Promoting IATI data at World Press Freedom Day

This post was written by data journalist, Winnie Kamau from the Association of Freelance Journalists and Lea Zoric, IATI’s Outreach and Data Use Specialist at UNDP.

The global celebrations of World Press Freedom Day 2018 were held in Accra on 2-3 May and brought together more than 600 stakeholders from governments, civil society, media and academia from Ghana, across the region, and beyond.

“By ensuring journalists have access to IATI for their investigations, authorities can be held accountable for where development resources go and how effectively they are being used to achieve sustainable development.

The event’s theme focused on the media, the judiciary and the rule of law within the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

With over US$145 billion of development spending published to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), this was an ideal forum to promote the use of IATI data to help deliver sustainable development outcomes.

The media has a vital role in supporting the delivery of the 2030 Agenda. One of the primary contributions of journalists is to hold politicians and institutions accountable, as well as to monitor and report on the democratic processes that mandate them.

By ensuring journalists have access to IATI for their investigations, authorities can be held accountable for where development resources go and how effectively they are being used to achieve sustainable development.

IATI training workshop to journalists

At World Freedom day, IATI provided training to 40 youth journalists, who were keen to explore IATI data online through d-portal.org and learn about fact-based journalism.

The IATI workshop was delivered by Winnie Kamau, an active member of the IATI community, and Association of Freelance Journalist Director. Her training was very well received among the participants and triggered interesting discussions on how IATI data was generated, used and broader issues related to data journalism.

IATI in the marketplace

IATI reached the event’s wider audience through a market-stand at the conference, equipped with info material and a large monitor to showcase d-portal.

The participants had the opportunity to explore IATI data themselves and understand more about the initiative from the hosts of the market-stand. The discussions and feedback of the confirmed the relevance of IATI for (data) journalism and reflected broad interest in the initiative and its data.

IATI will continue efforts to promote the use of IATI data to different groups including civil society stakeholders throughout the year as part of the IATI Data Use Strategy.