"Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fifth consecutive year, with more governments censoring information of public interest and placing greater demands on the private sector to take down offending content. State authorities have also jailed more users for their online writings, wh
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ile criminal and terrorist groups have made public examples of those who dared to expose their activities online. This was especially evident in the Middle East, where the public flogging of liberal bloggers, life sentences for online critics, and beheadings of internet-based journalists provided a powerful deterrent to the sort of digital organizing that contributed to the Arab Spring. In a new trend, many governments have sought to shift the burden of censorship to private companies and individuals by pressing them to remove content, often resorting to direct blocking only when those measures fail. Local companies are especially vulnerable to the whims of law enforcement agencies and a recent proliferation of repressive laws. But large, international companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have faced similar demands due to their significant popularity and reach." (Page 1)
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"This Uganda national communication strategy for malaria prevention and control has been developed to facilitate the implementation of the Uganda Malaria Reduction Strategy (UMRS) 2014-2020. The strategy will offer a framework where every stakeholder shall take recommended actions to fund, prevent,
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diagnose, treat, control, and eventually eliminate malaria." (Acknowledments, page 4)
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"The study finds that there is a general liking for Partenal Guidance (PG) ratings, based on the need to protect the children from harmful and foreign content, as well as to avoid adoption of foreign cultures. However, this does not translate into action in determining viewership decisions, with man
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y parents not able to implement PG ratings. Major gaps remain in the implementation of the PG ratings systems for the country. The understanding and use of ratings by parents, TV stations and regulators is limited, and the guideline remain difficult to use, with TV stations using them but to little impact in the audiences. The challenge is compounded by cut-throat competition by TV stations for audiences. Technology that has changed the methods of access to such content, as well as the social set up also affect the use and effectiveness of PG ratings. Achieving a change of trend requires a change in approach to child programming. This challenge is even bigger for Uganda, a country that boasts of a big young population, and an increasing affinity to watching television, whose numbers are increasing by the day. These challenges can however be addressed; and they need to be addressed. PG ratings is one acceptable way of regulating the kind of TV content that children access to make useful viewing. The study recommends that regulators need to take more responsibility and engage the TV stations as well as the public on the proper use of ratings, through engagement drives. The public, especially the parents, cannot shy away from demanding for proper ratings by the TV stations, and seeking redress for poorly rated content. One other way of resolving the debate is by improving on the availability of only-children content for educational purposes. This
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"In today's Africa racism and ethnicity have been implicated in serious conflicts - from Egypt to Mali to South Africa - that have cost lives and undermined efforts to achieve national cohesion and meaningful development. Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa sets about rethinking the role of me
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dia and communication in perpetuating, reinforcing and reining in racism, absolute ethnicity and other discriminations across Africa. It goes beyond the customary discussion of media racism and ethnic stereotyping to critically address broader issues of identity, belonging and exclusion. Topics covered include racism in South African newspapers, pluralist media debates in Kenya, media discourses on same-sex relations in Uganda and ethnicised news coverage in Nigerian newspapers." (Publisher description)
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"[...] Specifically, we argue that development programs with an eye on instrumental outcomes are well-served by the cultivation of an understanding of broader digital practices—of people’s increasingly digital lives. This work explores not only what devices people use, but also how they get onli
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ne and what they do once there. These representations of digital practices must be fluid and current, given the rapidly changing landscape of Internet connectivity and digital services, and must identify opportunities for new inclusive business models and behavioral interventions. Therefore, this report contributes to the evidence base for development practice and for theory in several ways.
Chapter One offers a sketch of Caribou Digital’s three-part overarching approach to understanding emerging digital practices in context, with an eye specifically on bridging the gaps between development and daily life, and between the micro-level perspective of individual users and the macro-level forces impacting the landscape of digital resources available to them. Chapter Two details results from extensive interviews with experts in the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) that help place the current M4D wave in the context of more durable past and future factors. In Chapter Three, our reports on new primary research with users in Uganda, Ghana, and Kenya yield a broader and up-to-the-minute story of how mobile technologies are currently the center of users’ digital lives. Chapter Four concludes the report with a synthesis of these two streams, suggesting that our portrayal of users’ “Digital Days” can provide a user-centric lens to understand how technologies and practices are intertwined, how they vary between contexts, and how they might enable and structure development interventions." (Executive summary)
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"How has broadcasting governance affected broadcast media development in Uganda during the Museveni years? The main approach was content analysis of relevant legislation and policies, and key informant interviews with major stakeholders. The key finding is that in the period under examination, Ugand
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a adopted a piecemeal approach to legislation, and to a great extent relied on laws rather than policies to govern broadcasting. Broadcasting diversity and independence remained elusive, and little development of the sector beyond growth in numbers (multiplicity of outlets) was experienced. There is a need to review existing frameworks." (Abstract)
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"The purpose of the study is to provide baseline data and research-driven recommendations to help inform and later evaluate the impact of ‘Action for Transparency’. Action for Transparency is a three-year, media-for-development programme, managed by Fojo and its partners and funded by the Swedis
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h International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The programme is designed to help tackle corruption and mismanagement of government funds in Zambia and Uganda by putting the power to change in the hands of citizens. Action for Transparency comprises three phases of targeted interventions designed to catalyse a culture of accountability and transparency through a ripple out effect. The three phases include: 1. Training for up to 4,000 journalists, civil society representatives and public sector employees in Zambia and Uganda on how to access, analyse and communicate information on government spending. 2. Development of ICT tools, including an online application (app) which enables users to compare the amount of government money pledged to specific schools and health clinics against their own observations of what appears to have been spent. 3. Public awareness campaign, through which those who took part in the initial training will launch and champion the new ICT tools, nationally, and raise awareness through a range of promotional activities. This study presents baseline data and findings that will inform and later help evaluate the overall3 impact of the three phases on participating journalists and civil society representatives, and their capacity to (a) access (b) analyse and (c) communicate information about government spending." (Introduction, page 4)
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"Using case studies from countries such as Burma, Mexico and Uganda, the study explores whether the use of technology in citizen participation programs amplifies citizen voices and increases government responsiveness and accountability, and whether the use of digital technology increases the politic
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al clout of citizens. The research shows that while more people are using technology—such as social media for mobile organizing, and interactive websites and text messaging systems that enable direct communication between constituents and elected officials or crowdsourcing election day experiences— the type and quality of their political participation, and therefore its impact on democratization, varies. It also suggests that, in order to leverage technology’s potential, there is a need to focus on non-technological areas such as political organizing, leadership skills and political analysis." (NDI website)
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"This Global Information Society Watch tracks the state of communications surveillance in 57 countries across the world – countries as diverse as Hungary, India, Argentina, The Gambia, Lebanon and the United Kingdom. Each country report approaches the issue from a different perspective. Some analy
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se legal frameworks that allow surveillance, others the role of businesses in collecting data (including marketing data on children), the potential of biometrics to violate rights, or the privacy challenges when implementing a centralised universal health system. The perspectives from long-time internet activists on surveillance are also recorded. Using the 13 International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance as a starting point, eight thematic reports frame the key issues at stake. These include discussions on what we mean by digital surveillance, the implications for a human rights agenda on surveillance, the “Five Eyes” inter-government surveillance network led by the US, cyber security, and the role of intermediaries." (GIS website)
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"Internet freedom around the world has declined for the fourth consecutive year, with a growing number of countries introducing online censorship and monitoring practices that are simultaneously more aggressive and more sophisticated in their targeting of individual users. In a departure from the pa
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st, when most governments preferred a behind-the-scenes approach to internet control, countries are rapidly adopting new laws that legitimize existing repression and effectively criminalize online dissent." (Page 1)
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"This paper draws on the contrast between community media and the nature of its communities in Africa that are not participatory but use participatory media. The general contention is that participatory media in Africa preside over non-participatory communities. The paper uses data collected at one
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Ugandan community media to prove that the limitations between community media and ‘the community’ require over half a century to solve. The immediate solution should be to rethink the idea of community, pay more attention not just to the nature of which media can develop which community as if it (community) was a homogeneous entity but also the idea of which community has the ability to host which media. The paper concludes by suggesting a redefinition of media to include non-media forms that show more potential in enhancing participation for all than community media." (Abstract)
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"This manual is an opportunity for the Civil Peace Service (CPS) networks to share the experiences of some of the people and organisations who use theatre as a tool for communication, change and peace. You will find theoretical bases, concrete examples related to the contents and some techniques and
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methods we would like to make available to as wide an audience as possible. While the goal is not to turn you into professional entertainers, you will find techniques, tips, and other people's hands-on experiencience in the discipline. The purpose of this manual is to de-dramatise the art of the sketch, the role play, the theatre and add it to the toolkit of the CPS peace workers. This is theatre practice as a tool for reflection and communication, for expressing emotions and points of view, be they diametrically opposed, which can open a chink in apparently sealed situations weighed down in dead ends or which seem to be impossible to resolve and let some light into conflicts between people and communities. All the experiences described in this manual have been developed in a community-based way with the help of experienced peace workers and African artists." (Introduction)
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"Campaigns and movements targeting corruption often face decentralized targets rather than an identifiable dictator or external government, and can be found both in undemocratic and democratic systems. Graft and abuse are manifested in a systemic manner rather than a hodgepodge collection of illicit
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transactions. Consequently, this research brings to light new applications of civil resistance beyond the more commonly known cases against occupations, such as the Indian independence movement, and authoritarian regimes from Chile to Poland. It also expands our understanding about the dynamics of how people collectively wield nonviolent power for the common good. The focus of this research is on citizen agency: what civic actors and regular people—organized together and exerting their collective power—are doing to curb corruption as they define and experience it. Hence, the analytical framework is based on the skills, strategies, objectives, and demands of such initiatives, rather than on the phenomenon of corruption itself, which has been judiciously studied for more than two decades by scholars and practitioners from the anticorruption and development realms. I selected cases that met the following criteria: they were “popular” initiatives. They were civilian-based, involved grassroots participation, and were led and implemented by individuals from the civic realm, rather than governments or external actors, such as donors, development institutions, and international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs); they were nonviolent. They did not threaten or use violence to further their aims; they involved some degree of organization and planning, which varied depending on the scope—objectives, geographical range, duration—of the civic initiative; multiple nonviolent actions were employed (thus, instances of one-off demonstrations or spontaneous protests were not considered); objectives and demands were articulated; the civic initiative was sustained over a period of time." (Introduction, pages 2-3)
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"In a pilot field study, conducted in February 2014 in Kenya and Uganda, news journalists reflected on the use of and interest in the Chinese international media offered in East Africa at the moment. An earlier survey, done in 2009, showed that Kenyan journalists emphasized several factors that play
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a role for their independence, such as their collective professional status and media owners’ financial and political interests. What foregrounds in this context, is the media organizations’ manipulation of news in favour or disfavour of various interests. The field study found that a pluralist media in itself does not guarantee a coherent debate based on factual information (Helander, 2010). Building on this analysis of the media in East Africa, my current research seeks to investigate the role of China’s international media in the local media system. China Central Television and China Radio International have their regional base in Nairobi, and work in close cooperation with the government led Kenya Broadcasting Corporation. The study has found that politically sensitive issues, which can have negative economic repercussions for China and the host country, are barely covered by Xinhua News. The correspondents at CCTV, CRI and China Daily Africa apply a cautious approach to the reporting of some important stories (Interview in Nairobi 14-02-10). Because China’s initiative in media is state-led and thereby less independent, these communication channels have yet to gain credibility among the media practitioners. However, the field study conducted in Nairobi and Kampala in February 2014, points to anther other question regarding the current efficacy, or popularity, of the Chinese news sources. The interviews gave cause to doubt the importance of perceived credibility of the content, to rather stress the question of whether Chinese international media is interesting. Both the framing, and the choice of news stories, were deemed by interviewees using the words boring, uninteresting or lacking political news value. After further interviews with media practitioners were conducted in Johannesburg and Nairobi in December 2014, a more varied view of Chinese news sources transpired. The opinions within the population of journalists in South Africa and Kenya ranged from trust and interest to very poor trust and complete disinterest, in reports from Chinese news sources." (Pages 1-3)
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"In March 2012, American NGO Invisible Children released an online video about the crimes committed by Ugandan war lord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army. Rapidly shared through social network sites, Kony 2012 soon earned the title of fastest spreading online video ever produced. At the s
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ame time, the video and its makers also came under massive criticism from bloggers, journalists, academics, and the general public. This study offers an exploration of the phenomenon Kony 2012 from an audience perspective. Theoretically building on the literature on mediated distant suffering and empirically based on an online survey, we explore how the video was successful in exerting moral pressure on a critical online audience of ‘Ironic Spectators’. In particular, we investigate to what extent different forms of being critical towards the video and its makers have mitigated a sense of personal moral responsibility to act towards the distant suffering other." (Abstract)
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"Through the methodological framework of the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), the report measures the extent to which 144 economies, from both the developed and developing worlds, take advantage of ICTs and other new technologies to increase their growth and well-being. The NRI identifies the most r
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elevant factors driving ICT readiness and impacts, providing policymakers, business leaders, and civil society at large with a useful tool for designing national strategies for increased networked readiness and for benchmarking their country’s performance against other relevant comparators. The Global Information Technology Report 2013 features the latest computation and rankings of the NRI, and in referring to this year’s theme, dives deeper into the connection between ICTs and economic growth and job creation. As in previous years, it also showcases a number of ICT development stories of particular interest. In addition, the report includes detailed profiles for the 144 economies covered this year together with data tables for each of the 54 indicators used in the computation of the NRI." (Back cover)
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"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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