Economic Journalism Training for Angolan Media

In 2007 RWI provided financial support to the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) Angola, in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics at the Catholic University of Angola, to hold a series of journalism trainings on the basic principles of economics, public finance, natural resources and their influence on the national budget and investigative journalism. Journalism trainings were one of RWI's original programs and remain one of the core instruments for engaging local civil society. The ultimate goal of this project was to create a pool of trained and skilled journalists, economists scholars and human rights activists with the expertise to accurately and systematically engage on the issues of transparency and good governance in Angola.

Project activities were divided into three main components: 1) two months of intensive training workshops in national budgets, public finance and economics; natural resources and the economy; and investigative reporting strategies; 2) a three-month internship with the Brazilian Institute for Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE); and 3) a six-month research project within Angola on specific economic and social issues related to transparency and good governance of the extractive industries.

Participants were expected to complete all workshop topics; improve their knowledge and skills to conduct research, reporting, and advocacy around the issues of economics and natural resources; publish several research papers; and host a conference to present the results of the research and disseminate the work products in print media.

Hosting trainings for Angola's media serves as a pilot for engaging civil society in the country, and RWI hopes to cultivate additional Revenue Watch activities with strategic partners in Angola in the future. This project was a necessary and cautious first step to developing a resource revenue transparency campaign in Angola and to test the capacity and interest of local groups to engage in the revenue transparency campaign.

For more information on the activities of OSISA, please see www.osisa.org/.