This highly-successful project set out to improve the environmental journalism and investigative reporting skills of journalists from several different regions of Tanzania (Morogoro, Tanga, Mbeya, Pemba, Iringa, Pwani, Moshi, Arusha, Dar es Salaam).
The training took place over 11 months, both in Tanzania and UK in collaboration with the Journalist’s Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET). The project aimed to: - Create awareness of environmental issues and how they related to Tanzania - Unearth environmental news stories and features relevant to Tanzania - Uncover and develop information already in the public domain - Expose Tanzanian journalists to newsworthy developments in environmental research taking place in UK - Encourage a deeper interest in climate-change stories beyond the lifetime of the project Two field trips were held in Tanzania, to Hale and Mtoni, designed to provide the participants with a hands-on experience of a live climate change story. They were encouraged to speak to as many sources as possible before writing their reports or a broadcast scripts. Their work was then assessed by the Thomson Foundation course leaders and, in many cases, published or broadcast. A study visit also was organised to Wales, with visits to organisations involved in research and environmental technology. Again, many of the resulting reports were published in the Tanzanian media.