Pulitzer Center Update November 5, 2026

Pulitzer Center Will Share New Tools With African Investigative Journalists in Nairobi

Author:

Sarah Swan
Pulitzer Center Staff

Warwick Junction in Durban’s inner city isn’t where the well-heeled come to window shop. But these traders serve countless pedestrians daily and operate in an urban heat island where conditions may be 5°C to 10°C hotter than those measured at the city’s weather stations. (Photo: Leonie Joubert) — Warwick Junction in Durban, South Africa’s inner city isn’t where the well-heeled come to window shop. Traders there serve countless pedestrians daily and operate in an urban heat island where conditions may be 5°C to 10°C hotter than those measured at the city’s weather stations. From the story "Cooked: The Precarious Life of Informal Traders in a Heating World." Image by Leonie Joubert.

Next week, the Pulitzer Center will be at the African Investigative Journalism Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, bringing together grantees, Fellows, and engagement partners across the Center’s initiatives for rainforest, AI accountability, climate and labor, and underreported stories in Africa.

Throughout sessions at AIJC, the Center will share new tools for journalists to strengthen their reporting and amplify the journalism of our grantees across Africa. Topics will span AI accountability, women in journalism, impact in journalism, and AI-powered tools for environmental investigations.

Before the conference begins, we are spotlighting some of the important issues our grantees and Fellows are bringing to light across the continent.

Project Profile—a project by AI Accountability Fellow Naipanoi Lepapa for The Elephant—investigates how AI-powered biometric registration systems can leave Kenyan citizens unable to secure national identification. Lepapa is nominated for the African Journalist of the Year award at AIJC, and will lead the AI Spotlight Series workshop “An Editor’s Guide to AI.”
The Gold Slaves of Sahel, a reporting project for The Liberalist, traces links between illegal gold mining, forced labor, and armed groups in Nigeria and Niger, documenting how vulnerable men are forced into dangerous mining work under coercive conditions. Abdullah Tijani was one of 25 African journalists who contributed local knowledge to the Africa Mining Watch data set through the recent mapathon, and will support the public launch of the geospatial tool during a conference session with partners Earth Genome and Code for Africa.
In the Center-supported project The Price of Fish, for AfricaBrief, grantee Annie Zulu investigated sexual exploitation and other barriers women face at Zambia’s Lake Tanganyika. This project was supported by an Underreported Stories in Africa reporting grant, part of a larger effort to empower journalists across the continent with the resources and skills needed to hold local power to account.
Leonie Joubert, a climate and labor grantee, is exploring the effects of extreme heat on informal work in South Africa. Joubert will participate in the “Women in Journalism” panel at AIJC. The first story from Joubert’s Red Alert series, focusing on cab drivers, was a recent feature on The Hive, our new WhatsApp channel. Subscribe to hear more Center-supported stories.

Explore more of our programming and featured reporting at AIJC, and keep an eye on the Center’s social media channels for more updates from the conference!