Deforestation Journalism Fellowships 2021 for African Environmental journalists

Environmental journalists in four African countries invited to apply for eight-week online course.

Application Deadline: 23rd November, 2020

About the Award: Climate change and urban sprawl is leading to deforestation across the continent and is fast becoming a major conservation concern. The Congo Basin is one of the many places that has seen a rapid increase in deforestation.

Accurate reporting to bring these issues to the fore is vital and we’re inviting journalists to learn more about data-driven journalism on this.

As part of this, Code for Africa is offering African journalists a free, intensive eight-week online course to teach you critical data collection, wrangling and presentation skills for producing compelling multimedia storytelling about deforestation in the Congo Basin.

Participants will also be invited to apply for a story grant to work on a multimedia project using Global Forest Watch data.

The workshops and story grants are in partnership with Oxpeckers.org and InfoCongo.org, key experts in environmental journalism in Africa. They form part of our deforestation data journalism initiative spearheaded in partnership with Global Forest Watch and World Resources Institute, across Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The initiative seeks to support inclusive and data-driven reportage that leverages the deforestation data by Global Forest Watch to promote the reporting of critical deforestation issues in the Congo Basin.

Type: Training

Eligibility: Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• You should have demonstrable analytical research and/or media and journalism experience in any of the following areas; deforestation, the Nile Basin, Congo Basin, water, forestry and plant life or any similar field.
• You should be an established African journalist or digital storyteller (such as a blogger or social media influencer) with a minimum one-year track record.
• You should be fluent in English and/or French (for applicants from Rwanda and Cameroon)
• You must be an African journalist based in any of these four countries: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

Eligible Countries: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

To be Taken at (Country): Online

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: If you are selected for the workshop you will receive/be eligible for the following:

• Access to up to eight data journalism workshops (English and French Sessions) on skills development ranging from finding deforestation data, working with spreadsheets, scraping and visualising data to mapping and satellite analysis.
• The opportunity to apply for a grant to work on deforestation stories using Global Forest Watch data, with exclusive support from Code for Africa’s data analysts and designers.
• The opportunity to be mentored by experts in data journalism including access to technical support from a team of data scientists, forensic researchers, news technologists and social video/infographic designers.
• Support for syndicating your work into international media, in Africa, as well as elsewhere in the world, to help amplify the reach and impact of your journalism.
• The opportunity to network and build collaboration with other African journalists interested in deforestation journalism.

Duration of Award: 8 weeks

How to Apply: Please fill in this form by 23 November, 2020

• GOODLUCK

Visit Award Webpage for Details