Nigerian youth participate in Info-activism training

On 16 March 2011 in Lagos, Nigeria, twenty nine young communicators, journalists and grass roots organisers attended the one-day Info-Activism training that took place at the offices of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria.

A number of different speakers offered their opinion on the change face of communication. Miss Oreoluwa Somolu, the Executive Director of W.TEC, made a presentation using W.TEC as a model on the different ways they implement projects using new media, and how young change-makers can adapt the new technology into their various projects, irrespective of the digital divide. 

The communication officer of Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS), Olufunke Osindele, gave an insight into what JAAIDS does while The Sunday Editor of the Nation Newspaper, Mr. Lekan Otufodunrin, encouraged the participants to be pro-active in exploring new media for social impact. He also buttress the need for young journalists to be at the forefront of using new media to disseminate their work, while sharing their knowledge and “how to” skills with their colleagues.

After a fifteen-minute break, everyone re-converged for the 55 minutes 10 tactics film screening on how to turn information into action. Most of the case studies resonated with the knowledge Miss Oreoluwa Somolu imparted earlier in her presentation.

Jennifer Ehidiamen, a journalist supporting the project said, “They were excited to receive free copies of the 10 tactics. Most of the participants said they would replicate the screening in their organisation and for their programmes.”

“We had more people showing keen interest even though we already had the number of capacity we could take on,” said Jennifer.

At the end of the event, the participants were excited about doing a replica screening and also signed up to mentor High School Press clubs in order to bridge the yawning gap between the media organisations, communications students and High school Press clubs.

This training is apart of the Before Graduation project. Before Graduation is aimed at connecting Nigerian youth education to internship opportunities and contribute to the emergence of a skilled, employable, and entrepreneurial generation of youths. The next phase of the programme is designing a curriculum for press club mentors, while assisting those who want to organise the film screening to do so effectively.

Story by Jennifer Ehidiamen