Promotion of investigative journalism in West Africa: what results in 2024?

2024 has been a year of growth and impact for the Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO). Through five (05) projects/programmes and three (03) activities initiated in close collaboration with strategic partners, the organisation has made significant progress in journalist training, supporting investigations, and promoting solutions journalism.

Throughout the year, CENOZO intensified its efforts to build journalists’ capacities by organising 20 training workshops, including 8 online, for 264 journalists from 10 countries in West and Central Africa. These training workshops covered a variety of topics, such as investigative techniques and tools for environmental and climate change-related issues, the use of open data (OSINT), cybersecurity, and solutions journalism. This performance represents a notable increase compared to 2023, when 196 journalists benefited from our training sessions.

In 2024, the number of investigative grants awarded by CENOZO increased by more than 51%. From 49 grants in 2023, the organisation awarded 74 grants this year to support in-depth national and transnational investigations on topics of public interest, aimed at enhancing transparency and accountability. CENOZO also strengthened its advocacy efforts by organising nine (09) multi-stakeholder roundtable discussions (journalists, civil society actors, state officials) on the impact of investigative journalism and solutions journalism in promoting good governance and sustainable development in West Africa.

2024 was marked by the first Regional Forum on the importance of open data in the fight against the effects of climate change in West and Central Africa. This unique CENOZO event aimed to create a collaborative framework between experts and investigative journalists to enhance understanding of climate challenges among the public and policymakers.

The year was also marked by the statutory meeting of the organisation’s Board of Directors. This meeting allowed the organisation’s leaders to review the difficult working conditions of investigative journalists in the sub-region. Important measures were taken to strengthen security and improve the working conditions of journalists. The meeting also set the direction for the upcoming General Assembly of the organisation, which will take place alongside the Regional Conference on the theme: “Fighting Political Instability, Corruption, and Terrorism Financing in West Africa: What Role and Contribution of Investigative Journalists?”

CENOZO’s activities were made possible thanks to the support of its key partners, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), International Media Support (IMS), Foundation for Just Society (FJS), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).