Considered one of Ghana’s best journalists, Ato Kwamena Dadzie will visit Canada from February 7 to 17 to share his experiences working in the West African media and to help bring awareness to continuing human rights abuses in the region. It is his first visit to Canada.
He will be speaking at several events, including a February 15 panel discussion in Toronto where he will join journalists from Uganda, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Sierra Leone(to be represented by Sahr Musa Yamba of the Patriotic Vanguard) to discuss the role of the African media in development, human rights awareness and nation building.
Dadzie was voted the best journalism student in his program when he graduated from the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 1999 and has since worked in all areas of mass media in Ghana including The Daily Dispatch (a Ghanaian newspaper), ghanaweb.com and Metro TV (Ghana’s leading TV station), where he was News Director in 2003.
Dadzie is currently a top-rated host for Joy FM, Ghana’s most popular radio station and has worked for two years as Country Director for Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), who are sponsoring his visit.
JHR is an international charitable organisation that harnesses the power of the media to bring awareness to human rights in Africa by building the capacity of local journalists to report effectively on these issues.
“Ato has been an integral part of our operations in Ghana,” said Nikki Whaites, JHR’s International Programs Director. “We are excited to have him here in Canada. It is the perfect opportunity to shed light on the continuing human rights abuses in Western Africa and how the media is helping to create public awareness about them.”
JHR has been engaged with the Ghanaian media community for almost four years. The organisation has sent over 60 Canadian journalism trainers who have worked side by side local journalists to reach over eight million Ghanaians weekly with locally relevant human rights information. Over 25 per cent of Ghanaian journalists have been engaged in human rights reporting since 2002 and these efforts have lead to a significant increase in stories focused on human rights.
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