CJA Program News

Citizen Journalism in Africa programme update

Noma — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:29:01 +0200

The Citizen Journalism in Africa programme aims to contribute to media capacity and media diversity in the participating countries

Overall objective

To increase outreach in local media of balanced, objective and informative reporting on the situation of targeted marginalized groups including women, which contributes to an increased involvement and participation of these groups in democratic processes on the national level.

Anticipated results

Improved capacity of selected CSOs including community media organisations to use media tools effectively and in a journalistically sound manner.
Increased collaborative networking, learning and knowledge sharing between participants and training partners on the regional and the country level facilitating improved access to and higher quality of media contributions.
Increased presence of and access to diverse and journalistically sound content on the situation of women and other marginalized groups in the media of the target countries.

In order to achieve the first anticipated result, a number of activities have been planned. These include the following:

Training of trainers: Country Focal Points (CFPs) will participate in this training
In country training: This training will take place in each participating country. Fifteen CSOs participate.
On the job training: This support will be given to individual CSOs in-house.

Training of trainers

The CFPs will be groomed to be able to fulfil their roles as in-country focal points. The training will create awareness and ability for the CFPs to use a variety of digital, traditional and edge-of-the-net media tools, media access and media skills. It is also aimed at improving journalistic skills and standards. They will be trained in facilitation, training and knowledge sharing skills. This session will also develop the outline and substance of the in-country training.

Other modules will be developed on issues like dealing with repressive media environments, data security, infrastructure and access and sector specific media skills. These will be posted on the online platform.

The first Training of trainers commenced on 26 November and will run until 30 November 2007. The participating CFOs are:

Behind the Mask – South Africa

Fahamu – South Africa

MISA – Zimbabwe

Kubatana – Zimbabwe

The fight against HIV/AIDS and its relationship to the growth of the development of the economy

Edwin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:12:30 +0200

The fight against HIV/AIDS has of late continued to take on different different faces. As a matter of fact people involved have kept on improving by coming up with the latest adverts on the fight against and prevention of HIV/AIDS. But the rate of the development of countries’ economies is also bringing in other ventures of which seem to contribute to the continuous spread of HIV/AIDS.

A noticeable economical improvement is visible, especially in some third world countries. Key is the improvement in cash flow, enabling people to change their mode of life tilted towards a free life-style exemplified in a lot of sex and beer drinking. In fact this has become a way of relaxing among many in urban and peri-urban areas. This shows that people have enough money to spend to do whatever they feel like. 

Some of the investment by countries whose economies is growing includes the construction of infrastructure such as guest houses, lodges and hotels. These have been very good ideas especially for the countries in Southern Africa in readiness to host visitors who are coming for the 2010 World Cup showpiece to be hosted by South Africa. This has been very good progress and very nice and comfortable guest houses, lodges and hotels have been built.

But most of these places are now being used for immoral activities. They have turned out to be places hosting sexual activities which have increased the platform for the increase in the spread of HIV/AIDS. This has put a lot of people involved at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

A very good example is the development going on in Solwezi situated in the north-western part of Zambia. The construction and development of Lumwana Mine has brought about development in the area, which has seen an increase in the construction of executive lodges and guest houses to host local people and foreign experts coming to work in the mines.

But in the turn of events the district has turned into spot of events in leisure and high sexual activities putting at risk a good number of people of contracting HIV/AIDS and other related illnesses.  

There are a lot of examples which can be cited that show that the development of the economy is associated with the spread of HIV/AIDS in most of the developing countries. Another good example is that during the repairs and construction of the roads in Zambia by a foreign company, a lot of casualties were left in areas where the company set up its camps. A number of children have been born across the country, where road repairs and constructions were undertaken.

The same areas affected have also shown high prevalence of HIV/AIDS and related illnesses.
There are a lot of measures which need to be put in place to address these problems and slow down the rate of the spread of HIV/AIDS where a country is trying to grow its economy. People should learn from other people’s experiences and be able to address these issues. We should strive to live to see the fruits of our labour in development.

My first experience with the Vuvuzela !

mariah — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:40:14 +0200

As we arrived at the MTN dinner for the opening of Highway Africa at the new Nelson Mandela stadium in Port Elizabeth, I was so excited about the opportunity to hear more about the 2010 FIFA world cup. Being a fan of soccer, I would not wish for more than the gift of a Vuvuzela, a South African plastic trumpet given to us by MTN to personify the first FIFA world cup on African soil.

My story is that of hundred of delegates of non governmental organisations and civil society coming from many African countries who had their first experience with the Digital Citizen Indaba and Highway Africa, making them aware of the importance of new media, networking and advocacy.

Overall I was touched by the warm welcome and greater hospitality from the organisers who allowed us to tour around Port Elizabeth, especially the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium. While this action may be taken for granted by residents of this country, for me, attending in behalf of a youth organisation from Tanzania, I can assure you that this is a dream of thousands of young boys and girls in my country.

It is sad that a World Cup organised in Africa may not be attended by many Africans, especially young ones, because of lack of information and means.
In Tanzania, information about the FIFA 2010 World Cup is not widely spread by the media. At the same time youth are interested in sport and have DSTV Supersports programs in order to watch the English Premier League.

Who is to blame? The technology is there but it seems for me people in Africa still need to think about the amazing opportunities associated with next year’s World Cup.

Speaking at the MTN dinner, the CEO of the 2010 Organising Committee, Dany Jordaan, emphasised the need for journalists attending Highway Africa to be ambassadors of this African first world class soccer event. He said, “take ownership as Africans to tell what you have seen here…do not be quiet when hostile overseas press media are talking of a plan B.”

He made a great speech at the right time. However, for myself and other members of the Citizen Journalism programme, it was the first time to hear about the countdown and especially the volunteer programme applications process. I am sure that if the youth in Tanzania had been informed in time about such an opportunity, they would have applied in huge numbers.

I have been working as communication officer for the Tanzanian Youth Coalition (TYC) for quite a while, and such an event is among the tools and means we are always looking for in order to give the youth a once-in-a-life-time experience, hoping to turn them out of crime, prostitution, drugs and inactivity.

There is no doubt that for some of them, it would take the opportunity to be in South Africa volunteering for the World Cup to realise that nothing is impossible in life, and that they should always keep hoping. As Jordaan said, “It took a hundred years for a FIFA world cup to be organised in Africa.”

Taking over after the Digital Citizens’ Indaba, Highway 2009 was both a celebration and an interrogation of journalism and Media, on how they are telling the story of FIFA 2010.

Overall, the conference was very fruitful to me as I learned how to empower youth and communities with the use of ICTs. As elsewhere in Africa, the youth in Tanzania are exposed to new media via cellular phones. Though Internet penetration is still weak compared to countries like South Africa and Uganda, cell phone applications can have great impact. I was amazed to learn about similar technologies utilised in rural Uganda and for HIV/AIDS advocacy and treatment.

I have no doubt that working together would help African countries with less advanced technology to use adequate means in order to tell Africans, and the youth especially, about 2010 possibilities. Africans need to take ownership and attend what needs to become the best FIFA world cup ever.

I praise the CJA for the opportunity given to us to attend this year’s conference. My interaction with peers from other organisations has raised in me curiosity about social media and cell phone applications -- free tools that I should use in my work.

Though my first encounter with the Vuvuzela was not successful as I failed to produce a sound during our two-hour drive back to Grahamstown, I am happy that I have brought it back home to Tanzania and will keep trying to blow this instrument which personifies this coming World Cup more than anything else. The experience was amazing and I will use what I have learnt to inform the youth and participate in the CJA programme.

Non-profits Take to Social Media Like Ducks to Water

adam — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:48:24 +0200

By the time the 2009 SANGONeT "ICTs for Civil Society" Conference, held in Johannesburg and Cape Town, ended at the River Club in Observatory on 21 October 2009, there were more non-profits excited about the potential uses of social media in their work than when we began. While the scepticism which many began the conference with remained, organisations had begun the important discussion about what strategic use of social media means for them and their beneficiaries.

As the programme officer of the Citizen Journalism in Africa (CJA) project, which is now in its third year, I was invited to share lessons learnt during the implementation of the six-country project. I began my presentation in the social web session emphasising the many open source tools that NGOs can take advantage of and which we use in the CJA project. Using free online and offline applications is one of key strategies of the CJA project which aims to improve the capacity of selected African civil society organisations to use ICTs in their advocacy, information and networking activities and interaction with their constituencies.

An important lesson for us – which I shared with participants of the session – relates to the value of using formal, informal and personal networks to get our messages out. This reflects one of the findings of the 2009 "State of ICTs in the South African NGO Sector" research project conducted by World Wide Worx, which was launched during the conference. The study shows that for the first time NGO decision-makers are becoming adept at cutting edge tools like mobile applications and social networking services. Mostly, these are being used in their personal capacity, with half of all respondents using local social networking services, but only six percent of them using it in pursuit of the goals of their organisations.

A key feature of social media is the integration of different platforms as well as the ability to direct different kinds of content and formats to particular spaces. Recognising this, at the beginning of 2009 we integrated social networking applications – specifically Facebook and Twitter - into the dedicated CJA portal.

The experiences of the CJA project are shared by many NGOs in South Africa and Africa broadly, as they struggle to involve their audiences in online discussions and projects. Participants at the session said that in South Africa, people are either not interested or they do not have access to the Internet. The issue of access, while not overtly discussed during the conference, certainly did occupy many lunch time conversations as delegates critiqued the disconnection between the obvious potential of social media for their work and the reality for the majority of people they want to reach. Internet access remains unaffordable for the majority of South Africans.

Another key lesson learnt was that people are using social media mainly for fun. Two key questions can be asked before engaging organisations on social media; who do we want to reach and what kind of conversations do we want to engage in?

In relation to the latter, a screen shot of the CJA Facebook profile and page was shown. The Facebook profile reposts only articles and blogs on general social issues while the page covers the fun side of the programme.

A great highlight for me was receiving positive feedback after the live chat via Skype with WOUGNET’s Information Officer, Maureen Agena, in Kampala, Uganda. This chat emphasised the great extent to which social media can be used in the workplace.

At the social showcase, participants were introduced to social media tools such as Twitter, Flickr, Wikis, MXit, Betavine and Virtual World. SANGONeT NGO Pulse editor and manager for the Civil Society Information (CSI) Programme, Janine Moolman, and the CSI Programme Assistant, Nicolle Beeby, held a practical session on the use of MXit, a popular instant message chatroom used on cellphones. Moolman and Beeby stressed the fact that MXit is an inexpensive way of communicating and discussed the potential of NGOs using MXit in their work. They dismissed the notion that MXit is only for teenagers in South Africa.

It appears to me that most of us have heard about social tools but still have to realise its potential in our personal and organisational work.

In conclusion, social media is a great tool that organisations, especially NGOs, can use to communicate with their audience, market their services, communicate with their networks or improve the way they work. Many fascinating discussions, debates and presentations came out of the conference. These can be found on the conference website and Wiki that was set up by SANGONeT and the African Commons Project.
Posted on NGOPULSE

The journalist arrested in Tanzania.

pmlay — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:01:57 +0200

Zanzibar health officials yesterday confronted and dragged A Correspondent of one of the local Newspaper, Mwinyi Sadallah , while the latter was investigating a cholera outbreak in the Isles.

Sadallah was released after recording a statement at a police station in Unguja town. Police also seized his camera, pending the investigation of the matter.

Narrating his ordeal, Sadallah said the health officials set up a camp for treating cholera patients at Karakana area. Three people have reportedly died yesterday following the outbreak.

Until yesterday there was no official statement from the government over the outbreak of the disease. Sadallah was taken to Chumbuni Police Station for interrogation after he refused to surrender his camera to them.

Before being dragged to the police station the health officials in collaboration with Chumbuni Sheha, whose name could not be immediately be identified, forced the scribe to surrender the camera to them, but he latter refused to give in, which triggered misunderstanding between them.

At the police station Sadallah was accused of taking pictures at the camp without the permission of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

He was then asked to leave his camera at the station and his mobile phone number.

When we contacted the Urban West Regional Police Commander Bakari Khatibu Shaaban for comment over the arrest and confiscation of the journalist camera, he said he would follow up the matter to find out what happened. On cholera case, information gathered at Chumbuni area showed that about 40 people were undergoing treatment at the established camp. So far no official statement from the government on the source of the outbreak has been issued.

When this newspaper contacted an official in charge of immunisation at the Ministry Juma Rajabu for comment over the case he simply admitted about the government setting up the camp but declined to link such a step with Cholera outbreak.

However, in the afternoon the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare issued a statement that only urged people to be vigilant on El Nino rains since they may cause Cholera outbreak.

Infrastructural and skills upgrading crucial for ICTs development in Africa

Milestah — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:37:59 +0200

Most countries in Africa still face insurmountable hurdles in developing and upgrading infrastructure to meet with the standards for the latest ICTs.

This emerged during a conference session at Highway Africa 2009, dubbed increasing ICT real estate in African media.

Commenting on the issue Brenda Zulu a prominent blogger on ICT’s said there was not adequate funding to support journalists reporting in ICTs in order that they develop interest.

“For journalists to report on ICTs they also need to get a better understanding of what they are reporting on. This means that service providers should also be seen to support these reporters with in-depth knowledge such that when they report they are fully aware of the subject."

She however encouraged journalists to do research as well and not just wait for information to be given to them especially when it comes to reporting on this matter.

“The challenge is that people give less attention to ICTs. As if that were not enough, there is the issue of technical jargon which needs to be simplified as well and a human face given to such stories such that even the readers themselves develop a keen interest in ICTs and their benefits,” Zulu reiterated.

It was also sighted that lack of proper equipment hampered efforts by some journalists to report on ICT issues. For instance some journalists do not even have proper machines in their media houses let alone access to new digital media. Some journalists do not even own the means to access information anywhere and such as cell phones that can access internet or laptops and have to rely on newsrooms.

For instance a good example is Zimbabwe which is still lagging behind in infrastructral developmnet to accomodate latest ICTs, there are only three mobile network service providers which are often marred with network problems. Only one recently introduced 3G and is charged at USD$25 and most journalists are not at liberty to make use of latest technology to do with mobile communication because the service is just out of their reach.

The exorbitant rates being charged by some service providers also dampens hopes for some journalists to have internet access freely so they can even make use of for instance goggle maps to get ideas for stories. Hence journalists will find it difficult to report on issues of ICTs because they themselves do not have access and what this does is that it kills their interest to report and promote ICT development.

Meanwhile, panelists noted that most African Governments allocated very little funding in their budgets to ICT issues and failed to realise the importance of infrastructural development in the use of ICTs adding that there was need for consented efforst by all players responsible in promoting development of ICTs.

ICTs should complement traditional media

tapiwaz — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:24:04 +0200

With only 5.6 percent of Africa accessing the internet, civil society has been urged to combine the use Information Communication Technology (ICTs) with the traditional media methods to fully utilise the role of citizen journalism.

Giving the keynote address at the opening of the 4th Digital Citizen’s Indaba (DCI 4.0) in Grahamstown, South Africa last Saturday, Cameroonian blogger Dibussi Tande said Africa was still a long way from effectively using the internet “under the current circumstances, where we are dealing with a largely unwired audience and with the bulk of digital activists outside of Africa”
Citizen Journalism, dubbed the new media, is community news and information shared online or in print and involves blogs, digital storytelling, images, audio files, podcasting or videos - where individuals write or comment on issues they feel are left out of the mainstream media.

The indaba was held as part of the Highway Africa 2009 Conference which attracted over 500 civil society organisation representatives, practising and trainee media personnel from across Africa.

This year’s theme of the Highway Africa Conference, set in line with South Africa’s jostling of the World Cup soccer showcase next year, is Reporting Africa - 2010, Development and Democracy
“It is important that civil society does not only do digital activism, they must convert it to offline collective action on the ground. Civil society organisations should go into the community with SMS forms to help people who don’t have wheels.”

Citizen journalism, through the use of social networking platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr, have worked in the Madagascan crisis where ordinary people posted pictures and stories about the crisis in the country.
But with Africa being highly undigitalised, the effectiveness of these tools have been very limited compared with developed countries.

“There is a mixture between the traditional and the modern and they complement each other. In Africa both new and old will work hand in hand,” added Tande.

Good News Can Sell

Daniel — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:27:12 +0200

It has been really inspiring attending the highway Africa conference and Digital Citizen Indaba. We have been wonderfully and peacefully welcomed with great hospitality. Our tour guide in Port Elizabeth, where we went before visiting the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, was amazing. We were all fascinated as she explained about the city. It was like story time in Africa.

Indeed good news can sell. We are the first to host the World Cup which will be in high definition and on mobile phones. The vision of FIFA World Cup 2010 is to strengthen the African and South African image. I believe this vision will be grasped throughout the world as FIFA expects to raise 1.47 billion Euros in TV rights and $3.2 billion in commercial revenue. With the fantastic ticket sales so far, we are proud as Africans to host the world’s largest event.

Highway Africa 2009, feels like home

Milestah — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:28:19 +0200

“Take off your jackets because you are home. These were the words of Councillor Vumille Lwana Executine Mayor of Makana Municipality at the opening reception of the 13^rdedition of the Highway Africa Conference which was launched amid pomp and funfair.

Indeed it sure feels like home. The hopsitatlity exhibited by participants towarss one another and also the beautiful weather bears testimony that even nature is in support of this event, not mentioning the prevailing spirit of togetherness that just makes it so comfortable and exhilarating .

For the past two days of the Digital Citizen Indaba 4.0 (DCI) I have felt so eager and enthusiastic to learn and share with fellow journalists. It is not only the atmosphere filled with so much life and activity that makes you feel comfortable but also the vigour and valour that has been displayed by the many participants of this workshop.

It is just so amazing how a passion can bring people together. The zeal to bring development and democracy to Africa has seen people from across the continent converging at this conference, working together in bringing life to the essence of journalism sharing ideas and learning and sharing experiences. Be they, trainee, citizen, aspiring, inspiring they are all journalists driven by the need to explore new avenues in gathering and sharing information.

Whoever said citizen journalism emerged as a threat to professional journalism will loath being in this place where heads are coming together to share ideas are knowledge build and strengthen relations, while at the same time mapping a way forward for journalism in Africa through the use of new media technology.

The presentations during the DCI yesterday were crucial for developmental journalism as well as highly essential in the development and growth of citizen journalism as well as upgrading mainstream journalism. The areas of main focus were on Gender, Civil Society and Digital Media as well as Civil Society and use of mapping tools and mass media take up.

During the past few days,I have learnt is that through citizen journalism, the so-called ‘voiceless’ are given a chance to say their side of the story and speak. For instance it was interesting to note how new digital media is being used to enrich and improve the lives of the many marginalised rural folk and farm workers in Uganda, monitor drug stock ups in Kenya, as well as giving a platform to speak out to the sexual minorities in Africa.

So DCI has come and gone, now left is for the journalists to put principles and theories into action bearing in mind that mainstream media and citizen journalists can work hand in glove and every journalist worth the salt will work towards the creation of a better Africa.

"Digital Civil Society and Journalism in Africa"

haikam — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:36:08 +0200

Digital citizen Indaba theme this year brings together professional journalist and citizen journalists to build citizen skills to use new media.

These skills will empower community to give out their views and allow issues that is marginalised within mainstream media to be brought to the force. Issues such as poverty, corruption, environment, investment etc.

Also citizen will be able to bring more personal perspective on what is happening within their own communities. Let us join this DCI year theme “Digital Civil Society and Journalism in Africa".

Africa CSO, engaged in the Digital Media

haikam — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:22:25 +0200

Creation of the World Wide Web help civil societies to engaged in the Social justice and Digital Media in Africa. This open up space to non-state actors to engage in the new African state. Civil Societies in Africa need more Digital Voices for disseminate alternative views of the communities, create a virtual public Sphere and organizing and collecting of action. This was being discussed during Digital Citizen Indaba seminar that Africa CSO,s need to emerge in the digital societies fro lobbing, networking and Mobilizing.

Technology at HA conference

Namafente — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:00:17 +0200

It is amazing how technology has evolved from the mainstream media to digital technology “new media”

THE 2009 HIGH WAY CONFERENCE brings with it a package of new technologies that would reliably transform media approaches in Africa and the world over. Mobile phones, computer are easy examples of new media technologies.

I find it challenging in the first place for people in the remotest parts of many countries were mobile phones are still a pipedream. The other challenge that I am expecting from the presenters is how we are going to develop software that will be user friendly to those that are differently abled. For example; how do we transform brail into a digital media tool so that everyone is covered?

Kuwuka JDA lança de capacitação de comunidades locais

Herculanov — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:29:50 +0200

A kuwuka JDA, através de um financiamento do Global Environment Facility - GEF, Small Grants Programme-SGP, gerido pela PNUD, vai implementar o projecto Capacitação das Comunidades Locais para a Gestão dos Recursos Naturais e Desenvolvimento Comunitário em Catuane, Distrito de Matutuine, Província de Maputo, cuja duração é de um ano. O objectivo primário do projecto é de promover a educação e consciencialização ambiental das comunidades locais, através da sua capacitação e fortalecimento para activa participação na gestão sustentável dos recursos naturais e conservação da biodiversidade na Área de Conservação Transfronteiriça dos Libombos.

O projecto foi lançado este ano num encontro envolvendo governo local, comunidades locais, organizações da sociedade civil, sector privado e vários intervenientes sociais, como forma de não só dar a conhecer o projecto mas acima de tudo buscar subsídios, críticas e sugestões para o sucesso do programa. Doutor Camilo Nhancale, Presidente do Conselho de Direccção da KUWUKA JDA, disse durante a cerimónia que o projecto visa não somente capacitar as comunidades locais e promover a sua participação na gestão dos recursos naturais, mas promover o desenvolvimento comunitário e conservar a biodiversidade.

Nhancale disse esperar uma contribuição assinalável dos principais parceiros do projecto, nomeadamente, as comunidades locais, governo, ONG´s e sector privado. A fonte disse prever riscos mas espera que no fim do projecto, as comunidades locais estejam educadas e sensibilizadas sobre a importância do uso racional, valor ecológico e conservação da biodiversidade.

Um dos maiores problemas levantados pelas comunidades, tem haver com a crescente onda de roubos protagonizados por alguns nativos de Catuane que apoderam-se de excedente agrícola e alguns animais domésticos, que posteriorimente alimentam o mercado comunitário local e da vizinha África do Sul. As comunidades falam ainda de falta de sementes, transporte para o escoamento do excendente agrícola, a estiagem e seca, pois, tal como na maior parte dos distritos e localidades da província de Maputo, em Catuane não chove a bastente tempo e o riacho que servia de socorroa muito secou. Outro problema levantado, tem haver com a falta de condições de trabalho o que afecta sobre maneira a actividade agrícola, a principal base de renda das comunidades, o mais agravante é a ausência de fiscalização e a não observância da lei, o que faz com que haja desmatamento em porporções muito elevadas.

Chamado a comentar sobre o projecto, o chefe do Posto Administrativo de Catuane, Aldino Honwana, elogiou a iniciativa mas chamou atenção para o facto de em Catuane um dos motivos que inviabiliza e dificulta a progressão de inúmeros projectos, é que cada um se preocupa em ser dono de áreas extensas para posteriormente e muitas vezes praticar actividades ilegais e prejudiciais ao meio ambiente, tal é o caso dos carvoeiros. Honwana acrescentou que os líderes comunitários em algum momento tem uma tremenda frustração devido as ilegalidades praticadas na zona cujo os efeitos nefastos recaem sobre estes.

Por seu turno Luis Dinis da LUPA, saudou o projecto e disse que o tempo de duração do projecto era considerável para a concretização do mesmo, e sugeriu que a iniciativa procure encontrar os pontos de quebra e de ligação dos seus objectivos com outros anteriores projectos outrora implementados, tirando proveito deles e evitando a não materialização deste, uma opinião aliás saudada pelos promotores da iniciativa.

Importa salientar que, este projecto não é o primeiro a ser implementado em Catuane, já houve tantos outros, mas virados para áreas e actividades como, produção de mel, cultivo de feijão e cana-de-açucar, criação de gado bovino, caça, abate e plantio de árvores, etc, que mercê da existência de roubos, ausência de fiscalização, não observância da lei, ausência de transporte, seca e escassez de chuvas, muitos destes projectos ficaram por terra e poucos são os que surtiram efeito e lograram feitos positivos. Sendo este o cenário no qual este projecto tambem irá caminhar, urge levar-se a cabo um trabalho sério, engajado no casamento entre um sucesso teórico-prático e um misto de sinergias entre a Kuwuka JDA e as localidades e povoados que embora estejam sempre prontos, tem perdido esperanças e desanimado ante resultados que parecem estar sempre num fundo do túnel sem luz, razão pela qual, a Kuwuka JDA instalar-se-á nas imediações da sede do Posto Administrativo de Catuane, num espaço cedido pelos Serviços Distritais de Actividades Económicas de Matutuine.

Ficou claro que este projecto deverá dar tambem um olhar sobre a educação ambiental nas escolas e procurar meios, formas, oportunidades e campos de acção em parceria com as direcções das escolas de Matutuine-Catuane.

Espera-se que no final do projecto as comunidades locais tenham informação e consciência mínima da gestão regrada dos recursos naturais, pois estarão desta forma a contribuir para o própio desenvolvimento comunitário bem como a preservar e proteger o meio ambiente, que faz parte da ára focal de biodiversidade, situado no centro de endemismo de Maputuland com ecossistemas de significância global, devido à especies florestais únicas a nível mundial e com valor ecológico e monetário.

Kuwuka JDA cria um nucleo ambiental no distrito de moamba

Herculanov — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:23:17 +0200

No âmbito das suas actividades de educação e informação ambiental, a Kuwuka JDA acaba de criar um núcleo ambiental na Escola Secundária da Moamba. Denominado Moamba Estudantes Desenvolvimento e Ambiente - Moamba EDA, o núcleo visa promover acções de educação e defesa do meio ambiente, desenvolvimento sustentável, saúde pública e integração social da juventude da Moamba.

O objectivo da Kuwuka JDA é chamar à consciência a juventude para a questão da preservação do meio ambiente e promoção de saúde pública. O grupo é composto por mais de duas dezenas de jovens da décima primeira e décima segunda classes, que de 30 de Setenmbro a 1 de Outubro estiveram a receber capacitação em matérias de elaboração de pequenos projectos e noções básicas sobre ecologia, orientada por técnicos da KUWUKA JDA. O evento, bastante concorrido, teve kugar na Escola Secundária da Moamba. No final do encontro os alunos comprometeram-se a dar o melhor de sí para que as actividades do grupo fossem concretizadas em pleno, tendo definido como lema do Moamba EDA, Por uma Moamba desenvolvida e Saudável.
Este núcleo poderá desenvolver actividades como, plantio de árvores, jornadas de limpeza, debates e palestras, criação de um jornal estudantil, elaboração de um projecto de programa Radiofónico Juvenila ser emitido na rádio comunitária local e ainda a criação de núcleos ambientais nos bairros.