In late 2024, AidData, in partnership with renowned Philippines media outlet Rappler, jointly conducted a data journalism training for ten Manila-based journalists—the first practical application of AidData’s new Training Initiative.
Workshop attendees were drawn from media outlets in the metropolitan Manila area, as well as select journalism schools. Attendees were required to submit a proposal with a planned feature story they would like to cover on the theme of development finance and foreign aid, especially as it pertains to China.
“Countries that have received loans and grants from China as well as other donors are contending with a firehose of information about the terms and conditions of these investments,” said Alex Wooley, AidData’s Partnerships and Communications Director and a co-instructor on the training. “Journalists and civil society members perform the critical function of parsing through the flood of data to uncover how development finance affects their communities. For years, we’ve worked with journalists worldwide to help them interpret our data and other sources of development finance information. AidData's new interactive hybrid course is a response to that demand, and provides reporters, producers and others with a comprehensive skill set for meaningful engagement with this data.”
“We’re excited because, after much testing, this was our first opportunity to conduct our training in the field with a cohort of professional working journalists,” said Sethu Nguna, AidData’s Instructional Design and Training Manager. “The training in the Philippines was incredibly useful in helping us understand how well our curricula is working at both the big-picture and detailed levels, and where we might want to make improvements.”
Rappler’s own investigative and data journalists co-led sessions, along with Nguna and Wooley. The team taught data skills, including how to draw on a range of data and other informational sources, including AidData’s Global Chinese Development Finance Dataset, as well as a two-part, months-long research study AidData conducted on China’s state-directed investments and media strategy in the Philippines in 2024.
The AidData team debuted an integrated hybrid training model that combined a two-week online component, using AidData’s new Learning Management System (LMS), developed in conjunction with W&M’s Studio for Teaching & Learning Innovation (STLI), as well as two live online trainings, and an intensive week-long in-person training conducted in the heart of the busy Rappler newsroom.
“Analyzing data, especially big data, can be very intimidating for journalists who may not be proficient or comfortable with numbers,” said Chay F. Hofileña, who heads Rappler’s Investigative Desk and is also in charge of training. “The training collaboration between Rappler and AidData sought to address that. The multimedia storytelling skills of Rappler were complemented by AidData’s rich database on China and its experts who provided relevant and timely analysis valuable to journalists. We look forward to working together again with AidData on future data-related projects, and possibly more.”
Rappler is widely known for both its deeply-researched and reported investigative journalism pieces, as well as its mobile journalism, partnerships with communities, and embrace of data and technology to combat disinformation.
AidData’s Training Initiative is expanding. It will feature additional data journalism training options for media in both the Global South and North; training for policymakers who want to understand the global development finance landscape; and training for finance, planning, debt and other officials in developing countries, to assist them in assessing incoming loan and grant options, as well as the impact and burden of existing loans and debt.
For the next phase of the Philippines training, participants will submit their capstone projects to AidData for feedback and possible follow-on funding to complete and publish their features.
