Contributing to the Annual Report!

Contributing to the Annual Report!

In September of each year, the WAEC finalise their Annual Report for the previous financial year. This year I was lucky enough to contribute to the decision making behind the 2015-16 edition.

Our staff Executive Assistant gave us a copy of the draft report, along with the 2014-15 edition, and told us to view it with a critical eye. I was a little surprised that they wanted our input on the report, but it felt like I was a valued member of staff, even as an intern.

Along with my two fellow interns, we analysed the draft report and compared it with the 2014-15 edition. Having three different sets of eyes looking at the same document was great because each person has a different way of looking at things.

Our feedback generally focussed around content layout and how it could be more engaging. We noticed that the 2014-15 report used a lot of graphs and tables, something that we felt the new draft report lacked. Content delivered solely via text is not engaging for any audience, especially when it is in a vast quantity. The use of graphic formatting to display statistics and figures would break up the report nicely, and allow the reader a chance to see the content in a different way.

We found the overall use of empty space could be improved. Although an Annual Report must be packed with content, you can’t underestimate the use of empty space. In this regards, the picture sized could be made a little smaller, and the Photoshop editing could be used a little more discretely!

As this was a draft report, it was still in black and white. I presume that when in full colour (yellow, blue and white), that the final product will be more engaging on the eye, as was the case with the 2014-15 report.

Part of our role was to contribute any creative suggestions to the report design. In this regard we came up with an idea to change one of the box designs to have a number in them, as opposed to ticks (I.e. number the boxes 1-5). This in a way emulates a ballot paper, and the staff members who we shared the idea with absolutely loved it.

The next day in the office, Winnie and I walked past the Commissioner in the corridor who stopped us to tell us that he really loved our suggestions for the report and that they would definitely be taking them on board. This made me feel appreciated and it was great to see that a person as busy as the Commissioner has time to express how he feels to an intern.

Overall, it was a great experience to be trusted to make some recommendations regarding the 2015-16 Annual report. I’m glad our ideas were taken well and I look forward to seeing examples of my inputs in the final copy which will be available online in December 2016.

Last year's annual report - used to base our recommendations on
2015-2016 edition won't be uploaded until Dec 2016