By Mackie M. Jalloh
During a three-day workshop held at the Atlantic Lumley Hotel, Freetown, between 11th – 13th July 2023, A team from the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (Paris21), led by Stacey Bradbury, engaged journalists, agriculturists and statistics officials on “effective promotion and communication of statistics, particularly agricultural data”. The program was a partnership between Stats-SL, Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (Paris21), and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
According to Stacey Bradbury, the training is designed to provide the media and others on how to report on data in respect of agricultural matters, as well as better understanding of statistical data on same and also on development of press releases. The participants were divided into groups, which made presentations on the various topics learnt. She furthered that after the program, journalists and other participants will be able to interpret statistics to the wider public, and will also get a better understanding in communicating statistical data. It will also enhance statisticians and officials in improving their skills in communicating statistics to the public.
Among Key areas of the training were: Relevance; Accuracy; Timeliness and Punctuality; Accessibility; Interpretability; Coherence and Credibility. Several plenary sessions were held and presentations done by the various groups during the three days. Each group was comprised of officials from Stats-SL, Agriculture officials and journalists. This was done to get journalists to get an in-depth knowledge into the topics discussed, with a view to enable them report on such stories with accurate reference and interpretation of statistical data. It also served as a means of collaboration between Ministry of Agriculture officials, The National Statistics Office (NSO), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) representatives and journalists.
The workshop was climaxed by a question and answer, and interviewed session.
