The Fourth Estate, an accountability journalism project of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has been named as a finalist in a shortlist of thirty (30) impactful projects across the world for the 2024 edition of the World Justice Challenge.
An announcement of the shortlist by the World Justice Project on the 14th of May, 2024, highlighted The Fourth Estate as one of six impactful projects under the Media and Information category of the World Justice Challenge.
In all, there are five categories including the Media and Information category. These include the – Electoral Processes, Justice Institutions, Youth Engagement, and U.S. Building Trust Prize.
The Fourth Estate is the only project from Ghana, and one of five projects from four African countries (Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe) to have made the shortlist.
A short citation accompanying the project’s shortlisting reads: “A public interest journalism project by the foundation promoting accountability and rule of law through investigative reporting, resulting in greater government accountability and enforcement of laws.”
The World Justice Challenge is a global competition and programme of supporting activities to identify, recognize and promote good practices and high-impact initiatives that protect and advance the rule of law.
The Challenge compiles an evidence base for successful rule of law approaches, raises their strategic visibility, and strengthens an emerging network of rule of law champions.
The competition invites submissions for initiatives that address critical rule of law challenges around the world in particular thematic categories. For the 2024 competition, the theme is The Rule of Law: Foundation of Democracy, focusing on effective strategies for strengthening the rule of law to reverse autocracy and rebuild trust in democratic governance.
A total of 424 applications from 109 countries were received for the 2024 competition. Making the shortlist of thirty (30) means that The Fourth Estate has earned an invitation to showcase its projects at the 2024 American Bar Association Annual Meeting in Chicago.
Following from there, five winning projects will each receive a $20,000 cash prize and opportunities to network and build their global profile throughout the year.
This is not the first time The Fourth Estate’s impactful work has attracted global level accolades. In 2023, the Executive Director of the MFWA, Mr. Sulemana Braimah, was named the recipient of the coveted Eisenhower Fellows’ Impact Award by US-based Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) in recognition of his successful establishment and operationalisation of The Fourth Estate.