IWMF AFRICAN GREAT LAKES REPORTING INITIATIVE

IWMF AFRICAN GREAT LAKES REPORTING INITIATIVE February 2015 Reporting Trips to Rwanda and Uganda Covering Rural and Economic Development

In February 2015, the IWMF led its inaugural reporting trips to Rwanda and Uganda as part of the African Great Lakes Reporting Initiative. Prior to starting in-country reporting, 12 international fellows and 24 Ugandan journalists completed comprehensive security training in Kampala, Uganda.

Along with their Ugandan peers, the international fellows received training and provided valuable user feedback on the new IWMF Reporta™ app.

RWANDA: With Rwanda emerging as the tech hub of Africa, photojournalist Cassandra Giraldo profiled the youth behind the burgeoning ICT industry. A regular contributor to The New York Times, Giraldo writes, “trying to find the perfect light when photographing tech-savvy youth glued to their devices has proven to be a delicate balancing act this week. Here an SOS Technical High School Student in Kigali learns HTML during an after school program run by HeHe Inc. teaching fellows.�

RWANDA: Despite the country’s remarkable growth and push towards business, agriculture still employs 80% of the workforce and defines most daily lives. Karen Coates, a fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Reporting at Brandeis University, interviewed the Minister of Agriculture, hospital workers, cooperative members, and storage facility managers about food security and the rapidly changing industry.

RWANDA: With the most women in parliament of any nation, Kigali is home to impressive leadership initiatives for girls. KQED (NPR) Radio Producer Irene Noguchi interviews two of the voices behind such an initiative, Nyampinga, a radio show for girls written, produced, recorded and edited by a group of 9 Rwandan female journalists aged 18-23.

UGANDA: Pictured here are a mother and child at an IDP camp, one of many families displaced by an oil waste management site. The company involved, McAlister Energy, has since pulled out of the project. IWMF fellows May Jeong and Katie Moore traveled to the Albertine region to cover the eects of oil exploration in the Hoima District.

UGANDA: Families in a dierent part of northwestern Uganda received compensation from Tullow and Total oil companies when their community was forced to relocate due to exploratory drilling.

This storefront construction is an example of the strategic use of that compensation. Not all communities used compensation in such a sustainable manner.

UGANDA: A local from the Palami village, 76-year-old Pilimena harvests maize, nuts and cassava. She depends on the profit she makes after selling her produce to care for her five grandchildren. South African freelance journalist Wandiswa Ntengento traveled to Gulu to cover the role of rural women in boosting the economy through farming and agriculture.

UGANDA: Two-thirds of the country’s population (over 24 million people, according to government data) do not have access to adequate sanitation. IWMF Fellow Mansi Choksi navigated Nakulabye, a slum in Kampala, to cover the urban sanitation crisis.

UGANDA: Home to the source of the Nile, Jinja district has seen the emergence of dams negatively impact its tourism industry, on which the community is highly dependent. Kimberly Adams interviewed rafters for her story on economic development and tourism in Jinja.

Reporting fellows expressed gratitude for the level of support and collaboration they found working in a group of like-minded women. They were inspired by the team dynamic and seized upon the positive side of some difficult topics. Kimberly Adams writes, “It’s so affirming and encouraging to know that this group of women is out there in this world. Print and radio reporters, photojournalists, and multimedia producers working from the prairie of Kansas to the jungles of the DRC. Rather than question my sanity for my career choice, we are instead discussing the best time of day for getting the best light to interview people of color, microphone techniques for recording on water, and safety strategies for covering protests. We are all learning from and sharing with each other, and it’s amazing.”