Executive Director of International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Dayo Aiyetan responds on opportunities offered by his organisation and other media Non-Governmental Organisations.
As for journalists maximising ICIR opportunities, I can think of several. Training: We do a lot of training in Investigative and Data Journalism. Some of the people I have seen on this thread are beneficiaries. There is another training coming up in the New Year focusing on budgets and procurements.
Journalists just have to check for information on our website www.icirnigeria.org. Others like Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, PTCIJ, and Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism also offer quality training in Investigative Journalism and Data Journalism that journalists can benefit from. They just have to check online to know when these opportunities come. Also, the ICIR publishes a lot on fellowships and scholarship opportunities. Again, journalists have to check online. We circulate a lot of resources – journalism manuals and materials, particularly on new areas such as Fact Checking, Solutions Journalism, Trauma Reporting and Restorative reporting that journalists can read. Just from reading these materials, journalists can decide which aspect of our work to focus on and go on to specialise in them.
The ICIR also offers networking and other opportunities to journalists. For example, from time to time, people in our network need journalists in Nigeria to collaborate and work with and “matchmake” them. Sometime next year, the ICIR is also starting some kind of weekend journalism clinic or boot camp to do exactly what you have started – provide journalists a platform where they can ask questions or seek mentoring with the work they do.
The ICIR, through a grant from Ford Foundation, was able to give small grants to journalists to do investigations. We are hoping to be able to do that in the new year, particularly focusing on journalists in small or remote news organisations. Freelance journalists can also look forward to some capacity building and grant-giving opportunities from the ICIR in 2017. But the key thing is journalists have to check for information online for these and so many other opportunities.
For full reports of the December 2016 Media Career Q&A during which Aiyetan shared his views click this link
