CIJ and Oxpeckers continue PowerTracker partnership in Lusophone Africa

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. Specifically, this iteration of #PowerTracker will focus on task-based upskilling of Mozambique-based investigative journalists to cover climate change and renewable energy.

By leveraging collaboration with the Centro de Jornalismo Investigativo Mozambique, journalists will be trained to use data and investigative journalism techniques in reporting the thematic area in the country, particularly solar and hydro-powered projects. Mozambique is currently developing the five-year ‘Energy for All’ programme, through the Energy Fund (FUNAE), which aims to ensure that 10 million more people have access to electricity by the end of 2024. The Oxpeckers-OCRI training and professional support plans to ask how the projects around renewable energy are funded and how exactly is the money being used.

Planned activities over nine months include: the delivery of two in-depth virtual training modules, story grants for the production of data-driven investigations, production of one original and exclusive dataset of aggregated and analysed data relevant to Mozambique on climate change, and renewable energy projects, as well as enabling a tight-knit Community of Practice in the country.

The CIJ and Oxpeckers Investigative Environmental Journalism partnered during the first year of OCRI, and analysed renewable energy funding across Southern Africa. Apart from liberating new data that details nearly 200 renewable energy investments in Africa thereby tracking energy investments in the first year, the intervention also created a learning kit and resource pack for journalists to track renewable energy financing. With this collaborative effort, the development and deployment of resources will be done in English and Portuguese.