Media Foundation institutes grants for SDGs reportage
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has launched a funding project that will support journalists in the country to access information and generate quality reports that bother on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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The funding scheme, a collaborative effort with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), aims at deepening public knowledge in the SDGs to ensure inclusive and participatory delivery of the goals.
Upon request, funding for story production should be between GH¢100 and GH¢1,500 and it is open to journalists from print, electronic and online media.
The initiative forms part of activities under the Mia project of ‘Mainstreaming the SDGs in development reporting.’
Modalities
Applicants must be journalists currently working with and for a recognised Ghanaian media organisation and should produce or publish a maximum of three stories about the SDGs between September 1 and October 9, 2017.
They are also required to submit a one-page document with their name, e-mail, phone number, gender, media organisation, title of story and brief description of the story via [email protected] with the subject; ‘SDGs Reporting Awards.’
The overall best report would be awarded with a certificate, a souvenir and cash of GH¢10,000.
Significance
At the launch of the funding project in Accra last Thursday, the Executive Director of the MFWA, Mr Sulemana Braimah, said the project was necessary to champion the SDGs and see how it could push for its implementation.
“Everything about development is about the SDGs. As media, we should track the activities of the government at both the regional and national level because the relevant noise of the media attracts government’s response to the needs of the country,” he said.
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Priority
The Chairperson of Editors Forum Ghana (EFG), Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, observed that though there had been reportage and writing about developmental issues, there was the need to intensify those efforts.
She said countries should be allowed to choose their own priorities among the SDGs even though the United Nations (UN) captured all the global needs in the list of 17 goals under the SDGs.
“I mean prioritise its peculiar needs, in that case, perhaps, we, in the country, could move the ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’ higher. I view clean water and sanitation as very critical to well-being and survival,” Ms Yeboah-Afari said.
Role
For his part, a Communication Analyst of UNDP Ghana, Mr Bossman Owusu, said there was the need for journalists in the country to play their role to educate and help citizens engage in right actions.
He, therefore, called on civil societies to support the cause and help achieve the objectives of the SDGs.