For half a century, DW has been broadcasting reliable news and information in Kiswahili to listeners in Eastern Africa and the Great Lakes region. DW celebrated this anniversary today with an event in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, by bringing opinion leaders together for a discussion on “Knowledge and Awareness through Media”. Keynotes were held by the German Ambassador, Klaus-Peter Brandes and Andrea Schmidt, head of DW’s Kiswahili Service.

“The majority of our listeners live here in Tanzania so it was an obvious choice for our celebration,” said Andrea Schmidt. “For the last 50 years, DW has been committed to providing balanced news and reliable information, offering people in East Africa insights and detailed analysis on the issues that matter most.”

The panel discussion at the event was organized with the help of GIZ in Dar es Salaam and moderated by DW’s Mohammed Khelef. Participants included distinguished Tanzanian media professionals likeAssah Andrew Mwambene (Director of Tanzania Information Services / Maelezo), Mohamed Abdulrahman (DW), Jenerali Ulimwengu (journalist), Valerie Msoka (Director of TAMWA) and Maggid Mjengwa (social media expert).

DW’s Kiswahili Service broadcasts daily three hours to East Africa and the Great Lakes region. By working with partner stations throughout the region, DW is able to provide listeners via FM balanced coverage of what is going on in the world in general and in Africa in particular. To provide this international perspective, a team of journalists from five African countries works together with a network of correspondents. Kiswahili programming is one of the most popular that DW offers. DW has integrated award-winning educational content with Learning by Ear and a huge variety of features covering health, human rights, environment, women and development, youth and lifestyle and culture.

This week, DW is showcasing its wide range of programming options at DISCOP Africa in Johannesburg. The conference is billed as the “No. 1 event dedicated to the commerce, the production and the distribution of multiscreen, television content across Africa.”

DW will showcase its 24-hour English-to-Africa channel as well as DW’s switch to a SES-5 satellite transmission, which makes DW programming available for free, direct-to-home. The lineup of documentaries available through Transtel will also be presented. Discop Africa takes place from October 31 to November 1.

DW recently completed a contest to get users to submit ideas for new content for its educational series Learning by Ear. The feedback was astounding – and now the winners are in. The jury has now come up with a list of the 10 best, incuding the winner from Togo. Bouloufèi Bèwèzima and a group from the club “A nous la planète” wrote a story called “A long way home” about two trafficked boys who undertake an exhausting march to rejoin their family.

You can find a full list of winners here.

Naser Shrouf, DW’s Head of Distribution Africa/ Middle East, recently conducted an interview with the Nieman Journalism Lab about the fastest-growing mobile market on the planet: Africa. DW sees a world of opportunities there to expand the reach of its programming and especially for its educational series Learning by Ear. Several partnerships with mobile providers have already been signed and DW is looking for more.

DW is using over-the-phone voice technology to deliver news. No Internet access necessary, customers just need to dial a number to access Learing by Ear content. The series covers everything from health and hygiene to politics, the economy, the environment and social issues.

Also, if you are interested in learning more about who we work with locally, check out this article from All Africa. And here is another interview with Tanzania’s Daily News about the Learning by Ear program.

Deutsche Welle (DW) is using a contest to develop a new kind of user-generated content for its award-winning radio series Learning by Ear. From now until June 30, young listeners in Africa will be able to submit their story ideas for a chance at having one of them produced and broadcast, as well as being turned into a community play.

So far, Learning by Ear has told the stories of many young Africans, like Jon-athan who dreamt of becoming one of the most successful soccer players in the world. Or 16-year-old Desirée who took care of her little brother follow-ing her mother’s death.

Now, Germany’s international broadcaster wants their listeners in Africa to share the most important lessons they’ve learned in life, or respond about the topics they want to hear more about in the future. The winning story will be turned into a new Learning by Ear series and adapted for the stage in the winner’s hometown, with the winning group in the production. Other prizes include cameras, a CD player plus a Learning by Ear fan package including t-shirts, CDs and much more.

Entries will be accepted until June 30, 2012 and winners will be selected shortly thereafter. The contest is open to young people under the age of 25 and groups need to be made up of at least five people. All participants must be from an African country.

Entries should include a written story no longer than one page; a list of the group members including their names and ages; and a photo of the entire group. All entries should be sent to lbe@dw.de.

Find out more about Learning by Ear or go to the contest website.