RadioFreeAfrica.org » cell phone http://www.radiofreeafrica.org Supporting Africa's independent media Thu, 27 May 2010 12:28:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Voices of Africa Media Foundation Trains Young Journalists http://www.radiofreeafrica.org/2010/02/17/voices-of-africa-media-foundation-trains-young-journalists/ http://www.radiofreeafrica.org/2010/02/17/voices-of-africa-media-foundation-trains-young-journalists/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:45:32 +0000 Sam Adjei http://www.radiofreeafrica.org/?p=376 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).

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