The Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA) has announced the expansion of its Financial Journalism Training (FJT) program to Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Tanzania, joining Ghana and Zambia where training programs were launched earlier this year.

The first intakes in Ghana and Zambia are currently underway and have enrolled 91 delegates.

This unique educational offering will support the advancement of financial journalism and contribute to economic development on the continent.

A release from BMIA said the expansion of the training program to five new countries in Africa follows the success of the program in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, where 568 delegates from 13 countries have graduated to date.

More than 100 delegates will take part in the first intake of the training in the latest three countries to offer the program –Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Tanzania - which will be delivered in collaboration with university partners in each country. \

BMIA’s expansion to Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal will introduce the training program to Francophone countries for the first time.

Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies, said: “Reliable, accessible financial reporting is critical to driving sustainable economic growth and good governance. The expansion of the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa to five new countries will significantly further our mission to advance financial journalism and transparency on the continent.” During the next six months, the delegates will spend 19 days in interactive sessions led by prominent faculty at local universities and will cover topics to strengthen their skills in and understanding of data analysis, capital markets, accounting, public policy, economics and the transforming media landscape.

Financial journalism sessions will be taught by Bloomberg News reporters.

Delegates will also receive a free, six-month subscription to the Bloomberg Terminal, offering access to global data, news and analysis.

Partners in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Tanzania include: Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d'Economie Appliquée d'Abidjan (ENSEA), Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Centre Africain d'Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG), Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar Centre d'Etudes des Sciences et Techniques de l'information (CESTI), University of Dar es Salaam Business School, and the University of Dar es Salaam School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“We are very excited to see the start of this new phase of the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa Financial Journalism Training program” said Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).

“The Stavros Niarchos Foundation is proud to partner with Bloomberg in helping equip a global talent pool of journalists with the sort of specialist expertise that can propel them towards attaining a high level of professional excellence.

“This is the basis of a robust, ethical, independent press, which now seems to be more critical than ever.”

Four intakes of the interactive, hands-on training program have been delivered in each Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa over the past three years, resulting in 568 graduates from 13 countries. Close to 70 per cent of delegates trained were journalists and representatives of the media.

The Financial Journalism Training program is a core component of the BMIA, which aims to contribute to the advancement of business and financial reporting in Africa, recognizing the important role the media plays in promoting transparency, accountability and good governance.

The BMIA is a project of Bloomberg Philanthropies. The FJT program in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia will also receive support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. .

Since its launch in 2014, BMIA has reached more than 1,000 stakeholders in Africa.

BMIA has also sponsored four annual conferences for media owners and senior leaders in business, government and civil society, with the most recent taking place in Livingstone in November, 2018, with 320 leaders representing 25 countries in attendance.

The program has also offered a Fellowship for editors and senior journalists, which has been completed by 45 Fellows and a fund to promote community media and citizen journalism – the Community Media Fund – which ten organizations have received grants from in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.

The Ford Foundation has been a leading supporter of these programs.