Finance:Uncovered, alongside Free Press Unlimited, is delighted to invite applications from journalists, campaigners and academics based in Africa who would like to attend our five-day financial investigative journalism and digital security training course in Abuja.
The dates for our Abuja training will be:
Monday 1 July 2019 – Friday 5 July 2019
The deadline for applications is Wednesday 10 April at 12h00 BST
You do not need to have a financial background to apply but we consider it important when selecting candidates to see evidence of your investigative experience. Class instructions will take place in English.
Why attend?
Over three days, you will be shown how to investigate corporate accounts, offshore activity and corporate corruption. We will show you where to find documents, how to analyse them and other practical tools to help uncover financial secrecy.
We will also demonstrate how you can secure those involved in your investigation by improving your risk assessment and security skills.
A combination of hands-on training and guidance from senior practitioners will give you the basis to investigate financial corruption as well as offering the opportunity to network with other journalists and activists.
The course aims to help participants understand:
- the building blocks of the offshore world
- how to access and interpret company accounts
- where to access other company information
- the methodology behind the ground-breaking tax avoidance investigations by the journalists who conducted them
- how to investigate and report corruption stories
- how to track the international policy agenda relating to illicit financial flows
- how to keep your research safe
Digital Security
Investigative journalists following the money often work with sensitive information that some people and organisations do not want to see publicised.
So keeping you, your data and your sources secure is paramount.
This is why during the first section of our training, Free Press Unlimited will focus on advanced digital security techniques, including encryption, secure communication and methods to stay “under the radar” during investigations. We will cover:
- Device security, how to keep one’s equipment secure
- Online security, how to safely operate online
- Mobile security, how to safely use digital equipment on-the-road, including telephones and other devices
- Social media security, how to safely use social media for research and publication
Bursaries available
Bursaries are available for working journalists and activists who are based in Africa. Bursaries cover visa fees, travel and accommodation.
Due to the limited number of bursaries, journalist applicants will be selected on their track record in investigative journalism.
Activists will have to demonstrate some economic justice research and campaign experience. As we tend to be over-subscribed some candidates may be placed on a waiting list for a subsequent course either in London this November or in Abuja next year.
How to apply
To apply please fill in this online application form. Please do not copy and paste entire articles into the form. Where possible, please provide links or a few lines summary of the article plus date of publication.
The deadline for your application is Wednesday 10 April at 12h00 BST. Successful participants will be informed of their place by Wednesday 24 April 2019.
This training is being delivered by Finance Uncovered and Free Press Unlimited as part of the Money Trail consortium, which also includes Journalismfund.eu and Oxfam Novib. The Money Trail consortium is offering a total of six training sessions for journalists in Abuja, Jakarta and London. Two trainings have already taken place in London and Jakarta. We also offer a large number of grants for cross-border stories on illicit finance. Check Money Trail’s website for more information.