Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Internship experiences with World Federation of Science Journalism (WFSJ)

By Violet Mengo, Zambia

People speak highly about their internship but it was never the case with me because I have never gone through one. The opportunity only fell through recently under the peer-to-peer mentoring programme. The destination was Kenya, at the Hotel, SIX EIGHTY (680) to cover the first African forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) on youth empowerment, Human Capital Development and Inclusive Growth.
Later that night, we had a meeting with the mentor on how we would proceed for the week. It was a busy programme ahead, which I digested with passion. Our mentor emphasized the use of social media, twitter and Facebook to be precise. In the morning, we were set for the meeting which was attended by a cross section of delegates, mostly ministers of S, T&I from the African Continent.
For the first time, I used the social media tools; twitter, face book on the proceedings of the conference. I was excited and these helped me to concentrate unlike previous meetings where during the proceedings I would start dozing.
From the conference, it was amazing to see the zeal of African leaders to move the science, technology and innovation in the African agenda. The three days attendance at the conference was busy, motivating and also interactive. Busy in the sense that in I was required to present at least an article to my mentor who kept advising on how to do good stories and interview from sources. Motivating because of the involvement of people at the conference and how they were willing and dedicated to their calls for science and development in Africa. Interactive because it helped broaden my network and meet new people and make friends.
After the conference, we also had the opportunity to visit Science Development Network offices where the African Editor took us through how the online publication was managed. He said told us the traits of a good journalist like some of the qualities found on the online course I did in the first phase of the SJCOOP programme. As always, I was motivated but still complained that each time I pitch an idea to scidev.net, it is short down but will try again and again.
Save the best for last; the trip to ICRAF was amazing and full of intelligent people who know their subject well. In all these activities the mentor kept encouraging us to have an eye for news. I wanted the programme to continue and I asked Esther if she could ask WFSJ to extend the internship for another week. The programme WSFJ in general has been a transformation phase in my career development. It has also helped me increase my network and source base. Ends


By Maxwell Awumah, GHANA
My experience at the first Africa Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (ASTI) under the WFSJ, gave me an overwhelming capability that has added a new dimension to my competency in science reporting.
Firstly, the choice, content and depth of the conference, its venue, Nairobi, Kenya, was not misplaced at all. The experience could be described as “gargantuan and enriching.” The internship offered me the opportunity to have a practical experience with tweeting and blogging and for the first time, a serious practical hands-on on social networking platform.
The experience from the sessions of the conference has given me weight to be able to write about STI and issues emanating chest out from governmental, academia, researchers, private sector and youth point of view, for instance member states commitment to STI funding came out strongly. This has accorded me the opportunity to monitor member country’s contributions and generate the necessary questions. I had a new string of networking platform with the experts from Africa and outside the continent as well.
My greatest achievement was a discussion with my Minister of Environment, Science and Technology to begin the production of a sector newsletter, for which they were searching for a committed individual. Even though the discussions were inconclusive, it signaled a good beginning.
The visit to the offices of Scidev was another tipping-point as we had thought invigorating advice from Ochieng Ogodo, Sub-Saharan African Editor, who urged Mentees to always “think out of the box and avoid the usual things to excel.” We had the privilege to be guest of Science Africa, to familiarise with their activities and to open links of contributing articles.
The visit to the International Centre for Research and Agro-Forestry (ICRAG) offices climaxed the internship. The centre is in the process of developing a soil map for Africa and with the state-of-the-art spectral diagnostics laboratory analyses soil-plant health for the continent and beyond. We had the opportunity of running through the various laboratories and forged networking for future engagements. The centre holds the crème of expert on African issues.
The anti-climax of the internship was waiting for over three hours to pave way for President Mwai Kibaki to address the STI session under tight security. Another is the erratic nature of Internet access both at the conference and Sixeigthy Hotel.
I can only say a BIG Thanks to SjCOOP, WFSJ and my Mentor for the opportunity, which had broaden my horizon to “smell science story” from afar and report it. My Mentor, Esther Nakkazi, has been phenomenal. Your advice on the need to add independent views on the declaration or communiqué was refreshing. It did not click to me.

By Arsénio Manhice; Mozambique
It was a great pleasure for me to take part at the 1st Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in Nairobi, Kenya from 1 to 3 April 2012. I had been covering many international conferences around the world but the 1st STI Forum was different.
First because it was an internship for me and the other three (3) mentees mentored by Ms. Esther Nakkazi since the beginning of the second edition of the Sjcoop project under the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ).
It means that besides collecting information and writing stories for my newsroom in Maputo –Mozambique, I had to exchange professional ideas with the other mentees. On this point we analyzed the way each of us write for his/her newsroom, compared to the skills we have been learning from our mentor.
On the mentoring program I would like to focus on what I learnt on covering the STI conference:
1. Coverage; During the covering of any conference it is import to hear what the panelists say but, at the end, we must get the comments/reactions of other participants of the forum such as scientists and governs officials.
2. Writing; Before writing a new story it is important to find out what has been written about that topic. So, background information is very important. When writing we must avoid in our stories words such as:…. the scientist; observed; recommend; informed, etc. To use different sources…...
During the conference I had an opportunity of taking some pictures. I like that because my mentor and the other mentees asked me to capture special pictures for them.
After the conference, we had a meeting with Mr. Ochieng Ogodo. His teaching emphasized what I have been learning from my mentor, Esther Nakkazi. He said we needed to read widely and understand the topics we were writing about and more importantly to respect the perspectives of the publications we are collaborating with as well as to be accurate and honest on our assignments.
I would like to say that sometimes we, mentees, do not imagine what our mentors do to help on our professional development. The visit at the World Forestry Centre (ICRAF) was a unique opportunity to talk with the scientists, the majority of them young.
During the internship, I decided to open a twitter account, which I will use for professionals comments. We also posted our stories and my pictures on a blog and on the Scjoop website. I wouldn’t end my notes without mentioning the informal moments we had and discussed issues of our countries. The internship was really fantastic.
I thank the WFSJ and my mentor Esther Nakkazi who always spends her time trying to show me the other way of doing journalism on STI. Today I have 9 awards of Journalism. I have to say that 3 of them are result of the teaching of my mentor. ends

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