The Media Foundation for West Africa, (MFWA) has established a Network of Journalists for SDGs. The network will strengthen the skills and knowledge of journalists to help increase public awareness of UN’s new global development goals and hold government accountable for its promise to ensure sustainable development in Ghana.
On September 25-27, 2015 the 193 UN Members-states, including Ghana, signed up to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the follower of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The SDGs aim to eradicate poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by 2030.
The media being a public information channel, engagement platform, watchdog and advocate for policy improvement, has a critical role to play in ensuring a successful implementation of these new development goals in Ghana.
Unfortunately, the MFWA has observed that most of the Ghanaian media have paid only limited attention to this critical subject, and due to this many people are still unaware of the goals, despite their great importance to national development in the next one-and-a-half decades.
One of the reasons hereto is a general lack of information and limited knowledge on the new global development agenda in the media which again results in limited reporting on the new global development agenda. Thus, one of the key objectives of establishing the Network is to increase public awareness on the SDGs by ensuring that the media has access to timely information and adequate skills in development reporting.
“We hope that the Network will ensure a more sustained campaign to increase public awareness of these goals, so that the people who should benefit from the development initiatives know their rights and can influence development in their local areas”, said Programme Officer at the MFWA, Ms. Rikke Sig Hansen.
The Network also aims at empowering journalists to hold government accountable for its promise made at the UN level to attain sustainable development in the country by 2030 through the SDGs.
The MFWA calls on journalists interested in engaging in the SDGs to sign up for the Network of Journalists for SDGs. To sign up for the Network, interested journalists should kindly contact Rikke Sig Hansen on [email protected]stating their full name, media organisation and contact details.
To learn more about the SDGs, follow this link:
