Penplusbytes Launches Oil & Gas Project in Kumasi

Penplusbytes Launches Oil & Gas Project in Kumasi

Revenue Watch Institute in conjunction with The International Institute for ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) today launched the "Strengthening Media Oversight of the Extractive Sectors Pilot Program" in Kumasi with Revenue Watch Africa Director Emmanuel Kuyole delivering the keynote. 

The launch event was in two parts:  a formal dinner with Editors of various media houses in Kumasi  was held at the Golden Tulip Hotel and a media outreach programme with visits to various media houses in the city to introduce the programme to journalists in Kumasi and interact with the journalists on how to improve on the quality of  oil and gas reporting from the region.

The "Strengthening Media Oversight of the Extractive Sectors Pilot Program" is a Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) initiative working with Penplusbytes in Ghana) and African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) in Uganda and Thompson Reuters Foundation. The project is a media capacity-building program in Africa (focusing specifically on Ghana and Uganda). The programme hopes to more holistically and intensively support participating journalists over the long term. The ultimate goal of this program is the effective and consistent coverage by the media of extractive resources and revenues, contributing to their improved use for the public good in Africa

'Kwami Ahiabenu President of Penplusbytes said " The project is aimed at giving journalists knowledge & skills to report effectively on the oil & gas industry in particular & the extractives industry in general.  He added that it is designed to give the participants a working knowledge of the Oil & Gas Industry, specific story ideas and suggestions on how to follow them up" Currently 15 journalists have been trained so far on the programme and he encouraged the editors to enlist their reporters for the next course. 

For more information;

Penplusbytes:

PenPlusBytes seeks to empower the media through the use of ICTs to advance the work of journalism. It consists of a network of media organizations and journalists interested in using ICTs effectively to advance the course of journalism. www.Penplusbytes.org Read more about penplusbytes oil and gas project at www.reportingoilandgas.org

Revenue Watch Institute: The Revenue Watch Institute is a non-profit policy institute and grantmaking organization that promotes the effective, transparent and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources for the public good. Through capacity building, technical assistance, research and advocacy, we help countries realize the development benefits of their natural resource wealth.http://www.revenuewatch.org

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org

One-day conference on Open Data and Data Journalism to be held in Accra, Ghana on 22 November 2011.

   One-day conference on Open Data and Data Journalism to be held in Accra, Ghana on 22 November 2011.

 
The Population Council announces a one-day conference on Open Data and Data Journalism to be held in Accra, Ghana on 22 November 2011.

This event, supported in part by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and presented in collaboration with the World Bank Institute, the African Media Initiative, and Highway Africa, will include practical, introductory sessions on open data and data journalism, with an emphasis on trends in Africa and around the globe. The program will feature a mix of keynote speakers, short talks, and facilitated roundtable discussion among participants. 

The conference will include speakers from the International Center for Journalists, the World Bank, the University of Ghana, Network Computer Systems, and the African Internet Service Providers Association, as well as a webinar session featuring participants from open data initiatives in Kenya and Moldova. Individuals from civil society, the media, the private sector, academiaand students in particularare encouraged to attend!

The conference will run from 9 am to 5 pm at the Alisa Hotel in Accra. Space for the conference is limited, and the public is invited to register at the following link: http://bit.ly/GhanaRegistration">http://bit.ly/GhanaRegistration.

Participation is guaranteed only after registering and receiving confirmation from the organizers. Any individuals not registered and confirmed will be permitted to attend if seating allows.

For more information, contact Terence Balinia at mailto:atingpwa@yahoo.com">atingpwa@yahoo.com.

About the Population Council
The Population Council confronts critical health and development issuesfrom stopping the spread of HIV to improving reproductive health and ensuring that young people lead full and productive lives. Through biomedical, social science, and public health research in 50 countries, the Council works with its partners to deliver solutions that lead to more effective policies, programs, and technologies to improve lives around the world. Established in 1952 and headquartered in New York, the Council is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization with an international board of trustees.

http://www.popcouncil.org">www.popcouncil.org

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Media contact
Diane Rubino: mailto:drubino@popcouncil.org">drubino@popcouncil.org; +1 212 339 0617

 

Open Data Journalism Conference in Ghana

 The Population Council announces a one-day conference on Open Data and Data Journalism to be held in Accra, Ghana, 22 November 2011.

This event, supported in part by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and presented in collaboration with the World Bank Institute, the African Media Initiative, and Highway Africa, will include practical, introductory sessions on open data and data journalism, with an emphasis on trends in Africa and around the globe.

The program will feature a mix of keynote speakers, short talks, and facilitated roundtable discussion among participants.

The conference will include speakers from the International Center for Journalists, the World Bank, Google, the University of Ghana, Network Computer Systems, and the African Internet Service Providers Association, as well as a webinar session featuring participants from open data initiatives in Kenya and Moldova.

http://www.popcouncil.org/mediacenter/newsreleases/2011_OpenDataWorkshop.asp

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org

Penplusbytes Serves on 2011 World Kids News Award Panel

The Projects Director of the International Institute of ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) Mr. Jerry Sam served on the jury panel which decided the winner of the 2011 World Kids News Award in Accra Ghana on the 3rd of November 2011. The theme for this year's award was 'Heroes"

The World Kids News Award forms part of the annual Kids News Network summit which brings together journalists from different parts of the world to share ideas on both serious and fun news that matters to children all over the world.

The jury chose from 7 outstanding broadcasts from Tien Muniten (Surinam), Tele Junior (Mozambique), NAPA (Peru), Zkids News (Zambia), CKN (Caribbean), Teen Voice (Indonesia) and Youth Voice (Burma).

The Jury scored the finalist on three criteria: Originality, Production quality and Relevance.  At the end of the jury deliberations, NAPA (Peru) emerged the unanimous winner with their programme on child labour.

The KNN is an initiative of the Dutch media NGO Free Voice to help local journalists develop their own 'kids news' format. Kids News programs are being broadcasted in Peru, Surinam, Mozambique, Dutch Caribbean, Zambia, South Africa, Burma and Indonesia reaching an estimated 20 million viewers a week.

Uganda : Prize for best stories on oil and gas 2011

WHAT? As part of efforts to strengthen media oversight of the extractive sector, the African Centre for Media Excellence (Kampala), in conjunction with Revenue Watch Institute (New York), announces the availability of an award for best reporting on oil and gas for 2011.

WHAT? As part of efforts to strengthen media oversight of the extractive sector, the African Centre for Media Excellence (Kampala), in conjunction with Revenue Watch Institute (New York), announces the availability of an award for best reporting on oil and gas for 2011.

 

WHY? (A) To raise the profile for good investigative, in-depth, analytical and enterprise reporting on extractives i.e. oil and gas in Uganda.

(B) To provide incentives for individual reporting on oil and gas.

 

WHO? This is therefore to invite Ugandan print and electronic media reporters to submit their best stories to be considered for the award. Others may submit the stories on a reporter's behalf. The stories must have been published in 2011.

 

WHEN? Deadline for submission of stories is 5 p.m., 21 November 2011. The awards ceremony will take place in Kampala in the second week of December 2011.

 

HOW? Electronic media reporters should submit their stories in a format easiest to listen to, and view, the entries. Both electronic and print media reporters may submit hard copies, soft copies, or online links of their stories. All entries should be addressed to the Programme Associate, African Centre for Media Excellence, P.O. Box 11283, Kampala; or dropped off physically at the ACME offices at Plot 124, Nanjala Road (off Ggaba Road at Soya-Bunga), Kampala. Soft copies and/or online links should be emailed to info@acme-ug.org and copied to Programme Associate Grace Natabaalo at gnatabaalo@acme-ug.org

 

CRITERIA: (A) There will be 2 winners, 1 each in the electronic and print categories.

(B) A panel of 3 judges will pick the winner.

(C) The judges will be looking for entries that demonstrate the following qualities:

i) Originality;

ii) Enterprise and investigation;

iii) Analysis and depth;

iv) Relevance and significance; and

v) Potential to promote accountability in public policy and decision-making, and in the extractive industry.

 

AMOUNT: Each of the 2 winners will take home $1,500, a plaque, and a certificate.

http://www.acme-ug.org/news/item/182-prize-for-best-stories-on-oil-and-gas-2011

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org

Second RWI Media Training Session Begins in Ghana

On Monday, a group of African journalists arrived in Accra, Ghana for a 10-day Revenue Watch workshop to strengthen their knowledge and skills for reporting on oil, gas and mining.

The participants, seven Ghanaians and seven Ugandans, working for newspapers, magazines, radio and TV, are the second class in RWI's media training program. They were selected for their track record as journalists with a demonstrated interest in some aspect of oil, gas and mining.

The workshop, which runs until 26 October, was organized with local partner PenPlusBytes and offers a combination of knowledge- and skill-building sessions. "Knowledge" topics covered so far have given the journalists a stronger background in topics such as oil and gas contracts, key industry actors, the geological formation of oil and gas and community interests in mining areas. Expert lecturers also discussed topics including industry operations, accountability and the experiences of communities in oil-rich areas like the Niger Delta states and western Ghana.

The "skills" sessions so far have focused on journalists' tools of the trade, with seminars on conceiving and implementing story ideas, evidence-based reporting, handling figures effectively and investigation and analysis.

Ebow Haizel-Ferguson, an activist and social entrepreneur who runs Sigma Base Technical Institute, a training project for young people seeking to work in the oil and gas sector, spoke about the conditions in Takoradi, Ghana's oil and gas capital. He emphasized that most benefits from oil and gas would come from ancillary services, like job creation and infrastructure, rather than from the core of the industry. He advised journalists to convey this idea so that communities can have a clearer understanding of potential benefits from allowing oil industry in.

"There is going to be a fertilizer factory that will require about 2,000 people to build," Haizel-Ferguson explained. "There is a government gas processing plant that will cost one billion U.S. dollars." Such investments, he continued, present employment and business opportunities for the locals.

Gabriel Dedu, the governance adviser at the World Bank office in Ghana, listed a number of "accountability hotspots," such as the need for publicly-agreed revenue management guidelines concerning how to spend oil revenues.

"Within the framework of the law," Dedu said, "there is a window for political decision-making." The potential for loopholes in accountability safeguards, he continued, means that journalists must be prepared to hold the government accountable if provisions in revenue management legislation are violated.

Halima Abdalla Kisule, a Ugandan journalist who won the 2010 CNN Multichoice African Journalist Awards prize for environmental reporting, is using the training course to deepen her understanding of how oil and gas extraction in Uganda will impact the environment.

"In Uganda, oil exploration in the Lake Albert area is going on in a protected area with a lot of wildlife," Kisule said. "Are we going to move all these animals to other places? How will all these hippos and elephants survive?"

Ghanaian journalist Benjamin Tetteh reflected on some of the issues that got him thinking. "The discussion about the various types of oil contracts has been my best part. It's been very exciting."

Below is a full list of RWI's new class of journalists. Check back on the media training page for story links and bios.

From Uganda:

Felix Basiime, Daily Monitor
Isaac Imaka, Daily Monitor
Mary Karugaba, New Vision
Halima Abdallah Kisule, The East African
Assad Mugenyi, The CEO Magazine
Moses Talemwa, The Observer
Coletta Wanjohi, WBS TV

From Ghana:

Lorrencia Adam, Choice FM
Edward Ameh, Net2 TV
Adams Bashiru, The Finder
Ivan Awudu Domasaa, Radio Progress
Jeorge Wilson Kingson, Businessweek Africa
Pascal Kelvin Kudiabor, Ghana Business News
Benjamin Piorgah Tetteh, Joy FM

 

http://www.revenuewatch.org/news/blog/rwi-2011-media-training-session-begins-ghana