Press Release Press Release For Immediate Release 24th March, 2012 GHANA DECIDES LAUNCHED Blogging Ghana (BloGh) today launched “Ghana Decides-A BloGh Election Project” at Windy Lodge, Winneba. Students from local senior high schools and the University of Education, Winneba attended the event which had the theme: “Encouraging Informed Youth Participation in the 2012 Elections”. Members of The Physically Challenged Union of Winneba, local non-governmental organizations such as Plan Ghana and the general public also attended the launch. Ghana Decides- A BloGh Election Project is funded by STAR-Ghana under its Election 2012 call and aims to foster a better informed electorate for free, fair and safe 2012 Elections using online social media tools. The non-partisan project also aims to educate the youth, civil society organizations and public institutions on the effective use of social media for social change. Speaking at the event, Bernard Avle, Operations Manager of Omni Media and host of the Citi Breakfast Show, urged the participants to take charge of their votes and their lives. This was a message well reiterated by the Chair of the launch, Nana Ataapim Nyaniba I, Queenmother of Gomoa Mozano. Mr. Anthony Oppong, District Electoral Officer for Winneba, took participants through the nitty gritty of elections, with particular emphasis on biometric voter registration.
Questions on the internet and social media were answered by the Project Lead of Ghana Decides, Kinna Likimani. She explained that the project will use the internet to promote responsible election participation and conduct as well as introduce social media to first-time users. She added that social media over the past couple of years has played a pivotal role in elections processes all over the world. She pointed out that there is an estimated 1.2million Ghanaians on Facebook, most of whom are between the ages of 18 -35 and that it was time political parties, independent governance institutions and civil society organizations engaged actively with Ghanaians who are online. However, she acknowledged that the low level of internet penetration in the country poses a serious challenge to the Ghana Decides project. But to counter that and ensure a plurality of voices in Ghana Decides, project activities will be offline and then taken online to broaden elections-related conversations on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. The launch marks the official outdooring of a series of Ghana Decides online and offline activities including the iRegistered campaign (also launched today), meant to encourage prospective voters (especially the eligible youth) to go out in numbers, register and take videos or pictures of themselves during or after registering, which can then be uploaded to a central repository. Ghana Decides is collating election-related news on Twitter under #iRegistered, #BVR and #GhanaDecides hashtags. Blogging Ghana, a membership-based organization, was founded in 2008. Its members, in and outside Ghana, use online social media tools to cover a wide variety of issues related to the country. It serves as a forum for people to network and exchange ideas, as well as build capacity among citizens through pro-blogging and social media events.
For further information, please contact: Maame Aba Daisie Social Media Coordinator Ghana Decides – A BloGh Election Project P.O. Box MP 554 Cell: 026-467-1670 Email: maame.daisie@yahoo.com Website: http://www.ghanadecides.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/GhanaDecides Twitter: http://twitter.com/GhanaDecides Youtube: http://youtube.com/GhanaDecides Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghanadecides
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