A foremost civic-tech organisation, BudgIT, is set to organise its 2023 GovSpend Media Fellowship.
This is made public Wednesday in a press release signed by the organisation’s Communications Associate, Nancy Odimegwu.
The 2023 edition which is expected to last from September to November 2023 is featuring 12 journalists who will be selected, with two from each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
The application period for the Fellowship will commence Wednesday, August 2, 2023 (noon WAT) and end on August 14, 2023 (5:00 pm WAT).
Odimegwu stated that experienced civil society leaders, journalists, industry experts, and media fellows will review submissions and conduct interviews for successful applicants between August 15 and 25, 2023.
He added that shortlisted applicants will be announced Monday, August 28, 2023 and monthly stipend of N200,000 will be provided to the fellows to support their reporting and logistics.
Commenting on the initiative, Iyanuoluwa Bolarinwa, BudgIT’s Acting Head of Open Government and Institutional Partnerships, noted that BudgIT would evaluate the feedback from the fellows, regarding the program’s impact on their careers and consider their perspectives on its usefulness and any potential area for improvement.
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“In addition, we will monitor public reception and impressions of the stories published by the fellows, taking into account the feedback and reactions from citizens,” Bolarinwa added.
At the end of the fellowship, BudgIT will extend post-training support to the fellows and ensure the ongoing maintenance of the GovSpend portal for the general public’s continuous use.
The project, the statement indicated, is supported by the MacArthur Foundation as part of its commitment to journalism in Nigeria and partnership with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR.
Recall that in 2021, BudgIT launched govspend.ng, a visual platform that provides citizens, CSOs, the media, and stakeholders access to simplified data from the Federal Government’s Open Treasury Portal.
Based on this, the GovSpend Media Fellowship is BudgIT’s effort to train and equip journalists with the necessary skills to effectively utilise the GovSpend platform and other relevant subjects, such as creative communication and data-driven storytelling.
BudgIT is a leading platform for advocacy on accountability, transparency, and effective service delivery in Nigeria,
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