The Project: NYU Journalism in Ghana

During the spring semester of 2006, the NYU in Ghana Program included four undergraduate journalism students. They teamed with sixteen Ghanaian University of Legon graduate students in the course Reporting II and produced several stories over the semester on topics that ranged from politics to health and education.

In February, they all went on a field trip to cover stories in the greater Ada region, a coastal area ninety minutes from Accra on the way to Togo.

The students worked under the close supervision of University of Legon Professor Audrey Gadzekpo and NYU Journalism Professor Marcia Rock.

The students received a briefing from Kofi Larweh, Director of Radio Ada, a community radio station that broadcasts in the local language, Dangme, and recruits reporters directly from the communities. These local reporters worked with the students and gave them access to stories that would have taken weeks or months to develop alone.

Fishing, farming and salt mining are the major occupations in Ada, but the people struggle with an eroding coastline, an unresponsive government and the results of illiteracy—inequality between the sexes and human rights violations that include child labor.