AUCC collaborates with Penplusbytes to launch historic Ghana Post Elections Intervention Project

The ground breaking Ghana Post Elections Intervention Project (GPEIP) has been launched at the Ghana International Press Centre on December 1, 2010. The programme was organized by Penplusbytes in collaboration with the Open Society of Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) its strategic partner. Other partners of the Project include African University College of Communications (AUCC) Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) SMS GH, Edge Cube, Frontline SMS and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA). 

The theme for the launch was “Because accountability counts.”

The programme was attended by about thirty (30) participants from the media, political parties, academia, donor agencies and the field of research.

Mr. Jeremiah Sam, Project Director, disclosed to participants that the project was the pilot phase of the broader African Elections Project (AEP) which sought to use various sources of information to track   developmental issues as promised by elected   officials during campaigns.  He also stated that  the sources used to undertake the tracking  included: the President’s  sessional  addresses, Budget Statements,  Parliamentary question time, statements   by the President and Sector Ministers  as  captured by the Press, Statements  and Publications  by the World  Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  He added that field officers also furnished the project with reports on the work being done by the various government agencies.

Mr.  Sam disclosed to participants that the goal of AEP was to encourage journalists to write more stories after elections and to also equip journalists with new media skills. 

The programme was divided into two major segments namely a stakeholders’ forum and the launch of the Ghana Post- elections Media Guide

Mr. Kwami Ahiabenu II, team member for (GPEIP) informed  participants of  the twenty selected indicators  for the Project which were based on promises made by the ruling NDC government in the areas of agriculture, health, infrastructure, education, energy, decentralization, gender, employment, corruption and security.

The objectives of the stakeholders’ forum were as follows;

·         To ascertain from the participants whether the twenty (20) indicators for the Project chosen were enough.

·         To find out how to get citizens involved in the Project

·         To know the expectations of participants upon the completion of the Project.

·         To find out whose responsibility it was to ensure that citizens were involved in the Project

At the end of the discussions, a lot of suggestions were made by the participants who came from diverse professional backgrounds.

A sixty (60) page media guide titled “Because accountability counts - A journalist guide for covering post elections in Ghana was also launched by Prof. Emmanuel Ofori Akyea, Dean, Journalism and Communications of AUCC.

Howard University and AUCC organize workshop on Socially Relevant Computing Education

A two-day workshop on Socially Relevant Computing Education organized by Howard University and AUCC aimed at building a stronger partnership between USA and Africa has been organized at the Discovery House Campus of AUCC in Accra, Ghana from November 23 - November 24, 2010.

Participants of the workshop were drawn from an interdisciplinary group of over twenty faculties, information technology practitioners and students from across Africa and the USA. These included Howard University (Lead Institution), Humboldt State University, The University of the District of Columbia, Jackson State University, Elizabeth City State University and The New Jersey Institute of Technology, all in USA. The African participants were drawn from Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Swaziland, Sudan and Burkina Faso. Kudakwashe Madzima from Swaziland, Talnan Jean Honore Coulibaly from Cote d’ Ivoire, Maiga Abdou from Burkina Faso, Aboubakary Diakhaby from Senegal, Ibrahim Lokpo from Cote d’ Ivoire, Gada Kadoda from Sudan Prince Deh from African University College of Communications, Ogochuku Nweke from African University of Communications, Joseph Oclu from University of Ghana.

The first session on the first day of the workshop was used to highlight specific areas of socially relevant computing education and the contributions and efforts that were needed in order to produce content in the subject area. The second session on the first day was the match making session which witnessed participants organizing themselves into discussion groups based on interests.

On the second day of the workshop, the three interest areas that had been identified by the participants were consolidated into the following three projects:

1.      A project on knowledge management systems to support the production, sharing and delivery of timely information and knowledge to the different stakeholders.

2.      A project to develop a system to determine patterns and help prevent and mitigate cyber crimes and attacks. The focus of the project would be on tracking patterns.

3.      A project to develop systems to deliver reliable academic content over non-reliable networks to support teaching and learning irrespective of bandwidth challenges.

Other issues discussed at the workshop included curriculum development as well as the infrastructural and resource requirements needed to sustain African and global dimensions for a socially relevant computing education program.

The workshop ended with the following resolutions:

1.      To develop a proposal on the knowledge management system project to support the production, sharing and delivery of timely information and knowledge to the different stakeholders.

2.      To develop a proposal for a project to develop a system to determine patterns and help prevent and mitigate cyber crimes and attacks. The focus of the project would be on tracking patterns.

3.      To develop a proposal for the establishment of systems to deliver reliable academic content over non-reliable networks to support teaching and learning irrespective of bandwidth challenges.

4.      The need to continue the dialogue on curriculum development especially with regards to the setting up of the Communication Technology Department at the African University College of Communications.