Campus International Events

The Illinois Partnership for African Women's Health Narratives (iPAWHN) is a South-South-North collaborative model linking the university's Departments of Journalism and Advertising with Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone and the University of Media, Arts and Communication in Ghana. Aiming to work as partners rather than outsiders, Illinois journalism and advertising students co-produce solutions-focused transmedia journalism and strategic communication initiatives alongside African peers. In this talk, Charles “Stretch” Ledford (Department of Journalism), Alison Davis (Department of Journalism), and Marisa Peacock (Advertising) share field work from their March 2026 production in Accra, where students from three universities in three countries collaborated on one project documenting the lives of the kayayei — young female head porters who have migrated from Ghana’s rural north to work in Accra’s urban markets.

This project received a 2025 New Approaches grant from the Illinois Global Institute.