By Aghan Daniel I aghan@meshascience.org
Between September 29 and 30, 2026, the Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) held a two-day meeting [https://youtu.be/RAZMyHPpkuA] that brought together the leadership of 6 newsrooms from Africa to discuss climate solutions journalism.
Why was the meeting held? In an effort to become a powerhouse in climate solutions journalism, MESHA launched the seven month project that aims at empowering newsrooms on the subject. The meeting therefore sought to consolidate workplans, develop shared meaning of what climate solutions journalism is as well as share experiences as per the report.
The project which began on June 1, 2026 is supported by Solutions Journalism Network (SJN).
So far MESHA has selected, trained, issued contracts and disbursed payments to 6 newsrooms from English speaking African countries namely The Star Newspaper/Radio Africa Group – Kenya; Water Journalists Africa – Uganda; Media Challenge Initiative – Uganda; Social Voices – Nigeria; Habitat Media – Tanzania; and Zodiak Broadcasting Station – Malawi. Three cross-border science media cafes held.
Besides, MESHA has undertaken two meetings for the newsrooms – one a virtual kick off engagement and the other being the inception meeting [https://meshascience.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/MESHA_African-climate-solutions-initiative-report_2026-1.pdf] where among others, the leaders were trained on the principles of climate solutions, impact tracking and engagement. MESHA has done coaching and one on one meetings with five of the six newsrooms. Besides, one community listening session has been done and four story drafts are being finalised ready for publication.
MESHA nominated 5 of its members who participated in Train-the-Trainer program. Three have been fully accredited as SoJo trainers. By next week, the association shall start sharing links of stories published by the newsrooms.
©MESHA Features 2026
