In May 2019 the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data held its first media fellowship, with a week-long reporting trip to Ghana.

Ghana has one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and is an innovator in the use of data and technology for sustainable development. Yet media coverage of Ghana and other African countries around the world tends to focus primarily on stories of conflict and poverty instead of innovation and progress.

In May 2019, the Global Partnership brought nine journalists to Ghana to learn and draw attention to the ways that data and technology are improving lives, focusing on issues such as environmental protection, equality, inclusion, and health. 

Coverage resulting from the fellowship appeared in national and international news sources and included stories that illuminated the ways that data is helping to end poverty, deliver medical supplies, and crack down on illegal gold mining.

This fellowship gave journalists access to the government officials, civil society leaders, and representatives of international organizations working in Ghana. Journalists attended a satellite data training with NASA, visited the Eastern Region to learn about how illegal mining caused ecological damage and how satellite data could help fight it. Journalists also shadowed enumerators during trial census activities in Agbogbloshie and at a psychiatric hospital, and visited a medical drone site.

A full list of press fellowship coverage is included below, and photos from the fellowship are online here.