#Blogcamp13 set for March 23

The 2013 social media event, the Blogcamp, designed to bring together for the second time bloggers and social media enthusiasts from across the country, will come off at the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT on Saturday, 23 March. Launching Blogcamp 2013 on Twitter, Chair of BloggingGhana Kajsa Hallberg-Adu said this year’s event is dubbed “Content is King” to reflect and demonstrate how local content is important to the development of Ghana. A Coordinator of the Blogcamp 2013, Edward Amartey-Tagoe, said BloggingGhana has observed the decrease in the upload of local content although more Ghanaians have migrated onto social media platforms. “We have however realized that, there is a shift towards the use of these tools more for communication than for the provision of content online”.

Amartey-Tagoe said this observation informed the BlogCamp team to choose the theme. “Ghana must be represented by Ghana and people who have direct interaction with the country. We want to reverse the trend where one googles Ghanaian terms only to land on a blog written by an individual, who perhaps has never lived in the country,” he adds. CEO of Hatua solutions, a software solutions company in Ghana, Nehemiah Attigah, agrees with him . “We don’t create anymore and there’s the need to change that trend. We must push our own stories.” Speaking about why BloggingGhana is organising a BlogCamp, Amartey-Tagoe indicated that “The organisation [BloggingGhana] through these workshops realised there was much interest in Blogging and social media”. There was a need to fill that gap to connect Ghanaians who shared the interest. According to Tagoe, the first Blogcamp, which was organised on 5 May 2012, had more than 450 attendees, filling up the auditorium beyond its capacity. He says the organisation has resolved to make it an annual event.

photo credit: http://kajsaha.com

The Blogcamp will witness for the first time a Blogging and Social Media Awards to recognise Ghana’s content creators and build more awareness about the positive uses and benefits of blogging. Nominations for the various categories include Best Technology Blog, Best Citizen Journalism and News Blog, Best Creative, Literary, Short Story and Poetry Blog, Best Activist Blog; Best Photo Blog, Best Organisational Blog, Best Original Content, Best Business & Commerce Blog; Personality with the Best Social Media Presence, Organisation with the Best Social Media Presence, and Best Showbiz and Entertainment Blog. Following from the Blog and Social Media Awards, the Blogcamp team has scheduled exciting campaigns and online engagements, which are expected to allow many Ghanaians online to participate in the lead up to the event day on 23rd March. Blogcamp 2013 is sponsored by Tigo Ghana, Google Ghana, US Embassy, Voltic Ghana, Born Again, A Thousand Words, Nii Odzenma Nfoningraphy, Ganyobi.com Africa.com, Dust Magazine, Citi FM, and the Be Bold Show. According to Mrs. Hallberg-Adu, “the first ever Blog Awards in Ghana are to inspire more folks to create local content.” She added that “online people in Ghana have a responsibility to create”. BloggingGhana is a membership based association for Ghanaian bloggers and social media enthusiasts, both in and outside of Ghana who write about the country.”

Source: JoyFM

 

ADVOCACY, SOCIAL MOBILIZATION AND CHILD LABOUR MONITORING SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE NSCCL TRAINED ON GCLMS.

As part of efforts to equip the National Steering Committee on Child Labour to function effectively in the cause to eliminate child labour, members of the Advocacy, Social Mobilization and Child Labour Monitoring sub-committee have received training on the Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System. The two day event held at the Greenland Hotel in Swedru was officially opened by Mrs. Elionai Adu-Labi (AG, Chief Director, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations), she expressed appreciation for the opportunity to open the workshop aimed at equipping members of the sub-committee on the Advocacy, Social Mobilization and Child Labour Monitoring Child Labour to effectively offer technical advice to the district and community child protection committees.

Mrs. Elionai Adu-Labi (AG, Chief Director, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations)
Interacting with Sub-Committee members.

She formally informed members of the presence of a new minister at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (then Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare) – in the person of Hon. Nii Armah Ashietey. It was her expectation that the forum would take the opportunity to highlight some of the challenges facing the execution of the pilot projects on the Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System (GCLMS) tools and was hopeful that the challenges faced in the course of duty would inform decisions taken to provide effective solutions to address issues raised- “…this will guide the National Steering Committee in reviewing the GCLMS” she said. She acknowledged great strides made through collaborative efforts in withdrawing children from the worst forms of child labour and placing them in schools, equipping them with skills and parents trained and ensuring they are retained. She thanked donors for their consistent support in spite of the global economic and financial turbulence and members for being present to ensure Ghana’s children’s future development and growth.

Sub-Committee members of the Advocacy, Social Mobilization and Child Labour Monitoring
in a picture with Mrs. Elionai Adu-Labi.

The Advocacy, Social Mobilization and Child Labour monitoring members were trained on the Ghana Child Labour Monitoring System (GCLMS); processes and methodology, its priorities, components, indicators, highlight of its report on operations so far, limitations, and recommendations- Mr. Atukwei Sam Quaye, (GCLMS Coordinator, National Programme for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Cocoa) delivered the presentation. Mr. Anthony Awotwe of the Employment Information Branch also took participants through “labour inspection and GCLMS”- he shared with all the powers and rights of labour inspectors, obligation of labour inspectors, building partnership, the link between labour inspection and GCLMS .

 

Why I am Attending @BloggingGhana’s #BlogCamp13!

Ghana’s biggest network of Bloggers and Social Media enthusiasts, once more brings to you #BlogCamp13. The social media event and awards day looks promising and rewarding indeed! I was part of #blogcamp12 themed “Voice of a New Generation”.

Blogging Ghana since June 2011, has been a non-profit organization with an executive council working towards the following objectives:

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

               It’s now time to focus on QUALITY content- yup! This years’ BlogCamp is themed “Content is King”, I met dozens of my followers offline and gained even more at the event last year, also enjoyed sessions led by seasoned sports Journo and tweet freak Gary Al-Smith , Ameyaw Debrah (seasoned Celebrity blogger/ publicist/social media marketer), Nana Yaw Asiedu (Lawyer & Blogger), Nii Aryertey Aryeh (seasoned Citizen Journo & GhanaDecides Team member), Nana Yaw Sarpong (Best Citizen Journalism Blog Nominee, Producer of Writers Project on Citi FM.). I upgraded my knowledge on the use of platforms I have mastered- Blogger, WordPress, Twitter, facebook, Storify, how to grow followers and fans etc. It wasn’t all about getting? I gave back too- assisted many to start a blog and was consulted by other wanna-be-bloggers on how to run the platforms.

I had fun serving on #VimSquad captained by Gameli Adzaho to mobilize wanna-be-bloggers and social media enthusiasts for the event, the session with #TeamKeteke on G.I.J campus was splendid. Many of the attendees swept goodies home.. shirts, android handsets, and loads more! I look forward to winning a BB from Tigo and BloggingGhana at this years event! I look forward to learning some more, live-tweeting, eating the sumptuous BlogCamp chow – Oh yeah! Taking home my Tigo BlackBerry award. I will be honoured to meet you… “always a pleasure- forget peer pressure…lols!”  Follow me on twitter @ghanabakwamena!