The The Africa Group at the US Social Forum organized several discussions groups
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Continue reading Africa Group at USSF leads panels.
The Africa Group at the US Social Forum conference in Detroit, Michigan, played a crucial role in the conference deliberations and drafting an agenda for the Dakar conference in February next year. Pictured are some of the members of the group.
Journalism students, mostly women, at Puntland State University, Puntland, Somalia, participated in the constitution-making program of the government of Puntland. The students will also be involved in the community radio station which is funded by Unesco. See story below.
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Continue reading PSU journalism students participate in government project.
Unesco's IPDC has awarded a grant to Puntland State University to start a community radio broadcast station.
Journalism students at PSU will use the station to broadcast development messages to the community.
Students in the diploma in journalism class (pictured above) at Puntland State University, Garowe, will start community broadcasting in February.
The students, mostly women, will be assigned to local broadcast stations where they will report on community events and broadcast them.
Part of the students' assignments will be to interview citizens, NGOs, local community leaders and government officials about a wide range of issues and problems in their community.
In the past two months students have written blogs about issues in their communities.
The diploma in journalism program, especially broadcasting, is an important human resource investment. It will give women in Somalia the professional skills to gather information and write and /or broadcast their story and experiences from their perspective to their communities and the international world.
The diploma in journalism is taught through distance education by Dr. Stanford Mukasa, associate professor of journalism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA. It is part of the collaboration between PSU, Africa Virtual University and IUP that started eight years ago and has trained journalists throughout Somalia and Africa.
The one-year program is funded by the US-based National Endowment for Democracy.
Students in the diploma program graduated from the certificate in journalism last year.
They will learn advanced journalism topics ranging from news reporting, photojournalism, editing, editorial writing, research and public opinion surveys, newspaper layout and design. In addition students completed a course in African politics.
The journalism program at PSU is a product of the university in collaboration with its international partners' vision to promote a free press and freedom of expression and to empower Somalis with professional and technological skills to communicate and distribute information effectively and efficiently . In the process, it is hoped that Somalis will begin at grassroots levels a serious and sustained conversation on future directions for the conflict -ridden region.
Based in Garowe, PSU is a potential center for, and nearly straddles, three geopolitical regions of Somalia : Somaliland, Puntland and southern Somalia. It has become a strategic port of call for Somalis coming from any points around the region.
PSU is working with Nairobi-based Unesco regional office for eastern Africa to secure broadcasting equipment to establish the Puntland State University Community Broadcast station. Similar programs were established at East African University in Northern Puntland as well as at University of Hargeisa in Somaliland. East African University community broadcast is operational while University of Hargeisa is not because the university has yet to receive a license from the government.
The journalism program at PSU is supported through generous support spearhead by the university's development NGO, KAALO.
To continue the program until it reaches self- sustainable levels, PSU is seeking assistance from organizations and donor agencies.
For more details please contact
Hamid Mahamud, PSU president and Head
KAALO Relief & Development NGO
Tel: (252-5) - 844247 (Office)
Tel: (252-90) 794076
Email: kaaloorg@yahoo.com/info@kaalo.org
Garowe, Puntland State of Somalia
By Bahjo Abdirisak Abshir
Inflation and tribalism are a big problem for Garowe.
Inflation has reached a point where poor people in particular are unable to buy anything to sustain them. There are simply too many people who cannot afford to buy food, clothing, and have become homeless.
The worst affected are the Internally Displaced People (IDP) who have fled the 20-year civil wars and other problems to seek refuge in Puntland. Some of the IDP escaped mass killings, had been victims of abductions, rapes, looting, and tribalism. With no food and hardly any possessions, the IDP traveled long distances and by sea, in search of safe places.
The IDP, in particular, need immediate international help in humanitarian aid; security and shelter.
They also need help to build houses; to learn how to protect themselves from diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria; to learn income-generating projects and to access safe drinking water.
Another problem for the IDP is tribalism. Tribalism is bad because it discriminates people on the basis of where peole come from. It creates conflicts and tensions. We must work together to remove tribalism for the sake of national progress.
[Bahjo Abdirisak Abshir is a student in the distance education program in journalism at Puntland State University]
By Yusuf Warsame Abdi
The first problem in Garowe is residents are not safe especially at night. Some young people engage in criminal activities, fighting and sometimes killings. Members of the Garowe community, with help of the police, must stop these criminal gangs by arresting and sending them to jail.
The second problem in Garowe are the used plastic bags which are littered everywhere. They are an environmental danger especially to animals. Many people in Garowe keep goats and sheep.. These animals end up eating the plastic bags and die. One way to stop littering plastic bags is to appeal to businesses to stop making them.
If they do not listen, government must penalize them.
[Yusuf Warsame Abdi is a student in the distance education program in journalism at Puntland State University]
By Faduma Khalif Said
Journalists in Garowe need equipment to enable them to reach places like Qardo, Bosaso, Galkayo and other outlying places.
Urgently needed equipment includes; cameras, recorders, studio production machines as well as vehicles.
A major capacity building program for Garowe journalists should be supported by the Government of Puntland. This must include training journalists how to use modern equipment for gathering news.
Advertising training is necessary because advertising is an important revenue earner for newspapers.
[Faduma Khalif Said is a student in the distance education program in journalism at Puntland State University]