Liberia

quitaed@aol.com

Project Goal: As money flows in for reconstruction after years of conflict, journalists will track spending on development of roads, schools and other key public services, holding officials accountable for these essential investments in the country’s future.

Partner Organization: AllAfrica, a multi-media content service provider, systems technology developer, and the largest electronic distributor of African news and information worldwide. AllAfrica is one of a family of companies that aggregate, produce and distribute news from across Africa to tens of millions of end users.

Biography: Marquita Smith has been an editor at The Virginia Pilot since 2001, when she joined the newspaper as a local government editor. Smith most recently served as Virginia Beach City Editor. She joined Knight-Ridder as a reporter for The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., and later reported in the news organization’s Washington, D.C., bureau. She also reported for The Lexington Herald-Leader in Lexington, Ky., and worked as an assistant editor at The Montgomery Advertiser in Alabama. Smith has taught journalism at Hampton University in Hampton, Va., and Norfolk State University, where she currently is an adjunct professor. She received a National Association of Black Journalists, United Nations and the Knight Foundation Liberia Fellowship in 2005. She has also been a Knight Center for Specialized Journalism Fellow, National Association Minority Media Executives Leadership and Development Fellow, Pew Center Civic Journalism Fellow, and Investigative Reporters and Editors Fellow. Smith has a Bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and a Master's in journalism from the University of Maryland.