Our Fellowship programme ran in Ghana from September 2012. In the first round, STI4D and B4FA welcomed 18 Ghanaian professionals from print, radio, TV and online media into the Fellowship. They were based across the length and breadth of the country – from Accra to Tamale, Kumasi to Tema.
The Fellowship programme kicked off with a four day long residential training and dialogue workshop, held in the Oak Plaza Hotel, Accra from 19-22 September 2012. Fellows were able to interact with scientific, regulatory and journalism experts from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, the UK and US over the four day programme, and made field trips to the University of Ghana’s WACCI programme, and to BNARI to experience at first hand the crop improvement and biosciences work taking place in the country. Case studies were reported by senior representatives of CSIR Institutes (including CRI Kumasi, SARI in Tamale, and the Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute in Bunso). The Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana also sent one of their scientific experts to present the work they were doing.
Thereafter, B4FA fellows in the country continued to write and publish pieces on key scientific work and regulatory developments in Ghana and internationally, and made further visits to other research centres in Ghana, facilitated by B4FA. As a result of feedback, B4FA was delighted to extend the fellowships from the original 6 month timescale to a full 18 months, in order to consolidate the learning and experience. This encouraged even more local reporting and engagement.
In 2013, STI4D and B4FA began a second round of Media Fellowships in Ghana with a further training and dialogue workshop, held at the Royal Richester Hotel, East Legon from 13-16 March. We welcomed a further 20 media professionals into our family of Fellows, and had the opportunity to invite back a number of our alumni Fellows from the first round. Fellows were again able to interact with scientific, regulatory and journalism experts from West and East Africa, Europe and the US over the four day programme, and made field trips to re-visit the University of Ghana’s WACCI programme, and to see the entrepreneurial private-sector tissue-culture work being done by Biochemical Products Ghana Ltd in New Ningo. Case studies were presented by senior representatives of CSIR Institutes (including CRI Kumasi and SARI in Tamale), the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agricultural Research Institute (BNARI) and from the plant sciences department of the University of Cape Coast.
B4FA fellows in Ghana continue to research, write and broadcast about latest development in plant breeding, agriculture and crop genetics in Ghana, Africa and the world. Read the workshop reports and press cuttings below.
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