Council for Scientific and Industrial Research builds capacity of journalists in Accra

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, held a training workshop for journalists selected from the media in the country.

The workshop that was held at the Conference Room of the CSIR head office in Accra was organised with support from the Modernising Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) programme.

Participants for the workshop drawn from TV, Radio, and online outlets were taken through a number of presentation-backed training to have in-depth knowledge about the work of the CSIR in order to become better advocates of science research.

Giving his remarks at the workshop, the Deputy Director-General at CSIR, Prof. Paul Bosu underscored the readiness of his outfit to work with the media to not only contribute to the work that they do but to a large extent the development of the country.

“This [training workshop] is only the beginning of what we want to do especially now that our strategic plan has come into force. Now that we have you please we encourage you to always call us..Anything that you want we are ready to [help you out] because it is in our interest and it is in the interest of the country,” the CSIR Deputy Director-General echoed.

Deputy Director-General at CSIR, Prof. Paul Bosu

Prof. Paul Bosu added, “We are ready to go along with you so that CSIR, we can make the impact that this country needs.”

Making a presentation at the workshop organised under the 'CSIR knowledge series' programme, Ms. Benedicta Nkrumah-Boateng who is the head of corporate affairs identified researching into stories to box them into simple terms for audiences as one of the best practices that can be adopted by journalists when reporting on Science and Technology.

She said the CSIR wants stories going out to be broken down into everyday English for everyone to understand to avoid instances where consumers will have a challenge grasping the information being put out.

“For us what we want to do is to foster a good and healthy relationship with the media, see ourselves as partners in development and also see balance stories about the CSIR and the environment within which we operate,” Ms. Benedicta Nkrumah-Boateng told journalists at the workshop.

some journalists captured at the workshop

Participating in the training as a resource person, Napoleon Attoe Kittoe with GTV who has been working with the CSIR on projects for quite some time shared his experience to help journalists.

He advised colleague journalists to always do additional research when covering stories for the CSIR, go back to scientist to crosscheck facts to avoid mistakes, and also understand technical terminologies to be able to interpret them for the audience to understand.

“CSIR is doing a lot and we as journalists can only help them by taking interest to be part of that exclusive club. Note that many people don’t want to do science and therefore when you are bold enough as a journalist to be part of that particular community you are an exclusive journalist and people will take interest in what you do,” Napoleon Attoe Kittoe shared.

About CSIR:

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is the foremost national science and technology institution in Ghana. It is mandated to carry out scientific and technological research for national development.

The CSIR is mandated to pursue, among others, the implementation of government policies on scientific research and development, coordinate R&D activities in the CSIR and other S&T institutions nationwide and assist the government in the formulation of S&T policies for national development.

The CSIR is further required to commercialize appropriate technologies, in partnership with the private sector and other stakeholders, and encourage in the national interest, scientific and industrial research of importance for the development of agriculture, health, medicine, environment, technology and other service sectors of the economy.

Having been in existence for over 60 years, the CSIR has 13 research Institutes plus over 50 research centres, units, and field stations scattered across the country.

To promote demand-driven research while they grow, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Institute for Scientific and Technological Information (CSIR-INSTI) has designed four digital outputs to support and provide alternative methods of extension delivery.

The digital outputs built through the Modernizing Agriculture in Ghana programme include CSIR Technologies, CSIR Space, Kuafo Market Place, and Agritech Mobile Advisor.