CJID, CIJ partner to advance climate change reporting in West Africa

Towards bridging the identified gaps in knowledge and capacity on climate change in Africa, in Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) is again set to partner with the UK Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in a media campaign project tagged: “Climate Change in the News Media”.

With funding support from the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the project aims to train journalists including journalists and editors from selected newsrooms in Nigeria and Ghana.

According to CJID, the project also seeks to empower participants to report the impact and consequences of climate change, policy actions and non-actions by their respective governments, global and transnational negotiation processes, and local solutions that exist in the country.

The center noted in a statement published before the start of the project that the partnership is important due to the fact that “Africa is the worst affected by climate change even though it contributes the least to global carbon emissions.”

“However, research shows that awareness of climate change in the region is low, and the media is not doing enough to amplify the discourse,” the statement said.

CJID, CIJ officials said

Speaking about the project, Felicia Dairo, project coordinator on climate change at CJID, said that journalists can adequately report the evidence and impact of climate change in relation to the region only if they are well equipped.

He said: “For us to change the narrative of under-reporting climate change in the region, it is important to pay attention to the knowledge providers. When they have the necessary knowledge, they can inform, educate and involve citizens. Hopefully in the end the project, journalists in the pilot countries (Ghana and Nigeria) are better equipped to report on the evidence and impacts of climate change related to their countries.

The Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) Project Manager at CIJ, Adeolu Adekola, noted that continuing work in Africa to interrogate climate change is a need CIJ identified after the first year of delivering OCRI.

He said: “Climate Change in the News Media with the support of the UNESCO Section for Media Development and Media in Emergencies has a unique approach because it aims to go beyond regular news coverage. Working with CJID in Anglophone Africa and other partners in Francophone Africa will provide tools and techniques to selected media organizations to report climate change sustainably for its impact on the region.

Past collaborations

In 2022, CJID cooperates with CIJ in the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) project to strengthen the capacity of media and Civil Society Organizations to report on climate change in West Africa. In the project, 38 journalists were trained on climate change reporting fellowships from five Anglophone West African countries with a 22-story grant given to journalists to make a deep dive on climate change.

A total of 27 stories were published on 10 media platforms during the friendship period in four anglophone countries. A COP reporting handbook was also published before the Conference of the Parties (COP) 27 in the project to help journalists and researchers better understand the event.

Also, OCRI supports flood intervention projects where flood documentaries are created and 14 special reports are published on flood issues across the country.

About the new project

The Climate Change in the News Media Project is a pilot project to train journalists and editors in selected newsrooms in Ghana and Nigeria for Anglophone Africa on issues related to climate change. A survey was distributed to selected newsrooms in both countries to better understand climate change reporting patterns in their respective newsrooms.

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Beneficiary organizations are selected from online, print, and broadcast media platforms.

The first phase of the project will begin with a 2-day training workshop in Ghana on March 15 and 16, while a corresponding training, the second phase, is scheduled for March 28 and 29 in Nigeria.

After the training, the participants from each organization are expected to conduct step-down training for their colleagues. Each newsroom is expected to set up a climate change reporting desk for at least three months to expand climate change reporting. CJID and CIJ will also support participating newsrooms with resources to implement this project.

Before the exercise, the Program Director, CJID, Akintunde Babatunde, said that the environmental problems facing African countries are many, and thus, require the involvement of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the amplification of the media to denounce the policy response of the government.

“Lack of capacity, technical on the subject of climate change and limited or non-existent financial resources means that the issue of climate change is not discussed and not reported in the media, but with the partnership of CJID with CIJ, the hope of this intervention will not be implemented. not only increase the capacity of journalists but also strengthen the culture of climate change reporting in African newsrooms,” Mr Akintunde said.