Change Reporting
In today’s rapidly evolving media landscape, the role of journalists and civil society practitioners in shaping public discourse and driving positive change cannot be overstated.
First held in 2014 in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, Change Reporting is designed to support the “demand side” stakeholders, including journalists and civil society experts, with technical and advocacy skills to improve the quality of their stories.
Change Reporting 360
Beginning with a three-day Change Reporting 360TM workshop in Lagos, we focused on citizen journalism and effective advocacy for media and civil society practitioners interested in conveying information about development initiatives.
At the inaugural edition in Lagos, participants, media professionals and non-profit organisations were equipped with unprecedented skills to tell their stories in a way that gains public attention, thanks to the integration of development project analytic skills, which create measurable impact and issue-based reports, and traditional journalism skills and ethics, which create compelling and credible stories, with the powerful web 3.0 (social media) platforms to distribute these stories.
Change Reporting 2.0
After ten years of hiatus, Change Reporting returned in 2024 in the mode of a media fellowship on gender-responsive education sector planning (GRESP), titled “Change Reporting 2.0 Media Fellowship on GRESP”.
Through this project, in partnership with System Strategy and Policy Lab (SSPL), we have supported 26 journalists across nine states in Nigeria with the resources they need to track and report on state governments’ gender responsiveness in education sector planning to prompt attention and action from policymakers and decision-takers.
A two-day workshop on GRESP included a comprehensive ten-session curriculum that covered a wide range of topics, including the Roadmap for the Nigerian Education Sector 2024–2027, Understanding Education Sector Planning: The Gender Lens, Conversation on Media as a Catalyst for Social Change, Reporting Findings on Gender-Sensitive Issues, Applying Advocacy Journalism Approach to Stories, Investigative Journalism: Methods and Strategies, Gender Responsive Education Planning in Nigeria: Issues in States, and Reporting Stories Using Multimedia and Research Findings.
The training also offered a structured framework for participants from the print, broadcast and online media to deepen their knowledge about education policies and practices sensitive to gender issues, particularly explaining girls’ education outcomes and access to education.
Change Reporting 3.0
Also in 2024, we facilitated a four-day training of 19 journalists on GRESP under the EU-INTPA “Strengthening Civil Society to Enhance Education for All in Northern Nigeria” project, implemented by Plan International Nigeria in partnership with Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) and Save the Child Initiative (STCI).
The training aimed to strengthen further the capacity of selected journalists from Adamawa and Sokoto states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to report effectively on gender-inclusive education policies and initiatives. Topics covered in the training included Introduction to the Roadmap for the Nigerian Education Sector 2024–2027, Understanding Gender-Responsive Education Sector Planning (GRESP), Key Challenges in Gender-Responsive Education Planning: Identification and analysis of the key gender-related challenges in Adamawa and Sokoto states, Reporting on GRESP: Work Plan Development for Journalists, Applying an Advocacy Journalism Approach to GRESP-Related Stories, Investigative Journalism: Methods and Strategies for Reporting on GRESP, Gender in Education: Findings/Observations on Adamawa and Sokoto Responses, and Multimedia Journalism: Reporting GRESP-Related Issues Using Social Media.
