A 2-day media workshop to train selected journalists from the Ashaiman/Tema area has successfully ended at the New Media Hub in Accra.
The workshop, organized by Penplusbytes with funding from the Canadian Fund for local Initiative, began on, Monday 21st November 2016 and ended the following day.
Speaking at the formal closing ceremony to present certificates to the participants, the programmes director at Penplusbytes, Jerry Sam admonished the participants to constantly practice the knowledge they have acquired through the training. He further reiterated Penplusbytes’ commitment in equipping journalists with skills in using new digital technologies in order to enhance traditional journalism. “We have trained over 1000 journalists and we are not stopping any moment soon. We need to match up with standard practice in the use of ICTs in journalism elsewhere,” he added.
A facilitator at the workshop and programme manager for New Media at Penplusbytes, Precious Ankomah was excited about the outcome of the training and the enthusiasm of participants. She said, “I am looking forward to engaging developmental stories from the trainees. We have already discussed interesting story ideas that are to be published shortly on their various news platforms.”
Blay Gibbah, a participant from The Ghanaian Times, described the training as an eye opener. “It’s improved my understanding of the decentralised system of government, the district assembly concept and how I can use technology/digital tools to improve understanding and participation”, he said.
According to Obunu TV’s Patricia Saklpavie, “It has helped me to better understand and appreciate social media tools such as twitter. I would welcome any workshop or media related program from the New Media Hub anytime.”
14 participants including correspondents of various news media in the Tema region, personnel from the public relations office of the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly and citizen journalists were schooled on what decentralization in the local governance system means, how to identify the feedback loop in information sharing, some new digital tools to improve citizen engagement and new media tools for telling the citizen engagement story.
They are expected to produce and publish citizen engagement stories with their newly acquired skills. Penplusbytes is to engage them some more and provide and guidance for their various story projects and beyond.
About
Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.
