Senegal: IPS reports from World Social Forum

7 Feb 2011

DAKAR: The IPS news agency IPS TerraViva is currently in Dakar, Senegal to report from the World Social Forum, the annual global gathering of social movements dedicated to building alternatives. The forum, currently underway, will conclude on Friday, 11 Febraury 2011. Activists and thinkers from around the world are expected to attend.

Daily reporting and podcasts from the event will be gathered at the IPS TerraViva WSF 2011 news site, with content in English, French, Swahili, Portuguese and Spanish.

IPS director general Mario Lubetkin explains, "Now more than ever we need to communicate the vision, plans and energy of people working together to tackle the economic, social and democratic crises we face. Dakar is a hugely timely opportunity to connect movements and organisations across national and sectoral borders. IPS, as in previous years, is using its media network and communication capacities to contribute to the process."

IPS to print souvenir newspaper edition of TerraViva

In addition to the real-time reporting on the IPS TerraViva WSF 2011 news site, IPS will print a souvenir newspaper edition of TerraViva that will be distributed in Dakar on 11 February. Every day IPS TerraViva "wall newspapers" plan to take the best reporting to the crowds in Dakar. IPS news will also be distributed locally and online through its partners flamme d'Afrique and AMARC.

As well as reporting, IPS will be participating in and co-hosting media and communication events of the World Social Forum. Lubetkin is an invited keynote speaker at seminars organised with UBUNTU, Ritmo and NIGD. IPS Africa is supporting local training of journalists during the forum.

The WSF returns to Africa in 2011 in its 11th year, since its founding in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2001. Archived news from all the previous WSF gatherings since 2001 are available on the IPS TerraViva WSF 2011 site.