Stories from July, 2010
REPACTED: Civic Engagement Outreach To Educate About Constitutional Reforms
On August 4, 2010, a referendum to endorse the proposed constitutional reform in Kenya is scheduled to take place. REPACTED, the Rising Voices Grantee in Kenya felt that they should undertake civic engagement outreaches to encourage citizens to read the constitution so that they can make their own informed decision.
[Video] Introduction to Women of Minya Day by Day
Nevine Ebeid is coordinating the project Women of Minya Day by Day of the New Women Foundation in Cairo, which is working with NGOs in the Minya Governorate located 250 km south of the capital. In this video, Nevine discusses how they will use citizen media tools to train female women laborers how to tell their stories and help advocate for greater legal protections.
[Video] Introduction to Mokattam Blog Tales
Nesma Gewily is the coordinator of the Mokattam Blog Tales project in the Masaken Alzelzal - Alhadba Alwosta neighborhood of Cairo, Egypt. In this video, Nesma describes the project, in partnership with the Alwan Wa Awtar organization, which will teach the neighborhood's teenagers how to document and tell the story of their community using citizen media tools.
[Video] Introduction to Exploring Taboos Project
Fatma Emam, one of the team members from Nazra, provides a history and overview of the initiative, as well as an introduction to the "Exploring Taboos" project. These workshops are part of the Rising Voices-supported projects in Egypt.
Voces Bolivianas: From The Blogosphere
In our latest feature on Voces Bolivianas, the Rising Voices grantee from Bolivia, we will highlight some blogposts from its network of bloggers. Cristina Quisbert writes about a protest March by indigenous Bolivians. Mario Duran highlights the blog of a writers community project. And Hugo Miranda celebrates his 50,000th Tweet.
[Video] Interview with Kwanele Butana from Grocott's Mail
Kwanele Butana is a coordinator of the Citizen Journalism Program of the Grocott's Mail newspaper in Grahamstown, South Africa. The program is part of "the News is Coming" project funded by the Knight News Challenge. In this video, Kwanele describes what it means for the citizen journalists to write about their local community.
Abidjan Blog Camps: Free Théophile Kouamouo
Théophile Kouamouo, one of Francophone Africa's leading bloggers, and the project leader of the Rising Voices grantee Abidjan Blog Camps has been arrested for publishing a newspaper report. Théophile Kouamouo is the Managing Editor of the Ivorian daily 'Le Nouveau Courrier', which published a report on the embezzlement in the coffee and cocoa sector of Ivory Coast. Théophile and his colleagues of the newspaper were arrested because they did not reveal the source of the information.
Egypt: The Cultural Side of a Blogosphere
Whenever the Egyptian blogosphere is mentioned, the focus is often on the activist bloggers who campaign for political issues. However, there is another side of this rich blogosphere - those bloggers who write about cultural aspects of Egyptian society.
Rising Voices And World Cup
People say that the World Cup soccer (football) is a truly International event. The bloggers of many Rising Voices projects across continents have written about it to show their passion.
Announcing Round Two of the Technology for Transparency Network
The Technology for Transparency Network, a Rising Voices project to document and map projects around the world that use online technology to promote transparency and accountability, enters its second phase this month.
Egypt: Talking Openly About Sexuality
Even though a 2006 Google Trends report indicated that Egyptians were in the Top 2 countries in the world to look for the term "sex" on the search engine, that interest in the subject does not always carry over to openly discussing the subject in mainstream or citizen media.
