Empowering journalism, Inspiring change!
The Institute for Journalism and Social Change (IJSC) is a pioneering new international ‘learn-and-do’ initiative that is bringing together current and future journalists, researchers and activists to scale up impact, inclusion and innovations in service of social change. Working with partners across borders and disciplines, we seek to reinvigorate the media with its core social purpose – to support democracy – amidst transnational threats including from anti-gender movements, climate chaos, corporate impunity, and disinformation.
Research/Publications

We publish practical resources to support journalism for social change. 
In 2024, we will disseminate a new Feminist Investigative Journalism Handbook for media professionals, students and those who seek to collaborate with them, with concrete case studies and practical methodology chapters.
We produce major, revelatory investigations and compelling storytelling that support and widen audiences for social change, involving teams of students on MA programmes working with media and other partners
We produce actionable research to inform impactful and inclusive journalism for social change, as well as civil society ‘narrative change’ efforts, including on public opinion and narrative frames, as well as on issues related to ownership, coverage and inequalities within the media
Consulting
We consult for the feminist and civil society ecosytems in a number of ways including through strategic media engagement, follow the money investigations, research and publications.
Convenings
We bring together current and future journalists, academics/researchers and activists through online and in-person events to share experiences, learnings and perspectives across borders and disciplines
We facilitate joint projects between our priority communities, including new research and innovative collaborations, that are impact-led and where learnings are documented to help inspire and guide other such work
We organise fellowships/residencies to connect and support change-makers to work on innovations while learning from each other and contributing to other research/publications or training activities
Claire
Provost
Claire Provost is a feminist investigative journalist and media innovator who founded the ‘Tracking the Backlash’ feminist investigative journalism project and fellowship programme for young women and LGBTIQ reporters at openDemocracy, where she was Head of Global Investigations. She was also previously a data journalist at The Guardian and a fellow at the Centre for Investigative Journalism in London, and her writing has been published by outlets including CNN, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy and The New York Review of Books. She has additionally guest lectured in journalism at universities; she has worked as a consultant to non-profit organisations including the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism and Harm Reduction International; and she is on the advisory committee for Noor, a new global feminist think-and-do tank. She has degrees from Harvard and Columbia universities. Her first book Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy, came out in May 2023 with Bloomsbury. She’s based in Italy.
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is an African Feminist activist and the author of The Sex Lives of African Women. She was cited by the BBC as one of its 100 most inspirational and influential women from around the world in 2022. She is the CEO of MAKEDA PR, a strategic communications company that specialises in working with feminist organisations globally, and Co-Founder of MASI Media which produces Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women, a website, podcast and festival that publishes and creates content that tells stories of African women’s experiences around sex, sexualities, and pleasure. She was previously Director of Communications and Tactics at the global feminist organisation AWID. She’s based in Ghana.
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah
Dr. Justin Schlosberg
Justin Schlosberg is Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Westminster. His research and teaching focuses on critical questions of media power and disinformation. He is a former chair of the Media Reform Coalition in the UK, and Edmund J Safra Network Fellow at Harvard University. He has authored/ co-authored several books about the media including Power beyond Scrutiny (Pluto 2013), Media Ownership and Agenda Control (Routledge 2016), The Media Manifesto (Polity 2019), and Disinformation: A critical perspective (Emerald, forthcoming). He is based in United Kingdom.
Team
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C0-Director
Claire Provost is a feminist investigative journalist who founded the ‘Tracking the Backlash’ project at openDemocracy and has led global investigations. A former data journalist at The Guardian, she has written for major outlets like CNN and Al Jazeera. She consults for non-profits, lectures on journalism, and serves on the advisory committee for Noor, a feminist think tank. Her first book, Silent Coup, was published in 2023. She is based in Italy and holds degrees from Harvard and Columbia..
Co-Director
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is an African feminist activist and author of The Sex Lives of African Women. Named one of the BBC’s 100 most influential women in 2022, she is the CEO of MAKEDA PR, a communications company for feminist organizations, and co-founder of MASI Media, which produces content on African women’s experiences with sex and pleasure. Formerly, she was Director of Communications at AWID, a global feminist organization. She is based in Ghana.
Associate - Journalism and Research
Jerry Richardson is a freelance journalist and research consultant at the Institute of Journalism and Social Change. She has a Master’s degree in Investigative Reporting from Birkbeck, University of London and previously worked on investigations at Truth Defence, a non-profit focused on disinformation, smears and lawfare.
Associate - Design and Website
Tettey Mante is a skilled designer with extensive experience in Graphic, Web, and Print Design, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from GIMPA. He spent 12 years leading the design team at SSNIT Ghana, where he played a key role in developing user-friendly interfaces for web-based applications. Tettey is passionate about creating designs that enhance user experience and prides himself on delivering high-quality, impactful work.
Associate - Social Media
Benedicta Yayra Azagloh is a digital communications consultant and a practicing lawyer in Ghana. With a strong background in both legal practice and digital communications, Benedicta strives to advance social change with impactful media strategies. Drawing on over two years’ of experience as a digital communication consultant and a deep-rooted passion for the promotion of equality and inclusion, Benedicta brings a unique blend of legal acumen, advocacy, and creative digital communication skills to her role as a social media associate at the Institute for Journalism and Social Change (IJSC), crafting compelling social media strategies and contents. She is committed to promoting equality, inclusion, and democratic values in the face of contemporary global challenges.
Associate - Journalism and Podcasts
Immanuel Muasya Immanuel Muasya is a seasoned Producer, Senior Multimedia Journalist, and Communications Specialist with over a decade of experience working with prominent media outlets such as the BBC, Al Jazeera, UN, and National Geographic. His expertise spans health, social issues, innovation, investigative journalism, and environmental topics across Africa. He is currently the Lead Audio Producer at the Institute for Journalism and Social Change (IJSC), managing the podcast “And Then What?”, which explores the long-term impacts of major news events and journalism’s role in driving societal change. Immanuel is dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices, using his multimedia skills to create impactful stories for global audiences.
Dzodzi Tsikata
Dzodzi Tsikata is distinguished research professor of development studies at SOAS University of London. She spent thirty years at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at University of Ghana rising through the ranks from Junior Research Fellow to Research Professor of Development Sociology. Between 2016 and 2022, she was Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, and before then, Deputy Director and Director of the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (2005-2012). She is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. Her research in the last 30 years has been centred on the gendered labour relations of agrarian and urban informal economies, the trajectories of African social policy regimes and gender and development policies and practices. She has led pan-African research teams to study these subjects, engaged in extensive fieldwork across Ghana and undertaken occasional field visits in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe over the years. She is currently the Principal Investigator of a pan-African research, networking and advocacy project, the Gender Equitable and Transformative Social Policy for Post-COVID-19 Africa (GETSPA), which is now in its second phase. Dzodzi is a leading member of several independent global South capacity building, research, and policy advocacy networks, including the International Development Economics Associates (IDEAS), the Agrarian South Network, Third World Network Africa, and the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana. She is the Managing Editor of the pan-African journal, Feminist Africa and a member of the editorial collective of Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy. She is currently a board member of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), the Development Network DAWN, and Africa Journals Online (AJOL) and the Centre for Democracy and Development in Abuja. She is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Joy Asasira is a human rights, gender, and social justice advocate and strategist. Over the last 12 years, she has worked across East Africa advocating for laws and policies to advance bodily autonomy. The highlight of her career has been as a founder and coordinator ( for almost a decade) of the multidisciplinary coalition to end maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion in Uganda. Her fight for equality and justice is grounded in the belief that everyone deserves the right to choose, thrive, and live freely! In recognition of her dedication to advancing human rights, she received the Uganda Law Society Best Female Human Rights Lawyer Award 2018/2019. Currently, Joy is a co-director at the Strategic Issues and Research Council, a women-led, intersectional, feminist team of brave African mavericks working behind the scenes in East Africa to pre-emptively mitigate and ultimately erase the impact of anti-gender, anti-rights, and anti-democracy groups in the region.
Joy
Asasira
Liz Ford is a freelance writer and editor. She worked at the Guardian for more than 20 years, the majority of that time as deputy editor of the award-winning Global development desk, which she helped establish in 2010. While there, she spearheaded the launch of a section that championed women’s rights and gender equality in low-income settings, which won awards for its work spotlighting the restrictions on reproductive rights and sexual abuse. She has chaired and spoken on panels at global conferences, including at the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women and during the UN general assembly. She has travelled extensively, interviewing world leaders and encouraging and promoting the work of women journalists and those from marginalised communities.
Liz Ford
Mona Eltahawy is a feminist author, commentator and disruptor of patriarchy. She is editing an anthology on menopause called Bloody Hell! And Other Stories: Adventures in Menopause from Across the Personal and Political Spectrum. Her first book Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution (2015) targeted patriarchy in the Middle East and North Africa and her second The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls (2019) took her disruption worldwide. Her commentary has appeared in media around the world and she is founder and editor-in-chief of the newsletter FEMINIST GIANT.
Mona
Eltahawy