MFWA’s The Fourth Estate wins 2024 World Justice Challenge Award

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s accountability journalism project, The Fourth Estate, has been named the winner of the Media and Information category at the 2024 World Justice Challenge.

Although projects from four other African countries were shortlisted for awards in different categories, The Fourth Estate is the only project from Africa to win an award this year.

It beat competition from journalism projects from Argentina, Mexico, Albania, Azerbaijan, Albania, shortlisted in the Media and Information category.

The competition featured five categories: Media and Information, Electoral Processes, Justice Institutions, Youth Engagement, and the U.S. Building Trust Prize.

The project was recognised for its independent, research-based journalism that advances the rule of law in Ghana.

“These exemplary projects were chosen for their potential for replication and their demonstrated impact in advancing the rule of law,” stated the World Justice Challenge’s website in its announcement of the winners.

The winning projects will each receive a $20,000 cash prize and opportunities to network and build their global profiles throughout the year.

The winners were selected from 30 finalists from 23 countries, narrowed down from 424 submissions from 109 countries.

The award was presented to MFWA’s Executive Director, Sulemana Braimah, and the management team at the World Justice Forum, held during the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in Chicago on August 1, 2024.

The category won by The Fourth Estate emphasises programming that safeguards free media and ensures access to a reliable and trustworthy information ecosystem, addressing the challenges brought by 21st-century technological advancements.

Some key impacts that won The Fourth Estate the honor include exposing a $2 million monthly corrupt contract, leading to investigations and suspensions; an investigation prompting nearly 300 public officials to file asset declarations; uncovering fraud in the school placement system, resulting in parliamentary scrutiny and prosecutions; and revealing unlicensed herbal medication promotions, leading to regulatory actions.

Additionally, it highlighted the misallocation of government scholarships, triggering an investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

Reacting to the honour, the Executive Director of the MFWA, Sulemana Braimah, said: “This award represents the validation of how great journalism can contribute to accountability, rule of law and the overall positive transformation of society. Doing this kind of journalism can be challenging but we will persevere and also inspire others in the West Africa region to use journalism for the good of society.”

The World Justice Challenge is a global competition designed to identify, recognise, and promote good practices and high-impact initiatives that protect and advance the rule of law.

According to the organisers, all the winning projects support this year’s theme, “The Rule of Law: Foundation of Democracy.” The Fourth Estate’s impactful work has previously attracted global accolades.

In 2023, MFWA Executive Director, Sulemana Braimah, received the Eisenhower Fellows’ Impact Award from US-based Eisenhower Fellowships (EF) for his successful establishment and operationalisation of The Fourth Estate.

Looking ahead, The Fourth Estate aims to strengthen local partnerships and cross-border collaborations across West Africa, to evolve into a regional investigative journalism project.