"In Spider Stories 2012 you will get an overview of results from Spider projects initiated in 2011-2012 in collaboration with project partners in Cambodia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. In partnership with local organizations, we have supported innovative projects in democracy, education, and
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health. Our project partners have also explored Spider’s crosscutting themes, from Free and Open Source Software and mobiles for development to cultural creativity and youth empowerment. Spider Stories 2012 is in the format of “storytelling” to capture the voices of our project partners as well as the ultimate beneficiaries of their efforts: ordinary people in different social settings." (Spider website)
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"In online journalism, the virtues associated with ethics—accuracy, honesty, truth, impartiality, fairness, balance, respect for autonomy of ordinary people—are barely respected, largely because there is no effective way of policing this, and there are no legal penalties. Concentration of owners
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hip has increased in the last five years and transparency in ownership of media has improved only slightly over the past five years. The government controls media licensing—a process that is shrouded in secrecy, so that it is difficult to establish who owns which media house. The overall framework of policy and law is not yet adequate for digitized media in Kenya. The national ICT policy of 2006 committed the government to support and encourage pluralism and diversity. While this led to a proliferation of channels, it did not do much for content diversity due to the level of concentration of media. A lack of resources to build the digital infrastructure, consumer ignorance of what the switch means and whether the public can afford the end-user devices are some of the challenges faced in Kenya’s digital switchover." (Open Society Foundations website)
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"Media interventions by international organizations and NGOs in conflict and post-conflict situations seek to develop and shape a media system to contribute to specific political and social ends. The analyses and assessments that inform these interventions are often based on an overview of the forma
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l media and governance structures, such as mass media and state institutions, and overlook informal structures that may be instrumental for political and development goals. This article proposes a framework that can incorporate both the formal and informal modes of communication and participation that characterize a society. This framework encourages a ‘diagnostic’ approach centred around three areas: power, flows, and participation, and enables researchers to take into consideration features that are often overlooked such as customary law; a range of public authorities from politicians to Imams and local elders; information flows that may vary from poetry to mobile phones; and the culture of communication. Examples from the Somali territories, which are characterized by a weak central government, are employed to highlight how informal structures and actors intervene in shaping information flows and the importance of accounting for them." (Abstract)
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"The book questions whether and how young citizens in Africa engage with media and communications technologies and platforms in a desire to be included in the change processes of their societies. The theme echoes some of the claims made by disenchanted and frustrated youth and other citizens in the
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streets of North Africa’s cities in 2011 and 2012. They were severely critical of the governance structures in their countries, mass social mobilizations took place, governments fell and, in the aftermath, the slow process of transition continued, now with one tyrant less but still with uncertain outcomes and huge challenges for the social and economic development of these countries. Youth in particular engaged massively, visibly, loudly and dramatically around demands to be involved and included in their countries’ development processes. This yearbook taps into the less visible and dramatic, but nevertheless highly dynamic and influential, process of media development and the enlargement of youth-driven, deliberative spaces which sub-Saharan Africa is currently experiencing." (Nordicom website)
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"The conference, held in Mid-December, was funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and UNESCO South Sudan. It consisted of two streams. One focussed on media and sustainability, the other on open data and open knowledge models. Rather than just holding lectures, the event saw working groups
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come together to discuss both themes. Three days of debate and discussion were attended by around 70 people from all over South Sudan, including senior editors and young journalists, representatives from civil society organisations as well as government officials and members of parliament, diplomats and experts. This paper documents the theme of media and sustainability. The following six chapters summarize the lively discussions between international guests – mostly Africans who presented innovative solutions from Africa, for Africa – and the local participants. The results of those discussions may contribute to creating a more sustainable media sector in the newest nation of the world. Truly independent media may be a long way off in South Sudan, but a more diverse multi-dependency seems an achievable goal in the foreseeable future. After all, nascent South Sudan still has the chance to avoid the mistakes that have damaged the plurality of expression in more developed countries. The attendees demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to overcoming those challenges." (Dear reader, page 3)
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"The Report builds upon two main directives: on the one hand, it tries to bring together the best practices at the international and comparative level, in an attempt to offer guidance on which policy and regulatory toolkits have already proved successful in achieving longterm goals of economic effic
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iency, sustainability and democratic governance of the media sphere and could therefore be considered by Somali lawmakers as positive and reliable examples. On the other hand, the Report has been drafted with a constant attention to the specificities of the Somali society, tradition and constitutional framework, in order to tailor the recommendations as closely as possible to the specific context of Somalia. For the same purpose, along with the best European and international standards, specific cases from postconflict countries that faced similar challenges have been selected and analysed. The recommendations provided in this Report are meant to accompany the process of law making in Somalia and the public consultation between the government and the local media stakeholders that will develop during the coming months and they aim to help achieve large popular consensus on the adoption of the new Communications Law. The recommendations therefore offer a broad overview on current best practices and are to be read as a useable, adaptable toolkit on general principles rather than as a detailed list of regulatory prescriptions." (Executive summary, page 2)
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"The finding of the research reveals that majorities (90%) of the farmers were males, within their active productive ages (31-42 years) and 50% of them had attained Islamic education. Most of the farmers obtained agricultural information through radio agricultural programmes (97.8%) out of which maj
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ority had access to information through the format of presentation or discussion by an expert and or the extension workers (77.8%). The finding also revealed that farmers adopted the information disseminated through radio, which was found to be highly relevant (32.2%) to the farmers agricultural activities. Farmers gained the knowledge of agricultural management practices (26.7%), prevention of post harvest losses (17.8%) and appropriate application of fertilizer (16.7%), and which was found to be very important and effective to majority (97.8%) of the farmers agricultural activities." (Abstract)
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"Findings of this research offer new evidence on the extensive campaign of violence and intimidation against journalists in Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan. At the same time, it also recalls exiled journalists’ commitment to freedom of the press and freedom of expression despite
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harsh life conditions, borderless surveillance and very little perspective of improvement." (Key findings, page 10)
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"Pastoralists use their mobility to take advantage of resources – pasture and water – that are patchily distributed in space and time. Pastoralism can make major contributions to food security, livelihoods and economic prosperity. However, these benefits often go unacknowledged – by policy mak
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ers, donors and the public at large. This is in part because of development and media narratives that paint pastoralism as something bad that needs to change. This paper explores how the media portrays pastoralism. To do so, we analysed the content of newspaper articles about pastoralists in Kenya, China and India, and also invited journalists in these countries to complete an online survey and telephone interview. We identified significant gaps – and inter-country differences – in the media’s portrayal of pastoralists." (Executive summary)
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"Freedom House has conducted a comprehensive study of internet freedom in 60 countries around the world. This report is the fourth in a series and focuses on developments that occurred between May 2012 and April 2013. The previous edition, covering 47 countries, was published in September 2012. 'Fre
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edom on the Net 2013' assesses a greater variety of political systems than its predecessors, while tracing improvements and declines in the countries examined in the previous editions. Over 70 researchers, nearly all based in the countries they analyzed, contributed to the project examining laws and practices relevant to the internet, testing the accessibility of select websites, and interviewing a wide range of sources. Of the 60 countries assessed, 34 have experienced a negative trajectory since May 2012." (Page 2)
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"The study focused on exploring how 152 children, 12 to 17 years old, in Kenya, use social media and other digital technologies, and what impact these technologies have on this group, particularly from the perspective of child rights. The study involved holding digital youth clinics in four location
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s in Kenya, with children and young people who have access to mobile phones and the internet. It focused on understanding digital behavior, and perceptions of risk and safety among these active, young users of digital and social media. As this was primarily a qualitative study, the findings are not necessarily representative of Kenyan young people at large." (Executive summary)
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"This study has looked at the opinions of ordinary citizens (n=2000) as well as a small sample of decision makers at community level (n=200). Chapters 1 and 2 provide a background sketch and methodology for the survey, followed by a detailed overview of the findings for the general public and decisi
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on makers in Chapters 3 and 4. Overall, ordinary citizens and decision makers alike feel the Tanzania's media sector is growing and improving over time, and the sector is serving a news-hungry public that wants the media to keep those in positions of power accountable. However, this study also points to perceptions of shortcomings in the media, both in terms of the content it provides to the public and the quality of the services it provides." (Executive summary)
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"GISWatch 2013 shows that gains in women’s rights made online are not always certain or stable. While access to the internet for women has increased their participation in the social, economic and governance spheres, there is another side to these opportunities: online harassment, cyberstalking, a
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nd violence against women online all of which are on the increase globally." (www.giswatch.org, July 6, 2014)
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"The Peace Radio project was conceived in 2009 by the Resource Center for Civil Society Groups Association (RCCSGA) and Council of Nationalities (CoN) of SNNPRS (Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State). The Civil Peace Service-Program (CPS) of GIZ is supporting the project financi
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ally and by technical support through experts since its start [...] The main objective of the peace radio program is to enhance the culture of peace in communities in conflict in particular and among the public with access to the radio program in general [...] Since 2012 the program has been operational in 12 Woredas of SNNP and Oromiya Regional States. In the second project phase, 20 listener groups with a total of 400 members regrouped into 10 joint listener groups in adjacent Kebeles of the two regions have been setup and have been actively listening to the Peace Radio programs. Apart from members of listener groups, all people within the reach of the radio signal coverage can listen to the program. An estimated 2 million people in both regions have been reached by the program." (Pages 5-6)
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"Out of the twelve countries surveyed, only four have specific access to information laws. These countries are: Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe. However, a significant indication of the shifting tide on the continent is that six of the countries surveyed have some form of specific access to
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information in a Bill or parliamentary process. These countries are: Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia." (Page 5)
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