REPORT: ACRP supports 10 young Fellows to the African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC), 30 October - 1 November 2024

The Africa-China Reporting Project supported ten young journalists under the age of 30, to the AIJC Fellowship opportunity, to attend the African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC) 2024.  The young journalists demonstrated interests and commitment to attend the Conference in order to expand their journalistic skills and knowledge, while engaging and networking with fellow journalism and media professionals in the continent and abroad.

Journalists within the African continent often lack access to the required training, skills, knowledge and exposure to build on their reporting capabilities to tell Africa's story, presenting ground level, local and people-to-people perspectives. The AIJC ACRP Fellowship opportunity aimed to fill this existing gap.

The ten young journalists were from various countries in Africa, including; Ghana, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania.

The AIJC is an initiative of the Wits Centre for Journalism (WCJ), and the largest gathering of African investigative journalists on the continent.  The AIJC took place from 30 October – 1 November 2024, and was held at the Wits Science Stadium, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

The Wits Centre for Journalism, Africa-China Reporting Project aims to improve the quality of reporting on African and Africa-China issues by providing facilitation and capacity building for journalists via reporting grants, skills training workshops and other opportunities. The ACRP facilitates journalists to investigate complex dynamics and uncover untold stories, with an emphasis on on-the-ground impact and perspectives to illustrate how the lives of the people of Africa are changing amid the comprehensive phenomenon of Africa's engagements with China, and within its own developmental frameworks.

The following reports were published by some of the 2024 AIJC Young Fellows:

• Bank of Namibia cautions against oil, gas hype before final investment decision
• Namibia pioneers world’s first carbon credits from nopal cactus farming
• Lüderitz awards bids worth N$80 million for transformation strategy
• Solar-driven vaccine cold chains for remote areas of Kenya and Nigeria
• The untold story of critical minerals and mining in Africa - a Sierra Leonean Perspective and Radio insert
• Liberia:$10 million weather warning system delayed four years by EPA “Lack of Competence”, inflated salary claims and refusal to follow donor rules, says report

To apply for the Fellowship opportunity to the next African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC), follow the conference news and updates, and WCJ website at https://aijc.africa/ and https://wits.journalism.co.za/.