Published: August 31, 2026
MONROVIA — Nukanah Kollie, a contributor to The Liberian Investigator (TLI) and senior reporter at Super Bongese Radio in Bong County, was among 12 journalists recognized as New Narratives closed five years of its Excellence in Investigative Reporting Project, the donor-funded program that has trained and edited some of Liberia’s most demanding accountability reporting since 2022.
Kollie received a certificate of completion at the ceremony in Monrovia, which drew diplomats, development partners, civil society leaders and representatives of international organizations.
He said the program’s editors pushed him past the surface of a story, toward stronger sources, harder questions and verification before publication, and that the discipline has carried into his reporting on human rights, health, agriculture, the environment, governance, youth, education, peace and development in Bong County.
The other journalists recognized were Tetee Gebro, Anthony A. Stephens, Gloria Wleh, Jerome Saye, Titus Yekeryan, Joyclyn Wea, King Brown, Eric Opa Doue, Fatu A. Kamara, Cyrus Harmon and Augusta S. Lafalay.
Prue Clarke, co-founder and executive director of New Narratives, said fellows were pushed over five years to ask another question, seek another source, and verify another fact rather than accept the easiest version of a story. She thanked the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Embassy of Sweden, the U.S. Embassy near Monrovia and the United Nations for backing independent journalism in Liberia, and thanked the FrontPage Africa team for its collaboration.
A representative delivered a message from Hassan Bility, executive director of the Global Justice and Research Project, at the ceremony. Bility credited New Narratives with contributing to independent journalism, accountability and transitional justice, and cited joint work training journalists to interview survivors safely and respectfully.
Kollie, Jerome Saye of Radio Nimba, and King Brown of Magic FM in Grand Bassa said on the sidelines that donors should keep investing in the work, particularly as the Embassy of Sweden draws down its presence in Liberia. Sustained funding, they said, is what will decide whether the training, mentorship and editorial support built over five years outlasts the program.
Kollie thanked Clarke and the New Narratives editorial team for their patience and mentorship, and said the program sharpened his sourcing, fact-checking and persistence.
Fellows produced reporting over the five years on human rights, health, gender, climate change, environmental protection, governance, rural development and social justice, under an approach that put survivors and affected people at the center of the story. Kollie said that approach matched what he wants his own work to do: connect national issues to the daily lives of Liberians whose voices are usually left out.
Kollie contributes reporting to The Liberian Investigator from Bong County.
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