Reporters, trainers, broadcasters, and creatives across West Africa interested in solutions journalism now have a one-stop site to access news, resources, and career opportunities, thanks to a Fellowship awarded to Founder and Executive Director of Media Career Development Network (MCDN), Lekan Otufodunrin.
Otufodunrin is one of the five Fellows selected from hundreds in Nigeria for the inaugural Solutions Journalism Africa Fellowship, organised by the Solutions Journalism Network, a non-profit organisation with a presence across 18 countries, and over 500 newsrooms.
He will build and run the Solutions Journalism West Africa Media Hub online as a dedicated section of the MCDN website www.mediacareerng.org
According to Otufodunrin who is an experienced journalist and trainer with over 35 years of multimedia practice experience, the project is aimed at providing journalists in West Africa more relevant resources about solution journalism and getting them interested in producing solution journalism content about major social problems in the region.
The dedicated section will contain story ideas, reports, links, and career resources that are linked to solution journalism.
Otufodunrin will be working with a network of Journalists from West Africa ( Nigeria, Liberia, Ghana and Gambia), including writers with disabilities, to produce content for the Hub.
“I am delighted about the opportunity given me by the Solutions Journalism Network, through the Africa Fellowship to implement this project which will provide relevant resources and training for journalists in the region to appreciate the need to adopt solutions journalism approach in their reporting.
“While there are myriad of problems in our region to needs attention, there are also solutions that should be highlighted instead of focusing on the problems alone.
“Solutions journalism is not public relations for any individual or organisation. It involves rigorous, evidence-based reporting of solutions to problems. It is another level of investigative reporting that also includes explanation and pointing out limitations of solutionis,” Otufodunrin explained.
