By Opesika Tetteh Puplampu, GNA
Accra, April 01, GNA – For five days, residents at the Whistleblowers, Activists and Journalist Safety International Center (WAJSIC) have been immersed in an intensive training programme that participants described as overwhelming but positive and transformative.
The training, sponsored by the Open Society Foundations and the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ghana and delivered in partnership with Lazarus Training UK, focused on practical skills for field safety, first aid and resilience.
It brought together French and English-speaking journalists, activists, whistleblowers and human rights defenders from across West Africa who are currently resident at WAJSIC.
The sessions covered a wide range of topics, including pre-deployment planning and risk assessment, personal security and travel safety, situation and casualty assessment, unconscious casualty and airway management, and information and communication security.
Participants were also trained in personal conflict management, crowd navigation, basic self-defense for escape, managing bleeding wounds and ballistic injuries, as well as anti-surveillance techniques.
The training aimed to equip participants not only with knowledge but also with the confidence and readiness to respond effectively in high-risk situations.
Unlike many theoretical workshops, participants said this training stood out for its practical, hands-on approach.
“I wish I had known this earlier,” one participant remarked, reflecting a common sentiment shared among attendees.
At the end of the programme, both French and English-speaking participants expressed satisfaction and called for the initiative to be expanded to reach more people across the region.
They urged WAJSIC and its partners to sustain the programme, noting that such practical training could significantly enhance the safety and effectiveness of journalists and activists.
Participants were also encouraged to continuously practice the skills acquired.
The Whistleblowers and Journalists Safety International Center (WAJSIC) is an organisation that provides protection and preservation for whistleblowers and journalists shining the light of anti-corruption and accountability across the African continent.
The organisation was founded by the internationally renowned, multiple award-winning Ghanaian undercover investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
Anas, whose impactful work over the last two decades has been at the intersection of whistleblowing and investigative journalism, set up WAJSIC as a means of tackling the dangers associated with his field of work.
GNA
Edited by Laudia Anyorkor Nunoo/ Christabel Addo