In October 2021, InfoNile brought together 16 journalists for a weeklong training in Uganda promoting data-based and science-based journalism about freshwater biodiversity issues in the Nile Basin. This training is part of Water Journalists Africa’s JRS-funded project to connect journalists and scientists.

During this training, journalists collaborated and pitched story ideas around biodiversity in Lake Victoria, which borders three countries with numerous fishing, development, and ecosystem threats from invasive species and pollution. InfoNile will provide grants and mentorship for the production of these stories.

 

Participants also visited Itanda Falls in Jinja, the source of the Nile River, and were introduced to the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFiRRI) FreshWater Biodiversity Portal for Uganda , a centralized data sharing platform with data, maps, red list status, publications, and biodiversity information on the fish in Uganda. Read more about our work with NaFiRRI at From the lab to the world: Unlocking Uganda’s freshwater biodiversity data for sustainable development.

Read more about this training and the collaborative effort with journalists from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda at NileWell.