AFRICAN ELECTIONS PROJECT RANKED INGENIOUS BY INNOVATION FAIR

20/04/10   PPB003          For immediate release:

AFRICAN ELECTIONS PROJECT RANKED INGENIOUS BY INNOVATION FAIR

The African Elections Project was selected to be a part of 33 key projects out of 223 innovative projects submitted from around the globe and joined the rest of selected projects to participate in the World Bank Innovation Fair held in South Africa from the 12 – 15 of April with one of its partners International Institute for Sustainable Development.

The main theme for the occasion was "Innovation Fair: Moving beyond conflict" with a focus on two critical challenges of development in fragile states namely Communications for Governance and Service Delivery and Conflict and Violence Prevention. This initiative is directed towards uncovering a long lasting route to peace and security across the world by soliciting ideas from participating organizations. Selected participants came from over 40 countries which included India, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Yemen, DR Congo, Guinea-Bissau and Kenya.

This African Elections Project (AEP) was chosen for its work in the area of Communication for Governance and Service Delivery because of its innovative use of social media to develop capacity and monitor governance process prior to, during and after the elections. The project leverages the free, fair and unbiased media and the crucial role they play in elections such as providing impartial information thereby contributing to peace building during elections. .

Kwami Ahiabenu II, the representative for the African Elections Project opined that "the fair provided a platform for the exchange of ideas on how to replicate one project in a different context and how to improve ideas based on experience to reduce conflict conditions or the fear of a potential conflict.

The African Elections Project is aimed at developing the capacity of the media in ICTs in elections coverage while stimulating the provision of elections information and knowledge via its portal www.africanelections.org and other new media tools. African Elections Project has so far covered elections in Ghana, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Botswana, Togo, and Namibia with planned coverage of Cote d'Ivoire, Niger and Guinea in the pipe line. The project is coordinated by the International Institute for ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) working hand in hand with key partners www.osisa.org and www.osiwa.org .

Signed

Jerry Sam, Project Manager,

Tel: 0264838097 , email: jerrysam@hotmail.com/ http://www.africanelections.org/

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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org

Competition for Recognizing excellence in IT media and FOSS Reporting in Africa Award

The African FOSS Reporter Award

Recognizing excellence in IT media and FOSS Reporting in Africa

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has the potential to curtail some obstacles towards adoption and effective use of ICTs in Africa and to contribute to bridge the digital divide. However the potential contribution of philosophy, economy and software development model of FOSS to the issues facing Africa are often overlooked or under-represented by the media.

The African FOSS Reporter Award Competition 2010 aims to highlight the impact of FOSS on the development of Africa. We are searching for enthusiastic writers who want to demonstrate their journalistic abilities by examining these issues. The competition is run in partnership with Deutsche Welle and supported by OSIWA as part of an initiative to raise public awareness of such issues.

FOSSFA has issued a call for entries for the FOSS for Africa Journalism Award competition.

The award recognizes outstanding reporting for a general audience and honor individuals (rather than institutions, publishers or employers) for their coverage of FOSS.

SCOPE

Winning entries are articles that are valuable to their readers, show clarity in their communication and are significant in disclosing, explaining, interpreting and reporting the impact of FOSS on the development of Africa and recognizing newsworthiness.

The award is open to Africans living in Africa, authors of articles or broadcasts that have been published or aired in the last two years.

CONFERMENT OF AWARD

The winner and 2 runners-up will be announced and presented with their awards during a special awards ceremony at the 4th African conference on FOSS and the Digital Commons Idlelo - 4. Each Runner-up will receive a certificate and a full Idlelo Pass. The winner will receive a certificate, an Idlelo pass, and a cash prize.

ENTRY DEADLINE

Deadline for receipt of the awards entries is April 30th 2010.

SUBMISSION

Entries should be sent by email to mediajury@fossfa.net with a copy to fossway@fossfa.net Entry must include the name of reporter, present location, passport and contact details.

Judging Criteria
Subject Matter

Judges will score the subject matter out of 10; based on originality; importance; general interest and usefulness.

Insight

Judges will score the article for insight out of 10, based on accuracy; the value of the insights; the quality and relevance of the sources/opinions.

Writing Quality

Judges will score the articles for their writing quality out of 10, based on grammar; article flow; flair; readability and entertainment value.

Adaptation to the medium

Judges will score the articles for their writing quality out of 10, based on the capacity of the author to adapt the message to the medium.

The Jury

The Jury will be made up of:

The FOSSWAY Project Coordinator

One member from FOSSFA Secretariat

One FOSSFA executive

The Open Society Initiative for West Africa

The Deutsche Welle

One media expert

For more information

More information on FOSSWAY is available on http://www.fossway.fossfa.net

Information on FOSSFA is on http://www.fossfa.net

For more information on Idlelo click on http://www.idlelo.net

Information on OSIWA can be found on http://www.osiwa.org

Deutsche Welle has more information on http://www.dw-world.de
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International Institute for ICT Journalism
www.penplusbytes.org