The Action for Transparency team organised a Social Media Engagement Forum (Twitterthon) on 3rd September 2018, at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Nairobi.
Just like the previous Twitterthon held at Kenyatta University in May 2018, the objective of this social media engagement forum was to involve the youth in the fight against corruption and creating awareness among them on issues of accountability within the Education and Health Sectors. The participants were involved in tweeting about the A4T App, its features, usability and usefulness in advancing transparency and accountability, as a form of raising awareness and motivating the attendees and the general public to track budgetary expenditure and report corruption through the App. This social media engagement targeted journalism students at Nairobi University school of Journalism.
This discussion themed Media’s Role in the fight against Corruption, begun by a short presentation about the A4T project. As journalism students, they were informed about the project’s engagement with journalists through systematic/in-depth media forums, and advocacy missions for research and reporting, training of investigative journalists in unearthing of corruption cases through heavy use of public records and data. The A4T team offered them a platform and resource to publish their stories – on the A4T journalist’s knowledge portal and website.
The Twitter hashtag #A4TApp was used in the tweets to track engagement and as a motivational token for taking part in this engagement, the A4T team offered an award of airtime to buy Internet bundles to the top three individuals with the highest number of tweets. The hashtag #A4TApp, recorded 561 tweets, with a total combined reach of 819,864 online users.
Below are sampled tweets from the students of SOJMC – UoN…
Ngugi Gatua @ngugigatua Sep 3
Media acts as the watchdog in that they help to reveal corrupt leaders and individuals to the citizens and holding them accountable @a4tkenya @TIKenya #A4TAPP
Dickens_Ngicho @ngicho_dickens Sep 3
#a4tapp, Transparency International giving UoN students a talk on corruption and how to cover cases about corruption during journalistic practice. @TIKenya @A4TKENYA
Philip Nyamai @NyamaiPhilip Sep 3
@a4tkenya @TIKenya does a major role in training journalist in investigation and seeks to raise awareness about integrity, transparency and accountability. #A4TApp
#A4TApp allows you to confidentially report any corruption cases across Kenya. Download on Google play store, install and join the race towards a corruption free society. @a4tkenya, @TIKenya
Michael Marcel @OkothOtieno15 Sep 3
#A4TAPP Ensuring public funds are accounted for. It’s time! @TIKenya @A4TIKenya
John Mulei @johnymulei07 Sep 3
#A4TAPP Transparency International is doing all it can to ensure that public fund is well spent. Kenya we are tired of embezzlement of public funds even in Primary school and with this move Kenya is headed for the right direction. Komesha ufisadi @Tikenya @a4tikenya
You can follow our conversations through our twitter handle @A4TKenya and facebook Action for Transparency Kenya. Thank you School of Journalism and Mass Communication at University of Nairobi, stay posted for our next visit to a university near you.
More photos! Follow this LINK.
