By Kemo Cham
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) has returned for phase II of its media development project in Sierra Leone.
IWPR, an independent not-for profit organisation, works with media and civil society to promote positive change in countries in transition, especially those in conflict or crisis. In 2014, it ran a one year long project in the country which saw journalists trained on freedom of information legislation and access to government information.
The focus then was general. This year it will be mainly on the justice system.
IWPR, a London-based organization, seeks to guarantee prevalence of peace and good governance and it does so by strengthening the ability of the media and civil society “to speak out.” The programmes involve training, mentoring and the provision of platforms for professional and citizen reporters.
IWPR also builds up the institutional capacity of media and civic groups, and work with independent and official partners to remove barriers to free expression.
The choice of the justice sector was informed by realities on the ground facing journalists in reporting human rights issues, IWPR officials said last Friday at a special session organized to introduce the project to editors of the country`s main media institutions. 10 editors attended the session convened at the conference hall of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) on Campbell Street in Freetown.
This is all part of a larger project called Access, which is simultaneously being implemented in Nigeria [Access Nigeria] and Sierra Leone [Access Sierra Leone], and it focuses on investigative journalism relating to governance, corruption and transnational organised crime.
Last year`s training focused on best practices for looking into abuses in both public and private sectors, with an emphasis on high level corruption. Participants learned about how to define and identify corruption, interview sources, analyse data, uphold ethical standards, and exercise security in a hostile environment.
Within the next 11 months, 15 journalists, selected through a special selection process, will undergo training on investigative reporting and judicial reporting, and they will then be eligible to apply for grant funding to work on big story ideas, said Mohamed Kuyateh, Programme Manager of IWPR in Sierra Leone.
It will be hinged specifically on deepening knowledge in research-based, investigative reporting, through media workshops on investigative reporting. The project also includes a mini-law school for journalists, providing specialized training for them to accurately report on judicial matters.
Gérard Guèdègbé is the lead trainer in the Sierra Leone project. He said it will also seek to “bridge the gap” between judges and journalists, thereby increasing the understanding and collaboration between stakeholders. Guèdègbé, who headed last year`s project, is a Beninese freelance Investigative Journalist stationed in Cotonou, Benin. He is a media mentor for the Forum for African Investigative Reporters.
Ten of the most outstanding alumnus of the last training will get automatic place in the current training.
“We in [the media] Sierra Leone want to develop, so we really appreciate the effort of IWPR,” said, SLAJ President Kelvin Lewis, while urging colleague journalists to take full advantage of the opportunity.
He said the opportunity would help raise the bar of journalism in the country as “when we publish stories that are well researched and investigated, no one will question us.”
Mr Lewis cited contemporary issues in public domain which he believed had gone either underreported or poorly reported, like the case of the 100 buses procured by the government which has raised debate around possible procurement violations.
“No one is really doing any detailed investigation on the issue,” he said.
He also talked about challenges in court reporting which justified the Access Phase II project. Mr Lewis urged the funders to consider expanding the project to include more journalists in the training.
The civil society group Campaign for Good Governance (CGG) is implementing the Access Sierra Leone project. Its Programmes Manager Mercella Samba said this was the “age of data”, without which it would be difficult, if not impossible, to make any difference in governance.
Samba believes that journalists and researchers can only prevent spin doctors from being effective by providing reliable data.
“It is important that we bring the culture of evidence in what we do,” she sated, adding: “Without evidence we may not know if we are doing the right thing.”
Her presentation touched on a number of other pertinent issues around governance and service provision. She remarked that her work as an activist had exposed her to the fact that to a large extent institutions are not in the right places, making it hard for government to operate effectively.
“If government institutions are not well established it will be hard to address problems in time,” she said.
Samba said the Access programme is also aimed at promoting the idea of using information backed with data to fight corruption.
“The plan,” she said, referring to the phase II of the Sierra Leone project, “is to break the transparency chain in the judiciary and security sectors.”
Yeama Thompson, one of the commissioners of the newly established Access to Information Commission, told journalists that the introduction of the FOI law had raised up hopes for unhindered access to information by the public but expressed concern about some aspects of the law that she feared might serve as an obstacle.
Ms Thompson, who is herself a journalist by profession, said very few people knew about the FOI law and urged journalists to read and get themselves better positioned to promulgate its essence. She cited a widely reported incident involving a government minister who asked an interviewee to make an FOI request in order to know about details of the highly criticized government procurement.
Thompson said that suggested that it`s not just ordinary citizens who do not know about the law.
She said the law provides for “proactive publication” on issues and that government officials shouldn’t just wait for citizens to request for information.
Thompson also spoke about the ‘exceptions’ in the law which made it difficult for citizens to access certain information tagged as security matters. She suggested the need for clarification on this.
All this indicate the need for sensitization, she said, pointing to the role of the media.
Barrister Ansu Lansana made some presentations on key sections in the constitution hindering the effective performance of the media.
Freedom is indivisible the chains on any one of my people were the chain on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me
(C) Politico 06/08/15
