Our key activities and projects under this programme are focused on:
Journalism for Change (J4C): We promote and support investigative and critical journalism that lead to positive changes in society and improves the lives of people. Our Journalism for Change (J4C) Network offers members regular training opportunities both locally and internationally to enhance their capacity to influence positive changes in society through journalism.
Media for Participatory and Accountable governance: We build the capacity of media and forge alliances between media, citizens, CSOs and governance authorities for development dialogue, information disclosure, citizens’ access to information and participatory and accountable governance. We prioritise the inclusion and participation of women in public discourse and governance processes
Media and Citizens for Sustainable Development: We empower local populations, especially the youth, to become citizen journalists driving change through the power of story-telling. This is mainly focused on inclusive implementation of the SDGs.
We prioritise mainstreaming SDGs in development journalism to advance public knowledge on the SDGs and ensure inclusive and participatory delivery of the Goals. We do this through providing funding opportunity to journalists to support quality and thorough reporting that focus on the SDGs and also through the SDGs Reporting Awards which honour and inspire quality reporting that focus on the SDGs.
Media and Elections: We empower and strengthen the capacity of the media for effective conflict-sensitive reporting; quality coverage of elections; staying safe while covering elections and how to work effectively with police and security forces. We provide spaces for dialogues and relationship building between security forces, especially the police and media workers to enhance the knowledge of the security forces on building a working relationship with the media.
We also monitor the media landscape; name and shame political party communicators who use media platforms to engage in insults, hate speech and abusive language that have the potential to heighten tension and incite violence. Media organisations that also allow their platforms to be use for hate speeches and inciteful comments are named and shamed to serve as deterrent to others.
The West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards – WAMECA
This is annual regional conference organised to discuss the challenges of the media industry and ways to improve the performance of the media across West Africa. The overall objective is to improve media professionalism and strengthen the media as allies for development in all sectors.
The West Africa Media Excellence Awards honours journalists in West Africa who have, through original work, produced compelling stories that have had significant impact on the lives of West Africans and the development of society.
Below are photos from some of our programmes and activities over the years. Please click on the arrows in the photo panel below, to navigate through our galleries.
