Capacity building & Mentorship Programme for Investigative Journalists

The primary goal of the capacity building and mentorship programme is to strengthen the capacities of West African networks of investigative journalists working on transnational organized crime, including by building their investigative skills and substantive knowledge of human trafficking, IUU and forestry crimes, and to enhance the impact of their reporting on public awareness and policymaking regarding TOC in West Africa.

The GI-TOC works to:

• connect and empower civil-society actors across the region who are working on issues related to organized
• crime and corruption, and their links to instability and conflict;
• identify, analyse and map criminal trends and shifts in regional instability, and their impact on illicit flows,
• governance, development, inter-ethnic relations, security, conflict and the rule of law;
• and support local stakeholders/actors in their monitoring of national dynamics and wider regional and
• international organized-crime and insecurity trends.

Programme Information

The programme will constitute of:

• one virtual capacity building session providing the foundational basis for analysing transnational organized crime;
• a five day in-person workshop in Dakar between 15-19 April 2024. Sessions on IUU fishing, forestry crimes, trafficking in persons, investigative journalism skills (including audio-visual skills) will be delivered by experts in the relevant fields;
• the opportunity to apply for a six-month mentorship programme, which includes a USD 3 000 grant, and mentorship by an expert in the field relevant to the investigative story, to develop an investigative journalism story focusing on one of IUU fishing, forestry crimes, or trafficking in persons.  Five journalists will be selected for this mentorship;
• the opportunity to become part of a network of journalists exchanging on IUU fishing, forestry crimes, and trafficking in persons.

Duration

• 1 March – 30 September 2024

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible, journalists should:

• Between 20 and 25 journalists across the focus countries (The Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mauritania, Cape Verde) will be selected to participate in the programme. have evidenced experience of working closely with communities in that country;
• have demonstrated experience and skills in investigative journalism (use of investigative techniques etc.);
• have previous, evidenced experience working on, and publishing investigative journalism articles regarding, transnational organized crime;
• be available to attend the workshop in person in Dakar between 15-19 April.

For more information, visit Global Initiative.