Monrovia — AllAfrica Global Media today opened an online international news processing center in the capital of Liberia that will also serve as the hub for HealthAfrica (brief preliminary description at healthafrica.org), a pan-African initiative of the AllAfrica Foundation.
"As a global disseminator of news and information, our decision to set up operations in Liberia was a carefully considered corporate choice," said CEO Reed Kramer, "It was based on our analysis that the government's commitment to transparent, democratic processes and to rebuilding infrastructure provides an environment where growing, technology-dependent enterprises can thrive."
As a multi-media content service provider, AllAfrica reaches a worldwide audience. HealthAfrica is designed to provide a broad range of information and resources, as well as to function as an online facility to track and monitor funding for health in Africa and a software tool for matching health needs with skilled volunteers.
The AllAfrica office in Monrovia will also host a journalism and media center to contribute to ongoing training and professional growth among Liberian media practitioners. Having secured the collaboration of the International Center for Journalists and other partners, the media center will conduct periodic training programs and provide a resource for best-practice information on topics such as ethics in journalism and objective reporting standards, as well as in reporting and editorial skills.
With the advent of its office in Monrovia, AllAfrica will also initiate a special reporting project to highlight "Liberia on the Move" amid the enormous challenges it faces. Through human interest and investigative stories, AllAfrica will help the global community better appreciate the issues facing Liberia and the efforts, at all levels of society, to confront and solve the country's problems creatively.
AllAfrica is the largest electronic distributor of African news and information globally and operates the most popular Africa destination on the Internet, allAfrica.com, serving over 12 million monthly page views. The site was nominated in two successive years by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences as "Best News Site," alongside news sites of the BBC, MSNBC and Google. In 2005 AllAfrica was awarded the African Economic Developer award by Nepad, the New Partnership for African Development.
The Liberia news operation will be a part of the AllAfrica Global Media/allafrica.com family, which includes offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Dakar and Washington DC. All are linked by a "virtual newsroom" through which editors and staff aggregate information. "Our team is proud to have created global visibility and a revenue stream for African news organizations, publishing in both French and English," said Rougui Diaw, AllAfrica's financial analyst and director of West African operations. "An expanding presence across Africa is central to our long-term growth. And we are particularly honored to welcome Liberia, as a peaceful, vibrant democracy, to AllAfrica's work."
AllAfrica has become widely regarded as the source-of-record for news and information about Africa, distributing more than 1000 articles on an average day. Along with stories from leading African newspapers, the prize-winning AllAfrica news team provides additional reporting and analysis and selects newsworthy documents from more than 200 other sources, including local and international organizations. The AllAfrica News Wire supplies institutional, corporate, and financial clients through such services as Factiva (Reuters and Dow Jones) LexisNexis, Bloomberg, Comtex News Network and Financial Times, which collectively reach tens of millions of end users.
The company's innovative technology knits together its global operations. AllAfrica's Cape Town office manages the web site, supervising news processing in Washington, DC and Dakar, while a Lagos-based team produces and broadcasts news, culture and health programs. Editing of the French site takes place in Dakar. Technology development and architecture is coordinated from AllAfrica's Copenhagen office.
The AllAfrica Foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization registered in Mauritius and the District of Columbia, was founded for three purposes: to focus global public and policy attention on critical issues for African development; to support the growth of independent African media; and to provide skills and training for African journalists. The Foundation maintains SustainableAfrica.org and PeaceAfrica.net as "digital commons" on development and peace issues, providing information and connecting groups and individuals with shared concerns and activities.
The foundation's health project is designed to provide current news, extensive research and data, educational materials, institutional linkages and a forum for discussion. "HealthAfrica will use the reach and influence of allAfrica.com to highlight Africa's health emergency – and the opportunities for effectively confronting it," said Tami Hultman, AllAfrica's chief strategy and content officer, and a director of the foundation. "Policy makers and health professionals need a constant stream of easily accessible information and a neutral platform for interaction and dialogue," she said. "Governments and NGOs, as well as international organizations, have told us that this effort is a missing piece of the puzzle for making their work successful. Launching the project in Liberia will demonstrate the role that complex and powerful - yet user-friendly - software tools can play in bridging and supporting both effective policy development and efficient community engagement."
Central to the project is a path-breaking online tool-set to map and track funding for health, providing the first integrated database of donors, recipients, projects, goals and outcomes. Because the government of Liberia places a priority on public health, on transparency of public institutions and use of public resources, and on collaborative partnerships between policymakers and funders, the AllAfrica Foundation plans to inaugurate the initiative in Liberia, as a prototype for a subsequent country-by-country rollout.
Among the initial elements is an online facility for mapping and tracking funding for health projects and monitoring results – in other words, for continuously updated information on who is doing what, where, for whom and with what results. Numerous international organizations engaged in health work, such as the Roll Back Malaria campaign, the United Nations Foundation, the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Malaria and TB have pledged cooperation with the effort.
"AllAfrica is pleased to demonstrate – by its presence here – that a high-technology based, globally recognized media operation can function productively in today's Liberia," Dr. Hultman said.
