African journalists were invited to participate in a six-week online course: “Covering Development in Africa.” The course was held from May 20, 2013, to June 28, 2013. The deadline to apply was May 6, 2013.
Offered by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), the course was led by two media consultants with extensive experience working in Africa. Christopher Conte has worked in the United States, Africa and Asia. He is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and editor who later spent three years as a Knight International Journalism Fellow based in Uganda. He currently is based in Washington, D.C.
Sputnik Kilambi, a former journalist with Radio France International, has worked in Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana as a Knight Fellow and in Sierra Leone for the United Nations. She currently is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Among the topics that were covered during the course:
- How to identify good development stories
- Key issues in reporting agriculture, mining and the environment
- Human capital: Development journalism and education, health and social welfare
- Using data to enrich development stories
- Reporting on the role of government, international organizations and foreign aid
The course was offered in English and French. It was open to computer-literate African journalists with at least five years of professional experience. Participants spent time reading materials, researching assignments and interacting online with instructors and fellow participants.
More about this program
News about this program
We exposed corruption and human rights abuses working in a cross-border network supported by ICFJ.
— Lisseth Boon, Venezuela