OCRI Announcements

The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is delighted to announce the award of climate investigations training scholarships to 18 deserving journalists from 12 countries under its global Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI).

The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) London has commenced its new Climate Investigations Course (CIC) launched in January 2025 after months of curriculum development and at the end of the third anniversary of the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) implementation.

What a year 2024 has been! It still feels like yesterday when we shared about the global difference our Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) made in 2023, and just like a flash, we are here again at the end of 2024.

Researchers from Côte d'Ivoire, journalists from West and Central Africa and other climate advocates met on 13 October, in Abidjan, to discuss a key element in journalistic investigations and climate research: data.

CIJ's Latin America partner, CONNECTAS, has launched a call for applications to select journalists interested in participating in a series of activities as part of year three of the Open Climate Reporting Project (OCRI).

CIJ's Francophone Africa partner Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO) has launched a call for applications for the selection of twelve (12) journalists from French-speaking West and Central Africa to take part in a series of activities as part of the year three of the Open Climate Reporting Project (OCRI).

The Centre for Investigative Journalism, London in partnership with the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) is inviting journalists and editors from across West Africa to submit story pitches under the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI).

DataLEADS, in partnership with the CIJ, is accepting applications from South Asian journalists for a four-day intensive training workshop on the Climate Investigations Course (CIC), scheduled for November 2024 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

For the third year in a row, the CIJ's Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) featured prominently at the annual #CIJSummer Conference. Notwithstanding the UK general elections that was called in May, the conference was fully booked and a huge success welcoming 190 delegates and 42 speakers!

With the third year of the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) in full swing, the CIJ is working with four partner organisations in Francophone Africa, South Asia, Anglophone Africa and Latin America to deliver it's new Climate Investigations Course (CIC) as part of activities for OCRI Year 3.

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Following a successful pilot in Nepal and six regions covered in Year 1 and 2, the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) will in its next run cover four regions namely Latin America, Anglophone Africa, Francophone Africa, and South Asia till September 2025.

 From April 2022 after months of scoping and ground work, the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, London (CIJ) took off with a pilot programme in Nepal.

The second year of implementing the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) by the CIJ has seen the publication of more 60 supported stories across the 3 regions of Brazil and Lusophone Africa, South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

2023 has been a rollercoaster year for the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) at the CIJ! We built on a successful Year One (April 2022 – March 2023) and moved into 3 new regions for Year Two that runs till March 2024.

Under the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI), Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism has launched a resource pack about #PowerTracker: Investigating renewable energy across Mozambique. The document, in English and Portuguese, brings the sources and findings regarding two webinars about how to investigate renewable energy in Mozambique and three investigations published in 2023.

Climate in Arabic is organising an insightful series of three webinars for journalists in Egypt. Following the success of the workshop hosted last August, these webinars, starting on November 24th, 2023, mark a continuation of the organisation's efforts to enhance journalists' understanding of climate change and its complex interconnections while implementing the CIJs OCRI project.

OCRI is at the 8th edition of the Brazilian Conference on Data Journalism and Digital Methods (Coda.Br) in partnership with Open Knowledge Brasil (OKBR) as part of activities planned for Year Two in the form of four training workshops and a panel talk.

The Open Knowledge Brasil (OKBR) has created a handbook with tips for data-driven local coverage of climate justice. The document summarises the main lessons learned by the participants of Coda Amazônia, held between 31 August and 1 September 2023 in Belém, Brazil, in partnership with the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI).

We are now halfway into the second implementing year of OCRI which commenced April 2023 and we are glad that 327 beneficiaries have so far been trained directly across the 3 regions: Brazil & Lusophone Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Press Accelerate organised and hosted a groundbreaking online workshop on climate reporting and research aimed at early-career and aspiring journalists and researchers in the Gulf states. The intensive online workshop took place from September 7 to 10 and consisted of three comprehensive modules: Introduction to Journalism in the Gulf Reporting and Research on Climate and the Environment in the Gulf Introduction to Reporting on UNFCC and COP (Conference of the Parties) The virtual workshop was attended by nine dedicated participants, who were selected through a thorough application process and share a deep passion for advancing climate knowledge in the region.

The Climate Voice Workshop in Algadarif State, Sudan, was successfully conducted by NasActive, attracting 15 selected participants from a competitive pool of 184 applicants across various states in Sudan.

5 different OCRI sessions will take place during the 2nd edition of the Regional Conference on Data Journalism and Digital Methods (Coda Amazônia) taking place between 31 August and 2 September in Belém and Salvaterra, in Pará Brazil.

OCRI partners across the 3 regions will have different forms of engagement in August as more journalists gain knowledge and skills to report climate change in their countries. First is the #PowerTracker module 2 by Oxpeckers that focuses on Storytelling with data for Mozambican journalists holding August 3 while following a successful call for applications, 20 selected Egyptian Journalists will participate in a 4-day workshop by ClimateInArabic from 17-20 August.

ClimateInArabic in partnership with CIJ's Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI), is announcing the launch of its Climate and Investigative Journalism Fellowship for Egyptian journalists who write about climate change and environmental issues.

In partnership with CIJ's Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI), the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) will select ten journalists learn about reporting climate change and environmental issues at a training course in Belém, Pará.

The engagement of two more partners in the MENA region and one in South Asia wraps up the inception stage for the implementation of OCRI year 2. This brings the total number of partners in the three regions to ten.

Some partners will kick off training across the three OCRI Year 2 regions. The first training holds 15-16 June in Jordan by the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

At least 15 journalists from 10 governorates in Egypt will be trained with a handful others supported to execute climate change investigative stories in Arabic as the Centre for Investigative Journalism partners Climate in Arabic under it's Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI).

The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is partnering with two Brazilian organisations to implement the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) in year two. The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji) and Open Knowledge Brasil (OKBR) will deliver activities that consist of training, reporting grants and conference workshops for at least 270 journalists, NGO communicators, and researchers.

Journalists in Pakistan will receive training and mentoring under the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) of the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) London following the partnership with Media Unlimited for the South Asia region.

For the second year, the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is partnering with the Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism in implementing the #PowerTracker programme under the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI). The partnership is building on the successes recorded during the first Year of implementing OCRI in Anglophone Africa by focusing this time on the Lusophone Africa region.

DataLEADS invites applications for a climate reporting training bootcamp as part of activities planned under the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) for Indian Journalists. Successful applicants will be part of a 2-day training-of-trainers workshop holding in June which intends to improve knowledge of the importance of reporting on climate change and the effect that such reporting can have on addressing the urgent questions connected to climate change that have a substantial impact on policy making.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is partnering the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) in implementing the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for year two.

The last twelve months of implementing the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) of the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) has been an impactful one and has provided the springboard to achieve more as we go into working in three new regions of the world namely Brazil & Lusophone Africa, South Asia and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA).

CIJ OCRI Project Manager Adeolu Adekola took part in the BBC World Service Weekend programme on 5 February, discussing among other things the CIJ OCRI Programme and elections in Nigeria. You can hear the discussions below.

After months of training journalists, forging partnership with research institutes and climate study as well as investigative stories field work, CIJ's OCRI partner, the Cell Norbert Zongo for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO) held a public conference on Friday, 20 January 2023 in  Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Stakeholders from Government agencies, Civil Society Organisations, researchers/academics working on mangrove issues as well as the media were present as Adisi-Cameroun held an Investigative stories presentation and roundtable event.

After weeks of field work following the training received in May, the first story supported by OCRI was published in September. The story which was on the Urban Flooding in Kathmandu Valley served as a warning following the devastating effect the Pakistani flood has had, with nearly a third of nearby Pakistan submerged.

Two of the 10 journalists who joined the Advanced Course on Investigative Journalism (CAPI in Spanish) at COLPIN 2022, prepared by IPYS as part of OCRI and focusing on different aspects of covering Climate Change, were awarded with a 1,000 USD grant each to pursue the proposals they discussed during the course.

OCRI's Anglophone Africa partner, Adisi-Cameroun is hosting an official presentation of the results from the investigative stories and a roundtable on the dangers of mangrove destruction and the consequences as it relates to Climate Change.

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) was held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022. Prior to the conference, one of OCRI's Anglophone Africa Partner, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)  on November 2, launched a COP reporting handbook for Journalists.

Following the training and publication of stories under the PowerTracker OCRI intervention, our Anglophone Africa partner, Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism is hosting a webinar where the grantees will share tips, tools and advice on investigating renewable energy in Southern Africa.

At this year's African Investigative Journalism Conference #AIJC2022 which ran from October 31 to November 2, our partners from Anglophone and Francophone Africa shared lessons on working with the CIJ as a partner and reaching about 200 journalists, researchers and activists/environmentalists across 19 African countries under OCRI.

As part of effort to quickly respond to the flooding crisis that has left devastating effect in Nigeria, the OCRI project supported one of its Anglophone Africa partners, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) working in the country.

As part of the OCRI programme, at least 50 journalists received training during the Conferencia Latinoamericana de Periodismo de Investigación (COLPIN) 2022. The conference which is one of the most prestigious conferences on investigative journalism in the region was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 9-12 November.

From 31 August to 2 September 2022, 13 reporters and editors who cover environmental and/or climate change issues in Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America participated in a 3-day training workshop organised by Fundación Gabo.

The 3-day online workshop on how to investigate and tell stories about Climate Change ran from 6-8 September 2022, with more than 70 participants from 15 countries in Latin America on the first day alone.

As part of the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) activities, one of CIJ's partners, CONNECTAS, is carrying out a free online workshop on how to investigate and tell stories about Climate Change.

One of CIJ’s LATAM partners on the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI), Fundación Gabo, has announced the 14 journalists participating in the three-day workshop on ‘Investigative Journalism on Climate Change’, taking place from 31 August to 2 September 2022, in Mexico City.

One of CIJ's Anglophone Africa partners on the OCRI project Oxpeckers Center for Investigative Environmental Journalism has announced the #PowerTracker journalists participating in its latest project aimed at investigating financing of renewable energy projects.

CALL FOR PITCHES! OCRI Anglophone Africa partner, African Institute for Investigative Journalism (AIIJ) invites Journalists based in Uganda with investigative story ideas on climate change and environmental crime to apply and send in their story pitches.

The second webinar, organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and Fundacion Gabo as part of the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI), took place on Thursday 21 July, on ‘Digital Tools for Investigations on Climate Change’.

The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), in partnership with The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ), is hosting its climate change media fellowship. The fellowship features training and mentorship opportunities, access to data and resources, and media appearances on topical climate change issues.

The first of two open Webinars, organised by the Centre for Investigative Journalism and Fundacion Gabo as part of the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI), took place this Tuesday 19 July, on ‘Planning an Investigation on Climate Change’.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is delighted to announce a third partner in the Anglophone Africa region for OCRI. The African Institute for Investigative Journalism (AIIJ) will be implementing a project titled: Leveraging investigative journalism for environmental accountability.

The CIJ and Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) have teamed up to deliver training on climate change reporting for up to 30 journalists in Latin America (except Brazil). There will be two types of training: First, we are planning to convene, develop and support a new edition of IPYS' Advanced Course on Investigative Journalism (CAPI 2022), now focused on environmental reporting.

As part of the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) activities implemented by Fundación Gabo, 14 reporters and/or editors who cover environmental and/or climate change issues in any Spanish-speaking country in Latin America will be selected from applications received to be part of the 3-day training.

The CIJ and Fundación Gabo have opened call for applications and preparations for interested investigative journalists towards 2 masterclass webinars planned to teach good practices, techniques and key tools to investigate climate issues.

In Cameroon, trainers who will be involved in the implementation of the Open Data for Environment and Civic Awareness project under OCRI are meeting for a planning and curriculum development workshop on July 4 and 5, in Douala, the economic capital of the country.

The CIJ's Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) will now be implemented across 8 countries in Francophone Africa. Joining the initial three partners covering 7 countries is Ajebudi-Yaga, a leading innovative and young-led media organisation in Burundi.

CIJ's partner and West-Africa-based investigative journalism network CENOZO, organised its first climate change reporting training on June 23 and 24, under the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) project.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism's partner on the Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI) project, Institut Panos Afrique de l’Ouest, has launched a call for applications to journalists in Senegal, Niger and Côte d'Ivoire who are interested in investigative reporting on climate issues.

Following a successful introductory module session, applications are now open for interested journalists in Southern Africa to participate in the PowerTracker programme of the Oxpeckers Center for Investigative Environmental Journalism.

Fundación Gabo and Fundación Connectas are partnering with the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in strengthening the capacities of journalists in Latin America under its Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI).

The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) is partnering the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in implementing a programme that is aimed at strengthening media and civil society organisations’ capacity to report climate change in 5 West African Anglophone countries namely: Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) is delighted to announce partnerships with 3 organisations to train and mentor Journalists in 7 Francophone Africa countries under its Open Climate Reporting Initiative (OCRI).

Registration is now open for the first training of the PowerTracker programme implemented by the Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism under the Centre for Investigative Journalism's (CIJ) OCRI project.

Applications are now open for Nepali journalists interested in honing their skills for climate investigations using open source intelligence and data. The Centre for Investigative Journalism under it's Open Climate Reporting Initiative is delighted to announce this opportunity in partnership with the Center for Data Journalism Nepal (CDJN).

The Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism is partnering the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in implementing PowerTracker, a new programme that will collate data on renewable energy projects in Africa being funded by corporations, governments and other parties.