The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has launched phase II of its Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Journalism Fellowship Programme.
The MFWA-DPI Journalism Fellowship aims to elevate public awareness, debates, participation, inclusivity, and uptake of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in West Africa through increased professional media reporting and public discourse on the region’s DPI and Digital Public Goods (DPGs).
This phase will involve 60 journalists from Benin, Ghana, Togo, and Nigeria. The strategic focus on the four countries is aimed at building on the successes of Phase I, which saw the participation of 20 journalists from 10 West African countries. The fellowship will also sponsor selected Fellows to participate in International DPI events, create a website for the fellowship activities and also provide financial support to the Fellows’ media organisations.
Phase II of this exciting and impactful fellowship has kicked off with one-day webinars in each of the four focus countries in August 2024. The webinars will provide journalists with critical insights into DPI and DPGs. The Call for application for the Phase II will be announced during the webinars.
Phase I significantly improved media coverage and broadened public discourse on DPI/DPGs in West Africa. This was largely as a result of 115 stories that were produced and published under the first phase. Some of the stories focused on the national identification system and its challenges in Ghana and Nigeria; online passport application and its data security challenges in Nigeria; and digitalisation and healthcare in Cape Verde. Most of the published stories provoked reactions from some government institutions and state actors in the various focused countries.
Notably, this story by a Fellow from Press Afrik in Senegal prompted the Senegalese government to start using a national data storage centre which had become a white elephant. This resulted in the safeguarding of public and the country’s data. The same story also won an award at the sixth edition of the E-jicom Journalism Awards in Senegal. Another impactful story by a Fellow from Premium Times in Nigeria, exposed corrupt practices in the country’s National Population Commission (NPC) Abuja office, leading to stringent reforms. The government of Cape Verde introduced a self-invoicing tool for the informal sector in response to challenges highlighted by our Fellow at Radio Morabeza in this publication. The Fellow’s report exposed issues with the initial e-invoice system, which created tensions between taxpayers, the informal sector, and the state.
Through the DPI Journalism Fellowship Programme, the MFWA seeks to empower media professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute effectively to the evolving digital landscape, ensuring that the benefits of DPIs and DPGs are widely understood and leveraged across West Africa.
For further clarification, kindly contact the MFWA at info@mfwa.org or Vivian Affoah at vivian[@]mfwa.org. and Dora Mawutor at dora[@]mfwa.org.