GIABA TRAINS MEDIA PROFESSIONALS IN ACCRA
The Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) will hold a regional training workshop on investigative journalism with emphasis on economic and financial crimes from 22- 24 September, 2026, in Accra, Ghana.
The course, which will bring together some 40 media professionals from television, radio, print and online media, from both the public and private sectors of GIABA Member States, will take participants through various regional AML/CFT initiatives, highlighting GIABA’s mandate and raising awareness among media professionals about the risks of money laundering, drawing on typologies specific to Member States. The course also expects to build a strong, collaborative partnership with the media to ensure effective coverage of AML/CFT actions across region, and revamp the network of journalists to promote effective dissemination of information on AML/CFT regimes, while encouraging journalists to continue their investigative reporting on financial and economic crimes in their countries.
Over the three-days, participants will learn techniques of gathering intelligence and conducting investigations into money laundering and terrorist financing. It will also serve as a platform for exchanging ideas, engaging in discussions, and sharing experiences within the network of journalists, with the aim of improving the dissemination of information on AML/CFT mechanisms. The training course will feature presentations, case studies, and experience sharing sessions by media experts with experience in AML/CFT and GIABA staff. Participants are expected, at the end of the course, to improve their journalistic writings on ML/TF, improve their coverage of economic and financial crimes, and engage in ongoing awareness-raising efforts regarding the negative impacts of money laundering and terrorist financing.
This year’s event will be Accra’s second hosting of GIABA’s journalists training course since it first hosted it in 2022. Other regional capitals have hosted the course. These include Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) in 2010 and 2022, Cotonou (Benin) in 2011 and 2024, Monrovia (Liberia) in 2011 and 2017, Praia (Cape Verde) in 2012, Saly (Senegal) in 2017, and Bissau (Guinea-Bissau) in 2025.