Thanks to tremendous progress achieved by the General Packet Radio System (GPRS), the wireless communication protocol, it is now possible for Africans to send articles and images (still and moving) about events taking place in their countries without using a computer and without having traditional internet connection.

Under those circumstances, the bigger the number of people expressing their opinions through that technology, the stronger becomes democracy, and the more valuable is the contribution to good governance efforts in Africa.

Initiated by the Africa Interactive Media Foundation, the Voices of Africa project was launched in late May 2007 for a preparatory phase. In Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa reporters were hired to master the technology and to get experience in uploading texts, photos and videos.  A great part of their results and work are being published on this website.

In Kenya where impressive progress was achieved, the project is due to enter the second phase in November 2007. Kenya Project coordinator Evans Wafula has recruited 4 young mobile reporters ( camjo’s), two male and two female, who will be reporting news articles, videos and pictures for a period of six months. This part of the project is financially supported by the ASN Foundation.
In the other three countries the preparatory phase still goes on. The Africa Interactive Media Foundation tries to get sponsorship from third parties to be able to recruit more young mobile reporters in these countries as well.
The intention is to start preparatory work in other African countries, starting with Tanzania and Nigeria. The Foundation’s hope is to have the Voices of Africa project running in all African countries.

Background

The development of Internet and mobile communication in Africa has considerably progressed , thereby putting Africans in a much better position to take part in discussions that have been taking place about their continent  for centuries without their knowledge and participation. This trend is very promising as communication and interaction among people are preconditions for reinforcing democracy and greatly contribute to good governance and the rule of law.

Although the communication channels are greatly progressing, the number of African journalists, reporters, photographers, film makers and internet experts taking advantage of them is still relatively very low. Also, the number of citizen journalists - who are very active in Western countries through mobile communication and internet- is very low.

Objectives

The objective of the Voices of Africa Project is to help talented Africans build a career in media, using currently available technologies that are not yet financially affordable in Africa.

The Africa Interactive Media Foundation initiates this project because it falls and fits in its initial mission. The Foundation believes that by stimulating ( citizen) journalism, democracy will be served and this may stimulate good governance in Africa. The Foundation endeavours to find donors in order to have necessary funds for the implementation of this project. In practice, the Foundation collaborates both with Africa Interactive - one of the largest international online communities grouping people interested in Africa – and Skoeps.com – a Dutch news website exclusively publishing pictures and short videos made by eyewitnesses using mobile phones.

How is the project planned?

The ultimate goal is to select, in each African country, a number of skilful (young) men and women (with the help of a local coordinator) and to equip these people with high-technology  mobile phones (with a small foldable keyboard) where a special piece of software is installed to permit direct uploads of photos, texts and videos to the Skoeps server, from where they are transferred to the Africa Interactive website for publication. Once online, those stories and images are meant to trigger reactions from users and community members. The project´s selection policy gives a bigger chance to skilful women in an effort not only to have diversified contents but above all to contribute to their emancipation efforts through media.

The Africans who take part in this project are known as ‘camjos’, a short combination of ‘camera’ and ‘journalist’. A camjo writes, takes photos and makes videos about daily life in Africa, on subjects that s/he finds newsworthy. Each camjo receives a training on the use of the phone and is coached during the first six months. With this initiative, Africans, whether in cities or in the countryside, will have the opportunity to have their voice heard all over the world. The implementation of this project is only possible in African regions covered by the GPRS.

The Africa Interactive Foundation  is trying to gather funds for the project to be able to start new pilots in various African countries and to roll out the project in the countries were the pilot project has become successful.

Check out the site here.