Odekro is live ! Democracy in Ghana

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.” ― H.L. Mencken

Ghana’s democratic institutions, since the reintroduction of civil rule in 1992, have largely remained weak and ineffective due to poor leadership and lack of transparency on the activities of elected officials. This has eroded public confidence significantly and undermined the legitimacy of the affected public officers and their capacity to govern. Ghana is a young democracy fast maturing within Africa’s Sub-Saharan region. After five peaceful general elections observed as free and fair, Ghana is consolidating its foundations as a stable and democratic state in West Africa. Ghana has been soaring through elections since 1992 up to date. However, to give credence to our democratic process and track what the activities of our elected officials, citizens need to be empowered to demand and ensure proper representation, accountability and good service delivery. To this end, there are on-going efforts by the Trade Unions, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), political activists, and Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) to ensure reforms, and it is necessary that these efforts are reinforced with social mobilization, citizen action and popular engagement in promoting transparency.

In this context, we propose a national intervention - “Odekro”, that seeks to empower communities and marginalized populations to promote transparency, accountability and democratic governance through citizen action and engagement with relevant government agencies. Specifically, the intervention will focus on the Parliament/Legislature of Ghana.

In the Akan chieftaincy hierarchy, the Odekro is the lowest sub-divisional chief responsible for ruling a town and making sure the citizens are taken care of.  Members of Parliament (MPs) are elected to serve constituencies and our proposed intervention, Odekro, monitors them.

Our goal is to harness technology to create a national platform for promoting transparency and popular participation to keep a keen eye on public officials, especially parliament, by providing public online access to Bills, Motions, and Parliamentary debates (Hansards).

In addition, Odekro provides tools that allow commentary and discussions around these records. By providing this, we hope to mobilize citizens to discuss national issues being debated in Parliament, report issues affecting their constituencies, comment on on-going projects in
their constituencies, follow the specific issues the MPs for their constituencies are contributing to in Parliament, and what they are saying, and to generally take a keen interest in how they are represented.

We also hope that MPs will take the opportunity to become more open, and engage with citizens, by answering questions asked by citizens, providing information on on-going projects and interacting generally with citizens they represent either by logging on and using the platform
themselves, or designating aides to do so on their behalf. The platform will focus on disseminating information and educating the electorate on policy, political debates, and the performance of parliamentarians.

On December 1st, 2012, this platform with democracy resources, profiles of members of parliament, a
 searchable
 Hansard, scorecards
 and
 vital
 statistics
 of
 regions/ Constituencies/Districts is unveiled.

For
 the
 first
 time in Ghana since 
independence 55 years ago, Ghanaians will be able to evaluate 
their
 MPs
 speeches 
in
 Parliament
 as
 documented
 in
 the
 Hansard.The platform doesn’t provide any
 commentary
 on 
the 
Hansard
 but, 
presents it
 in 
a
 user friendly, searchable and
 makes 
the
 entries 
available 
under
 every
 Member
 of
 Parliament’s
 (MPs) profile.


Ghanaians
 can
 access
 the
 website
 through
 their
 computers
 or
 mobile
 devices.

Odekro seeks to be the defacto factual resource center for citizens online 
and
 offline
 political 
engagements.



Odekro is live @ http://www.odekro.org/

For general enquiries about the platform, email: info@odekro.org

Ghana Technology University launch "the campus companion"

GHANA Technology University College , a technology oriented institution of higher learning committed to providing an educational experience with a strong commitment to flexible and practice-based learning on Thursday 29th November , launched an 10" inch tablet named "The Campus Campanion. The device features virtual learning management system called Learner Workspace , Wi-fi/3G capability , Android 4.0 ( ice cream sandwich), 8GB/16GB - storage , USB 2.0 , 1.5 ghz - processor , HDMI ,GPS , RJ45 Ethernet and a battery life of 5hrs(5000mAh).

This device was launched to support an engaging student experience by integrating technology into the process of knowledge acquisition thereby ensuring that students and lecturers collaborate regardless of location and time.

Tablets, Africa’s Next Leap-Frog Technology

Naa Oyoo Quartey, blogger, mentoring a young person about social media at BarCamp Tema. (Photo: Reginold Royston)

Reginald Royston, Ph.D. candidate in the African Diaspora Program with a Designated Emphasis in New Media

In an age of 32″ monitors and four-CPU-powered laptops, few tech gadgets have begged the question ‘What’s the point?’ more puzzlingly than the tablet. Just as smart phones were getting smarter, and the $100-laptop was becoming a reality (thanks in part to One Laptop Per Child), along comes an all-in-one computer doohickey that’s as light as a donut and as big as a lunch menu. But what does this device afford early-adopters in the West: slick ‘one-upsmanship’ or true sociotechnical innovation?

Interestingly enough during my stay in Accra, Ghana, I began to see more iPads than I do on Berkeley’s campus, or at the very least notice them a lot more. Tablets were literally everywhere: In street corner-stalls, at the bank, on public mini-buses (‘tro-tros’), at cybercafes and telecomm centers, at high-end restaurants and street-side BBQ joints. I witnessed them in use among journalists, streets-salesmen, culture bloggers, in the club with DJs and socialites, and even at church, where the faithful would take notes on sermons and/or simultaneously check their calendars.

Among the pallets of the second-hand cell phones sumptuously laid out for would-be buyers near Nkrumah Circle market, a few Acer and Samsung tablets sat prominent but unassuming among dozens of cut-rate gadgets. Ghana’s current president John Mahama famously used an iPad as teleprompter on the day of his inauguration following the untimely death of President John Atta Mills in July.

I asked myself, why is tablet-use such a growing phenomena in this West African country where the gross national income is $1,410/year (less than $10/day for most), and the Internet reaches at best 14 percent of the population?

The answer is perhaps, that the tablet, a luxury good in the West, could become the next leap-frog technology in developing economies such as Ghana and the developing world.

‘Leap-frog’ technologies refer to innovations that jump the status-quo of contemporary practices transforming a society’s total technical ecosystem. Phil Emeagwali‘s essay ‘Can Nigeria Leapfrog into the Information Age?’ was one of earliest tech writings on the subject. The concept describes how a nation struggling with poor infrastructure and failing Industrial Age systems could by-pass the West, by broadly adopting light, swift and smart IT ahead of places like the United States — where legacy systems such as municipal electricity, the landline telephone and fossil fuels remain trenchant despite technological advancements.

Mobile computing in Ghana is not just a convenience, it’s a necessity. The ‘doing-well’ (entrepreneurs, mid-level government workers, moonlighters, and members of the emerging middle class) tend to have travel great distances throughout urban Accra to live and do business. Family and social commitments often compel people to return their ‘hometowns’ in cities such as Kumasi and Takoradi, or in rural areas, trips that can take more than a few hours. A real estate boom is afoot in urban Accra, with malls and condominiums threatening to uptick the level of traffic congestion in this city of 2 million. Already, an 8-mile trip through the center of town could easily take an hour. Accidents and poor road conditions — tack on at least another half-hour. In this cosmopolitan center of the nation and perhaps West African region, transit is a daily reality.

For computing on the go, tablets simply make the most sense: Slim design, extreme portability and battery-life that tends to outlast laptops. And they often come connected to the Web: You don’t need a USB-enabled modem hanging off the side. 3G+ services are typically built into the device and connected through telecomm providers like Vodafone (Ghana’s version of AT&T). That wireless connection is often the most reliable form of Internet in the country.

Residents who ride the local mini-buses, where patrons can often sit knee-to-knee, are unlikely to have room to pop out a laptop comfortably. If you’re so brazen to do so, expect to spend all night defragging your computer, as you bounce 30 minutes along a barely paved road with your spinning hard-disk drive jostling in your bag.

Tablets also make sense as a leap-frog technology, because they can be so intuitive that advanced literacy is seldom required to work something like an iPad very well. The World Banks lists Ghana’s adult literacy rate at 70 percent, but in rural areas that is much lower. Combine the issue of proficiency in speaking English (the language of commerce), no less-reading/writing English. One software developer I talked to opined, why bother teaching illiterate farmers how to use smart-,  or lesser-feature mobile phones to communicate with aid-workers or in-town merchants: the large button, touchscreen tablet with high-resolution photos could possibly have a lower usability barrier and be more effective in communicating via FaceTime or Skype. Taking a picture and swiping the image to a shortcut enabled email address or phone number might be infinitely more productive for rural-to-urban communicators, than keyboard-dependent mobile phones.

And it seems the tablet industry is not far behind in this thinking. A recent market report states that the $35 tablet may be the $100 laptop of the future. Cloud-based tablets significantly reduce the size and weight of device architecture: This light interfaces could be the ideal tool for schools or medium-to-large scale businesses attempting to circumvent land-line Internet connectivity, complex software applications, and heavy capital investment and training, especially in the world’s developing economies. Indeed, One Laptop Per Child is experimenting with a transition to tablets as well.

But this potential belies the keen interest I observed among Ghana’s digerati in exploiting tablets to the fullest. A blogger at a BarCamp event near Tema (one of 9 held so far this year in Ghana) instructed college students about the ins-and-outs of social media, using the tablet as her blackboard and portable computer.

Insofar as this highly visual, tangible and mobile device can be passed between users as simply as a sheet of newspaper, its use as a social medium rather than strictly a computing tool reveals perhaps it’s highest promise.

by raroyston (Reginald Royston)

EVENT: BarCamp Tema 2012

BarCamp Tema 2012 is a free networking forum bringing people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue on Tema, Ghana and beyond. It will take place on October 27, 2012 at the Central University Campus in Miotso near Tema. The theme for this year is “Vertical mentoring and horizontal inspiration, driving excellence”. This Barcamp hopes to assemble stakeholders to network, build a supportive enterprising community and partner to build together.
The GhanaThink Foundation has successfully organized 17 BarCamps in Ghana. BarCamp Tema 2012 is being organized in conjunction with the Google Group at Central University College. The event will be a showcase of how Ghana’s youth are taking charge of its development and how they can be spurred on to do more. The spotlight will be on demonstrating the power of mentoring and role models and how youth can inspire other youth to drive excellence. There will be a focus on channeling the present energies around entertainment into positive developments and progress for Tema and surrounding areas as well.
The Barcamp will feature multiple user-generated breakout sessions about business, social entrepreneurship, technology and development, alongside topics relevant to the Volta Region and beyond. There will be a speed mentoring session where mentors will give insights and answers to questions from attendees. We are also organizing a start-up bazaar  where young entrepreneurs and innovators can showcase their products and services.

Register/RSVP at the BarCamp Tema eventbrite website (barcamptema12.eventbrite.com) or text "Barcamp Tema [name] [email address] to 1945 through any mobile network.. You may also contact the BarCamp Ho team through the eventbrite page for sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested in organizing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs.
BarCamp Tema 2012 is sponsored by Central University College,GhanaThink Foundation, Google Ghana, Nandimobile,Fienipa Group, etc. Our media partners are Spy Ghana, Modern Ghana, TNG, and the Ghana News Agency. Join us to move the Greater Accra Region and Ghana forward.

Press Release: “BLOG And Social Media Awards 2013!”

September 2012
Accra

“BLOG And Social Media Awards 2013!”

Ghana’s 1st Blogging And Social Media Awards Night

We’ve all fantasized about being world-popular writers; had long conversations with ourselves in the shower; wowed the lawyer in us with the sheer wit of our arguments in the isolation of our bedrooms; calmed the storms and tsunamis of the world with Dalai Lama and Paulo Coelho. We’ve even changed policies and agenda with our very own mass followings, photoblogs, and online networks. In reality, this might not be the case, but in the world of the blogger, tweep, facebooker, everything is possible.

It’s a closed world, personal and sometimes defiant, but it has influenced, shaped, and motivated many. And here at BloggingGhana, we firmly believe it’s about time we appreciate, honour, and award some of the personalities behind the blogs, tweets, and pages that have so motivated, informed, and affected many of us.

So join us, in March 2013, to show special honour to our silent, unknown, sometimes faceless cyber and social media motivators. Yes, you, me, and she/him, at the first-ever in Ghana “Blog & Social Media Awards 2013”. If you are a blogger, tweep, facebooker, and you believe you have touched the world – really, it’s okay if you/person are not so up there, you should still make your nomination – locate yourself in the following categories:

• Best Technology Blog
• Best Business & Commerce Blog
• Best Citizen Journalism Blog
• Best Creative, Literary Short Stories, Poetry Blog
• Best Showbiz and Entertainment Blog
• Best Lifestyle Blog
• Best Activist Blog
• Best Photo Blog
• Best Organisational Blog
• Best Blog

Other Social Media Categories

• Personality with Best Social Media Presence
• Organisation with Best Social Media Presence
• Best Original Content

Nomination Process
BloggingGhana will open up Nominations for the above listed categories in November 2012 after which an Academy and the Public will vote for the best in each category. Voting will close in February 2013 and presentation of awards will be at the BlogCamp Ghana 2013 event scheduled for March 2013.

Visit http://blogcampghana.com/social-media-awards/ then follow @BloggingGhana on Twitter, and stay locked on for updates on “the road to Blog & Social Media Awards! 2013”. There will be daily riddles, blog quotes, personality bloggers of the week, ‘Vim Series’, and other events alongside the nomination period activities. Most importantly, there might be an award here with your name on it!

ABOUT
This event is brought to you by BloGH – BloggingGhana, Ghana’s biggest organization of bloggers and social media enthusiasts. BloggingGhana (BloGh) is a group of bloggers and social media users, writing out of Ghana or the Ghanaian experience. It is also an aggregator website that collects the latest posts and tweets from our members. Since June 2011 we are a registered non-profit organization with a executive council working towards the following objectives:

1. Serving as a forum for bloggers in Ghana to network and exchange ideas
2. Building capacity among bloggers in Ghana
3. Accessing new audiences for our blogs through a mutual website (aggregator) and other activities
4. Promoting citizen journalism in Ghana
5. Educating the general public in Ghana on the opportunities of social media

The idea of starting BloGh came out of a meet-up of bloggers on 24 July 2008.  To that first meeting, organized by bloggers Sandra Crabbe and Kajsa Hallberg Adu, eight bloggers were invited. We wrote: “we would like to bring the Ghanaian blog community together in real life! There is so much to say…about our green homeland, if Blogger is better than  WordPress, if labels are useful, how best to boost and count traffic,  what Internet cafés are fast, and of course how blogging changes your life…”

END

Media Contact:
Naa Adaku (Golda) Addo
Blog & Social Media Awards Lead – BloGH
+233(0)244828322
@GHANAmomoni
goldaaddo@gmail.com

Special Invitation : BarCamp Ho 2012

Dear Friend/Brother/Sister,

I would like to invite you to BarCamp Ho 2012 happening on 21st September (Founder's Day) at Ho Polytechnic. Come let's celebrate youthful enterprise and innovation, learn, network, strategise, reflect and have fun.

We've lined up a rich array of mentors and speakers. Register at  http://barcampho12.eventbrite.com. Find more below:

BarCamp Ho 2012 is a free networking forum bringing people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue on Ho, Ghana and beyond. It will take place on September 21, 2012 (Founder’s Day Holiday) at the Ho Polytechnic. It follows 2011’s event on December 3 where the theme was “Harnessing local competencies and opportunities for global impact”. The theme for this year is “Youth taking charge of development”. This Barcamp hopes to assemble Ho stakeholders to network, build a supportive enterprising community and partner to build together.

The GhanaThink Foundation has successfully organized 16 BarCamps in Ghana. BarCamp Ho 2012 is being organized in conjunction with Centre for Creative Youth. The event will be a showcase of how Ghana’s youth are taking charge of its development and how they can be spurred on to do more. The spotlight will be on demonstrating how youth-led initiatives can bring change in different facets of development.

Some of the confirmed speakers and mentors, based both within and outside the Volta region, are: Francis Asong (VOICE Ghana), Makafui Nyamadi (GCOM Pre-University), Tsonam Akpeloo (Techcom Visions), Florence Toffa (Mobile Web Ghana), Anne Amuzu (Nandimobile), Penelope Sheila Bartels-Sam (inCharge Global), Nehemiah Attigah (Hatua Solutions), Regina Agyare (Soronko Solutions), Alloysius Attah (Farmerline) and Eyram Tawia (Leti Games).

The Barcamp will feature multiple user-generated breakout sessions about business, social entrepreneurship, technology and development, alongside topics relevant to the Volta Region and beyond. There will be a speed mentoring session where mentors will give insights and answers to questions from attendees. We are also organizing a start-up bazaar  where young entrepreneurs and innovators can showcase their products and services.

Register/RSVP at the BarCamp Ho eventbrite website or text "Barcamp Ho [name] [email address] to 1945 through any mobile network.. You may also contact the BarCamp Ho team through the eventbrite page for sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested in organizing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs.

BarCamp Ho 2012 is sponsored by the Ho Polytechnic, GhanaThink Foundation, CCY Ghana, Nandimobile, Fienipa Group, etc. Our media partners are TBD. Join us to move Ghana and the Volta Region forward.

EVENT : BarCamp Cape Coast

BarCamp Cape Coast 2012 is a free networking forum to bring people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue on Cape Coast, Ghana and beyond. BarCamp Cape Coast 2012 will take place on September 08, 2012 at the New Lecture Theatre at the University of Cape Coast. It follows last year’s event on November 12 where the theme was “Harnessing IT education for local innovation and tourism development”. The theme for this year is “Revolutionizing Education through Arts & Technology”. This Barcamp hopes to assemble Cape Coast stakeholders to network, build a supportive enterprising community and partner to build together. 
The GhanaThink Foundation, an NGO based both in Ghana and the USA, has successfully organized 15 BarCamps in Ghana. Barcamp Cape Coast 2012 will be organized in conjunction with the University of Cape Coast (UCC) Google Developer Group (GDG). The Barcamp build knowledge on how to improve education using the arts and technology. It will also investigate how to incorporate technology into teaching and education.
The Barcamp will feature multiple user-generated breakout sessions about business, fashion, arts, social entrepreneurship, web tools and products, entrepreneurship driven sessions as well as breakout sessions on topics relevant to Cape Coast and beyond. There will also be a speed mentoring session where mentors will give insights and answers to questions from attendees. We are also bringing a start-up bazaar to the Barcamp where young entrepreneurs and innovators can showcase their products. Some of the mentors and invited speakers include Mabel Simpson (mSimps), Regina Agyare (Soronko Solutions), Kwame Boohene, etc.
Register/RSVP today at the BarCamp Cape Coast eventbrite website. You can also register by sending “Barcamp Cape Coast, Name & Email” to 1945 on all networks (via Nandimobile). You may also contact the BarCamp Cape Coast team through this website for sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested in organizing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs.

BarCamp Cape Coast 2012 is sponsored by the University of Cape Coast,GhanaDecides (a BloGh project), Google Ghana, UCC-GDG, GhanaThink Foundation, Fienipa Group, Nandimobile, etc. Our media partners are Cranchon, ATL FM (100.5), etc.