blogging for globalink

First 6 months of Globalink Africa and what's next

Globalink Africa created blogs for the 5 correspondents at the end of January 2007.

What are the main results 6 months later and after the COP2 conference in Bangkok?

Globalink Africa at the COP2 Conference

Globalink Africa was very much present at the COP2 via the conference blog where contributing bloggers were mostly Africans (6 on a total of 9) :)
Several new correspondents got the blog bug and I have already created 2 new blogs for them:
Le blog de Patric Musavuli (from Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo) and a blog for Le Mouvement Anti Tabac (MAT) based in Senegal.
I have requests for a second blog in Senegal, one in Niger (Inoussa Saouna) and one for the Coalition CPEACT. More could come...

I remain convinced that soon everybody will want a blog and the previous traditional websites will all but be replaced by blogs: this creates a strong opportunity for Globalink to serve the tobacco control community as it is clear to me that having a "friendly helping hand" is a key factor for people to start blogging.

We can give special thanks to Jackie Tumwine who was present in Bangkok and generously shared her blogging expertise (she is the most advanced blogger in Globalink Africa) with the newcomers.

Posts on GLOBALink's Africa Blogs (May 2d - July 12)

Jackie Tumwine: 17 posts (most recent June 25 ) - does not include posts on the Conference blog

Francisco Cabo: 11 posts (most recent July 3) - includes 2 posts on the conference blog

Pascal Bogui: 15 posts (most recent July 9) - did not attend COP2

Adeola Akinremi: 11 posts (most recent July 5) - includes 2 posts on the conference blog

Véronique Le Clézio: 3 post (June 14) - she also started on June 14 a petition against Imperial Tobacco starting a plant in Mauritius that has gathered 300+ signatures and is instrumental in the creation of a continental African coalition as showed by the discussion on the Globalink African Forums.

African News- Nouvelles d'Afrique: 22 posts (most recent June 20)

How to increase the number of African members of GLK

Here is a list of the members of the pan african thoracic society:  95 members at the time

http://www.africanthoracic.org/members.aspx   

La question est comment en attirer davantage? En leur procurant davantage de services car jusqu'a present pas grand chose. Il faut en parler avec nos correspondants et je crois que la premiere strategie pourrait etre de "demarcher" les etudiants en medicine, ecoles d'infirmieres, etc... ainsi que les ministeres de la sante?
En s'appuyant (par exemple) sur une revue de presse reguliere (Nouvelles Africaines et aussi en anglais) et les blogs...

Ce serait un debut. Il faut aussi rendre + facile l'inscription.

Voir aussi les contacts existants mais pas membres de GLK via Essential.org et les Canadiens?

Evaluation of GLK Africa blogs May 2d

A quick look at the quantity of post shows that there are two regular contributors: Jackie Tumwine and Francisco Cabo. Pascal Bogui is far behind with one post in the last two months.

Even further behind are Véronique and Adeola who have produced very little, especially Adeola whose last post is dated February 19.

This discrepancy and the very small (and inadequate) number of posts for 2 correspondents is "problematic".

It is not -as much as we know- compensated by other activities (at least within GLK).

This is disappointing but I take it as a sign that maybe - I don't know if that is feasible- the program should be reoriented for the correspondents that don't "take" to blogging.

GLK members from Africa: benchmark members

Members of GLK from French Speaking African countries (May 3, 2007)

Algeria: 4   Tunisia: 5   Morocco: 5

Senegal: 7  Mauritania: 3  Mali: 1  Niger: 5
Cote d'Ivoire: 2     Togo: 6    Benin: 1
Cameroun: 3     Tchad: 1     Centrafrique: 1
Congo (Brazza): 5     Congo (Kinshasa): 2    Burkina:  4

Total: 51 ( = same number as Nigeria)