London Plays Host to Africa’s Most Ambitious Journalist Training Programme

2nd to 6th November 2009

London played host to a groundbreaking training programme for African journalists last week, organised by the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The five-day course, which ran from 2 to 6 November at Thomson Reuters’ London office, was the second of two advanced European sessions for journalists who demonstrated high potential in the introductory courses held across Africa earlier this year.

The training programme represents Africa’s most ambitious to date and focuses on raising the standards of business, financial and investment journalism across the continent with the aim of ensuring that greater trust is put in the region’s media reporting. Both ICF and the Thomson Reuters Foundation believe that greater scrutiny of investment and business issues, more timely and accurate reporting and a culture of delivering impartial news will help increase investor confidence across the continent.

During the six introductory sessions, 75 participants from 17 African countries were given detailed briefings by expert speakers and the opportunity to put theory into practice through numerous practical exercises and timed writing tasks. The participants who excelled most during the introductory sessions were invited to take part in one of two advanced European courses, the first of which was held in Paris last week.

During the advanced London course, journalists from Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia had the opportunity to hone their learnings from the introductory courses, meet international peers, exchange ideas and experiences and immerse themselves in the heart of the country’s business and commercial operations. Activity included meetings with the Editor of Africa Confidential and the African Development Bank, field trips to the London Stock Exchange and a lecture on “Doing Development in a Downturn” by Paul Mylrea, Director of Communications at the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

Guest speakers included Niall FitzGerald, Co-Chair and Chair of the Board of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa and Deputy Chairman of Thomson Reuters, who addressed the journalists on the critical role of the media in providing credible, transparent information for investors to use to make informed and confident investment decisions.

ICF's Chief Executive Officer, Mr Omari Issa, explains: “This project is unique for ICF as we are engaging directly with people who have a very real and vital impact on how the overall investment climate within Africa is perceived. Accurate and timely reporting will play a critical role in increasing domestic and foreign confidence in the region’s reporting and ensuring more of the continent’s financial and business reporting is ‘by Africa for Africa’. The journalists who attended the London course are truly at the forefront of their industry and we look forward to seeing them put their learnings into practise, translating investment climate improvements across Africa into wider economic progress.”

Over 75 journalists from across the continent attended our introductory courses in Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia. The selection of journalists to attend the advanced European sessions was conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

During the advanced Paris course, held from 12 -16 October at Thomson Reuter’s Paris office, journalists from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea and Togo had the opportunity to meet representatives from some of France’s leading organisations, including l’Agence Francaise de Development, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), French investment group Bolloré, and the Elysee’s Cellule Africaine.
Guest speakers included Henri Bonpun, Trustee of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa and former Africa Business Group President of Unilever.

ICF was established in 2006 to remove the barriers that currently exist to doing business in Africa. ICF is currently active in eleven African countries and is working on twenty two projects including four pan-regional projects and four special initiatives.

ICF Project Activity