Introducing the February 2024 Train-the-Trainers Participants
Over five days, trainers undergo intensive sessions on best strategies around spreading solutions journalism
SJN’s Train-the-Trainers program is for journalism trainers, editors/reporters, media experts and journalism school educators interested in (or already) leading solutions journalism training for others.
During five online sessions held over the course of two weeks, the group works together to come up with ideas and strategies for teaching solutions journalism: rigorous reporting on how people are responding to problems.
The program kicks off with the official solutions journalism training, which leads to an exploration of how to teach what solutions journalism is, why it matters and how to practice it (and teach it) in particular contexts. The program also digs into the four criteria of solutions journalism, case studies of worldwide practices and exercises that will help participants teach journalists and newsrooms how to engage meaningfully and embrace the practice. Finally, the group works together to set training goals and outlines to help each participant become a successful solutions journalism trainer for their newsroom, students or communities of journalists.
The program is co-hosted by Kyuwon Lee, SJN’s Training & Curriculum Manager, Tina Rosenberg, SJN’s Co-founder, and Zubaida Baba Ibrahim, a solutions journalist and SJN’s accredited trainer in Nigeria.
Here are the participants in this year’s Train-the-Trainers program:
Ben Wrobel
Ben Wrobel is a writer and a co-founder of Proximate, a media publication that produces solutions journalism about emerging models for participatory problem-solving. He is also the author of the 2021 book Letting Go: How Philanthropists and Impact Investors Can Do More Good By Giving Up Control along with fellow Proximate co-founder Meg Massey.
Ben started his career as chief speechwriter for the NAACP, and later raised money for voter registration campaigns including Stacey Abrams’ New Georgia Project. He has a BA from the University of Rochester, where he served as editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, and an MBA from Georgetown University. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
Celia Haro Ruiz
Celia Haro Ruiz is a peace advisor in journalism with the Civil Peace Service, a programme whose objective is the prevention of violence and the promotion of peace in crisis zones and conflict regions. She is based in Kigali, Rwanda, supporting networks of journalists in the African Great Lakes through capacity building, coaching and mentoring. Her focus of expertise is Conflict Sensitive Journalism, which she has been training on and advocating for since 2019, as well as participatory media.
She holds a degree in Journalism and a masters degree in Humanitarian Action. She has worked for renowned international organizations including Doctors Without Borders and Welthungerhilfe. Before realizing that her passion was designing and implementing journalistic projects, she passed by several newsrooms as a staff reporter and freelance.
Duygu Uzunoglu
Duygu Uzunoglu, who has worked as a publishing coordinator in various publishing houses in Turkey, including Yapı Kredi Publications and Everest Publications, completed her undergraduate education in Economics at Istanbul University. She earned her master’s degree at Kadir Has University with a thesis titled “The Effect of Click Bait Tactics on Reader Engagement on News Sites.” She participated in the Training of the Trainers program organized in partnership with NewsLabTurkey and The Guardian Foundation. Subsequently, she completed the training organized by The Guardian Foundation and became a trainer capable of organizing Training of the Trainers sessions. Currently, she works as the programs director at NewsLabTurkey.
Emilie Brouze
Emilie is a journalist at L’Obs, the leading newsmagazine in France, for almost 10 years. She is a reporter, covering mainly ecology. Emilie writes articles about the effects of climate change and the loss of biodiversity in France. Before, she was a journalist at Rue89, a pure-player.
Eszter Imre-Kandó
Eszter Imre-Kandó is a freelance journalist from Hungary who has been working in the field for nine years. She has interviewed and written about a range of topics, including business, culture, and social issues. In 2015, she was a fellow in the English for Journalists Fellowship program, which was organized by the Voice of America and the Regional English Language Office for Central and Southeastern Europe (RELO), located in Washington D.C.
Last September, she launched her own journalism project called Megoldokk (Solution-dock). The aim of this project is to report on stories using solutions journalism, which is a combination of blog, newsletter, and podcast. Previously, she was selected to participate in a female entrepreneurship promotion program called the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) with this idea.
Francis Mureithi
I am the co-founder of the Africa Solutions Media Hub. This is a Non-Profit media organisation using Solutions Journalism to amplify positive impact stories of changemakers in Africa. This organisation tells stories of individuals, organisations and communities offering scalable solutions to the challenges facing the region today. We also offer Solutions Journalism and Impact Storytelling training to young people; turning them into ambassadors of positive stories from their own communities.
I am a seasoned journalist with over 16 years of experience in the media landscape. I have over the years worked in various spheres of journalism including Court, Parliament and News Editor at Radio Africa Group and Star Publications Limited, a multimedia company based in Nairobi. I am currently the digital editor at Radio Africa Group where I also lead a desk that develops special content on social impact stories.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Languages & Literary Studies from Moi University and a Master degree in International Conflict Management from the University of Nairobi, both in Kenya. Currently I am finalizing a Master of Arts degree in Digital Journalism at the Aga Khan University Graduate School of Media & Communications.
Gheni Platenburg
Gheni Platenburg, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Houston where she primarily teaches undergraduate journalism skills courses and graduate research courses. Platenburg earned a doctorate in media and public affairs from Louisiana State University. Before her career in academia, she worked full time as a multimedia journalist at both newspapers and television stations across the South. In addition to teaching, she currently works as a freelance journalist for both The Washington Post and Solutions Journalism talent networks covering stories intersecting at politics, crime and race.
Drawing from her journalistic work, Platenburg’s research agenda primarily focuses on the intersection of Black identity and media, which includes the historic and contemporary Black Press, pop culture and racial impact on journalistic decision-making, identity negotiation and newsroom experiences.
Her recent academic publications include a co-authored book, Lizzo’s Black, Female and Fat Resistance (2021, Palgrave Macmillan); journal articles in the Southwestern Mass Communication Journal and the Howard Journal of Communications as well as a book chapter in Sustaining Black Music and Black Culture During COVID-19 (2020, Lexington Books).
She holds memberships with the National Association of Black Journalists; the American Journalism Historians Association; the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting; and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Gülin Çavuş
Gülin Çavuş, as the Co-founder of Teyit, a leading Turkish fact-checking platform, has been at the forefront of combating disinformation. In 2017, she was honored with the International Fact-Checking Network Fellowship, where she focused on addressing refugee disinformation and building a database. In 2022, she was selected for ICFJ’s Elevate program.
Çavuş is a frequent speaker and trainer on fact-checking and media literacy. She specializes in writing articles and reports that delve into how platforms can responsibly address disinformation. She is also a member of IPI’s National Committee in Turkey and a member of the Governance Body at the European Fact-checking Standards Network. She holds a Master’s in Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments, leveraging her academic background to explore the responsibilities of local authorities in the use of social media.
Joke Kujenya
With more than thirty years of expertise as a Senior Investigative Journalist, Joke Kujenya, a seasoned Nigerian journalist, contributes to iyamagazine.com as a Freelancer, while also serving as a Media Trainer and Mentor. Despite the economic hurdles in journalism, she remains committed to ongoing learning and professional growth. Fueled by a passion for surmounting challenges, Joke aspires to explore Digital Journalism, aiming to boost her economic prospects and achieve entrepreneurship independence. Her mission encompasses the training and mentorship of aspiring journalists, instilling in them skills, competence, and leadership qualities for a brighter future in Nigerian journalism and a more robust democracy.
Katerina Voutsina
Katerina Voutsina is a journalist at iMEdD, a non-profit organization in an effort to enhance transparency, credibility, and independence in journalism, founded with the exclusive donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). For more than a decade, Katerina worked in Greek and international print media, covering mostly social issues. She studied print journalism at Panteion University and specialized in multimedia journalism at Boston University. Having covered the Greek financial crisis, as well as the immigration crisis through human-centered stories, she specialized in international and humanitarian law and European studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. In 2015, she won the Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholar Award and worked for the Wall Street Journal in Brussels. Before joining the iMEdD team, she worked as the Cross-border Journalism Program Manager at Journalismfund.eu, as a researcher at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and as a communications consultant for humanitarian and international organizations. In 2018, she completed a post-graduate degree in data journalism at Columbia University School of Journalism in New York on a full scholarship from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
Katie Ellington
Katie Ellington Serrao is staff reporter at Richland Source, a nationally-recognized, award-winning newsroom in Mansfield, Ohio. Katie’s reporting focuses on housing and education. She recently completed a five-part solutions journalism series on the challenges faced by low-income renters. Katie holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Spanish from Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. Prior to joining the Richland Source team, she worked for print outlets including the Mount Vernon News and Bellville Star.
Kevin Burden
Kevin Burden is an independent journalism trainer and consultant whose work has taken him to more than 60 countries worldwide, including those in conflict, crisis and transition. He is a former energy and environment specialist who spent 20 years in the BBC. He is now working with broadcasters in the UK, Europe and the Middle East to improve their reporting of climate change. All newsrooms are aware of audiences turning away from news that can feel overwhelming, so Kevin is particularly interested in solutions journalism as a way of re-engaging audiences with issues the world can’t afford to ignore.
Letícia Maria Klein
Letícia Klein is a journalist specialising in environmental issues. She works as an assistant editor and reporter at Ambiental Media, a media outlet that does environmental investigations based on science and data, and also writes for Um Só Planeta, an editorial movement aimed at combating the climate crisis. Since 2013, she has covered biodiversity, climate change, waste management, food systems, among other topics, for her weblog Sustenta Ações and other media outlets, including Mongabay, National Geographic, Época Negócios Magazine, Projeto Colabora, and Conexão Planeta. She was a fellow at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) Emerging Media Leaders Fellowship, in 2021, and at Climate Change Media Partnership Fellowship to cover 28th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28), in Dubai, 2023.
Lola García-Ajofrín
Lola García-Ajofrín is a multimedia journalist from Spain with over 15 years of professional experience. She has covered stories across the globe, including the U.S., Afghanistan, Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Sri Lanka, and Armenia. Her work has been featured in outlets such as El País, El Confidencial, El Mundo, La Información, Marie Claire, CNN in Spanish, Telecinco, Antena3, Outriders and Al Jazeera. Lola holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Complutense University of Madrid (2006) and a Master’s Degree in Television Journalism from Rey Juan Carlos University (2007). She has been trained in Documentary filmmaking at LENS School (2020–22). Her work has received several international awards, including the Manuel Alcántara Award 2015 and two co-nominations for the European Press Prize in 2021 and 2022.
Lola has a particular passion for solutions journalism and cross-border narratives. She has served as a mentor of the Solutions Journalism Accelerator by the European Journalism Centre and the Solutions Journalism Network. Before she knew it was called “solutions journalism,” she traveled the world in search of successful educational initiatives and wrote the book “Gigantes de la educación. Lo que no dicen los rankings (Fundación Telefónica, 2017), which brings stories of education across 11 countries.
Loveday Wright
Loveday Wright is a multimedia journalist in Berlin, where she works as a reporter and editor for DW, Germany’s international broadcaster. She mainly works on social and political topics from Germany, as well as executive producing global TV news shows. In 2023, Loveday was a fellow in DW’s first in-house Constructive Journalism Fellowship. She developed an online course for DW colleagues on constructive journalism in news coverage and now gives trainings on how newsroom teams can integrate the approach in their work. She’s convinced that constructive and solutions-oriented approaches not only serve audiences and communities better, but benefit journalists too.
Nieves Zúñiga
Nieves Zúñiga is a freelance journalist and a research consultant for organizations including the Land Portal and the Council of Europe. She studied journalism at the University of Navarra and has an MA and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Essex. In 2022 she got a LEDE Fellowship for a project on environmental solutions. She writes on environmental and social solutions, anti-corruption and land governance. She has published in Mongabay, Foreign Policy, Revista Haz and more.
Nicola Leech
Nicola Leech is the Head of Audience Strategy and Engagement at The National based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This means working with the entire team to develop and lead on audience-led strategies for content ideation, creation and promotion — as well as audience research, innovation and outreach. Previously she was in charge of their global social media team, joining the Middle East-focused outlet in early 2021. She currently writes their award-winning newsletter, Beshara (which means good news in Arabic) and launched their dedicated solutions-focused Instagram account. Before that she spent almost 9 years with the BBC across several senior digital and broadcast roles — from planning and creating social media coverage for some of the world’s biggest news accounts to producing early morning shoots for Breakfast TV news. This follows a much-loved stint at children’s favourite, Newsround and before that she worked for many years with ITV news as a broadcast journalist and volunteer diversity champion.
tammy ko Robinson
tammy ko Robinson is a professor at Hanyang University, affiliated with both the Transit Asia Research Network conducting emergent media research, and Mahidol Migration Center’s (MMC) Social Lab collaborating on migration policy research. She is currently working
on a book on migration journalism education. As a freelance reporter, her writings on art and culture have appeared both in English in ArtAsiaPacific, Frieze, the Asia-Pacific Journal and other publications, and in Korean in The Hankyoreh, Pressian and other news outlets. In 2020, following a national award for her teaching in journalistic inquiry, she took part in a Solutions Journalism Network workshop for educators and has since been keen on learning about solutions journalism pedagogy and curriculum development. She joins MMC in working together with the International Organization for Migration (2024–25) on various evidence-based reporting capacity building efforts.
SJN’s next Train-the-Trainers will happen in April 2024 (the application likely to open in early March). If you’re interested, please stay tuned on our training page and social channels!
