Africa

In December, DW organized a blogging event for “Digital Influencers” in Mozambique. The goal of the event in Maputo was to get to know the digital scene in Mozambique better, to form a network of likeminded thinkers and to meet new potential partners. The most important topics from the event were social networks, citizen journalism and the pros and cons of digital platforms. The event was broadcast on Facebook Live.

In Congo, Afrika TV and Canal Numérique Télévision will be broadcasting DW radio programming in French and Kiswahili.

The newly formed Community Radio Association in Cameroon, which was supported by DW, has also led to 10 new radio partners.

The television channels First Digital, GHone, EBN (Eclipse Broadcasting Network) and NET2 TV are now broadcasting DW programs in Ghana.

 

Asia

DW has five new partners in Pakistan for its English channel: Systak Cable Network and Shaheen Tel Cable Network in Islamabad, Sky Vision International Cable Network in Multan, Showtime CATV Network in Karachi und Rose Plus Communications in Hasanabdal.

Topas TV is now broadcasting DW’s science program for the Indonesian-speaking market, Inovator.

 

Latin America

The Chilean broadcaster TVU has integrated several DW programs into its lineup, including Euromaxx, Todo gol, Global 3000, Visión futuro und Patrimonio mundial. TVU is a terrestrial broadcaster with a technical reach of 1.5 million viewers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Africa

Several radio partners in Sub-Saharan Africa are expanding cooperation with DW. In Nigeria, Radio Gombe is acquiring English and Hausa radio programs. The station covers the states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa. In Congo, Radio Mwana is acquiring DW’s complete French programming lineup, with stations in Mbandaka and Gbadolite that reach more than 750,000 listeners. A new radio partner in Mbuji-Mayi, Radio Fraternité, will be broadcasting one hour of French programming daily to a potential 500,000 households. In Ghana, the Internet radio broadcaster Ghana Waves Radio now includes DW live streams in six languages. The streams are also included on the Ghana Waves app and on-demand. DW radio live streams and newsfeeds in a variety of languages are also available now across Africa on the Africa Live Radio and News App.

The Liberian state broadcaster LNTV is now broadcasting one hour of DW programming every day. LNTV is the only Liberian TV broadcaster with nationwide coverage. Included in the programming package is DW News, Euromaxx, Kick off!, and In Good Shape.

In Tanzania, DW is the first international news provider available on the video-on-demand platform SIMUtv. The app has already been downloaded 100,000 times.

Asia

DW has expanded cable network partnerships in India and Bangladesh, with several cable providers  acquiring DW’s English channel. This increases DW’s technical range by 400,000 households in Bangladesh and by 250,000 households in the Indian states of Bihar and West Bengal.

The Bengali-language app Kokil now includes an RSS feed with content from DW Bengali. The app currently has 50,000 users.

DW’s English-language channel is now part of the line up on Star Cable Network, the largest cable network in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

South America

The Colombian news website Publimetro now features a DW content box with Spanish-language news articles from DW. Publimetro belongs to Metro International, a well-known publisher of free newspapers in cities around the world. The Publimetro news portal registers 3.2 million unique visitors every month.

Europe

DW has a new Smart TV partner in the United Kingdom. The OTT provider Vision247 is now broadcasting DW’s flagship English channel in its entirety on the free-to-air entertainment portal, Vision TV. The portal is available on the digital TV service Freeview on channel 244 and can be received by a potential 7.3 million households in Great Britain. Vision TV is also available for mobile devices and on web-TV.

Africa
The news websites Focus Guinée und Guinée Signal are now DW partners for online content in French. The radio stations RTCT, Radio Télévision Communautaire Oasis and Radio Télévision Communautaire Ondese are now DW partners in Congo. They are broadcasting DW’s radio program daily in French and Kiswahili.

R2A Radio Azur in Togo is now broadcasting Learning by Ear, as well as the morning and evening shows in French and the evening show in Hausa.

In Cameroon, DW has three new partners for TV and radio. TV+ Cameroun will be including DW’s English channel in its portfolio, Canal2 will be broadcasting select programs like Made in Germany and Conflict Zone and CBS will broadcasting radio programs like Learning by Ear and AfricaLink.

UTV Ghana and Light TV are now DW partners as well, broadcasting programs like Kick Off! and Business Brief. Also in Ghana, Vision 1 is now broadcasting DW’s radio program AfricaLink as part of its lineup.

North America
DW is now working with MHz Networks in North America to distribute the English channel DW. MHz will now be broadcasting a three-hour block of DW from 15:00 to 18:00 (Eastern Time), which is picked up by DirectTV, more than 31 PBS stations and many other cable networks. It’s available in markets like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and reaches more than 40 million households.

Online
DW will be one of the first media companies to be included in Apple News with its own channel. The app has been included in the iOS9 launch.

Asia
The Indonesian website kompas.com is a new DW partner. Kompas will be integrated DW’s online content in Indonesian to its portfolio. It’s the 11th most popular website in Indonesia with 20 million active users and 40 million page impressions per month.

Europe
As part of a new coproduction, DW’s award-winning lifestyle program Euromaxx is now available in Lithuanian and broadcast on the public broadcaster LRT. DW’s Arts.21 is also being produced and broadcast by LRT in Lithuanian.

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.

DW’s new English news channel was created for people all over the world who are looking for news and information that supports and inspires them to shape their communities. During the past few months, DW has searched for these local heroes, and at every point we have found and celebrated people who are doing remarkable things and making a difference.

Most recently in Ghana, DW and local broadcaster Joy News organized a “Heromobile”, which is travelling around the capital city Accra with local musicians and went looking for people who stand out, make a difference or work hard for change. DW and Joy News collected and shared their stories taking pictures of the participants and created an atmosphere of celebration.

Earlier this summer in Kenya, DW organized The Local Heroes Journalism Competition, which encouraged young journalists to create a journalism project profiling local heroes making a difference in their communities. The competition drew a lot of interest and promoted quality journalism while giving Kenyan local heroes the recognition they deserve.

In Pakistan last month, speaking engagements in cooperation with local broadcasting partners honored local heroes and let them tell their story. Highlights from Pakistan included Samar Minallah Khan, documentary filmmaker and women’s rights activist who helped make the practice of forced marriage in Pakistan illegal. In Bangladesh, DW has honored Infoladies, who bike hundreds of miles to bring advice and medicine to thousands in remote, impoverished villages. There are currently around 70 Infoladies working mainly with women and girls as well as with disabled and elderly people, connecting them to the rest of the community.

In an online call to action over the summer,  DW asked people from anywhere in the world to submit the story of their local hero. Facebook posts on both DW News and 12 websites from DW’s various Asia and Africa departments combined to help draw attention to the new channel and encouraged people to share interesting stories of their local heroes with DW. The campaign was received with a lot of enthusiasm by online users. The various local hero stories complied by the participating DW editorial departments generated over 1 million reactions. The language groups that showed the most interaction with online posts were Dari, English and Bengali.

DW has shown that local heroes come from everywhere and anyone who has a vision and passion can make a difference in their communities – and there are always more stories to tell.