ANF July Newsletter

Hello Reader, 

We celebrated a year of telling alternative stories about Africa, launched a handbook that equips journalists with tools to write about Africa beyond stereotypes, and met 21 limitless women changing the game in male-dominated industries.

What's happening at Africa No Filter

1. We’re changing how we write about Africa: What do 1985 and pop culture have to do with the stereotype that Africa is a continent of poverty? Find out in our latest handbook, Why Change the Way We Write About Africa? A storyteller’s guide to reframing Africa explores narrative and historical events that cemented stereotypical narratives of Africa. The handbook hopes to equip journalists and storytellers with the tools to write about Africa beyond stereotypes.

2. We reminded the world that Africa is open for business: Inspired by the Business in Africa Report, ANF advisory board member Bogolo Kenewendo wrote this thought-provoking take on Africa’s business revolution and the role of the African Continental Free Trade Area in making it happen. In it, she argues that while the AfCFTA is a game-changing agreement that can lead to more economic growth on the continent, it first needs the media and African governments to engage with and educate citizens and small businesses on how they can benefit from the historic agreement. Read.

3. We’re celebrating trailblazing women: We partnered with TRUE Africa for theLimitless eBook that celebrates 21 women who are helping to change the narrative on women in the workplace by breaking the glass ceiling in male-dominated industries, from music and literature to telecoms and politics. Download here.

4. We were out and about: We talked about the role of storytelling in repositioning the youth agenda for transforming Africa at the APRM 3rd Youth Symposium in Kampala and Africa In Focus: Investing in the Industry panel at the Durban Film Mart, where we announced The Last Mile Fund for filmmakers. We also co-chaired the Africa Insights Roundtable put together for leaders and experts in the arts and culture sector around Africa by the World Cities Culture Forum. We also joined other social impact actors and leaders across Africa to discuss social impact investments. We also discussed how young Africans can tap into Africa's booming creative digital economy with Africa Debating.

5. We’re boosting women’s representation in newsrooms: Women are underrepresented in newsrooms and content in the media. Our partnership with the Thomson Foundation for a groundbreaking digital course called African Stories: A guide for journalists on how to tell better stories about Africa wants to disrupt this status quo. It’s free and only takes three hours to complete. Then you can pitch and get paid to be published by bird Story Agency. Sign up.

Keeping up with ANF Narrative Champions

1. A24 Media’s Yebo is a nine-episode documentary series exploring history, agriculture, and an explainer series called How It Works. The production was used to create a three-month digital storytelling course, which had 60 students from 28 African countries. The series reached an audience of 3300 on Facebook and YouTube.

2. bird Story Agency celebrated a year of telling alternative stories of Africa. Born from insights from our How African Media Covers Africa report, bird stories connect the continent through better representation by profiling innovators, artists, entrepreneurs, and people and communities flipping the script on stereotypical narratives.

3. Six women artists from Senegal, Mali, Togo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, and Ghana and 15 artistic groups in West Africa took part in Visa For Music 2021, a seven-day artists residency organised by ANYA as part of their mission of empowering women creatives with the skills to turn their creativity into sustainable livelihoods through training, mentorship and networking opportunities. It culminated in a festival viewed by an audience of over one million.

4. Artist Ibrahim Mahama made the news for a unique project that turns old aeroplanes into a community learning space where young people attend free lectures on the physics of flight, computer science, basic engineering, conservation and history.
 

Shifting Narratives
- documenting the narrative progress we’re seeing 

South African academic, scholar, thought leader and author Professor Tshilidzi Marwala has been appointed as Rector of the United Nations University (UNU) in Tokyo. UNU is a global think tank and postgraduate teaching organisation.

Nigerian runner Tobi Amusan took centre stage at the World Athletics Championships when she won the 100m hurdles gold medal during a race in which she broke a record she set at the event’s semi-finals. She’s the first ever Nigerian gold winner at the World Athletics Championships.

The business of creativity in Africa is underreported, even with Afrobeats’ place in global pop culture, but a new Netflix docuseries - Afrobeats: The Backstory - is shedding new light on the genre by delving deeper into its origins and history. Through the series, we meet people who turned Afrobeats into mainstream global pop culture.

President Patrice Talon of Benin unveiled three monuments in Cotonou to commemorate the lives and legacies of historical heroes who include the Amazons of Dahomey, the all-women and fearsome 18th century army that inspired the The Dora Milaje in Black Panther and The Woman’s King, which stars Viola Davis.

That’s it. Remember to follow us on social media at @Africanofilter.

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