Importance of trainings can never be overemphasized in any profession; hence the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) took time to train agric journalists on policy communications, JOHN OBA reports.
Capacity building The importance of capacity building for journalist in the Nigeria agricultural sector is tied to the fact that the media is critical to the development of the sector and the experiences that would be gotten from the training would further help hone the professional skills of journalists on the field, deepen their knowledge, encourage networking and enable them to contribute to transformational change the Nigeria government is bringing to bear on the sector.
Training is seen not just as an event but as a process, therefore, the recent training of some agriculture reporters by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) won’t have come at a better time as participating journalists were able to improve their knowledge and capacity to communicate policies effectively in the sector.
Media and the agriculture sector Handling the first presentation titled: “Journalism as Integral to Policymaking,” the IFPRI Media Engagement Manager, from Washington DC, Mr. Drew Sample, asserted that the media is important to communicating policy in the sector to other stakeholders.
He said with government focus on agriculture and the fact that agriculture has been able to increase the country’s Gross Domestic product (GDP) to between 20-25 per cent noting that 7.9 per cent Nigerians are still under-nourished, 32.9 per cent and over 20 per cent obesity among women, has made it mandatory for the media to give more attention to the sector.
Learning to write a policy brief The programme officer, Elisabeth Douglas, took the over 30 journalists drawn from six states at the two-day workshop through the rudiment of policy brief writing.
She explained that policy brief is a concise summary of a particular issue, the policy options to deal with it, and some recommendations on the best options.
Giving reasons for writing policy brief and why the journalists should be trained on this, she said it is primarily targeted at government policy makers and others who are interested in formulating or influencing policy.
According to her, “Policy brief aims to persuade that a particular policy action is the best option, and aims to IFPRI trains journalists on policy communication Seedling Importance of trainings can never be overemphasized in any profession; hence the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) took time to train agric journalists on policy communications, JOHN OBA reports.
advise on the various policy options for a particular issue and it can be a powerful tool for advocacy and/or shaping policy debate.
“The audience is made up primarily of policymakers and those who influence the Policymaking process.
This group are usually under pressure from various interest groups, because policymakers are usually non-specialists, but experts in Policymaking process.
However, as a public document, the audience could include other actors including the general public,” she explained.
Ms. Douglas further took the participants through IFPRI inhouse template of policy brief which according to her should not be more than eight pages or 3000 words.
Journalists present were also taken through the illustration of policy brief, structure of policy brief, approaches and results, conclusion, implication and recommendations and what makes a good policy brief.
Participants were further encouraged to take advantage of this to examine most Nigeria agriculture policies so as to enhance proper implementation such that the country’s policy makers will be enabled persuaded to take action or amend where necessary.
Communicating agric policy brief Getting our policy brief across to the target audience means using appropriate platform of communication including online platforms.
But using online platforms requires technics and useful indications of the impact of such platforms.
Therefore training the participants on the use of social media to communicate agric policy relevant research, the Communications Assistant, Bisola Oyediran, said general online platforms such as Twitter and Facebook provide a means of assessing how many people are discussing any policy at a given time and also provide a way of potentially evaluating their sentiment towards that policy.
She said actively participating in online platforms allows researchers to disseminate research agric findings quickly and effectively to a wide range of audiences as well as raise the profile of themselves, their research groups or institutions.
“There are different ways to engage with online platforms.
They require different levels of time investment and often different levels of benefits and rewards.
It all starts with the same first step and that is the decision which platform to use and for what purpose.
It is also important to note that not only the intended purpose of use, but also the user personality can be a deciding factor when choosing some platform over the other.
One site does not fit all and it is worth trying which works best for you before abandoning all the online platforms completely,” she advised.
Using researcher’s work Mr. Drew further took participants through the processes of using research and researchers in their reporting and details that should be taken into consideration.
He also explained why agricultural stories should be written to win the heart of the editors.
He emphasized the need for a catchy headline, getting a pitch and an angle that would make the story marketable.
Credibility of sources and ability to demonstrate to readers that such story is unbiased, balanced and credible, compelling visuals and the use of other new media tools are to be taken into context.
Journalists therefore called for more of such training for other agric reporters across the country as part of efforts to develop
