IFEJ, Lands Ministry Move to Close Ghana’s Natural Resource Reporting Gap

 

The Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources are working towards a formal partnership to improve reporting on mining, forestry and land administration in Ghana.

The proposed collaboration will give journalists opportunities to deepen their understanding of the sector through technical briefings, specialised training and direct engagement with the ministry’s agencies.

It will also provide the ministry with a platform to explain its policies and reforms to the public through more informed reporting.

The initiative followed a meeting in Accra between the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, and an IFEJ delegation led by its President, Roger Agambire Agana, with members Bernard Yaw Ashiadey and Rayborn Bullay.

Building journalists’ capacity

Mr Agana called on the ministry to support training and technical briefings to help journalists better understand developments in mining, forestry and land administration.

He said IFEJ was ready to help explain the ministry’s policies to the public, particularly as Ghana seeks to increase local value addition in the minerals sector.

Mr Ashiadey proposed a memorandum of understanding to guide the partnership, an annual conference on mining and natural resource governance, and joint research and publications supported by the ministry’s technical expertise.

He also called for closer engagement between IFEJ members and the ministry’s agencies, including visits to degraded lands undergoing reclamation.

The visits would enable journalists to assess restoration efforts and report on the extent of environmental damage and progress in recovering affected areas.

Ministry backs specialised reporting

Mr Buah welcomed the proposals and agreed to a half-day workshop at which he and heads of the ministry’s agencies would brief IFEJ members.

He said general press coverage often missed the substance of sector policies, highlighting the need for journalists with specialised knowledge of the issues.

The proposed partnership is expected to help journalists explain policy decisions more clearly and examine their implications for businesses, mining communities and the environment.

For the ministry, closer engagement with specialist journalists could improve public understanding of its work and provide a channel for communicating reforms and addressing questions about their implementation.

Partnership to begin with workshop

The half-day workshop will launch the collaboration, after which IFEJ members are expected to engage directly with the ministry’s agencies.

The success of the partnership will depend on sustained access to technical information, regular engagement and opportunities for journalists to examine how policies are implemented.

For IFEJ, the aim is to strengthen the quality of natural resource reporting. For the ministry, it is an opportunity to ensure that policies governing Ghana’s natural resources are better understood by the public.