Ghana Country Water Partnership builds capacity of students

Accra, March 15, GNA - A seminar aimed at building the capacity of student journalists in Environmental Reporting has been held in Accra.

The seminar, dubbed, 'WASH Journalism Initiative,' was a collaborative work between the Ghana Country Water Partnership (CWP-Ghana) and the Federation of Environmental Journalists (FEJ) branch at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).

It was aimed at initiating a campus-focused programme that would help groom students journalists to become advocates for a healthy Environment.

WASH, an acronym for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, is an interrelated programme of public health issues, which a number of development programmes with international funding seek to address.

Mr Maxwell Boateng-Gyimah, the Project Manager, CWP-Ghana, said the seminar formed part of CWP-Ghana's outreach programmes.

'The first Activity was a symposium dubbed, 'Me Wie'; My WASH concerns', which translates 'I will speak my WASH concerns in the Ga Language,' he said

Mr Boateng-Gyimah explained that the symposium sought to inspire 80 students to develop basic skills for reporting on environmental and developmental issues.

A second activity, which was a field trip to Prestea-Huni Valley District, he said, was held with the aim of giving 17 students and 30 community participants the opportunity to experience firsthand issues concerning environmental reporting.

'And today's seminar, which is the third under the WASH Initiative, seeks to present a platform for the students who participated in the trip to share their knowledge with the rest of the group and stakeholders present,' he explained

Ms Irene Ofosu-Ennin, the Communications Officer, CWP-Ghana, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the last activity to be carried out under the WASH Initiative would be the production of a newsletter.

She told the GNA that the interesting aspect of the initiative was its participatory nature, saying the activities were not planned and forced on students.

Ms Ofosu-Ennin expressed the CWP-Ghana's happiness of being part of the process that had benefited the students extensively.

The FEJ Blog that seeks to support the works of the students on campus was launched and recorders were presented to five participants for the recognition of their efforts for being the first to accept a challenge thrown to the FEJ members.

GNA