Learning Narrative: #WildEye Training for Investigative Journalism in Southern Africa
Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism, through a grant from USAID’s VukaNow Activity, developed a powerful new data-driven tool, #WildEye Southern Africa, that addresses a major challenge facing wildlife crime reporters and investigators: the fact that information on these types of activities is hard to find and even harder to track over time, and across borders. This has allowed criminal activity to remain hidden from public scrutiny and hindered reporting on the multi-billion-dollar illegal wildlife trade.
In addition, over the course of the grant period, Oxpeckers provided crucial mentoring and training on how to report wildlife crime to selected journalists. While it is no secret that species like rhinos, pangolins and lions are killed and illegally traded, tracking and reporting on these crimes is challenging because information sits in dusty court files in different countries with different access laws. People gathering data face bureaucracy, intimidation, and other challenges even as globally, large-scale, transnational wildlife crimes threaten species, security, and the well-being of local communities. This learning narrative document provides insight into the development of the tool, and the experiences of the journalists who were mentored and trained through the program.
Link: #WildEye Southern Africa
