Thank You Malawi! was the very first tweet from a Malawian President ever! President Mrs Joyce Banda posted her first tweet on 10th April, 3 days after assuming the presidency. Since then she has only managed to post one more tweet.
President Banda joins few other African leaders who are using the social networking site to engage their followers. The most popular African leaders on Twitter are John Atta Mills of Ghana, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, South AFrican President Jacob Zuma, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Paul Kagame has 64, 617 followers. Zambian President, Micheal Sata's twitter account is protected.
Amongst the world leaders, Barack Obama's account remains the most popular Twitter account with more than 16 Million followers according to an article by the Radio Netherlands Worldwide.
Madame Joyce Banda is also maintaining a personal website with a link to a page to her People's Party. She can also be found on Facebook.
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
$1 Million African News Innovation Challenge
Africa’s first major contest designed to promote the development of digital media products and innovations is now accepting applications.
African News Innovation Challenge (ANIC) will provide grants from $12,500 to $100,000 for the best projects aimed at strengthening and transforming African news media. The contest is modeled on the highly successful Knight News Challenge in the United States. Grantees will also receive technical advice, startup support and one-on-one mentoring from the world’s top media experts.
Of particular interest are proposals that improve data-based investigative journalism, audience engagement, mobile news distribution, data visualization, new revenue models and workflow systems.
The African Media Initiative (AMI), Africa’s largest association of media owners and operators, announced the contest last November as part of a pan-African initiative to spur digital experimentation and technology-driven projects and startups.
“African media have a tremendous opportunity to leapfrog the business disruption faced by media in Europe and the U.S.,” says AMI chief executive Amadou Mahtar Ba. “The growing reach of mobile networks and improving Internet access is beginning to reshape the media landscape in Africa. We believe this competition will help African news organizations stay ahead of the curve.”
Contest partners include Omidyar Network, Google, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the U.S. State Department, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).
“Omidyar Network is delighted to be supporting the African News Innovation Challenge,” said Stephen King, partner at Omidyar Network. “Across the continent we are seeing innovative ways in which technology is providing people with greater access to information. This challenge is a great opportunity for journalists, entrepreneurs and technologists to join forces and help enable the African media to hold their leaders to account.”
Digital strategist Justin Arenstein is managing the initiative as part of his work with the AMI and International Center for Journalists in Washington, D.C.
HOW TO APPLY:
Entries must be submitted to the ANIC website by midnight (Central African Time) on July 10, 2012.
WHO CAN APPLY:
Proposals may be submitted by news pioneers from anywhere in the world, but entries must have an African media partner who will help develop and test the innovation. Projects that are designed for Africa will stand a better chance of receiving support.
PROJECTS OF GREATEST INTEREST:
ANIC is seeking new ways to create, discuss and share news and make quality journalism sustainable. This could include new revenue or production models, new ways to gather, produce or distribute news. Ideas that can be scaled up across the continent or replicated elsewhere are of particular interest. Preference will be given to ideas that solve bottlenecks facing Africa’s media.
THE JUDGING PROCESS
Winning projects will be selected by an ANIC panel of judges, following public voting and a review by an international jury.
About ICFJ
The International Center for Journalists is a non-profit organization that advances quality journalism worldwide. Its programs combine the best professional standards with the latest digital innovations. ICFJ believes that independent, vigorous media are crucial in improving the human condition.
About AMI
The African Media Initiative is the continent’s largest umbrella association of African media owners, senior executives and other industry stakeholders. AMI’s mandate is to serve as a catalyst for strengthening African media by building the tools, knowledge resources and technical capacity for African media to play an effective public interest role in their societies. This mandate includes assisting with the development of professional standards, financial sustainability, technological adaptability and civic engagement.
About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top Web property in all major global markets. Google's mission in Africa is to make the Internet an integral part of every day life in Africa, by increasing its relevance and usefulness, eliminating access barriers for potential users, and developing products that are meaningful for countries in the region. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.google.com/africa, see our Africa Blog, http://google-africa.blogspot.com/ or follow us on Twitter twitter.com/googleafrica
About Omidyar Network
Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, the organization invests in and helps scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic and social change. To date, Omidyar Network has committed more than $500 million to for-profit companies and non-profit organizations that foster economic advancement and encourage individual participation across multiple investment areas, including financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, property rights, consumer Internet, mobile and government transparency. To learn more, visit www.omidyar.com.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
PRESIDENT FOR A DAY
Throughout the month of February, BBC World Service is giving a chance to its African listeners a chance to present a presidential inaugural address. These addresses are aired daily on their Network Africa programmes. As an avid listener of this program i sent out my speech and i thought of publishing it on this blog. Read it below:
PRESIDENT FOR A DAY
REBUILDING MALAWI
Let me start by thanking all the people who voted for me to this position of President of the Republic of Malawi. It was not an easy thing to compete with all the candidates who gave out a spirited challenge. In the same breath I would like to extend my invitation to all the losing candidates to join me in leading Malawi for the next five years. I have read all the manifestos you presented during campaign and there are several things which when added to our manifesto will help the people of Malawi. I have delayed in choosing my cabinet waiting for the response from the other presidential aspirants and their parties. It is for our benefit as Malawians. United we stand divided we fall!!
I have titled my speech”Rebuilding Malawi” simply because that is the only thing that we can do to make it a better place to live. Our country is in ruins because of the type of leadership we have had in the past years. There is a problem with our economy. Yes, we are making strides on paper but people are still suffering in the villages. Our education system is in tatters and needs to be attended if we are to build a better Malawi. I know that most of the people gracing this inaugural ceremony are unemployed; I will work to create more jobs.
As a country we have a lot of resources which, if shared properly, can be enough for everyone. The first step to make this a reality is to limit the amount of allowances given to public servants. Imagine a President is at liberty to have millions and millions of Kwachas in bank accounts at the expense of a farmer in Nsanje. Ministers, Members of Parliament and Principal Secretaries are driving posh vehicles disregarding the people they are supposed to serve. I seek to end this!! I know there some who are hard working and deserve to have riches but there are others who are just abusing taxpayer’s money. They are where they are because of your votes and taxes while you are still suffering!!
When a person has basic needs in life and is happy that’s when we can involve him in developmental activities. We will only talk of infrastructure development when we share the national cake equally. When every home is able to feed itself, send children to school and have a good house. You all pay tax in one way or another so you should enjoy being a Malawian and using Malawian resources. When choosing my cabinet, I will look for people who are selfless, who are prepared to lead and not to be worshipped. I need people who will be on the ground to understand people’s problems and find a way to sort them.
In rebuilding Malawi we need good roads, railways and a thriving water transport. We don’t have time to waste and every minute, every person (ruling or opposition) counts. As long as you are a Malawian we need you, your ideas and any type of contribution you can make. You have been ignored for too long and now time has come to take part in rebuilding Malawi to your satisfaction. We have wise people in the villages that have been sidelined simply because they had no resources to compete with the rich in elections. We need you now!!
I also want to find an alternative to our economy’s reliance on agriculture. As much as we are proud of being farmers, little progress is made to our economy. Our forefathers used to farm on the same land we are using now but only a few things developed. We are going the same route that the previous regimes had stumbled. They had to rely on the rain pattern and prices of our farm produce. Do we have to make the same mistake? NO!! There is a lot we can do to earn foreign currency, technology for instance. My fellow Malawians things are changing; people are making a lot of money out of technology. If we embrace technology we can make a lot of money for the country. We need to teach our children right from the nursery school through to the colleges. Only then will we be able to find foreign currency using others means apart from agriculture.
In closing I would like to remind you that together we can build a better Malawi. My presidency is your presidency, be proud of it. At the end of the day it is all of us (Malawians) who will be winners and we will retire happily knowing that we have secured a future for the coming generations.…..VIVA MALAWI
PRESIDENT FOR A DAY
REBUILDING MALAWI
Let me start by thanking all the people who voted for me to this position of President of the Republic of Malawi. It was not an easy thing to compete with all the candidates who gave out a spirited challenge. In the same breath I would like to extend my invitation to all the losing candidates to join me in leading Malawi for the next five years. I have read all the manifestos you presented during campaign and there are several things which when added to our manifesto will help the people of Malawi. I have delayed in choosing my cabinet waiting for the response from the other presidential aspirants and their parties. It is for our benefit as Malawians. United we stand divided we fall!!
I have titled my speech”Rebuilding Malawi” simply because that is the only thing that we can do to make it a better place to live. Our country is in ruins because of the type of leadership we have had in the past years. There is a problem with our economy. Yes, we are making strides on paper but people are still suffering in the villages. Our education system is in tatters and needs to be attended if we are to build a better Malawi. I know that most of the people gracing this inaugural ceremony are unemployed; I will work to create more jobs.
As a country we have a lot of resources which, if shared properly, can be enough for everyone. The first step to make this a reality is to limit the amount of allowances given to public servants. Imagine a President is at liberty to have millions and millions of Kwachas in bank accounts at the expense of a farmer in Nsanje. Ministers, Members of Parliament and Principal Secretaries are driving posh vehicles disregarding the people they are supposed to serve. I seek to end this!! I know there some who are hard working and deserve to have riches but there are others who are just abusing taxpayer’s money. They are where they are because of your votes and taxes while you are still suffering!!
When a person has basic needs in life and is happy that’s when we can involve him in developmental activities. We will only talk of infrastructure development when we share the national cake equally. When every home is able to feed itself, send children to school and have a good house. You all pay tax in one way or another so you should enjoy being a Malawian and using Malawian resources. When choosing my cabinet, I will look for people who are selfless, who are prepared to lead and not to be worshipped. I need people who will be on the ground to understand people’s problems and find a way to sort them.
In rebuilding Malawi we need good roads, railways and a thriving water transport. We don’t have time to waste and every minute, every person (ruling or opposition) counts. As long as you are a Malawian we need you, your ideas and any type of contribution you can make. You have been ignored for too long and now time has come to take part in rebuilding Malawi to your satisfaction. We have wise people in the villages that have been sidelined simply because they had no resources to compete with the rich in elections. We need you now!!
I also want to find an alternative to our economy’s reliance on agriculture. As much as we are proud of being farmers, little progress is made to our economy. Our forefathers used to farm on the same land we are using now but only a few things developed. We are going the same route that the previous regimes had stumbled. They had to rely on the rain pattern and prices of our farm produce. Do we have to make the same mistake? NO!! There is a lot we can do to earn foreign currency, technology for instance. My fellow Malawians things are changing; people are making a lot of money out of technology. If we embrace technology we can make a lot of money for the country. We need to teach our children right from the nursery school through to the colleges. Only then will we be able to find foreign currency using others means apart from agriculture.
In closing I would like to remind you that together we can build a better Malawi. My presidency is your presidency, be proud of it. At the end of the day it is all of us (Malawians) who will be winners and we will retire happily knowing that we have secured a future for the coming generations.…..VIVA MALAWI
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
THE MISSING BRAZILIAN STUDENT – GABRIEL BUCHMANN
He visited Malawi and thought of climbing Mulanje Mountain where he got lost on 17th July 2009 and was found dead on 5th August.
Gabriel Buchmann was on a mission to Asia and Africa.He traveled to 28 countries and Malawi was his last country to visit before going back to Brazil on 28th July. He was an Economist/ Humanitarian studying effects of poverty around the world. He had a BA in International Relations and Economics, he pursued an MA in Economics at PUC University in Rio de Janeiro. He had been awarded with a Fulbright scholarship and was to start a PHD in Public Policy at UCLA in September.
Here is how his best friend Pedro Hemsley described him at the start of a rescue mission:
“ A quick comment on the guy. Gabriel is an economist who studies poverty. He traveled many times to get to know people who live under adverse conditions – unlike most economists, who stick to the figures. He worked with public policy for poverty (you may guess how ineffective it is in most of the world) and will start his PhD in September at the University of California to go on researching and working on poverty. He decided to take a one-year trip in Asia and Africa to live with people, to see actual people in real situations, before going back into the books. He wasn’t a typical tourist at all. He didn’t sleep in hotels, but found accommodation with locals.
He hunted and fished with them.
He took part in their rituals.
This is who we are looking for.”
Before coming to Malawi Gabriel had been to Kenya and Uganda. Here is one of the last emails he sent to his relatives on 1st June 2009:
“Dearest mom, girlfriend and João, my top partners in this backpacking trip, my dearest little sister, After more than a week of a full-on experience into the heart of Africa . I’ve found this cybercafe in Jinha, countryside of Uganda, just in front of river Nile…to I write you to say that I am truly overwhelmed and life is wonderfully good! My days in Africa have been absolutely fantastic!!! After spending a few days in the house of a refugee from Congo in Nairobi, don’t ask me how I ended up in the remote village of the masais in Kenya, where I spent days running after giraffes, zebras, and antelopes carrying on a spade and arrow. I was having a truly tribal experience, sleeping in these people houses and all that….oh, and among many adventures in Kenya, I ended in style. I did a bike safari with my masai friend in a stunning national park… So I’m pretty roots here, walking for a week wrapped up in one of those colorful pieces of fabric, carrying on a stick of wood and steal spade…all I know is that since I’ve arrived in Africa I haven’t seen ANY muzumgo (white man), besides myself…
Oh, by the way, in the middle of all that today I sent a child to school!!! It’s a long story, but to keep it simple, after spending a whole day walking around a small village in Uganda with a boy that, among other things, introduced me to his family, which lives in totally misery, and then for coincidence I went visiting this public school and was talking to the director, so I decided I would pay the enrollment fee and all the expenses so that this boy could go to school until the end of the year…
The best about being in Africa is that only here I can travel the way I’ve always dreamt. Today for the second time I stayed at a hostel since I arrived in this continent, all other days I stayed and had meals with the locals, spending less than 3 dollars a day, which allowed me to distribute the rest of my daily allowance among those who helped me along the way by feeding me or by receiving me in their homes. I am overwhelmed to live such adventure …making a real journey into the heart of Africa, a totally non-touristy one, in a sustainable way, being able to help a few Africans on the way…here with almost nothing you can make a huge difference in people’s lives…for instance with only 12 dollars I paid my friend’s rent in Congo for the whole month. With only 40 dollars I paid for one year of such a cool school for this other boy……”
Gabriel's body returned to Brazil in Rio where it will be cremated at Mortuary Pax River after a wake in the chapel of Memorial of Caramel in Caju starting from Monday 10th August to Tuesday 11th August.
May his soul rest in peace!!!
Gabriel Buchmann was on a mission to Asia and Africa.He traveled to 28 countries and Malawi was his last country to visit before going back to Brazil on 28th July. He was an Economist/ Humanitarian studying effects of poverty around the world. He had a BA in International Relations and Economics, he pursued an MA in Economics at PUC University in Rio de Janeiro. He had been awarded with a Fulbright scholarship and was to start a PHD in Public Policy at UCLA in September.
Here is how his best friend Pedro Hemsley described him at the start of a rescue mission:
“ A quick comment on the guy. Gabriel is an economist who studies poverty. He traveled many times to get to know people who live under adverse conditions – unlike most economists, who stick to the figures. He worked with public policy for poverty (you may guess how ineffective it is in most of the world) and will start his PhD in September at the University of California to go on researching and working on poverty. He decided to take a one-year trip in Asia and Africa to live with people, to see actual people in real situations, before going back into the books. He wasn’t a typical tourist at all. He didn’t sleep in hotels, but found accommodation with locals.
He hunted and fished with them.
He took part in their rituals.
This is who we are looking for.”
Before coming to Malawi Gabriel had been to Kenya and Uganda. Here is one of the last emails he sent to his relatives on 1st June 2009:
“Dearest mom, girlfriend and João, my top partners in this backpacking trip, my dearest little sister, After more than a week of a full-on experience into the heart of Africa . I’ve found this cybercafe in Jinha, countryside of Uganda, just in front of river Nile…to I write you to say that I am truly overwhelmed and life is wonderfully good! My days in Africa have been absolutely fantastic!!! After spending a few days in the house of a refugee from Congo in Nairobi, don’t ask me how I ended up in the remote village of the masais in Kenya, where I spent days running after giraffes, zebras, and antelopes carrying on a spade and arrow. I was having a truly tribal experience, sleeping in these people houses and all that….oh, and among many adventures in Kenya, I ended in style. I did a bike safari with my masai friend in a stunning national park… So I’m pretty roots here, walking for a week wrapped up in one of those colorful pieces of fabric, carrying on a stick of wood and steal spade…all I know is that since I’ve arrived in Africa I haven’t seen ANY muzumgo (white man), besides myself…
Oh, by the way, in the middle of all that today I sent a child to school!!! It’s a long story, but to keep it simple, after spending a whole day walking around a small village in Uganda with a boy that, among other things, introduced me to his family, which lives in totally misery, and then for coincidence I went visiting this public school and was talking to the director, so I decided I would pay the enrollment fee and all the expenses so that this boy could go to school until the end of the year…
The best about being in Africa is that only here I can travel the way I’ve always dreamt. Today for the second time I stayed at a hostel since I arrived in this continent, all other days I stayed and had meals with the locals, spending less than 3 dollars a day, which allowed me to distribute the rest of my daily allowance among those who helped me along the way by feeding me or by receiving me in their homes. I am overwhelmed to live such adventure …making a real journey into the heart of Africa, a totally non-touristy one, in a sustainable way, being able to help a few Africans on the way…here with almost nothing you can make a huge difference in people’s lives…for instance with only 12 dollars I paid my friend’s rent in Congo for the whole month. With only 40 dollars I paid for one year of such a cool school for this other boy……”
Gabriel's body returned to Brazil in Rio where it will be cremated at Mortuary Pax River after a wake in the chapel of Memorial of Caramel in Caju starting from Monday 10th August to Tuesday 11th August.
May his soul rest in peace!!!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
VOLUNTEERING IN MALAWI
When am not busy with my paid job, I take time to coordinate for various organisations who send volunteers in Malawi including Volunteering Solutions and Advance Africa . Like I have done several times before, this month I had an opportunity of coordinating Caitriona Rogerson and Natasha Fitzpatrick's stay in Malawi.
They are from Ireland and volunteered for two weeks at Zingwangwa Primary school in Blantyre. They taught English, Music, Drama and several other things. Below are some of the pictures they took during their time of volunteering:
They are from Ireland and volunteered for two weeks at Zingwangwa Primary school in Blantyre. They taught English, Music, Drama and several other things. Below are some of the pictures they took during their time of volunteering:
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