ENRRI-EfD Ghana organized training on the environment and natural resource reporting for journalists from key private and public media outlets in Ghana.
The two-day training (19 – 20 November) – very interactive and hands-on – focused on the most promising environment and natural resource-inclined journalists. It contributed to strengthening the journalists’ understanding of Ghana’s natural resource challenges as well as the requisite tools and skills for developing impactful and attention-grabbing stories.
As part of his welcome remarks, ENRRI Director Prof Wisdom Akpalu outlined the increasingly troubling threats confronting the sustainability of Ghana’s natural resources and urged the journalists to take full advantage of the training opportunity to upgrade their skills and rise to the challenge to become agents of change.
“There is no time to waste (in the efforts to achieve environmental sustainability)… I will be counting on you to be agents of change, ” he said.
The set of training modules – which spanned topics such as the State of Natural Resources in Ghana, Human-Environment Interaction in the Globalized World, Producing Environmental Stories with SDGs-lens, and Environmental Reporting, among others – was co-delivered by Prof Akpalu; Head of Communications at UNDP Ghana, Ms. Praise Nutakor; and Environmental Communicator, Ama Kudom-Agyeman.
Ms. Delassi Mabel Awuku of the Ghana News Agency, speaking on behalf of her colleagues, expressed appreciation for the training opportunity and the avenues for collaboration with ENRRI-EfD highlighted by Prof Akpalu, and pledged their commitment.
ENRRI-EfD Ghana recognizes that credible and accessible environmental information is important to spur pro-environment behavior, as it does the need to continuously build the capacity of journalists to enable them effectively play their pivotal role of producing and disseminating simplified and accurate environmental stories for the benefit of the general public.
The training, thus, supports ENRRI-EfD’s mandate to build capacity for the sustainable management and use of Ghana’s natural resources, and its commitment to contribute to furthering the skills of environment and natural resource-inclined journalists in Ghana.
As Prof Akpalu said to participants at the end of the training: “I hope the way you craft your stories will attract a lot more readership.”
The training was held at the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana.