The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on Wednesday 30th March 2021 donated books worth over US$10,000 to nine Universities across Ghana.
The books, which comprised of over 40 exclusive publications, were handed over to the heads of schools and/or departments of journalism, media, and communication studies in the nine Universities – University of Ghana, Ghana Institute of Journalism, University of Education, Central University, Wisconsin University College, African University College of Communications, Valley View University, and University of Professional Studies
Each Institution received about 150 copies of the books which cover broad and specific issues of Freedom of Expression Rights, Media and Elections, Safety of Journalists, Right to Information, Legal Frameworks covering the work of the Media in West Africa, Digital Rights, and other related documents.
The MFWA extended the support to the training institutions as part of its commitment to contribute to the education of students in the fields of journalism, communications, and human rights. The donation was, thus, aimed at resourcing both students and faculty of the respective Universities with rich reference points for teaching, learning, and research.
The organisation also indicated its commitment to support other media training institutions in the West Africa region.
“As a regional organisation, this support will not be limited to institutions in Ghana only, but will be extended to other media training institutions in the respective countries in the region to resource them with teaching, learning and research materials,” Programme Manager of the Institutional Development Programme of the MFWA, Dora B. Mawutor, hinted.
Presenting the publications to the Institutions, the Executive Director of the MFWA, Sulemana Braimah, encouraged students of the various training facilities to broaden their knowledge beyond their immediate environment so they can appreciate what is happening across the region and beyond.
“I think it’s important that we just don’t learn about what exists in our context, but also what exists in the other countries across West Africa to broaden our knowledge base, hence the decision to include publications about other West African countries,” he said at a short handing over ceremony in Accra.
He also indicated the MFWA’s readiness to continuously engage and explore collaborations with academia in the orgnaisation’s quest to contribute to nurturing the next generation of activists and human rights defenders.
The Deans and Heads of Department of the media and communications schools/ departments of the beneficiary Institutions thanked the MFWA for the consideration to extend such support to them. They also indicated their willingness to cooperate with the organisation to expand mentorship and internship opportunities for their students.