It is now common knowledge that ICTs play important roles in the development process. In West Africa, projects such as Esoko, Grameen MoTech and Project ABC are confronting the challenges of development from different angles. Another interesting area with great potential in this sphere is the role of ICTs, social media in particular, in citizen engagement.

Authorities in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland are obstructing independent journalists from covering government politics, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Four reporters have been harassed and arrested while on assignment since early September.

Social Media for Social Change is an intensive course for youth and volunteers that will introduce you to social media tools that drive social change. Social media includes internet-based and mobile phone tools and platforms for communications, such as Facebook and Twitter. The course will provide you with skills in how to plan and organise a basic social media communications strategy for your organisation that strengthens networking. To register or get more information about the Training, please contact Isabella Falsted at [email][email protected] or Elsie Eyakuze at [email][email protected]

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by anti-press violence by supporters of Julius Malema, youth leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, and is relieved that the party leader has urged restraint. Malema supporters protesting their leader's disciplinary hearing at ANC headquarters in Johannesburg hurled bottles, stones, and bricks at police and reporters. At least nine journalists were injured.

Investigative journalism distinguishes itself from regular journalism by its depth and subject matter, often involving crime, political corruption or corporate wrongdoing. It can play an essential role in a country’s governance by keeping corporations and government accountable. However, the political and economic environment in some regions of the world present specific challenges for investigative journalists: countries that score low on governance and transparency present particular risks and underline the need to build investigative journalism capacity. This brief analyses the obstacles to investigative journalism in the East African region, focusing on Kenya and Uganda, and discusses what can be done to help address these barriers.

A Sudanese reporter was freed after President Omar al-Bashir ordered the release of all detained journalists, a government official said. But a press freedom activist and local journalists say a number of media professionals and technical staff are still being held.

The Mobile Media Toolkit is a project of MobileActive.org, a global network of people using mobile technology for social impact. The Secure section of the Mobile Media Toolkit also features another project from MobileActive.org called SaferMobile, which helps activists, human rights defenders, and journalists assess the mobile communications risks that they are facing, and then use appropriate mitigation techniques to increase their ability to organize, report, and work more safely.

Opposition parties urged the ANC to strike a provision from the Protection of Information Bill that would allow intelligence agents to classify any part of their work, but the ruling party refused.

The Karonga Natural Resources Justice Committee (KANRJC) has petitioned the government of Malawi for access to information that would allow them to monitor effectively mining activities to ensure compliance of labour standards and respect of people's rights.

The Frontier Strategy Group finds that the adoption of new forms of communication in Africa over the past decade – both mobile telephone and internet – has been nothing short of revolutionary. The continent is estimated to have produced over 316 million new mobile phone users since 2000, passing 500 million total subscriptions late in 2010, and its total internet user population is now estimated at almost 120 million. Previously, communicating over long distances was fraught with difficulty and expense; that outlook has been transformed. The significance of these trends for African economic development, transparency and democratization is profound; the opportunity for technology companies and indeed for businesses across many other sectors capable of leveraging such channels for advertising and delivery is no less significant.

infoDev's Climate Technology Program published an article in The Africa Energy Yearbook 2011, co-written with the Kenyan government and private partners. The publication discusses the Climate Innovation Center (CIC) in Kenya and how it will support the government's objectives in the Greening Kenya Initiative.

Local authorities in South Africa are unable to consider the full effect of population migration trends in their budgeting and planning, leading to inadequate service provision, poor social cohesion and economic marginalisation, the South African Local Government Association (Salga) warned.

This schematic diagram based on figures from On Device Research shows that for African internet users, well over 50% have mobile internet as the sole access method. In contrast, only 20% of UK mobile internet browsers never or infrequently (once a month or less) use the desktop internet. Most mobile internet users in Africa are aged between 13 and 34 (91%) and male (83%), the typical early adopter profile. Many are in school or university, showing the need for a level of education.

New media platforms are changing how people communicate with each other around the world. However, there is great variation in both the kind of communication platforms people make use of as well as in how they access these platforms. Computer ownership and internet access are still the prerogative of the wealthy few in wide swathes of the African continent. All the same, mobile internet access is on the rise and if current growth rates continue, African mobile phone penetration will reach 100 per cent by 2014.

South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) announced that it is to collaborate with researchers in Kenya to develop a nano-medicine technology aimed to revolutionise treatment of communicable diseases. The aim of the technology is to improve on the efficiency of the existing drugs used in the treatment of diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.

'This October, three amazing women representing the energy and optimism of the World Pulse community will come to the US for the first time to lift their voices. These grassroots leaders will reveal how they are using the power of new media and technology to change lives and create solutions on the frontlines of today’s most pressing issues.'

This animated YouTube video compiled by the Praekelt Foundation presents an overview of the mobile technology landscape in Africa, with statistics and facts about mobile phones and their use on the continent.

Information and communication technology has ‘opened a new e-governance space’ that ‘has huge potential for improving opportunities for the participation of citizens in local and central government structures,’ writes Mammo Muchie. ‘Local Governance and ICTs in Africa’, launched by Pambazuka Press this month, offers a useful starting point for those interested in how these technologies ‘can be used to change the governance architecture in Africa’.

Behind slick aid agency publicity campaigns designed to raise funds for famine in East Africa lies an aid industry that is complicit in corruption and the promotion of unaccountable government.

El Bechir Diallo, a freelance journalist, is currently being held at PM3, a military camp in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. The Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent reported that El Bechir was abducted in the morning of 11 August 2011 by officials of the Criminal Investigations Department (DPJ) of the Guinean police for no apparent reason. MFWA is sad that despite progress made by Guinea in democratic governance, journalists and citizens are still held without recourse to the laws of Guinea.