The Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Lagos chapter, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the training of its members on data literacy and development.
A statement by the association’s Chairperson, Mrs Adeola Ekine, and issued to newsmen on Sunday, in Lagos, said the MoU was with Code For Africa (CfA), Africa’s biggest data journalism and Civic Tech platform, through its ‘Wanadata programme’,
“The partnership is coming when our members need new skills to add to what they already have, to match up with their international counterparts.
“This is especially as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made us all adjust to the new normal, in our reportage.
“Part of our campaign promise was training, capacity building and empowerment of our members. We are achieving this through the ‘Wanadata platform’, to mark our second anniversary as the present executives of the association this month,” she said.
Ekine, who expressed excitement over the partnership with CfA, enjoined those selected to take advantage of the rare opportunity to develop their data and digital journalism skills, so as to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts.
The chairperson explained that because CfA was adhering strictly to the COVID-19 safety protocols, the training would be held through a series of webinars and meet-ups.
She added that the virtual training would focus on building the capacity of the participants in data and digital technologies, for media and journalism.
While advising the selected NAWOJ members to commit two hours of their time to the online training, in order to benefit maximally, Ekine disclosed that the partnership was expected to run until 2022 and members would be trained in batches, every quarter.
“The first training is a three-day certificate-based encounter that will commence from May 24 to May 26,” she said.
Mr Jacopo Ottaviani, CfA’s Chief Data Officer, in the statement, also expressed joy over the partnership with NAWOJ, in a joint effort to build capacities and share knowledge about data-driven journalism in Nigeria.
”The entire team believes in the power of quality, fact-based journalism, in shaping a healthy public debate around the key challenges of our times and a correct, insightful use of data, can help achieve this objective,” he said.
CfA works as a non-partisan ‘change agent’ that offers engineering and editorial support, skills development, seed-funding and business development services, designed to strengthen digital democracy.
The team achieves this by empowering citizens with actionable information and by amplifying voices, while also strengthening civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability.
It works through a network of chapters and other affiliate organisations across the continent and offers training through its women’s data science and journalists platform, WANADATA, WD.
WANADATA, WD is poised to nurture professional growth and accelerate the influence of female data experts through a peer support network that uses evidence-driven discourse to reframe gender perspectives on public decision-making and policy creation on development issues. (NAN)
