"The report documents the threats to civil society in the digital age by examining the legislative and regulatory framework in four countries in Africa: Egypt, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia. These countries were selected from the four main geographic regions of Africa, in order to provide a sense
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of the state of civic engagement in the digital age across the continent. The case studies are clearly not representative of what is happening on the continent, but are illustrative of some prominent trends. The recommendations emanating from the research call for the states to revise and repeal identified restrictive laws and align them with international standards. Civil society organisations and human rights activists are also encouraged to enhance their individual and organizational digital knowledge and expertise to more robust counter disruptive state measures. This expertise should be enhanced through a human rights lens and should extend to other stakeholders including judicial officers, legislators, law enforcement and the general public through sustained multi-stakeholder engagement." (Executive summary, pages 7-8)
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"Sierra Leone continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic through the dissemination of information across various platforms. The media have generally been supportive in providing the public with information and education about COVID-19. However, media owners and managers continue to raise concerns
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about difficulties in running their institutions amidst COVID-19. Some media institutions have started rotational work schedules to cope with the lack of resources to pay staff. The situation has left media institutions worried about their sustainability during the outbreak of COVID-19 and beyond. The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) was able to secure some support for training of journalists and some financial support for radio and television stations and newspapers for broadcasting and publishing contents on COVID-19. This is, however, not enough given the enormity of the economic impact on the media industry. It is, therefore, recommended that the government of Sierra Leone put in place financial relief packages to support the media in the country in these trying times." (Conclusion)
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"Spotlight report on the state of public access to information in Canada, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Serbia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Ukraine prepared for the 2019 cycle of the Voluntary National Reviews and the 2019 UN High Level Political Forum." (Subtitle)
"With a focus on entertainment education, this article sheds light on the effects of radio drama in addressing conflict over land governance. The discussion is built around the broadcast of Bush Wahala radio series during the recent land acquisition process that has taken place in Sierra Leone. Thro
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ugh the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted by the author with rural farmers affected by this issue, on the one hand, this work generates reflections on the role of radio drama in providing listeners with alternative options to the use of violence and confrontation with the authorities in order to claim land rights; on the other hand, it represents an important contribution to the literature of edutainment in contexts of conflict, with a specific focus on the increasingly complex issue of land grabbing in the developing world." (Abstract)
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"Drawing on over a dozen new empirical case studies – from Kenya to Somalia, South Africa to Tanzania – this collection explores how rapidly growing social media use is reshaping political engagement in Africa. But while social media has often been hailed as a liberating tool, the book demonstra
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tes how it has often served to reinforce existing power dynamics, rather than challenge them. Featuring experts from a range of disciplines from across the continent, this collection is the first comprehensive overview of social media and politics in Africa. By examining the historical, political, and social context in which these media platforms are used, the book reveals the profound effects of cyber-activism, cyber-crime, state policing and surveillance on political participation." (Publisher description)
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"The relationship between the media and security agencies, including those in the law enforcement and intelligence services, has always been a delicate one. In the West African context, this relationship is often characterized by frequent clashes, arising from a somewhat startling inability of eithe
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r side to fully appreciate the role of the other in society, particularly in democratic governance. This report pulls together experiences and reflections from Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone, distilling lessons learnt and best practices in this regard and outlining a framework to inform future initiatives by a variety of stakeholders." (www.mediasupport.org)
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"This report maps the current landscape in respect of digital rights and online freedom of expression in East, West and Southern Africa. It looks at the trends regarding law and policy developments, as well as recent litigation, within these regions. The report focuses on 18 countries – 6 per regi
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on – and tracks the recent developments that have taken place in these countries. Part I of the report provides an overview of the litigation before the ACHPR and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) in respect of freedom of expression. Parts II, III and IV of the report look at the trends generally in East, West and Southern Africa respectively, as well as some of the key legal and civil society actors working on digital rights and online freedom of expression, and include a snapshot of some of the notable developments – both positive and negative – that have occurred in the 18 countries under consideration in this report, as well as reflections on opportunities and challenges for vindicating digital rights within each of the countries. Lastly, Part V considers what the next possible opportunities will be for digital rights and online freedom of expression litigation in the region." (Pages 5-6)
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"There is a noticeable improvement in professional media practice in Sierra Leone since the project started. However, more work remains to be done to further improve professional media practice and ethics. The regulatory environment needs to be improved and the role of the Independent Media Commissi
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on (IMC) needs to be enhanced for effectiveness and relevance in a digital future. Media development involves capacity building for institutions or individuals related to freedom of expression, pluralism and diversity of media, as well as transparency of media ownership. Media development plays a role in democracy and effective democratic discourse through supporting free and independent media. We consider that value for money was fairly achieved on this project although there is the possibility to have spent more efficiently by disbursing fund timely and early and avoiding emergency spending/procurement. Many of the respondents did not have details of total financial value of the project, but the general feeling was that the funds expended on the project were well targeted and delivered value for money. In evaluating the effectiveness and reach of the media development project, we find that there has been some improvement in media ethics, transparent licencing, business sustainability and professionalism, though much remains to be done. These include aligning the media role in national development, aligning and improving capacity for business and economic viability, strengthening the MRCG and the SLBC and improving international donor engagement." (Main findings, page 3-4)
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"La relation entre les médias et les agences de sécurité, y compris les services de police et de renseignement, a toujours été délicate. Dans le contexte de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, cette relation est souvent caractérisée par des affrontements fréquents, résultant d'une incapacité quelque pe
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u surprenante des deux parties à apprécier pleinement le rôle de l'autre dans la société, en particulier dans la gouvernance démocratique. Ce rapport rassemble les expériences et les réflexions du Liberia, du Ghana et de la Sierra Leone, distillant les leçons apprises et les meilleures pratiques à cet égard et esquissant un cadre pour informer les initiatives futures d'une variété de parties prenantes." (www.mediasupport.org)
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"This paper examines the teaching of conflict-sensitive reporting, safety education and peace journalism in the curricula of institutions offering mass communication/journalism programmes in three English speaking countries of West Africa: Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. It assesses the status of r
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esearch and teaching of reporting of conflicts, peace journalism and professional safety in institutions of the selected countries." (Abstract)
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"This research looks at the information needed by in-country development stakeholders with an emphasis on accountability actors including civil society organizations, charities, government workers, and the media. To collect this information, semi-structured interviews were conducted in Sierra Leone
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and Liberia. The majority of interviewees wanted information about financial resources and the channels they flowed through, and all respondents wanted information on the services provided and where the work was happening subnationally, suggesting that these two sets of information may be the most important. Unfortunately, information on subnational locations and services provided is infrequently available through open aid data portals, implying a need to update what aid information is shared." (Page 1)
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"The findings show that community radio stations in Anglophone West African countries are owned and controlled by the community; the community radio in Anglophone West African countries is regulated along the broad guidelines that guide broadcasting in those countries; and community radio is used fo
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r various purposes with the central focus on development. The study recommends that Governments should encourage the operation of community radio by granting license to willing communities; avoid undue interference in the operation of the community radio; and big organizations and non-governmental organizations should support community radio financially and logistically and the Nigerian government should commence the licensing of community radio in the country." (Abstract)
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"This report draws on two studies: first, a nationally representative quantitative survey, and, second, a qualitative study across three locations in Sierra Leone [...] Ninety-five per cent of research participants reported accessing health information in the previous three months – 93% receiving
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information about Ebola and 43% receiving information about pneumonia. Media access – in particular for radio (81%) and mobile (83%) – is high. There is a strong interest in health information in Sierra Leone. 86% of Sierra Leoneans want to receive more information on health for themselves and their families. People are particularly interested in receiving information on health issues that they already have some knowledge of – 29% mentioned that they wanted information on malaria and typhoid. This compares with the 11% of people who want to receive information on health topics that they currently do not know much about. People act upon information that enables them to address symptoms quickly at home, is cheap to access and both cheap and easy to implement. Nine per cent of Sierra Leoneans have never used formal healthcare services. There are a number of reasons why people do not seek formal health providers or access health information." (Executive summary, page 7-8)
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"The magazine programme Fo Rod and the debate show Tok Bot Salone built a loyal and engaged audience. The number of people who listened to either one or both programmes increased from 0.8 million in 2013 to 1.1 million in 2015, representing 29% of all adults. The proportion of regular listeners was
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very high, with practically all listeners tuning in to at least every other episode. In the year after the elections, almost half the audience (48%) was female. But, despite efforts to maintain this, the proportion dropped to 39% by 2015 – a decline also seen in other Global Grant countries following elections. Research respondents were drawn to the radio programmes because they were informative and easy to understand, and listeners enjoyed the calm, audience-driven style of presentation. Tok Bot Salone’s format of debates in different localities was considered particularly effective at providing a platform for citizens to ask their leaders questions. By 2015, the BBC Media Action Sierra Leone Facebook page was the most popular (liked) in the country [...] Fo Rod and Tok Bok Salone appear to have successfully supported bottom-up accountability: more than two in five listeners strongly agreed that they played a role in holding government to account. This is a higher proportion than seen in any of the other countries where BBC Media Action delivered Global Grant-funded governance projects. Accountability was particularly important in the context of the Ebola outbreak when people were reliant on decisive, lifesaving government action. However, the extent to which the programmes supported top-down responsiveness was less clear. There were calls to provide more followup programmes to examine leaders’ commitment to making promised change." (Key findings, pages 6-7)
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"This book investigates the role of citizen journalism in railroading social and political changes in sub-Saharan Africa. Case studies are drawn from research conducted by leading scholars from the fields of media studies, journalism, anthropology and history, who uniquely probe the real impact of t
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echnologies in driving change in Africa." (Publisher description)
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"This practice briefing sets out what BBC Media Action learned in delivering and supporting health communication in response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014–15. It has a particular focus on Sierra Leone as this was the hub of the organisation’s response. The paper aims to contribute t
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o a body of knowledge about how to best harness and deploy media and communication in public health emergencies. It also underscores the need for the global community to plan and invest in communication long before any crises take hold, to ensure that communication plays a central role in reducing the impact of future crisis events. The paper sets out the specific communication challenge posed by Ebola and why it was so difficult to get to grips with this in the early months of the outbreak. It then documents when the health communication response became more useful and explores what that tells us about effective media and communication. Finally, it offers recommendations to ensure that media and communication are used to their full potential during other disease outbreaks or humanitarian crises." (BBC Media Action website)
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