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Penplusbytes, NRGI First Alumni Refresher Workshop Ends

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A 3-day refresher course for past trainees of Penplusbytes/Natural Resource Governance Institute’s   “Strengthening Media Oversight of the Extractive Sector”  media training ends in the Eastern Regional Capital of Koforidua. The workshop which took place from Friday 25th November to Sunday, 27th November, 2016 was organised under the theme: “Deep Dive/Alumni Refresher on Priority Policy Issues.”

The workshop was aimed at building on the training offered to alumni to enable them keep up with events and issues in the industry. It was also intended to improve the capacity of journalists in writing compelling and investigative stories from the sector.

The Executive Director of Penplusbytes, Kwami Ahiabenu, II said, media coverage of the extractive sector is important to ensure that mining, oil and gas sector resources and revenue are utilised for wealth creation and poverty reduction. “The media has a very important role to play in this direction and we are excited that we brought together alumni of our training program to support them to continue playing their oversight role over the extractive sector” he said.

Speakers at the 3 day practical workshop included Dr. Doris Dartey of the National Media Commission who helped participants interrogate key issues that their newsrooms should look out for ahead of Ghana’s 2016 Election; Albert Kan Dapaah of FAT Africa give more insight on transparency and accountability issues surrounding oil and gas sector; Dr. Ishmael Ackah of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy elaborated on the state of oil revenue utilization in Ghana while Samuel Bekoe, Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) spoke on tracking oil revenue in Ghana.

These discussions were then followed by a data journalism workshop and a mentoring round table discussion, where alumni and mentors critically looked at how to improve the quality of stories on oil and gas especially in context of Ghana’s Elections 2016.

In all, 16 journalists from various news media including TV3 Network, Business Today, Spy News, Ghana News Agency, the Business and Financial Times (B&FT), the Daily Graphic and the Finder Newspaper who have been trained over the years under the project were in attendance.

According to  Emelia Ennin Abbey of the Daily Graphic, “this workshop has actually refreshed my knowledge on data journalism and spreadsheet. Also, it has given me some leads which I could follow up to do my stories”. Another participant, Emmanuel Dogbevi of Ghana Business News was of the view that “the data visualization aspect of this workshop is very useful and handy when we are generating compelling stories in our newsroom.”

Since 2009, Penplusbytes and the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) have trained over fifty (50) Ghanaian journalists on knowledge and skills needed to effectively report about the extractive sector in Ghana under the   “Strengthening Media Oversight of the Extractive Sector” project. The result of this training has been an increase of stories from the oil and gas sector in the Ghanaian media over time.

 

About

Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas, namely using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability; new media and innovations; and driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.

The Natural Resource Governance Institute is a non-profit policy institute and grant-making organization that promotes effective, transparent and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources for the public good.