The media does its job when people who would otherwise go unnoticed and important things that would otherwise go unseen are cast into the light. Communities all over the world are created by the sum of the good work of many individuals. As an international broadcaster, DW has taken this to heart and created the local heroes campaign to provide people around the world the chance to express themselves and share the special things they do for their communities.

The local heroes campaign recently reached new heights in Ghana, where people from across the capital Accra were literally given a stage to express themselves and celebrate their communities. Created in cooperation with local broadcaster Joy News, the Heromobile took to the streets of Accra in October, visiting the neighborhoods Madina, Nima, Teshie and Labadi. At each stop during the afternoon the Heromobile toured the neighborhood asked people to share what made them stand out or what they were doing to make a difference. A stage was built and a celebration complete with artists and musicians created a sense of empowerment among the community.

The level of engagement people in Accra have is truly inspiring and the Heromobile campaign helped bring it out. More than 10,000 people turned out to participate and celebrate. The people who came out and shared their lives are as diverse and fascinating as their work. In Madina, Shadrach Victor Kwetso runs NGO’s and teaches young children literature and poetry free of cost. Rita Tacki Manieson teaches people how to weave and work with beads. In Nima, Adiza Alhassan sells food at a very low price and provides free food for mentally and physically disabled people in her community. Albert Stone Donkor has been coaching basketball in the community for over 25 years. In Teshie, Paulina Asorkor Amarh runs a center for widows that takes care of them and provides clothes and food. Nii Mensah Sowah runs a free school for less-privileged youth. In Labadi, Seth Mensah Quarshie Yemo is an actor who gives free acting lessons to local youth. Jospeh Adeti is an athlete that organizes soccer matches and coaches young people.                                                                                                                    

These are only a handful of the dozens of local heroes who joined the Heromobile at each stop. In the days following the events more people checked in on social media from around Ghana to ask if the Heromobile would be coming to their town and express regret that the campaign had ended before they could join. While the Heromobile is no longer running, the local heroes of Accra, and everywhere else, will always be taking action and improving their communities. Wherever DW goes next, they will be sure to have their chance to speak out.

Middle East

The largest cable television provider in Israel, HOT, is a new DW broadcasting partner and is including the flagship channel DW in its basic programming package. The partnership marks DW’s first major appearance on the Israeli television market. DW is available in a news package next to major international news brands such as the BBC, Sky News, Fox News, France 24, Euronews, CCTV1 and NHK World. Along with over 800,000 cable subscribers, HOT also provides Internet and telephone services for a combined 1,3 million households. Around 200 national and international channels are provided by HOT, including many exclusive channels that aren’t available with the competing Israeli provider YES.

Asia

DW’s flagship English channel is now available on IPTV and Satellite in India via Airtel, a major global telecommunications company based in Delhi. DW is included in Airtel’s IPTV basic service package and is also with six DTH satellite programming packages. Airtel operates in 20 countries in South Asia and Africa and is the largest mobile operator in South Asia. Through this new partnership, DW has the potential to reach an audience of 4 million viewers in India.

DW’s Mongolian partner MNBC is now broadcasting DW in German via a DVB-T2 signal. MNBC is the first provider of second-generation digital broadcasting in Mongolian and services the capital city Ulaanbaatar with local and international channels on pay TV.

DW is now broadcasting digitally in Afghanistan via the digital service OQAAB. The contract allows for the broadcast of DW’s complete program.

Latin America

DW (Latinoamérica) is now available on IPTV in Mexico via the pay TV provider AXTEL. AXTEL currently has 90,000 subscribers in Mexico’s largest cities including Mexico City, Cuidad Juarez, Monterrey, and Puebla. The Spanish-language programming from DW (Latinoamérica) is included in the ULTRA programming package.

DW has received permission from the Russian media regulatory authority, Roskomnadzor, to continue broadcasting in Russia. DW is an important source of international news and information in Russia, where independent media is under pressure and unbiased information is becoming harder to access. Russia currently ranks 152 out of 180 countries in the 2015 Press Freedom Index from Reporters Without Borders.

The new 10-year permit is an extension of a 2005 broadcasting license allowing DW to broadcast in German and English via satellite and cable partners. DW is currently present in the Russian media market with DW (Europe), broadcasting a 24-hour television program in English and German via the Hotbird  satellite.  DW (Europe) will be replaced on June 22 by the new 24-hour English-language channel, DW.

The license extension comes amid tightening of media law in Russia, aimed at making it more difficult for foreign broadcasters to operate. The new laws, which were passed last October, allow foreign broadcasters very limited ownership of media transmitted in Russia.

DW broadcasts in Russia through local distribution partners and via satellite. DW’s main cable partners in Russia are Trikolor TV, MTS, Rostelekom and BeeLine. The new license also makes DW Russian content available to online audiences.

Jaafar Abdul Karim, host of DW’s Shabab Talk, uses the program as a platform for sharing ideas and changing minds. A recurring theme on the show is women’s rights and Karim is the right person to shed light on the issue– he was recently named as an ambassador for UN Women.  He is also an active supporter of HeForShe, an international solidarity movement for gender equality that emphasizes the role of men in ensuring equal rights for women. In November Karim will be hosting an event in Bonn organized by HeForShe’s German branch.

Karim’s appointment as a UN Women ambassador also made waves in Arabic media.  “It signals that it isn’t yet exepected for men to stand up for equal rights,” he says. “There are a lot of men in Arabic countries who do not support equal rights between men and women and even some who think it is wrong.” He says that especially in Arabic countries, there is very little media coverage devoted to important social issues like equal rights for women.

Shabab Talk gives young people from the Arab World a place where they can share ideas and DW sets an international stage for Karim where important issues can be discussed and brought out of the dark.  “I think it is important that we at DW provide a voice for equal rights and a platform where everyone can discuss their lives,” he says.

Middle East

DW partners from across the Arab world met in Tunis, Tunisia, with 17 CEOs and program directors of leading broadcasters and online portals from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Qatar and Tunisia participating. Representatives from DW’s Middle East/ North Africa distribution met with long-term partners and we able to find opportunities for increased cooperation. The largest Jordanian online news portal, Alwakeel News, is now a DW Facebook partner with 3.3 million users in Jordan and DW will also be providing full text content for highly-popular Egyptian online news portal, Almasry Alyoum. For television, a partial re-broadcasting contract was negotiated with Yemen TV.

Africa

Representatives from DW met with 13 radio and online partners of DW Portuguese for Africa in Nampula, Mozambique. The partners were especially pleased about the interactive rubric, Espaço do Ouvinte, which allows for listener commentary and the educational series, Learning by Ear. Numerous partners expressed interested in rebroadcasting older episodes that highlight political participation to complement the upcoming elections in Mozambique. Partners were also interested in developing journalism training programs with DW Akademie.

DW has three new partners in Kenya. Television Cosmopolitan and Health TV Africa will acquire part of the programming line-up from the English channel, DW. News and magazine radio formats from DW Kiswahili will also be broadcast by Radio Mambo. DW is also increasing radio presence in Tanzania. Links to DW Kiswahili are being integrated into the website of local station partner, Fadeco. Tumbatu Community Radio, which was created in cooperation with UNESCO, is now broadcasting DW’s complete Kiswahili radio program. In Uganda, Smart FM, will be broadcasting the English radio programs Africa Link and news once a day from Monday to Friday.

Asia

DW content in Bengali, Hindi, English and Urdu is now available on the popular Indian news App, NewsHunt. NewsHunt is a cross-platform news aggregator briging together content from over from over 100 news sources in 11 languages spoken in India. By its own estimates, 50 million users have installed the App and it is the most used App in India after WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube. It can also be used in website format.

DW has a new cable television partner in Vietnam. The cable provider VGN is now carrying DW Asien. VGN provides international television to foreigners living in Vietnam.

In Sahiwal in the Punjab region of Pakistan, around 30,000 households are now being provided with DW via a new Pakistani broadcasting partner, New Geo Cable Network.

Europe

DW’s European distribution have collaborated with Britain’s elite Cambridge University to provide students with a wide-array of DW resources for learning German, available now on the university’s website. A similar arrangement provides students at the University of Nottingham with an online learning platform composed of DW’s language learning resources.