Report on the climate communication and accountability training workshop

The training workshop was attended by journalists from various media houses, Harare City Council officials and representatives from various residents associations and civil society organizations.

The objectives of the meeting were as follows;

To equip journalists with knowledge on social accountability as well as environmental and climate justice

To explore ways of creating synergies between communities and the media on issues of social justice as well as environmental and climate justice

To explore ways to enhance civic engagement on social accountability, climate justice and environmental justice

The meeting noted the need to strengthen social accountability on environmental and climate justice issues while noting the huge information gaps in different communities.
It was also observed during the meeting that civic engagement and participation remains low hence the need to continuously mobilize and equip communities with information as part of efforts to promote transparency and accountability. The constitution was identified as a key driver in this regard.

Participants noted that transparency and accountability on issues of environmental and climate justice remains low mainly due to the fact that communities lack the necessary information that can equip them to engage and hold duty bearers to account.

Below are recommendations from the training workshop;

1. Building and sustaining networks with key stakeholders (eg the media, communities, civil society organizations and duty bearers is key in terms of social accountability, environmental and climate justice

2. Creating synergies with the media is critical in ensuring mainstreaming of social accountability, environmental and climate justice issues in newsrooms

3. Research is critical to allow for informed reporting on environmental and climate justice as well as enhancing civic engagement and participation

4. Promoting social accountability is key in pushing for environmental and climate justice while ensuring transparency and accountability on the part of duty bearers.