In a few weeks, CIMA will attend Highway Africa 2015 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. The annual conference serves to create a platform for sharing information and knowledge, serving as the center of Africa’s debates on journalism, media, and communication. This year’s theme is Journalism in the City—looking at the relationship between journalism and place. In the next few weeks, CIMA will be exploring these topics, as well as reporting on the conference.
Some questions the conference will highlight are: whose voices are heard in city journalism? Whose voices are marginalized, delegitimized, or downgraded? Does city journalism set the agenda for the nation? Is hyperlocal media still an option? What media and journalism exists at the margins of the city? How is ICT innovation enabling city dwellers to tell their own stories and to challenge dominant narratives?
#Tech4CitizenVoice
One panel discussion during the conference will be hosted by Making All Voices Count, an international initiative that contributes to effective governance and accountability by enabling citizen engagement. This discussion will highlight “new ways in which citizens are engaging with each other and with governance institutions across the continent through innovative technology; and steer conversations on the role of media in influencing citizen journalism.”
Applicants with an idea for an initiative are invited to submit an idea that could contribute to improving governance in South Africa under two themes:
- Safe spaces—“finding innovations to help ordinary people feel safe to voice concerns and criticism to government actors;” and
- Local action—“building and supporting community action to improve government service delivery, from better education and health, to more jobs and safer roads.”
Finalists will attend the Highway Africa conference to pitch their idea to a panel of judges at the conference, and the winner will have an opportunity to make their idea a reality with funding and guidance from Making All Voices Count.
Interested in applying? Read more information here.
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