ADEA Launches 2003 Edition of the Africa Education Journalism Award
in Asmara, Eritrea

Asmara, Eritrea, October 29, 2002: ADEA launched today the 2003 edition of the Africa Education Journalism Award that recognizes the best articles on education in Africa written by African journalists and published in the African press. The launching took place during the Second International Conference on Early Childhood Development in Asmara, Eritrea. ADEA Executive Secretary, Mamadou Ndoye, officially declared the competition open in the presence of Hon. Osman Saleh, Minister of Education of Eritrea and Akin Fatoyinbo, Coordinator of the Communication for Education and Development Program (COMED).

ADEA established the Africa Education Journalism Award in 2001 in order to promote quality reporting of education issues by the African media. The Award recognizes the essential role journalists can play as providers of information, and as educators and analysts. It seeks to encourage African journalists to write well-informed articles on education with a view to fostering informed public debate on education in African countries.

The competition honors four journalists every year. Award-winning journalists and their editors-in-chief are invited by ADEA to participate in a study tour that consists of seminars on education issues and visits to major press organizations that are partnering the award. These include The Times Education Supplement (TES) and the BBC in London, and Le Monde de l’éducation, Le Monde interactif (Le Monde online), and Radio France Internationale (RFI) in Paris. A new partner, The Vanguard from Nigeria, has joined the Award this year.

Three of the 2002 Award winners were present at the launch of the 2003 edition in Asmara. They spoke about their experiences of participating in and winning the Award, and of their study tour in Paris, London and Washington, D.C. Mrs. Bukola Olatundji, Nigerian journalist and first prize winner for the English-speaking category told the plenary session of the Early Childhood Development Conference: «The award gave me one of the most exciting experiences of my life: The challenge to me, and I believe to other award winners, is to continue to mainstream education issues in our publications and to strive to make a difference in the development of education in Africa.»

In his remarks during the launching session, the Eritrean Minister of Education, Osman Saleh stressed the importance of the media as a key partner in the promotion of education policies and programs. He called on all African journalists to participate in the competition.

ADEA Executive Secretary, Mamadou Ndoye, highlighted the need to build national consensus on education issues through dialogue. African education policy makers, he said, had a responsibility to provide the media access to information they must have to create awareness and stimulate public debate.

Explaining the rules of the competition, Mr. Ndoye said any article on education published by an African journalist in an African newspaper, weekly or other periodical is eligible. Articles should be written in English or French. Journalists have between now and April 1, 2003 to submit their articles.

An international jury of eight senior education specialists and journalists will judge the entries. Four articles per year (two in English and two in French) will be selected. The awards include a study tour and cash prizes of 2000 euros for the first place winners in each language category and 1000 euros for the second place winners.

About COMED

A major premise underlying the COMED program is that information exchange and communication among partners are essential to well-managed and efficient educational systems and to the achievement of quality education for all.

Based in Cotonou, COMED gets financial support from ADEA, the World Bank and the Norwegian Education Trust Fund. The COMED program assists African governments in establishing structures able to conceive and implement information and communication programs.

Given the key role of the mass media in disseminating information, COMED also gives special emphasis to training African journalists in how to report education and development issues. So far, over 200 journalists and communication officers from 30 countries have participated in COMED workshops since 1999.

About ADEA

ADEA was created in 1988 to foster greater collaboration and coordination between development agencies. Since 1992, ADEA has become a partnership between African Ministers of Education and international funding agencies. It has evolved into a structure designed to:

(i) reinforce African ministries’ leadership capacities as they work with funding agencies;

(ii) develop these agencies’ awareness that their own practices should be adapted to the needs of nationally-driven education policies, programs and projects;

(iii) develop a consensus between ministries and agencies on approaches to the major issues facing education in Africa.

Central to ADEA’s philosophy is the belief that the responsibility for educational development rests with national governments. Towards this end, ADEA is concerned with fostering a process that empowers African ministries of education and makes funding agencies more responsive to countries’ concerns and priorities. ADEA’s activities focus on strengthening policy dialogue between governments and agencies, between governments, and between agencies. Activities also focus on the development of institutional capacities within Africa through technical skill development and the sharing of successful strategies, innovations and experiences.

Asmara, October 29, 2002