IICD supports local content media award

Although the media in Africa are beginning to report on ICT issues, there is still a wide gap in their knowledge and comprehension of the subject in relation to development trends within their national context. The AISI Media Award Programme has the following aims:

• Create greater awareness on the role of ICTs in the development process within the framework of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI);
• Support African media to specialize and master ICTs and development issues thereby sharpening their skills and knowledge base;
• Enhance access to information on this subject area by various African stakeholders, thereby raising greater awareness;
• Stimulate national debates on key issues and emerging trends.

The AISI Media Award is an initiative of ECA, and is currently supported by the Open Society Initiative for Southern (OSISA). The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) are also sponsoring special interest categories:

• IDRC Award on Reporting ICT Research and Innovation. This award is geared towards encouraging Media practitioners’ focus on issues related to ICT research and innovations in Africa under the framework of the International Development Research Centre's Acacia Programme. Research into the effects of ICTs on African communities and information on ICT innovations, such as WAP applications, the Simputer, or open source applications are important areas that could have far reaching consequences for the development of marginalized people. This award will therefore seek to encourage the dissemination of this type of information through the media, by acknowledging the best media report on ICT Research and/or innovations and their relationship to the development of the African continent and its people.
• IICD Award on Local Content Applications. This award aims to recognize users of innovative or pioneering applications of ICTs to local content defined as ''the expression of the locally owned and adapted knowledge of a community" in Africa. Applications can be from any sector and use of any medium with a demonstrated link with ICTs that provide opportunities for local people to interact and communicate with each other, expressing their own ideas, knowledge and culture in their own languages.
• IICD Media Award on Local Content. This second IICD award will recognize an outstanding story, campaign, or project in which the significance of local knowledge and content is raised in local, national, or regional fora.

The closing date to submit an entry to any of the awards is 28 February 2003. Submission forms are available on the AISI web site (www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaawardentry_form.htm). Or contact Ms. Kidist Belayneh (kbelayneh@uneca.org)