The successful end of a project marks a milestone for any organization. It seemed appropriate then, that the end of the Citizen journalism in Africa project  was concluded in style in Lesedi a cultural site in SouthAfrica  during the “Keep in touch workshop” orgsnised with support from Hivos and SANGONeT SouthAfrica.

The aim of the CJA project was to increase civil society organisations’ use of and interaction with various forms of media. This would  help them maximise their communication strategies and outreach. It was hoped that this would strengthen the organisations’ use of media and increase quality information dissemination capacity using multiple platforms. The project targeted six countries i.e. South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania. In each of these countries, two Country Focal Points (CFPs) acted as country hubs, working with 15 local organisations..

The CJA project has built capacity and enhanced documentation and report writing skills on HIV/AIDS through the trainings obtained. In addition to this, it has given the voiceless in society, for example gays and lesbians, refugees and others, an opportunity to have a say and fight for their rights through digital storytelling and blogging.

The skills obtained from CJA such as developing and designing promotional material have improved on information sharing, networking and advocacy. This is so because the  beneficiaries are now in position to design their own promotional material like newsletters and brochures  for broader outreach.

The CJA portal that was designed as a platform to share information has broadened the understanding and benefits of using web 2.0 tools for reporting positively on pertinent issues in society like Gender, health and agriculture that have been left out by the main stream media.  The equipment given to the beneficiaries has increased on their skills of taking digital photos and using digital voice recorders.

During the Keep in Touch workshop which took place between 16^th and 18^th November 2009 and was attended by participants from country focal points of the six participating Countries, it was agreed that there is need to keep in touch after the end of the project. Jon from Hivos said that there would be an overall evaluation for the project after which the findings will be used in future for similar  projects to benefit the participating countries.