From the expanse of the African wilderness to the streets of Brazil, the training programs from DW Akademie provide journalists with the tools they need to produce stories that make a difference and have a positive effect on their communities.

A new series of workshops is set to begin this summer in cooperation with the Kavango-Zambesi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), located in southern Africa. This conservation area is the largest in the world and stretches across five countries. Journalists from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been invited to participate in the 16-month project.

The workshop will be focused on helping to increase awareness through the media of the need to protect the region. Journalists will be trained primarily in bio-diversity and how to better promote protection of species through their journalistic craft. Other issues that will be covered are ecological research, land development, tourism, resource conservation and conflict-sensitive reporting.

In a testament to the effectiveness of DW’s traininig programs, four radio journalists who took part in a DW workshop were recently awarded a Microfone de Prata (Silver Microphone), one of Brazil’s most prestigious journalism prizes. Journalists Gecylene Sales and Eanes Silva, who took part in a 2013 DW Akademie workshop on investigative reporting in Boa Vista, produced the award-winning report on forced prostitution in Amazonian countries. The journalistic production required them to use skills they learned with DW Akademie like doing effective research, conducting sensitive interviews and protecting sources.

Also winning a Silver Microphone were workshop participants Aroldo Bruce and Alcinio Limo, who produced a report on the struggle of indigenous Amazonian tribes with preserving their cultural identities. The competition for the prize was intense and the fact that two groups of workshop participants were chosen separately,  is something the DW Akademie can truly be proud of.

The proven success of DW Akademie’s training in Latin America and the new partnership with KAZA are just a few ways with which DW is working to improve the world through better journalism.