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Surveying social media initiatives in Tanzania



It has been a couple of months now since Vijana FM has been working with various young individuals around the world in an effort to stimulate constructive discussion amongst entrepreneurial youth.

I plan on being back in Dar-es-Salaam this coming August 2010 to survey the scope of similar social media projects that engage in educative platforms. Specifically, I plan on:
  1. Identifying education-related media projects that exist in Tanzania and greater East Africa;
  2. Outline the costs and benefits of such projects;
  3. Define how a collaborative platform such as vijana FM may benefit the general scope of media and education in East Africa.
In so doing, I hope that social media projects can consolidate their efforts to include a wider audience and engage youth where they are seeking engagement with the broader social, economic and political aims of the Eastern Africa region.

This survey will lead to much bigger implications than I myself can handle. Therefore, if you are reading this and you are either a representative of or have ideas for social media in the region, drop me a line so that we can figure out how to work together. The more individuals and groups that can support this project, the better.

So far, I have established contact with two media groups in the region; Mwananchi Communications and Tanzania Broadcasting Commission. Hopefully, discisussions with them will prove beneficial to this survey, and will help to garner further support from other media groups who would like to collaborate.

(Image sources: Click here for the map, or here for the radio image)

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