A 14-day oil, gas and mining training workshop for some African journalists begins in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The workshop is being funded by Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), organized by Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET) in partnership with Penplusbytes and the African Center for Media Excellence (ACME) in Uganda.

The workshop is to build the capacity of the twenty-four selected participants – eight each from Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda – in the extractive industry. “This training programme aims at equipping the reporters to understand the value chain in the extractive industry,” said Nicholas Phythian, the course content developer.

“This will give them the understanding in reporting on oil, gas and mining issues.” Some of the areas the course will cover during the fourteen days include contracting, environmental impact issues, revenue use and transparency and accountability.

Participants will share their countries’ experiences and practices in order to point out the differences and similarities, challenges, successes, potentials and the way forward. One of the significant issues the course covers is when and why a country will decide to extract a natural resource or not. “There is the need for a balance with issues such cost, the environment, revenue and how beneficial will it be to the people.”