How to apply co-design to journalism education

Traditional top-down journalism training is no longer enough. Discover how co-design creates courses that are relevant, engaging, and built to last.

In the past, external trainers would turn up in a newsroom with a set of presentations expecting to train journalists with tried, tested and proven formats designed to improve the skills of participants.

That method worked, but not as well as a co-design approach for several reasons.

My own experience with Fojo

For more than 20 years I have been building training courses for journalists working in countries where the media is still developing.

Much of that training – particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East – was with the Fojo Media Institute. And from the start, Fojo encouraged a co-design approach.

Why off-the-shelf material falls short

I would be hired to deliver training on a particular topic. I already had plenty of material ready to go. It was material that I had used before – slightly revised for the new training assignment – but general in nature. It was all neatly stored on my laptop in the form of presentations, workshops, and lessons.

However, that style of training was not good enough. It was second-hand. It had been used before in different circumstances to help journalists living in different countries, cultures, and operating at different levels of media freedom.

So Fojo would allow me a couple of days on the ground to find out what pressures the newsroom and its journalists were working under, the level of training they had already had, the media organisation’s business model, and its training needs.

I would then assess the situation and respond accordingly. Central to this was working with a local co-trainer to revise and rework my training material so that it was fit for purpose.

Appointing a co-trainer

At my first meeting with senior editors I would ask them to select one of their brightest and best to work with me during my time with them.

The co-trainer would work alongside me as I gathered the information I needed about the news organisation, its objectives, workflows, etc., and then help me design the training.

Then, with their input, I would head back to my hotel and, often working late into the night, I would rework everything I had so that it was locally relevant and met the news organisation’s needs.

The following day the co-trainer and I would check the material before the course started. I would kick things off for the first session, but as the course progressed we would change places and the co-trainer would lead the training and I would become the co-trainer.

It was an informal system that changed for every newsroom, because all are different. But it was essential. And the rewards were clear. More engagement from participants, amazing workshop output, and clear and measurable deliverables.

The essentials of co-design

Co-design means working with local trainers, media managers and journalists to create courses that address their needs rather than bypassing them and subjecting them to training that was created for someone else. It makes the training far more relevant, flexible, and sustainable.

Here is how you can implement a co-design approach to journalism training in your news organisation.

Getting to know the environment

A co-design approach starts by bringing together different voices before writing a single presentation or lesson outline. Rather than imposing an external framework, the process begins with sharing ideas.

Being briefed on what to expect when entering a newsroom that you have never visited before is one thing, but doing your own research is far better. It’s simple and can be done in a day, although, in my experience, two days is better.

• Stakeholder input: Arrange meetings with senior editors, business managers, technical leads, and the journalists on the ground to assess their needs.
• Local relevance: Work directly with local editors to ensure that what you are about to teach their journalists reflects current industry needs, legal realities, and safety concerns.
• Ask and listen: Talk to as many people as you can, not only in the newsroom or the cafe when staff are on their breaks, but also in the street. Often I would carry a clipboard with me and chat to passersby as I made my way back to the hotel. Simple questions such as: Do you listen to [news organisation name]? What do you think of their news coverage? Is it trustworthy? Do they cover the issues you are most interested in? What could they do better?

Gathering such information is essential if you are about to rework your training material to meet local needs.

Feedback and improvement

So, you have done your research, you have spent the whole evening in the hotel distilling what you had learnt, and you have built new presentations and lesson/workshop outlines. What next?

Arrange to meet your co-trainer an hour before the session to go through what you had planned for the day and – importantly – ask for their input.

Be prepared to change everything. My co-trainer usually welcomed the plan, perhaps with a few tweaks.

Co-design is not a one-off event. It’s a continuous cycle of testing, learning, and improving. Everything you do on day one should be revisited in the evening and adjusted based on what you learnt when you and the co-trainer delivered the material.

Courses should be treated as flexible models that evolve based on feedback from classroom delivery.

Keeping the funder happy

However, trainers face a challenge. You will have been sent to a newsroom with a particular brief. That will have been set out by the media development organisation that is paying you. They, in turn, have to answer to the funders who have paid for the training.

These are the external stakeholders you are answerable to. And it is to these groups that you have to justify any change in the terms of reference (ToR) that have come about due to co-design.

And this requires work. Polishing a presentation to deliver to those you have been sent to train is one thing – writing a report about that training that ticks all the boxes of those who funded and organised the training is another.

But you have to prove only one point in both your training and in reporting back: that you achieved what you were sent to do, that your training was relevant, and that it will have a lasting impact. In that context, co-design is perfect for justifying every step taken during the courses you deliver.

And what you will have left behind is a co-trainer who is now a trainer, equipped with the methodology to prepare and deliver locally relevant training that is practical, relevant, effective, and appreciated.

From local to international

Scaling co-design across borders

What I have just described is my experience of co-designed training. Now let’s look at the wider implications for media development organisations adopting this approach on a global level.

For international media development programmes – such as Fojo’s involvement in the AGILE project – co-design is central to the whole philosophy of sharing knowledge and building the capacity of those involved.

The challenge is to ensure that training on global issues, such as climate change, investigative journalism, or stress and trauma management, does not resort to using a one-size-fits-all model.

And that initial training – that I would have carried out in the newsroom – can be transferred to reach student journalists who will one day be the next generation of media leaders, by including educators who train journalism students in regional universities and colleges.

This is where co-designed training scales. From local to national to regional to global via newsrooms, external trainers, and local, national, and regional educators.

It’s a co-design training ecosystem where each level feeds off the other and – through collaboration – becomes richer, more relevant, and sustainable.

Taking it to the regional and national level involves many hours of meetings, workshops, and online collaboration.

Taking co-design regionally

• Host workshops: Begin with regional meetings where educators from nearby countries share common challenges and ideas.
• Localise the content: Follow regional meetings with national sessions where educators adapt examples, case studies, and legal contexts to fit their own country’s situation.
• Involve educators: Ensure that university staff – not external consultants – are involved in any institutional training. Enabling educators to adapt and refine the material themselves helps ensure that the training lives on after project funding ends.

Why the method matters

Co-design changes what it means to be a journalism educator. Instead of delivering well-worn presentations, educators become active creators – working alongside co-training partners on the ground, whose input shapes the material from the outset.

That ownership is what makes the difference: training designed with local partners, not handed to them, is what they carry on using long after the visiting trainer has gone. The result is journalism education that is more practical, more inclusive, and built to last.

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