The project is designed to keep citizens informed and engaged
on political campaign issues to enable them make informed decisions at the
polls while strengthening Ghana’s credentials as a beacon of democracy in the sub-region.
As part of the project activities, Penplusbytes and EIB will
for the first time deliver two sets of trainings for 30 selected journalists
from across the country on using data journalism to effectively report on
Ghana’s elections.
The first training is scheduled from Thursday October 6 to 8,
2016 in Kumasi and will involve 15 journalists from the northern belt of
country.
According to Eyram Bashan, Group Managing Editor of EIB
Network, this interactive training workshop is designed to particularly
strengthen the skills and help leverage the knowledge and experience of these
journalists for improved issues coverage of Ghana’s 2016 general elections. “The
course will provide practical skills in how they can tell data driven stories
using data analysis, data cleaning, data organization, data visualization and
infographics,” she said.
The project will also deploy innovative new digital tools
hosted under Penplusbytes’ African
Elections platform mashed up with radio and television programmes to ensure
that every vote counts towards the final outcome of the elections. This would involve
the review of political parties’ manifestos to produce a comparative tabulation
of policies, promises and costings which would be shared via online platforms
including social media, WhatsApp and SMS. This will be done with the aim of improving
access to electoral information, creating space for citizen’s dialogue and
promoting issue based approach to elections campaign during Ghana’s 2016
elections.
According to Kwami Ahiabenu, II the executive director of Penplusbytes,
"using the building blocks of training journalists in the use of data
journalism, fact checking service and the ‘Ghana Elections Record’ platform,
the project is expected to contribute significantly to the success of Ghana
elections 2016, by having a media focused on issues, a well-informed
electorates who will participate in issues based campaigning while at the same time promoting informed
analysis of campaign issues and debates through the generation of data driven
stories.”
“This project reinforces Penplusbytes’ leadership in
promoting effective governance using technology in Africa and beyond,” he
added.
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About
Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change
through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to
enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and
driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and
resources.
EIB Network continues to stand out as Ghana's emerging star
in media excellence. The network is led by a team of seasoned and competent
managers who have helped in diverse ways to establish most of Ghana’s
competitive media brands. A relatively new entrant in Ghana’s media landscape, EIB
Network’s ambitious corporate drive is the reason for its phenomenal growth
over a relatively short period. The network serves both English and twi-speaking
demographics across its seven radio stations, two television stations and a
newspaper.
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