Public contracts matter as they affect the lives of citizens, especially the underserved in rural communities. So, in this second phase of the OCR project, which ran for two years, we worked with community journalists in the six geo-political zones championing the call for transparent and sustainable government spending to improve access to social amenities and infrastructural development for citizens at the state and local government level. Many journalists who had no experience or participated in any investigative journalism training were the main target in this phase. This action was deliberate to help improve the capacity of journalists and media reporting at the community level to ensure procurement processes at the local level of governance are open, fairer, better, and make public spending count.

Since this phase, the project has produced community champions in journalists who, through their reports, have exposed corruption in very high quarters and forced multi-sectoral reactions, changes and reforms.