PTCIJ begins media fellowship programme on climate change for West Africa

The Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), through its Natural Resource, Extractives and Climate Change Programme (NAREP), has commenced a three-month climate change media fellowship programme for journalists selected from five anglophone West African countries.

The inaugural climate change fellowship, which was launched due to rising negative impacts of climate change across Africa, includes journalists, researchers and policy analysts from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia.

These fellows will, in the coming months, produce quality reportage and analyses on climate change issues in the region.

The fellows were taken through a three-day training with seasoned facilitators from the continent to ground their understanding of the impact of climate change.

Akintunde Babatunde, programme manager, NAREP, said the fellowship was influenced by PTCIJ’s commitment to improving the knowledge product on climate change in Africa 

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges we are facing in Africa, but unfortunately, we don’t have many reports detailing how this is affecting vulnerable groups,” he said. 

“So, for us at PTCIJ, we are using this fellowship to build the next generation of climate professionals who will publish reports to detail the effects of climate change on vulnerable groups, the resilience of our people, and also reports to hold our leaders accountable.”

Daniel Whyte, programme assistant, NAREP, said through the fellowship, PTCIJ aims to deepen climate change communication in Africa and facilitate policy makers’ awareness to tackle the issue. 

“With this fellowship, we hope to deepen climate change communication across this sub-region, so that people and policymakers become more aware and they can take action,” Whyte said.

“We are also keen on telling solution stories. So, we hope that with this fellowship, our fellows will be better equipped to tell solutions-oriented stories and we will be able to amplify local solutions that are already existent in these countries.”

Some of the fellows include: Vivian Chime, Seyifunmi Adebote, Adejumo Kabir, Abdulkareem Mojeed, Kingsley Onu, Zubaida Afua Mabuno Ismail, Patrick Kargbo, Ganiyat Ganiyu, Madiba Singhateh, and Mercy Ayodele.

Others are Gideon Ofosu-Peasah, Patience Agyekum, Mariama Njie, Obasanjo Joseph Oyedele, Sulaiman Stom Koroma, and Wremonga Blojay Joe.