A German Organisation, Taz Panter Foundation, with support from the German Foreign Office, has begun a workshop for African Journalists from 16 countries.
The workshop which started on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 will run through February 2022.
Participants were selected from 16 African countries including Algeria, Angola, Cameron, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Morrocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Ugandan and Zimbabwe.
Speaking at the opening session of the workshop on Wednesday, the Culture Editor at Taz, Mr Ole Schulz, who spoke via Zoom from Berlin, said that the workshop with theme: “Access: Connecting In Times of Pandemic’’ was to strengthen collaborations among African journalists.
He explained that the first part of the workshop consists of a series of 12 webinars, whereby speakers from the European science institution, Non Governmental Organisations and activists would anchor.
According to him, the objective of the workshop is to improve network among journalists, strengthen their skills and insights in globally relevant events.
Also speaking, the Editor of Taz, Mr Christian Jakob, urged participants to write on any issue on topics discussed at the webinar.
He said that participants would at end of the first part of the workshop in December 2021, produce a magazine which would be published in German and on an online version in English.
He added that the second part of the workshop would be a face to face conference in Berlin, from February 6 to 13, 2022.
One of the participants from Kenya, Ms Ann Ngengere, expressed optimism that the workshop would deepen her knowledge, and improve her skills as a fact checker.
Also, a development journalist from Nigeria, Miss Khadija Bawas said that the workshop would widen her scope on topics related to gender issues and reproductive health.
Topics for the workshop include COVID-19 and Global South, Gender, Investigative Reporting, Digital Security and Migration.
Other topics include Fake News and Disinformation, Hate Speech and Social Media, Corruption and Social Change.
The Taz Panter Foundation is closely linked to Taz, die tageszeitung, an independent daily German newspaper.