Workshop on Medias and ICT issues in West Africa :new journalism, new technologies, improved governance

Dakar (Senegal), December 13th to 15th, 2007

Call for productions – Grants for participation

Deadline : November 21st , 2007


THE WORKSHOP

The Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA, http://www.panos.ao.org), through its
"Uses and Policies of Digital Technology" Programme (ICT Programme),
will organize on December 13th to 15th, 2007, in Dakar, Senegal, a
workshop entitled "3rd Regional workshop on Medias and ICT issues in
West Africa : New journalism, new technologies, improved governance".

This workshop aims at:

- promoting uses of blogs and new ICT tools by medias for improved
governance in West Africa

- strengthening reporting on ICT in the region

The workshop will give the opportunity to assess the use of blogs by
medias and citizens in west Africa and to discuss about blogs and
"citizen journalism".

Apart from discussions, practical sessions will help participants learn
or strengthen knowledge on the use of blogs, podcasts, and new digital
communication applications.

About 40 people, including 30 journalists from West Africa (radio,
written press, English and French speaking countries) and some delegates
from media and ICT organizations will attend the event.

The workshop is organized within the framework of the West African
Portal (or Haayo) Project funded by Osiwa and of other PIWA projects
funded by Freevoice.

18 GRANTS TO SUPPORT JOURNALIST PARTICIPATION

To enlarge participation in the workshop, PIWA will provide 18 grants
for participation for selected African journalists. Priority will be
given to journalists from English speaking countries and to radio
journalists.

The grant covers expenses in relation to the participation in the
meeting except insurance. It costs in particular:

- international travel (air ticket from your country to Dakar, Senegal –
economy class),

- food and accommodation,

- Shuttle from and to airport.

How to apply:

To apply for the grants, journalists need to send either an article of
3, 000 letters or a 5 mn audio programme (such as reports, but not mere
interviews) in mp3 or ogg format. The article or audio production may
have been published in the past (not more that 6 months ago) or may be
original (produced for this call).

This production will deal with one of the 2 following themes:

- uses of blogs in Africa

- ICTs and local/democratic governance


PIWA will select best articles or audio programmes. Authors of selected
articles will received the grant for participation in the workshop.


APPLICATIONS AND MODALITIES

All applications should include the following:

- One article in French or in English dealing with one of the topics
proposed (if the article has already been published, attach a photocopy
of the newspaper and/or address of the website where it was published,
including the date of publication);


- OR one radio production in French or English, about 5 minutes long
(give precise references on the media in which it was broadcast, if this
is the case);

A CV that shows, if appropriate, a list of previous articles or radio
productions on ICTs (please indicate the newspaper/website where they
were published, the date of publication, etc.);

A document attesting that the candidate is actually a journalist in a
press organ.

An acknowledgement of receipt will be sent accordingly, via e-mail and
within 48 hours, to applicants whose files have been received.

The article or audio programme should be sent by electronic mail no
later than on November 21st 6:00 PM GMT, to the two following addresses:
contact@cipaco.org AND judith_lenti@yahoo.fr .

People living in Senegal may bring, in addition, their production
directly to PIWA to the address below:

INSTITUT PANOS AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST

6, rue Calmette

BP 21 132 Dakar – Ponty

Dakar – Senegal

Tel: +221 33 849 16 66

Authors of selected productions will be informed by November 26th, 2007.


PIWA will not return submitted productions to their authors. PIWA may in
the future publish, within the framework of its programmes, some
productions received; the authors therefore accord to PIWA the right to
publish, for non-commercial purpose, their productions.

The decisions made by PIWA are supreme and beyond all possible dispute.
All participants in this call for participation accept the rules
presented in this document.


MORE INFORMATION

For more information on this call for participation or on the workshop
or in case of sending troubles, please contact Judith LENTI
jlenti@panos-ao.org or Ken Lohento contact@cipaco.org at PIWA.