Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies/Courtesy
By CORRESPONDENT, NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 12 – 191 Kenyan journalists have graduated from the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa’s (BMIA) Financial Journalism Training (FJT) program since the program launched in 2014 to advance financial journalism and improve access to accurate, reliable data on the continent.
A report, released Tuesday, highlights how the first phase of the program has directly impacted more than 1,000 key individuals, the media outlets they influence and the people they serve across three of Africa’s leading economies: Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
The training program in Kenya was delivered in partnership with the University of Nairobi School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Strathmore Business School. It aims to increase the number of skilled financial journalists and analysts, who are better able to interpret business, finance and economics and cover critical economic development issues on the continent.
Graduates from the program are now employed by some of Kenya’s leading media houses including Nation Media Group, Standard Media Group, Royal Media Services and organizations including the Central Bank of Kenya and Barclays Bank. More than half of graduates are women.
Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, said: “Strong financial reporting is critical to economic growth and good governance. The expansion of the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa to five new countries will significantly further our mission to advance financial journalism and transparency on the continent.”
Based on the initial success of the program in Kenya, as well as Nigeria and South Africa, BMIA today announced the expansion of its FJT program to Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Tanzania, joining Ghana and Zambia where training programs launched earlier this year. The expansion to Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire will see the Training Program delivered in Francophone Africa for the first time.
The Financial Journalism Training program is a core component of the BMIA, which aims to contribute to the advancement of business and financial reporting in Africa. The BMIA is a project of Bloomberg Philanthropies. The FJT program in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia will also receive support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is proud to partner with Bloomberg in helping equip a global talent pool of journalists with the sort of specialist expertise that can propel them towards attaining a high level of professional excellence. This is the basis of a robust, ethical, independent press, which now seems to be more critical than ever,” said Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).
The program has also offered a Fellowship for editors and senior journalists, which has been completed by 45 Fellows and a fund to promote community media and citizen journalism – the Community Media Fund – which ten organizations have received grants from in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. The Ford Foundation has been a leading supporter of these programs.
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