Abuja – 08 May, 2024:
After ten years of hiatus, ImpactHouse Centre for Development Communication (ImpactHouse) is proud to announce the return of Change Reporting, a capacity-building programme for African journalists.
First held in 2014 in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, Change Reporting is designed to equip media professionals with effective advocacy skills to tell their stories in a way that gains public attention and triggers action from concerned authorities.
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. However, the phrase ‘third sector’ has long been unclear in many African countries, with gaps still existing in development partners’ mobilisation of the people in addressing unresolved social, economic, and well-being concerns, hence the idea behind ‘Change Reporting’.
This year’s programme, titled Change Reporting 2.0: A Media Fellowship on Gender-Responsive Education Planning in Nigeria, in partnership with System Strategy and Policy Lab (SSPL), focuses on gender issues in education following recent research findings.
In its 2023 study on Gender-Responsive Education Sector Planning (GRESP) in Nigeria, the development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) reported that the integration of gender perspectives into education sector planning was inadequate, with policies and programmes frequently failing to address the peculiar needs of different genders, resulting in missed opportunities to promote inclusive and equitable educational environments.
ImpactHouse and its partners believe that gender inequity in education is a clear indication of exclusion within education systems. It is crucial to acknowledge the pressing need to guarantee equitable access to high-quality education for everyone, eliminate obstacles to education for girls and young women, evaluate educational sector policies, enhance financial investment towards education, and reinforce gender-responsive policies in the education sector.
Skilled journalists can significantly amplify the importance of gender equality within education systems, influencing public opinion and policy-making. This, in turn, ensures that educational reforms not only address gender disparities but are also shaped to promote equal opportunities for all genders, thereby fostering a more inclusive and equitable educational environment. This is where the Change Reporting 2.0 Fellowship on Gender-Responsive Education Planning comes in.
‘Through this fellowship, in partnership with SSPL, we, therefore, aim to support 27 journalists across ten 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 decisiontakers’, Executive Director of ImpactHouse, John Andah, said.
‘The programme would integrate development project analytic skills, which create measurable impact and issue-based reports, and traditional journalism skills and ethics, which create compelling and credible stories’.
According to Andah, the fellowship would also offer a structured framework for participants from the print, broadcast and online media to deepen their knowledge about education policies and practices that are sensitive to gender issues, particularly explaining girls’ education outcomes and access to education.
The fellowship, with N1,000,000 (one million naira) funding support for each fellow, will span ten months, including a combination of in-person and virtual activities. Interested and qualified journalists based in Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Oyo, and Sokoto are encouraged to visit the ImpactHouse website via this link for more information on how to apply.
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Editor note:
About ImpactHouse
ImpactHouse is a Nigeria-based tech-driven nonprofit using data and storytelling to drive uniform understanding of development messages in Africa. The organisation was established to aid government-citizen action for good governance, gender equity and justice, education and human rights, and media and civil society development. ImpactHouse is a member of the National Working Group on Basic & Secondary Education in Nigeria.
About SSPL
System Strategy and Policy Lab (SSPL) is an independent think tank providing technical support in Building Institutions for Results Delivery (BIRD). They have a strong history of work within the Basic & Secondary Education sub-sector supporting states and national governments in Nigeria to translate policies to impact. SSPL is a member of the National Working Group on Basic & Secondary Education in Nigeria.
Media Contact Information:
Chinomso Momoh – Outreach and Communications Specialist
Email: chinomso@impacthouse.org.ng
Phone: +2348087907931