Of capacity building, sensitisation and stakeholders

Recently a friend asked me what my pet peeves in Sierra Leone were. Without hesitating I rattled off these three words. Let me explain why they make me cringe. My job in Sierra Leone is to train journalists how to report human rights issues more effectively. However I see it more as an exercise in brainwashing or unbrainwashing if you like.

Anything you do in Sierra Leone is capacity building or sensitisation. If an NGO trains nurses, they’re not just training them. No that’s too trite, they’re building capacity. If the United Nations High Commissioner holds a two-day workshop in refugee issues, it is absolutely nothing less than sensitisation. Oh, and everyone that attended is a stakeholder. Development speak and has crept into journalistic writing, simply because of the number of events that they attend every week and the heavy doses of NGO jargon that are laid on them. So reporters have adopted these words as part of their daily vocabulary and pepper their articles rather liberally with them. Which drives me quite potty to be honest. Who on earth wants to read about stakeholders whose capacity was built in a two-day workshop?

I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of every single NGO that operates in this city. By offering small amounts of ‘transport’ and ‘breakfast’ money to reporters to attend their events they’ve turned them into zombies who parrot whatever is thrown at them. Expunging these words from print is probably the most challenging quest I will ever undertake. I’m up against an institution that’s pretty much pillared on these three words. Yes, no wonder journalism in Sierra Leone is a bit wobbly.

Last week, I was invited to the local UNDP office to consult on a training programme for journalists. They started by telling me that they wanted to build capacity. I knew I had to act fast. So I said, “I’m sorry but journalists in this country have been sensitized to death. Teach them something they can use.” Hmmm, not sure if I’ll be asked back there, but I felt compelled to open my mouth.

I bring to my job my journalistic biases. When I hear these words I’m overcome by the same feeling of nausea that’s triggered by pompous academic writing. Breathe, breathe, breathe.