Ambassador James Knight arrives in Benin.

Ambassador James Knight

James Knight, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, arrived in Cotonou on Sunday, October 25, 2009 to assume his position as the United States Ambassador to Benin.  He was introduced to the Mission staff during a Town Hall Meeting shortly after arrival. Ambassador Knight most recently served as the Director of the State Department's Office of East African Affairs, which provides political and economic policy support and liaison for Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Ambassador Knight was previously a Team Leader of the Ninewa Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), based in Mosul, Iraq. During his tenure, the Ninewa PRT launched provincial initiatives for governance, economic recovery and the rule of law which were replicated at other Iraq PRTs. These achievements set a new standard for integrated efforts by the Department of State, Department of Justice, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Iraq Transition Assistance Office, and the Multi-National Coalition at the provincial level in Iraq.

Before serving in Iraq, Ambassador Knight was the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) for the U.S. Mission to Angola. Previous assignments include a tour as the DCM for Embassy Praia, Cape Verde; the Country Affairs Officer for Ethiopia in the Office of East African Affairs; the Political Officer for Embassy Antananarivo, Madagascar; the Political, Economic, and Consular Officer for Embassy Banjul, the Gambia; and the General Services Officer at Embassy Lagos, Nigeria.

Ambassador Knight holds a doctorate in Anthropology from the University of Chicago and undertook extensive research among nomads in the Sahara. Before joining the Foreign Service, he worked as an economic development specialist for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Niger and as a software developer for the private sector.

Ambassador Knight is married to Amelia Bell, and they have four children. He speaks French and Portuguese.

Training Session on Web Searching for writers and publishers.

On August 19, 2009, IRC Director Bienvenu  Akodigna conducted a training in Web searching for publishers and writers. The event was a follow up of the PAS participation in the book fair sponsored by the Department in charge of libraries and book promotion at the Ministry of Culture, Literacy and Local Languages Promotion. Participants included female writers like Mrs. Hortense Mayaba, novelist Adelaide Fassinou, Barbara Akplogan and representatives from publishers like Le Flamboyant and Ruisseaux d’Afrique.

This was an opportunity for Mr. Akodigna to introduce participants to web browsers, Internet search engines, databases, and other useful online resources. This was also the opportunity for participants to learn about America.Gov, where they can have access to blogs, news, podcasts and other IIP publications like ejournals.

As part of the session, participants watched also the ABC documentary “If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Blog ‘Em”, which featured the concept of web blog, commonly known as blog. In this documentary, participants learned how blog is changing the way people communicate today using information technology. Blogs are also viewed as tools for empowerment, education, and community development.

During the Q and A session, participants appreciated the content of the training and discussed the importance of Internet. Some comments showed that Internet, instead of devaluing the book in print format, it can contribute to its marketing and promotion.

The practice session focused on the creation of a blog by participants. They were very excited as they used the web site Blogger (www.blogger.com) to create their own blog.

The training session was also an opportunity for IRCD Akodigna to market IRC services like book circulation, PD DINS and other products. Participants were encouraged to register as library member. Participants said that they learned a lot from this training and congratulated the Public Affairs Section for this successful event. "I never used Internet for other purpose than email before. I would like to say that the training session was successful and congratulations. We look forward for other opportunities”  said one participant after the training.