With this year's edition of the prestigious Ghana Journalists Association's annual awards looming, the International Cocoa Initiative presented to a cheque of GHS 10,000 to support excellence in rural reporting.

According to the ICI, the award will emphasize on reporting on child labour.

Avril Kudzi, ICI National Coordinator was insistent that his organisation cares about the image of the cocoa-growing industry in Ghana.

"As an organization that promotes child protection in cocoa-growing communities we recognize our responsibility to inspire and celebrate excellence in Development Journalism in Ghana.  This effort to support the rural reporting category with focus on elimination of child labour is first of its kind for ICI and is borne out of our desire to proactively engage with the media as partners in our work," he said.

ICI is a multi-stakeholder organisation combining the efforts of the cocoa industry, civil society, farmers’ organizations, international organizations and national governments in cocoa-producing countries to ensure a better future for children and to contribute to the elimination of child labour. Working in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire for the past eight years, ICI has promoted holistic child protection measures in more than 500 cocoa-growing communities across the two countries. 

 

In a related development, five journalists from The Multimedia Group have been nominated for this year’s Ghana Journalists awards.
They are Joseph Opoku Gakpo, Seth Kwame Boateng, David Andoh, Benedict Owusu, and Kwetey Nartey.

The awards are slated for Saturday, August 15.