We are working in partnership with Nigerian NGO, Integrity, to train journalists to better report on how their government spends public money, and to mobilise public opinion around government accountability.
Start date: February 2006
End date: 2008
Media Types: training for reporters, editors, cartoonists and graphic artists
Issue: governance
Country: Nigeria
We tell them exactly what we have seen - the simple truth
Editor, public radio, Kano
The two-year project is working to build bridges between journalists and civil society activists, so that they can work together to hold their government to account for how public funds are spent.
Training
We are delivering a two-year training programme, combining face-to-face, online and on-the-job training. The training aims to improve journalists' ability to access and understand financial data, as well as to build their skills in communicating budgetary information to audiences in an engaging way.
We have delivered 14 face-to-face training courses to 160 editors, reporters, cartoonists and graphic artists across the country since 2006.
"In the past, we would only tell the public what the government wanted us to tell them. But now that we know the technique...we tell them exactly what we have seen - the simple truth - and it will spur the government into action".
Editor, public radio, Kano
The courses were oversubscribed. Many editors wanted to use iLearn - our online journalism training tool, which was originally intended for reporters alone.
Online learning and newsroom mentoring were provided before the second round of face-to-face training began in February 2007.
The training was carried out by a team of 12 Nigerian and UK-based trainers.
Increasing coverage of budget issues
In addition to providing training, we are actively encouraging the publication of news and cartoons about public finance issues.
Weekly competitions are being run for 100 participating news reporters and 14 cartoonists. Each competition offers a US$100 cash prize for the best news report and cartoon published.
The competition is cross-platform: the winning news report could be a radio or TV package or an article published in a newspaper or magazine.
Each week the winning entries are prominently published, as examples of best practice, on our budget monitoring website.
Working in partnership
We are working in partnership with the Nigerian NGO, ‘Integrity'.
Integrity is an anti-corruption organisation that campaigns for more public accountability and financial transparency at all levels of government.
As part of the budget monitoring initiative, Integrity has organised a series of one-day workshops in six states: Anambra, Cross River, Kano, Jigawa, Osun and Yobe.
The aim is to bring journalists, civil society activists, elected politicians and senior government officials together to discuss how government money is raised and spent.
Integrity clubs
The workshops were designed to act as the launch pad for 'Integrity clubs' in the six focal states. The ‘clubs' consist of members of the public who are concerned about corruption.
Local officials and non-governmental organisations are invited to club meetings, where information about public spending and corruption is shared.
The clubs also develop strategies and campaigns for tackling public spending problems at the state and local government level. The local press is invited to cover ‘club' meetings, so that the issues receive more attention.
