STORIFY Feature: What you missed from the 24 February Edition of the Show -- Pan-African Film, and Media!

#ECOWAS@40Podcast -- Ep.6: #StopBokoHaram, #SouthSudanEncore, #ECOWASGenderPolicy, #ECOWASEnergy

Ecowas@40Podcast – 24 February, 2015

Welcome to the 6th edition of the Ecowas@40Podcast, where we give you insights into all that is ECOWAS.

The ECOWAS@40Podcast is divided into four parts. We start off with an overview of what stories are trending under ECOWAS/West Africa/the AU. We then move on to what ECOWAS and/or AU accounts are tweeting. Third, we give listeners an ECOWAS Fact; and, finally, “What’s my ECOWAS Beef?” where I offer candid views on a trending topic. In today’s edition, we are looking at events the Show is involved in one may have missed.

First -- the issue of #SouthSudan has grown from a headache to a migraine. What has now become a source of infamy – that AU Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan report that was never disclosed to the public is seriously denting the image of the continental organisation (as if it didn’t have enough headaches, what with #MugabeFalls! and all!). The country has been trending for all the wrong reasons. Let’s take a look at what some of the tweets that have attracted the highest RTs.

On Libya, where the story is quickly developing, let’s take a look at this tweet from CCTV Africa, which tweets:

We move from North Africa right here to the ECOWAS sub-region, where the issue of #BokoHaram is yet to go away. No surprises, then, why there are more tweets this week as the stories of the fight to ouster the militant Islamic group continues in dramatic detail.

Finally, under this section, we take a look at what has been trending on “Africa”, and “west Africa”:

3.     ECOWAS FACT

ECOWAS has a Programme on Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access (ECOW-GEN), which is a flagship programme of the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) addressing barriers to the equal participation of women and men in expanding energy access in West Africa.

ECOW-GEN was established against the background that women’s potential, in the ECOWAS region, as producers and suppliers of energy services is under-utilized and that empowering women and men to make significant contributions to the implementation of the regional policies on renewable energy and energy efficiency is necessary for the achievement of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) goals in West Africa.

Thus, to ensure that women, as much as men, contribute to, and benefit from, clean energy development ECOW-GEN implements activities directed at strengthening women economically by improving energy access for income generating activities and, more importantly, empowering women as active actors in the sustainable energy sector.

Launched in 2013, the programme started its pilot phase working on the four Members States of the Mano River Union (MRU) – Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

2. Closely related to this is the news that the African Development Bank (AfDB), the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), and the United States-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have formed a partnership centered on linking gender and energy access.

The three have jointly organised an inception workshop to launch a project about developing an ECOWAS Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access and its Implementation Strategy. The workshop will be held TODAY Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at the Bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. “AfDB’s role is grounded in its Energy Policy, which advocates for ‘universal access to energy,’ said Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, AfDB’s Special Envoy on Gender.

Participants include Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister for Family, Women and Children, AfDB’s Special Envoy on Gender, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Social Affairs and Gender, and the Executive Director of ECREEE. Representatives from the respective Ministries of Energy of the ECOWAS member states, partner institutions of ECREEE and other stakeholders will also be present.

The project aims at establishing a regional policy and its implementation strategy that will support the region’s energy efficiency and renewable energy policies. It will also enhance the Sustainable Energy for All’s (SE4ALL) initiative of achieving the goals of universal access to modern energy services..

The ECOWAS Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access, the first of its kind globally, aims at addressing barriers that hinder the participation of women in energy access. It will ensure that women make both intellectual and business-wise contributions to ending the region’s energy crises. Women comprise up 50 percent of the region’s population and 43 percent of the ECOWAS labour force.

4.     Past Events

Ghana has two new networks that “Africa in Focus” Show/ Radio XYZ is a part of. They are the West Africa Drug Policy Network; and the WPSI Communications Network on UNSCR1325 (that promotes gender participation in peace and security).

The West Africa Drug Policy Network is backed by the Senegal-based West Africa Commission on Drugs, and was established in Accra following a two-day civil society meeting that sought to explore ways in which CSOs can play critical roles in drug policy in the sub-region.

The WPSI Communications Network on UNSCR1325 was established after a two-day follow-up Media strategy meeting, which was held under the auspices of the Women Peace & Security Institute of KAIPTC here in Accra.

The "Africa in Focus Show"/Radio XYZ is to date one of the first programmes/radio stations in Accra to currently serve on the steering committee of the Communications Network. Please find below the composition of the Committee:

a. Women, Peace and Security Institute of Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre
b. FOSDA
c. West Africa Network on Peace-building
d. Ghana's Security Services Communications' people
e. Media (Finder newspaper; Africa in Focus Show - Radio XYZ 93.1FM; Gloria Anderson, GBC; Eunice Minkah, Women in Parliament )

ENDs

#PODCAST>>Episode 33: Pan-African Film & Media: Towards an African Personality, or a Conversation with Pascal Aka; JOT Agyeman; and Elijah Iposu

EPISODE #33
Research & Co-ordination: E.K.Bensah Jr
Executive Producer: E.K.Bensah Jr

"Dear friends,

We used the thirty-third edition of the Africa in Focus show to take a look at Pan-African Film, and Media.

We spoke to one of the upcoming Ghanaian film directors Pascal Aka, who returned to Ghana four years ago, and is bringing his Canada-trained film-making to bring quality to bear on Ghanaian film--as evidenced by his plaudits for the 2014 film "Double Cross". He urges those within the movie industry to consider the international context, and start writing stories that transcend the local context.

Aka believes we need our Ghanaian film industry to move beyond what he believes are essentially glorified "Akan dramas".

ETV Ghana's JOT Agyemang, a former actor himself, is a seasoned script-writer, having written scripts for Yvonne Okoro; and half-way through a script about the overthrow of Nkrumah (a project that has taken him some two years to write). But JOT is also someone who has turned down a lot of Ghanaian film scripts on account of poor quality. 

He believes so-called nomenclature of "Ghallywood"; and "Nollywood" are unnecessary, as it is divorced from the reality of quality film. Kumawood, in his view, is not film, but "concert party ofn video", though it serves a purpose.

Finally, Homebase TV Ghana's Elijah Iposu, a producer and director, encourages Ghanaians and Nigerians to get back to what our fathers in Nkrumah did by bringing together both Ghanaian and Nigerian film-makers to learn from each other to take Pan-African film to even greater heights, especially at a time Nollywood films are making international waves. 

He encourages Ghanaian film-makers to reduce the "raw" content of their films, so that we can make good movies for Africa, and make money for producers. Even more importantly, we need, in his view, to get to the stage where we can tell a witchcraft story, like Harry Potter, and go beyond ridicule of some of the Kumawood renditions of the same theme!

On the 49th commemoration of Dr.Nkrumah, we had a particularly-entertaining conversation that brought reflections on cinematography; film; media; production; and direction; and infused it with a Pan-African feel.

Please find below a link to the podcast of the full edition of 24 February edition of "Africa in Focus": 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/27ruhvpwjgnk27p/AFRICA%20IN%20FOCUS%20%2024-02-15.mp3?dl=0


We look forward to comments!

In solidarity!"
Emmanuel""

STORIFY Feature: What you missed from the CUTS Focus Group Discussion on "Integrating Consumer's Voice" in ECOWAS Subregion

STORIFY Feature: What you missed from the Two-day Media Strategy on Establishment of Communications Network on UNSCR1325

STORIFY Feature: What you missed from the 17 February Edition of "Africa in Focus" Show on Agriculture

PODCAST>>EPISODE #32: Africa's Agriculture: The Compelling Impetus of CAADP

EPISODE #32
Research & Co-ordination: E.K.Bensah Jr
Executive Producer: E.K.Bensah Jr

"Dear friends,

We used the thirty-second edition of the Africa in Focus show to reprise the very critical discussion of Africa’s agriculture.

Our earlier discussions last year had centred on the role of organisations like AgriPro. This year, the focus is necessarily continental, with a focus on what synergies can be created between the AU’s Continental CAADP Programme and the CAADP Country Teams, which are critical in the implementation of CAADP – especially at a time when CAADP has entered the next stage of Implementation and Strategy with a view to a 2025 goal..

These dynamics are part of what animated discussions around Africa’s agriculture for which reason we were happy to speak to two members of Ghana’s CAADP Country Team; an official of the technical arm of the AU Commission; and finally, a technical expert of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), which is the closest we have come to speaking to the issue of agriculture/CAADP at the regional level. Our efforts to grant an interview to the DG of the Agriculture and Food Agency in Lome, Mr.Salifou, proved futile.

Remarkably, all the organisations we spoke to on 17 February have one thing in common: they are all linked to CAADP’s Pillar IV.

Now while “Pillar IV” sounds like part of a typical address in Ghana, when located in the context of Africa’s agriculture, it means a whole lot as it refers to agricultural research and technological dissemination and adoption of CAADP.

Please find below a link to the podcast of the full edition of 17 February edition of "Africa in Focus": 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9f6t2mc7zsqn4a9/AFRICA%20IN%20FOCUS%20%2017-02-15.mp3?dl=0


We look forward to comments!

In solidarity!"
Emmanuel""

COMING UP!>>Episode 33: "Towards an African Personality: Has Ghanaian Film, & Media Come of Age?"

33rd Edition:  

Towards an African Personality: Has Ghanaian Film & Media Come of Age?

24 February 2015 is forty-nine years since who is arguably the greatest Pan-Afri can that ever lived – Ghana’s own Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah – was overthrown. Instead of using the thirty-third edition of the Show talking about the coup, we, instead, want to use it to reflect on an important component of the “African personality” – that of Film, and Media.

We are happy to be having this conversation on this day in the special month of February, where we not only celebrate chocolates in Ghana and love worldwide, but Martin Luther King day in the United States; and, even more relevant for today’s show, the US-based Pan-African Film Festival. The Festival – considered by the LA Times in 2013 as “the largest black film festival” in the United States – has had both universal and Africa themes: “the overthrow of colonial governments, the clash between modern values and traditional values, and tales of gifted artists.”

This year’s Pan African Film Festival that spot lighted various films from Nigeria ended with a bang showing more Nollywood films. This spotlight edition which is part of the Project ACT Nollywood Nigeria initiative have made it possible for films from Nigeria, made by Nigerians home and abroad to be shown to the world. Films include detective thriller October 1 by Kunle Afolayan, Invasion 1897 by Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, LAPD African Cops by Pascal Atuma.

In LAPD African cops, two West African cops in America, who have both recently earned their U.S. citizenship, decide they want to join the Los Angeles Police Department. There’s little tolerance for one of the officers so he’s paired with his fellow countryman, but instead of executing their duties in compliance with LAPD regulations they use their African culture to dictate the rules. Not surprisingly, the Officers are…Officer Naija and Officer Ghana.

If this speaks to anything, it probably serves to remind us of the necessity of both Ghana and Nigeria coalescing to add greater quality to Africa’s film industry! But, then, there is the Media we need to talk about: how far are media houses, such as Global Media Alliance & Homebase TV, come in realizing Pan-African aspirations of a truly Pan-African media?

Join us if you can at 1pm on 24 February, 2015.

Guiding questions

• How instrumental is the director in the making of a successful movie?
• How close are Homebase TV, and ETV Ghana to the realization of a “Pan-African Media” power-house?
• Can we get to the stage where Nollywood & Ghallywood can have a meeting of minds on using film, and media, to project African culture?
• With the likes of Pascal Aka, can it be argued that Ghana & Nigeria have arrived towards the realization of some kind of “African personality”? There is proximity; and cultural similarities!

Guests in the studio:

Ø  Pascal Acka, award-winning movie director/director of “Double Cross”(2014)

Ø  Iposu , Homebase TV

Ø  J.O.T Agyemang , General Manager, ETV Ghana

On the line:

• Mrs.Catherine Appiah-Pinkrah, Director, Ministry of Defence @13h20

Check out this #Nigerian Detective #Thriller set in 1960s: "October 1"!

Here is the First Official Trailer of the movie 'October 1'. It's September 1960 and Nigeria's is on the verge of independence from British colonial rule. A northern Nigerian Police Detective, DAN WAZIRI, is urgently despatched by the Colonial Government to the trading post town of Akote in the Western Region of Nigeria to solve a series of female murders that have struck horror in the hearts and minds of the local community. On getting to Akote, more murders are committed. With local tension rising, Waziri has a race on his hands to solve the case before even more local women are killed.

#ECOWAS@40Podcast Episode 5: #StopBokoHaram; #SouthSudan; #Libya; #

Ecowas@40Podcast – 17 February, 2015

Welcome to the 5th edition of the Ecowas@40Podcast, where we give you insights into all that is ECOWAS.

The ECOWAS@40Podcast is divided into four parts. We start off with an overview of what stories are trending under ECOWAS. We then move on to what ECOWAS and/or AU accounts are tweeting. Third, we give listeners an ECOWAS Fact; and, finally, “What’s my ECOWAS Beef?” where I offer candid views on a trending topic.

First, the Valentine and Chocolate day did little to remind warring factions to love one another. South Sudan – a long-running headache for the African Union -- became a talking point as a HRW report warned that children as young as 13 were being recruited to fight in the army. And even as the UN was warning that South Sudan is on the brink of famine, as roadblocks have been erected in certain areas inhibiting aid workers from reaching communities urgently in need of food, a GlobalVoicesOnline report is noteworthy in its critique of the AU. The article states that instead of the report being presented by the Chair of the AU Commission of Inquiry into South Sudan (AUCISS) Obasanjo, the Ethiopian PM Desalegn raised a motion to defer publication of the report until peace is achieved. SA Prez Zuma seconded – as did Prez Museveni of Uganda. Public release of report has been put off indefinitely!

Still on AU-related matters, #MugabeFalls has been trounced by #Libya and South Sudan

1.      Yannis Koutsomitis of @YanniKouts tweeted: “  

 

2.      

Still on #Libya, and closely trailing behind was still the headache of #SouthSudan:

#BokoHaram/#StopBokoHaram still in the news:

#NIGER:

On #ECOWAS:

#AFRICANUNION

3.      ECOWAS FACT

According to 2013 ECOWAS Annual report, there remain five protocols and conventions yet to enter into force as of 3 Oct 2012. These are:

a.      The Protocol establishing VAT in Ecowas member states (July 1996)

b.     Protocol on the Fight against Corruption (Dec 2001)

c.      Supplementary Protocol amending the protocol on the establishment of an ECOWAS Brown Card  relating to motor vehicle third party liability insurance (Dec 2001)

d.     Agreement of cooperation in criminal matters between the Police of ECOWAS Member states (idem)

e.      Protocol establishing an ECOWAS Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (ORIC…Guinea only country that has one) (Jan 2006)

2. From 1978 to 15 November 2013, Ghana signed 43 out of 54 protocols and conventions. That is 79% signed, which is commendable.

4.     What’s my ECOWAS Beef?

First: when I googled “ECOWAS at 40” a few days ago, what should I see but one of the countries that was dealing with Ebola – Sierra Leone – reporting in a news item of 30 January (by Sierra Leone News Agency) that its Ministry of Finance and Economic Devt(MOFED) had “commenced the inaugural meeting of the 40^th anniversary celebration of ECOWAS” already.  Rewind a few months to a news item by Nigeria’s Leadership newspaper that our ECOWAS Chair in Mahama  had stated how for 39 years “regional integration had been hampered by several factors including political instability.” 

This is clearly an admission that in its 40^th year, things had to be done differently. Yet, as I write, there has been no mention made by Ghana’s diplomatic machinery about the auspicious nature of this year, and how Ghana ought to clearly capitalize on it being Chair to drive home the point about ECOWAS doing things differently in its 40^th year. Note we are 90 days away from AU day and ECOWAS Day on 28 May!

The pretext of fighting Ebola, and fighting terrorists (therefore unable to think clearly on celebrations) can only serve to remind us of an age-old narrative of the sub-region being one that has “nuits blanches” (sleepless nights) over peace and security—as it has done for the past four decades.

Second: Chad was instrumental in fighting in AFISMA in 2012. In 2011, Chad became an Observer of ECOWAS. It is again still playing critical roles in combating Boko Haram. Why does ECOWAS not just admit it as a member for the simple reason of helping to complement the sub-region’s efforts on peace and security in ways some of our smaller countries cannot. UEMOA, for example, on 13 February approved a strategic peace and security pact in Dakar that has five pillars. My view: what can UEMOA do differently that ECOWAS has not done since 1989 when it went into Liberia with ECOMOG?!

ENDs

#PODCAST: Episode 31: Role of Civil Society around Drug Policy in West Africa

EPISODE #31
Research & Co-ordination: E.K.Bensah Jr
Executive Producer: E.K.Bensah Jr

"Dear friends,

In the light of a two-day conference for civil society organisation on Drug Policy in West Africa that was held here in Accra last week, we spoke to two high-level participants who helped us better-understand the concepts; challenges; opportunities around civil society participation in drug policy in West Africa. In many respects, this two-day meeting blazed the trail on this kind of discussion. 

Also on the show, we spoke to Marjorie Abdin of the CAADP National Team to give us an insight into some of the challenges bedeviling that team as it seeks to promote the AU’s CAADP programme on agriculture. What are the challenges, and opportunities that need to be confronted?

Please find below a link to the podcast of the full edition of 10 February edition of "Africa in Focus":

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1e3k7jdvlgqp73p/AFRICA%20IN%20FOCUS%20%2010-02-15.mp3?dl=0


We look forward to comments!

In solidarity!"
Emmanuel""

COMING UP!>>32nd Edition: Africa’s Agriculture: the Compelling Impetus of CAADP for Africa’s Integration

32^nd Edition:  

Africa’s Agriculture: the Compelling Impetus of CAADP for Africa’s Integration

We want to use the thirty-second edition of the Africa in Focus show to reprise the very critical discussion of Africa’s agriculture.

Our earlier discussions last year had centred on the role of organisations like AgriPro, which are doing great things around the youth and agric. This year, the focus is necessarily continental, with a focus on what synergies can be created between the AU’s Continental CAADP Programme and the CAADP Country Teams, which are critical in the implementation of CAADP – especially at a time when CAADP has entered the next stage of Implementation and Strategy with a view to a 2025 goal.

From 2013 through to mid-2014, all AU Member States were involved in ministerial meetings, including being involved in eighteen months of consultations at the national, regional, and continental level, to draw up the AU Heads of State and Government Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods. The Declaration made no less than seven specific commitments to achieve agricultural growth and transformation for shared prosperity and improved livelihoods, including: upholding 10% public spending target; and sustaining annual agricultural GDP at least 6%.

Even more remarkable, however, is how commitments such as the operationalisation of the African Investment Bank; and fast-tracking of the Continental Free Trade Area (by 2017) find themselves as part of the targets. This makes for interesting conversations around how agriculture can continue to cross-cut through African integration dynamics and become a fully-fledged compelling impetus for Africa’s transformative growth.

These dynamics are part of what will animate discussions around Africa’s agriculture for which reason we are happy to speak to two members of Ghana’s CAADP Country Team; an official of the technical arm of the AU Commission; and finally, a technical expert of the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme (WAAPP), which is the closest we have come to speaking to the issue of agriculture/CAADP at the regional level. Our efforts to grant an interview to the DG of the Agriculture and Food Agency in Lome, Mr.Salifou, proved futile.

Remarkably, all the organisations we are speaking to on 17 February have one thing in common: they are all linked to CAADP’s Pillar IV.

Now while “Pillar IV” sounds like part of a typical address in Ghana, when located in the context of Africa’s agriculture, it means a whole lot as it refers to agricultural research and technological dissemination and adoption of CAADP.

Join us if you can at 1pm on 17 February, 2015.

Guiding questions

• Why are CAADP Country Teams critical in the implementation of CAADP?
• FARA has been around for 12 years in Ghana. Why has it found it difficult resonating with the Ghanaian public around agriculture?
• How consistent with CAADP implementation is the FARA Strategic Plan 2014-2018?
• What are the synergies between CAADP and WAAPP?

Guests in the studio:

Ø  Kingsley Ofei-Nkansah, Secretary-General, General Agricultural Worker’s Union(GAWU)

Ø  Marjorie Abdin, CAADP Country Team Member

Ø  Mr.Demby, Communications Officer/CAADP Rep, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa(FARA)

On the line:

·        Dr.Alphonse Belane , West Africa Agricultural Productivity Programme(WAAPP) @13h20