is responding to the Haitian crises by providing mobile broadcasting technology and support.

The table below shows the breadth of Internews’ reach:

Internews International Presence

*Internews Network office

(source Internews website)

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.

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.

A total of 25 journalists were imprisoned in Sub-Saharan Africa in retaliation for their journalism, and nearly 90 percent of these journalists were detained without charges in secret detention facilities, according to an annual census of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Countries as wide ranging as Eritrea, Iran, and the United States were on the list of nations who had imprisoned journalists without charge.

Eritrea by far leads the list of shame of African nations that imprison journalists, with at least 19 members of the media held incommunicado in its secret prisons. Eritrea was the fourth leading jailer of journalists worldwide, trailing only China, Iran and Cuba. Eritrea’s neighbor, Ethiopia ranked second among African nations whose prisons held the most journalists.

Early this year, to take one example, the following Radio Bana journalists were banned in Eritrea:
Bereket Misguina, Radio Bana
Mulubruhan Weldegebriel, Radio Bana
Ghirmai Abraham, Radio Bana
Issak Abraham, Radio Bana
Meles Nguse, Radio Bana
Yirgalem Fesseha, Radio Bana

Detailed accounts of all imprisoned journalists and a statistical breakdown are at http://www.cpj.org/imprisoned/2009.php

Thanks to CPJ’s Mohamed Keita for forwarding this post.

Zambian journalist, Chansa Kabwela, acquitted on charges of pornography in connection with Lusaka’s nurses’ strike.   The charges were instigated by Zambian president, Rupiah Banda.

Read the full story as reported by the BBC.

In this book, Dr. Minabere Ibelema explained that civic cynicism among Africans is one of the enablers that has permitted  democracy to stall in Africa.  According to Dr. Ibelema, this state has permeated throughout African society and is just as damaging to Africa as the rule of Big Men. Dr. Ibelema urges the African press to address this issue in order to encourage constructive civic participation by Africans to counter corruption and hold their leaders accountable for poor governance.  The African Press, Civic Cynism, And Democracy is the winner of the Sigma Delta Chi Award, given by The Society of Professional Journalists.

Dr. Ibelema is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University Alabama, Birmingham.