Ghana Decides, as part of its election 2012 project, has undertaken numerous community engagements in Wa and its surrounding districts from 10 – 13 October 2012, which culminated in a 1-day social media training workshop for CSOs, NGOs and the Press from the Upper West.

Ghana Decides – A Blogging Ghana (BloGh) Elections Project, which is promoting a better-informed electorate for free, fair and safe 2012 elections using online and social media tools, hosted the event.

Ghana Decides held a community engagement with the people of Goripie in the east district of Wa on 10 October. The discussions were centered on the developmental needs of the area and how the community can work together to ensure peace in the upcoming elections. A major concern of the people of Goripie was the lack of mobile phone signal, which they said hindered communication in the district. Participants also considered the lack of a single secondary school in the district of 136 communities as a critical setback in the development of the area.

Following the Goripie community engagement, Ghana Decides held a free social media workshop on 13 October, which trained organisations on how to set up and run social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and other online communication tools, including Google Drive, Dropbox and Mail Chimp.

There was positive feedback from the 16 organisations, including representatives from the Wa Methodist School for the Blind, Life Vanguards Ghana, Suugbawliara foundation, Pronet, Afrikids, Radio Upper West and others. Hassan Serinye - Radio Upper West. According to a participant from Ghana Red Cross society in Wa, Nicholas Nyameke Nda, “Despite personally being on social media, [this] training has expanded my knowledge of how to utilise the tools for my work in the media”.

Kwabena Oppong Boateng, Communications & Social Media Strategist for Ghana Decides, indicated that despite the poor internet connectivity in Wa, organisations and businesses can utilise social media to adequately communicate with their audiences and customers.

The activities in Wa come after a Ghana Decides community engagement and social media training events in Tamale and its environs in July this year.

Ghana Decides will hold its next Social Media Working Group on 22 October in Kumasi. Any interested individuals or organisations should email lawrencia@ghanadecides.com for further details.

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 organisations and public institutions on the effective use of social media for social change.

Blogging Ghana, a membership-based organisation, 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:

Ms. Kinna Likimani

Project Lead Ghana Decides - A BloGh Election Project

Cell: 0208 098 569

Website: http://www.ghanadecides.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ghanadecides

http://www.twitter.com/ghanadecides

http://www.youtube.com/ghanadecides

http://gplus.to/ghanadecides

Blogging Ghana: http://www.ghanablogging.com

Star Ghana: http://www.starghana.org