As part of efforts to promote Media and Information Literacy in Ghana, Penplusbytes and DW Akademie is training some selected youth groups across the country on how to effectively produce videos to tell compelling stories.

The three-day intensive workshop which begun on October 16, is aimed at equipping young people with the prerequisite skills to produce and edit video content that is ethical, well-informed and engaging using new digital technologies and software applications.

The workshop is being facilitated by experts from the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) and some top-notched broadcast media houses in Ghana.

Topics such as Planning for Video Production, TV/online News Gathering, Ethical Video Production characterized the first session of the training and they are expected to cover other areas such as Basic Camera Movements, Visual Communication Techniques as well as Video Editing with mobile phone applications by the end of the third day.

Prior to the video production workshop, Penplusbytes in partnership with DW Akademie last month, trained over forty youths in the Greater Accra and Eastern Regions on information verification dubbed ‘Fight the Fake’.

The aim of this workshop was to expose the youth to the realities and the negative implications of fake news, misinformation, cyberbullying and the need to critically assess and evaluate media content especially those online.



In addition, Penplusbytes and MiLLi Namibia on September 30, 2019, also launched the Ghana/Namibia Show and Share Video Competition which requested the youth between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five to share their social media experiences in a one-minute 30 seconds video.

In view of this, six contestants with the most creative and original videos are going to be awarded iPhones and other mobile kits to enable them to produce quality and exciting videos that speak to the needs of the youth in Ghana and Namibia.

According to the Executive Director of Penplusbytes Juliet A. Amoah, young people are faced with new realities when it comes to using and participating in media and social media hence, the need for Penplusbytes as a tech-based organization to help them navigate through this emerging area.

“Penplusbytes wants to be at the forefront of MiL interventions in Ghana because we believe that young people need to efficiently produce, consume and use media content,” she said.

Madam Amoah said that the Video Production Workshop, the Fight the Fake youth training as well as other youth seminars, and MiL experts’ round table discussions which are yet to take place are a precursor to the celebration of the Global Media and Information Literacy Week slated to take place from October 24 to 31 2019.

The theme for this years’ Global Media and Information Literacy Week is MiL Citizens: Informed, Engaged, Empowered.

In Ghana, Penplusbytes is going to launch the MiL Week Celebration at the New Media Hub near Ako Adjei Park in Osu, Accra with its partners and also use the period to intensify its engagements with citizens especially the youth to become more media and information literate.