Ugandan journalism students have been trained on Access to Information

The Journalism & Media International Center in conjunction with the Department of Journalism and Communication, Makerere University, Uganda have conducted a four-day workshop on Access to Information.
The workshop was attended by 35 final year journalism students from Makerere University, Uganda. The training that started on Monday, 16th September was concluded on 19th September, 2024.

The main facilitator of the workshop was Tarjei Leer-Salvesen, a Norwegian freelance journalist. He trained participants to understand how different national ATI laws work, and how their differences can be used to a journalist’s advantage. Using examples of his own experience, Leer-Salvesen also took participants through the different digital tools that can be used in accessing information.
Other facilitators included, Dr. Ivan Lukanda from the Department of Journalism and Communication, Edrine Wanyama from Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) and Charity Komujjurizi, Programme Manager, African Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC).
The trainers enlighten participants on how Uganda’s ATI law works and took them through practical steps of applying for information access in Uganda. The training culminated into filing of information requests by participants.
The workshop was also graced by Prof. Guy Berger, the former UNESCO Director for Policies and Strategies regarding Communication and Information who shared with participants an important background on Access to Information struggles in Africa. Prof. Berger was in Uganda to deliver a lecture on the link between African journalism, big tech, elections and data.
Nakyanzi Eve, one of the participants, commended JMIC for supporting the workshop and the trainers for the new knowledge they gave participants during the training. She said that the acquired knowledge had gone a long way in preparing them for a career in journalism.
This was the fifth training in Access to Information that JMIC has supported at Makerere University. A total of 213 journalism students have befitted from such trainings in the last five years.