Media General’s Godwin Asediba wins “Best in Community Reporting in West Africa” at 2024 CJID Excellence in Journalism Awards
Godwin Asediba of Media General has been honored with the distinguished “Best in Community Reporting in West Africa” award on the 2024 Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) Excellence in Journalism Awards held in Abuja, Nigeria.
Out of 388 entries from eight African international locations, Asediba’s win is a testomony to his unwavering dedication to impactful, accountability-driven journalism in Africa.
His groundbreaking documentary, “Dreams in Shambles,” which explores the tutorial challenges within the Nanton District of Ghana’s Northern Region, earned him this outstanding recognition.
The story delves into the plight of lecturers at Guno MA Primary School in Tamale, who’ve taken the initiative to accommodate pupils as younger as seven, bringing alongside their even youthful siblings, some as younger as two, on account of household obligations. This distinctive problem, whereas highlighting the dedication of lecturers, underscores the dearth of systemic assist for struggling households.
Tragically, efforts to discourage these youthful youngsters from attending faculty have led some mother and father to withdraw their older youngsters totally, additional disrupting the educational course of and threatening the youngsters’s future alternatives.
The documentary additionally exposes a disturbing development: a rising variety of youngsters abandoning schooling for menial jobs, with many being despatched to have a tendency cattle in distant areas devoid of faculties. This stark actuality has turn out to be normalized in lots of components of northern Ghana, depriving numerous youngsters of their proper to schooling.
The exposé prompted the Ghana Education Service to reply, pledging to handle these gaps and implement measures to enhance the state of affairs for affected communities.
Reflecting on his win, Asediba remarked, “This award reinforces my dedication to exposing the hidden challenges faced by communities, especially in rural Ghana, and to bringing relief and hope to the marginalized. Through impactful storytelling, I aim to amplify their voices and inspire lasting change.”
This newest recognition provides to Godwin Asediba’s rising checklist of accolades. He was not too long ago named Health Journalist of the Year on the twenty eighth Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards, cementing his repute as a three-time nationwide journalism award winner.
Asediba’s work continues to focus on the facility of journalism in driving social change and holding establishments accountable.
