In the second half of 2019, we continued with some of the projects we started with earlier in the year. Some had come to an end and others were started in the second half of the year. It is filled with a lot of advocacy work because Visuals for Gender, our gender-based violence advocacy project, launched a project called ‘Data for Gender-based Violence’ project. Activities for this project took center stage of our work for the rest of the year.
Find the details of all our projects and events for the second half of 2019:
Nation-wide SDGs Data analysis and visualization workshops
The nation-wide training program follows the pilot project we did in the Volta Region which was mentioned in the previous post. This project, ‘Data reporting for the SDGs’, was sponsored by the GIZ under their Agenda 2030 program. Our team of facilitators traveled to all the regions in Ghana together with other facilitators and the GIZ team to train members of staff of Municipal Metropolitan and District Assemblies (MMDAs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Media Houses (journalists). The project started on 20th June in the Central Region and ended on 8th November, 2019 in the Upper West Region. At the end of the project, we trained more than 500 professionals on how to report on the SDGs using data analysis and visualization. Read more here.
Human Rights Activism Through Digital Media
Amnesty International Ghana invited Mobile Web Ghana to their Annual Human Rights Youth Camp on 30th July, 2019. Each year, Amnesty International Ghana organizes a youth comp where hundreds of young people gather to discuss issues of human rights and design appropriate means to address them. This year, Amnesty International Ghana invited us to lead the session and introduce participants to ways they can leverage digital media in their human rights activism work.
US Embassy Woke Women Network Luncheon
The US Embassy Ghana Woke Women Network had their GBV luncheon event at Mobile Web Ghana on 11th September 2019. The focus of the event was the launch of the Woke Women Network. The network is aimed at educating women and girls on their sexuality and the fight against gender-based violence. In attendance were Stephanie Sullivan, the US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Roberto Quiroz II the Counselor for Public Affairs to the US Embassy, Mrs. Judith Dzokoto-Lomoh, the Deputy Comptroller General of Ghana Immigration in charge of Finance and Administration, and Mrs. Joyce Acolatse, Accra Girls’ Senior High School head. Read more here.
Mapping of Akweteyman and Nima for the GARID project
The Open Cities Accra project entered its second phase when the team was contracted by the GARID PCU to collect geospatial data in Akweteyman and Nima. The project was done in the months of October and November, 2019. We recruited a team of 60 volunteer mappers to go into the field. All the mappers were taken through a 5-day training program to bring them up to speed concerning the way data collection is done on the Open Cities Accra project. They were taken through the process of collecting data with some mobile applications to collect data from the field. These applications include Open data collect and Open Map kit. On the final day of the training, the mappers were taken out of the training venue to practice collecting data on the field. Read more here.
Launch of Visuals for Gender’s “Data for Gender-Based Violence Advocacy” Project
Visuals for Gender launched its “Data for Gender-Based Violence Advocacy” Project on the 25th of November, 2019 at Mobile Web Ghana. This day marks the kick-start of the 16 Days of Activism, an international campaign against gender-based violence, which is celebrated around the world. The project is supported by the U.S Embassy Ghana and it is aimed at:
- Training CSOs/NGOs and Journalists, in the use of simple tools for data visualization and telling data-driven stories, which will be useful in their advocacy work.
- Educating girls in Junior High Schools on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
- Training teachers with the requisite skills of dealing with sexual violence issues about their students.
Read more here.
Open Cities Africa Third Regional Meeting
The Open Cities Africa (OCA) 3rd regional meeting was held in Abidjan and Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast from 20th – 24th November, 2019. The regional meeting was hosted at 2 separate conferences: the Understanding Risk (UR) Conference and the State of The Map (SOTM) Conference. However, there was a closed session for the Open Cities Africa cohort to meet, interact and share ideas on the way forward. Read more here.
Data for Gender-Based Violence Advocacy Workshops
As part of the new Visuals for Gender campaign, we organized workshops to train CSOs/NGOs and Journalists. The workshops were aimed at building the capacity of participants, to help them incorporate data analysis and visualization in their gender advocacy work and news reporting. The workshops were done on three different occasions. The dates for all three sessions were 3rd October, 21st November and 5th December. In each workshop, we had representatives from Civil Society Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Journalists and some students. Read more here.
Visuals for Gender schools outreach
Visuals for Gender as part of the “Data for Gender-Based Violence Advocacy” reached out to over 300 female students of schools in the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly (LaNMMA). The outreach programs were designed to educate the young girls about their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. The team of facilitators from visuals for Gender either goes to the schools we engaged or invite them over for the session at Mobile Web Ghana. The students we have reached out to come from the following schools, Ancilla Preparatory School, St. Pauls School, Papao Community School, Calvary Presby School, The Light Academy etc. Read more here.