The Highway Africa conference smorgasbord makes me salivate but then I fall prey to indulging in the hors d'oeuvres only to flag halfway through the main course. The HA event at Rhodes University is the largest annual gathering of the African media. Seasoned professionals and young students — some still in school uniforms – consume the fare side by side in buzzing lecture rooms.

Editors Note: Highway Africa hosts a DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN DEVELOPMENT JOURNALISM Workshop in Ghana.

Editors Note: Knight Fellow Sylvia Vollenhoven will co present a workshop on Development Journalism at Highway Africa conference. For 12 years, the Highway Africa conference has been at the center of Africa’s debates on journalism and new media. The conference has over the years become the largest annual gathering of African journalists in the world.

Since the beginning of the year, several communities in Accra have been experiencing major power outages as well as water shortages. What it means is that the power will go out for hours, crippling some businesses, like Public Agenda. When the power's out we sit around and talk politics and journalism; some people use it as a time to take a walk or go get the standard lunch -- rice and some sort of meat or fish in a sauce made with plenty of palm oil or, if it's Wednesday, fufu with meat or fish (it's heavier food and it keeps the reporters full on production nights).

Early into our partnership with Public Agenda, which bills itself as "Ghana's only advocacy and development newspaper," the publication received an award from the Ghana National Honorary Awards Hall of Fame for being "the best print media" in the promotion of peace during and after the 2008 presidential elections.  CACG said the newspaper won because of its "independent news presentation and analysis, effective monitoring and supervision of electoral activities before, during and after the 2008 elections towards ensuring free, fair, and transparent elections."

A little over a month after Ghana inaugurated it's new president, John Evans Atta Mills, newspapers are gearing up to write about the new administration's proposed budget and are being aggressive at writing about the vetting of the ministers (Minister of Finance, for example) being recommended by the Mills' administration.

Ghanaians, and indeed neighboring countries, are still praising the success of the country's election process.

Ghana's reporters were diligent in reporting on the candidates -- their personalities, rallies and alliances -- but did a less stellar job in