Google News Lab, World Bank and Code for Africa are working together on a Digital Journalism initiative that will see 6,000 African journalists trained in data journalism skills by the end of February 2018.
Code For Africa is a data journalism and civic technology initiative operating across Africa that trains and supports journalists and civic activists to better understand and use web tools for news reporting and storytelling.
According a statement provided by Google, the trio are set to empower journalists in Africa by giving them the necessary support to better understand the Web and how to use the tools available to them online.
Commenting on the initiative, Daniel Sieberg, Head of Training & Development at Google News Lab said: “The web and digital tools present an interesting array of options for journalists, but learning how to use these tools can be a daunting task for many media people. While the global news industry faces a knowledge challenge with regards to digital tools, Africa, by virtue of its non-digital education systems, faces even greater odds in the battle for digital integration in news and storytelling. In Nigeria for instance, only a few of the journalism institutions offer training programs that focus on Web tools, and many top news organisations lose out on stories due to their inability to utilise newer and more engaging digital techniques.”
The Code for Africa Digital Journalism initiative will take place over the next 9 months (to February 2018) and see 6 000 journalists trained in 12 major African cities – Abuja, Lagos, Nairobi, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Casablanca, Dakar, Freetown, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, and Yaounde.
The training will take place in three formats:
- Beginning June 15, in-person training sessions will be held in the cities mentioned above. In each city, trainings will be conducted in 3 newsrooms, twice a month for the duration of the initiative.
- Beginning August, a massive open online course (MOOC) will be made freely available online, covering a range of web concepts and practices for digital journalists. Monthly study group meetups will be held in collaboration with Hacks/Hackers to provide more focused, in-person instruction.
- Monthly meetings will take place in Cameroon, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
Interested media can register here.