Political, Published Elsewhere

Sexual Harassment Policy – Can It Stop Sexual Assaults at Uni of Ghana?

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Last week, the end of the week news focused on an event that occurred on the University of Ghana Campus. An alleged female thief was captured, undressed and sexually molested by students who also filmed the process. Fellow bloggers such as  Trotro Drama, Daixy, and CriticalPoint were leading the debate on blogs and on Twitter.

Just as these bloggers, the most publicized views of this event – online, on radio, TV and in print media were that this was unacceptable and maybe a sign of a malicious culture of sexualized violence and mob justice.

However, as clearly as this molestation was a grave criminal offense and should be handled by the police, nowhere I heard any reference to the newly instated Sexual Harassment policy on campus which is supposed to regulate and prohibit the “smaller” instances of uninvited sexual advances. Today, University World News runs a feature article I wrote on the UG sexual harassment policy, if you are interested to know more about this  progressive piece regulation. Also see the excerpt below. Clearly, it needs to be publicized more!

“It will take hard work to implement the policy,” she (prof. Tsikata, head of CEGENSA, the body that developed the policy) said. “It will take time to institute confidence in the process, faith in the system. There is a reluctance to come forward, rather than a problem of frivolous cases”.

In the policy document, sexual harassment is defined as “unwelcomed sexual advances, or unwelcome requests for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct or behaviour of a sexual nature”.

Illustrations of this definition can be persistent propositions for dates, sexual jokes, passing on pornographic material, comments about someone’s body etc. The policy is applicable to all members of the university community.

Read the whole article here. Find the policy in full on University of Ghana’s website here (not available yet). UPDATE: Pdf download of the policy.

The implementation of this policy means that many things (mainly) women in Ghana see as “daily hurdles” can now be reported, at least if they happen on the University of Ghana campus. In my opinion, it is a start on a very long and winding road.

What do you think?

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Ghana, Political

How is the unrest in Ivory Coast affecting Ghana?

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In short: It seems very little.

However, longterm the conflict in Ivory Coast will of course have an effect on Ghana. When our neighboring country, instead of being a business and political partner, is at war or dealing with the aftermaths of war the conflict will be felt here. Currently, Ghana has not really taken a stand in the Cote d’Ivore situation, refugees are crossing the boarder and I have heard that cocoa beans do the same…

Holly writes about the Ivory Coast issue focusing on Gbabgo’s interests in Ghana and on the surreal feeling of being close to a big chaos.

“It’s days like this when the distant din of news – of CNN and BBC and Al Jazeera reporters ‘on the ground’, reporting disasters and developments around the world, come just that once step too close to home. “

Myjoyonline reports about two Ivorian women taking the conflict over the Ghanaian boarder to the western town of Takoradi.

“The two females who were quarrelling in fluent French wore opposite white T-Shirts with portraits of their political idols, embattled Laurent Gbagbo and internationally recognized winner of last November
disputed polls Alhassan Quattara embossed in them.”

Interestingly, the altercation reached a fever pitch when the one wearing Gbagbo’s T-Shirt pushed her opponent and a scuffle ensued between them but they were quickly separated by the onlookers who were visible enjoying the squabble even though some of them who did not understand the French kept on shouting repeatedly “Gbagbo and Quattara in Ghana Part 2”

But this isn’t a sequel to a popular movie, it is reality and people are killed as I write this – if not from bullets so from a failed state where social amenities including health care, food and water cannot be accessed anymore.

What would a responsible neighborly response be at this late hour?

Photo of Abidjan borrowed from Myweku.com

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Blogging, Kajsa HA's Social Media, People, Personal

Links of this week: On Learning

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Constantly overwhelmed by impressions, links, articles, books and “interesting stuff”, I have tried to organize myself in many ways.

I tried keeping my web influences or links all open at once in different “tabs” in Firefox (“why is my Internet so slow? Oh, no it crashed again!”, I tried Delicious (“Log in again? Oh, what was my password, now?  If I save this link, will the whole world be able to see it?”), I tried Google Reader (“Today: 450 unread interesting blog posts”) and frankly none of these methods really worked for me.

Maybe I should just imitate pro-bloggers I admire (now talking about Ethan Zuckerman and Chris Blattman) and post a list of links when the links get to many. Then I have a record of stuff for myself, and I have shared the links I liked with you.

Lets try: THIS WEEK’s LINKS (focus on learning)

Intelligent Life – the Economist spin off magazine I always buy when I travel is very much present online. This issue has an poignant piece on digital Africa.

“I asked my Somali companion what the boys were up to. He wound down the window and summoned his gunmen to go and ask. The answer came back. “They’re updating their Facebook profiles.”

Migration researcher Hein de Haas started his own blog recently. He has written very well on the migration and development discourse and I believe he came to Accra for a conference a few years back. Anyways, I believe it will be interesting  to follow his more contemporary day-by-day thoughts.

“The idea is that up to 1.5 million African migrants are waiting in Libya for the first occasion to migrate to Europe. This idea is based on a number of common misunderstandings about North African and Libyan migration.
The most fundamental and persistent misunderstanding is that Libya is a so-called “transit country” – or the assumption that most or all migrants in Libya would be “on their way” to Europe. This totally ignores the basic fact that over the past 40 years, Libya has been as destination country in its own right.”

The Illustrated Professor. A fun and thoughtful blog. Visual rocks. This post from last week that I really liked was called The Learning Embrace.

embrace

“I must remember that learning doesn’t necessarily follow from teaching.  Or from schools.  Or that teachers and schools even control all the learning young people embrace.   Learning is owned by humanity not by schools or by states.   Learning happens when a person decides to learn.   It even happens when a person isn’t aware it’s happening.   Nevertheless, I am responsible for my students’ learning–again, learning over which I don’t always have control.   How can I promote the kind of “learning embrace” that has the best chance of success?”

Ok, that worked pretty well for me. I also added all of these to my links to the right.

How was it for you?

PS. Also came across Open Study. Not really sure what it is, but it looks like an online study group tool. Isn’t that neat? Wow, there really are a lot of cool things out there…I am overwhelmed again…

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Kajsa HA's Social Media, People, Personal

Build a Tribe! On Leading Groups

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Recently, I came across marketing guru Seth Godin’s interactive list on how to build a tribe. That is how to create a group or a network or even a MOVEMENT that works and to build community between people. Mr Godin even wrote a book on his concept of Tribes (and at one point was ranked by technocrati as the world’s no 1 blogger), but I think the (free) resource discussed here covers the vitals.

This list (built on social media tool squidoo) is a resource that provides inspiration and ideas and make me think of how to take organizations and networks that I am currently a member of (like GhanaBlogging, IAS Graduate Students Network, FabFem etc.)  forward.

My favorite items on the list are:

Listen Carefully

As well as speaking have a strong ear for what the group is saying. Trust that the tribe knows what it needs to grow.

Invent rituals

Summer camps do it. So does organized religion. Great corporations have their own lingo, their own culture. How you speak and the totems and daily rituals build connection.

Give Peoples’ Lives Meaning

Have tribal goals that enrich peoples’ lives and give them more meaning

Create a manifesto.

Your tribe already exists… it just hasn’t been defined yet.

So create a manifesto. Give voice to the frustrations of your tribe members. If you strike the right tone – if they feel you can relate to them – this manifesto will be the viral tool that gets your tribe members to raise their hands and say “I am.”

How would you build a tribe?

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Ghana, Places

You Know You Are in Accra When…

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A celebrated part of new Dust magazine (that has been mentioned a number of times on this blog already) is the section called “you know you are in Accra when…”  Basically a list of fun stuff that we can see daily and only become funny when highlighted. I have observed, similar things have been posted on Twitter with the hashtag “onlyinGhana”.

Anyhow, I have some to share with you:

You know you are in Accra when…/Only in Ghana…

…an envelope can double as a bag to carry about town.

… A meal costs anywhere between 70 pesewas and 70 GHC.

…you hear “I’m coming, eh!” when someone walks away from you.

…parking is free, but throwing your trash, going to the washroom or drinking cholera free water has a steep price.

…you have to run to cross the street, even if the “green man” is giving you way.

These are just some I thought of when driving to work the other day – do let me know your homemade ones as well in the comment section below!

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Personal

Should I Change My Name When I Marry?

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Today, I have been married for three years.

It has been a helluvaride. If my better half read my blog, I’d send him kisses through this post, but he doesn’t (!) so I will just go ahead and say that I am happy I did.

Also, for anyone thinking about getting married, I have this advice on name change (as earlier conveyed to a dear friend in an email):

About last names and marriage. I think the best advice I can give is
do not change your name. Do not even add one, like I did. It is a HAZZLE and also
a weird tradition – why should I change my name just because I marry?
(actually it is not the tradition in Ghana and many other countries).

In hindsight, I do not regret adding Adu, just because that is kind of the only thing that makes me blend in a bit more here in Ghana, “aahh, so you are Ghanaian??”, but I am not sure you need that in [the country where you presently live].
Also many times, people call me “Mrs Adu” without ever having seen my
name in official print and that makes me think “why was it so
important to me to take his name officially?”. Finally, the name laws in Sweden
also prohibits me to give Hallberg as a name to my children now as it is now my “middle name”…
So, read the fineprint or just keep your name and live happily ever
after!

Photo from my wedding day by Kerstin Alm.

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Ghana, People, Places

Must See in Accra – Dobet Gnahore

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On Wednesday Ivorian performer Dobet Gnahore graces Accra with a concert at the Alliance Francaise.

This energetic singer/dancer provided me with one of my best concert experiences in my life last time she came to town, so expectations are sky high!

Dobet Gnahore (MySpace, official website)has it all –  the music in her blood as a daughter in a family of Ivory Coast musicians, many amazingly beautiful melodies and songs sung with a versatile voice and  one of the most interesting and captivating stage presences I’ve ever seen – Dobet just rocks!

My high regard for this artiste grew when I heard that she graciously agreed to lend her music to the Witches of Gambaga film I wrote about earlier this year.

Dobet Gnahore, ladies and gentlemen. She is a must see!

Wednesday 23 March, 2011, 8.30 pm

Alliance Francaise, Accra

6 GHC/2 GHC for students

Photo credit to African Music Safari.

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PhD, Political

Democracy in Africa – In Brief (and in Jest)

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Got this funny computer language explanation of the democratic developments in Africa via Accra Books and Things (in an email!) who got it through the very useful, and in this instance entertaining, H-AFRICA H-NET emailing list (H stands for humanities) who in turn credited Derrick Chekwe.

Anyway, here it is:

DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA Program installation:
EGYPT:  100% Complete…

LYBIA: Downloading…

ALGERIA: Downloading…

IVORY COAST:  60% [Alert: Virus-Gbagbo detected_Trojan Horse-Ouattarra in Quarantine]

CONGO: Connection lost since 1997

NIGERIA: Starting Connection

ZIMBABWE: 404 Error – Server not found

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Personal

Weekend Report including Beach and Wanlov

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My weekend, I announced on Twitter on Friday, would be dedicated to sleep, walks on the beach and good food.

It totally was! I slept a lot, walked on the beach BOTH Saturday and Sunday morning (this I believe is a southern Ghanaian luxury everybody that can get up at 6am on a weekend should give in to!) and ate well.

I also went to see Wanlov launch his Brown Card/African Gypsy album. Read Graham’s review here (excerpt below) which I found very insightful and on point!

Working with two Ghanaian musicians and accordion player Jérôme Pierre Soulas and violinist Filippo Bonini Baraldi from Paris, he combined elements of his own quirky Ghanaian style with their ‘gypsy music’. Wanlov’s rather androgynous image and performance style complimented the formality of the Paris musicians.

But did this merging of styles work?

It was Saturday and “everybody” was there.  I even met Wanlov’s mother in the buzz afterwards!

This week it is Mid-Sem “break” aka grading all the way. It is going well, with one or two oxymora drifting by…

Have a good week!

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Ghanablogging.com, People

Ghana Internet Governance Forum: An Eyewitness Report

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This morning, I decided to stop by the Ghana Internet Governance Forum (IGF) at the Kofi Annan Center for Excellence in ICT. It is a local stakeholder forum to discuss issues for Internet governance and it were to start with a session on youth and Internet governance. As one of the panelists was running late, I was called upon to talk. I quickly decided to focus on two issues that I feel are important and inter-related:

  • Access  to Internet in Ghana – currently only 18% of Ghanaians have access to the net, the bulk of this group on their phones. Internet access is expensive and limited to urban areas. For youth to gain access in their numbers this has to change.
  • Production of local content – at the moment, Ghanaians consume the Internet rather than create it. We need to write more articles, upload more photos and videos. Blogging could be one way. How can youth be encouraged to create local content? (here I returned to the issue of affordable access)

With me on the podium was GhanaBlogging members Gameli, Amma and Mac-Jordan along with moderator Godfred Ahuma, coordinator of the Ghana IGF.  The discussion was interesting and involved government agencies and their (non-) usage of social media, Sakawa or Internet fraud, Twitter vs. tv-news, if you have a right to be forgotten online/managing your online presence and what we want from the service providers (Philip Sowah of Airtel Ghana was listening when I listed 1) SMS to Twitter, 2) higher speed Internet and 3) cheaper access for a larger customer base).

I left the program early, party because no Internet access was provided in the venue(!), so missed out on deliberations on Internet governance for development and importantly affordable access and diversity.

You can follow the proceedings on Twitter, #GhIGF. Hopefully pictures will come soon.

Update: Read a report from one of the other panelists at Gameli’s World. Photo credit to the same source!

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Ghana, People, Places, Published Elsewhere

Arise: Africa’s Change Makers – A Fab List

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I must say I dig magazine Arise’s list of changemakers in Ghana. It is refreshingly young (“sub-35”) and I have heard all the names before, albeit not gathered like this.

On the list you find  musician Wanlov the Kubolor, techie inventor Bright Simmons, journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and my good friend  feminist activist Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah.

Read the details here.

I believe are many more changemakers in this category, who would you like to add?

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