APPLY NOW: Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship

Now in its 11th year, the fellowship provides an academic and professional opportunity for women journalists who focus on human rights and social justice to advance their reporting skills. The fellowship was created in memory of The Boston Globe correspondent and IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner Elizabeth Neuffer, who died while reporting in Iraq on May 9, 2003. In collaboration with Neuffer’s family and friends, the IWMF started this program to honor Neuffer’s legacy while advancing her work in the fields of human rights and social justice.

The Neuffer Fellowship is designed for affiliated or freelance women journalists with at least three years of professional experience in journalism working in print, broadcast, or digital media. All nationalities are welcome to apply, but non-native English speakers must have excellent written and verbal English skills in order to fully participate in and benefit from the program. The next IWMF Neuffer Fellowship runs from September 2015 to March 2016. The 2015/16 Fellow will complete research and coursework at MIT’s Center for International Studies and internships with media outlets including The Boston Globe and The New York Times. The flexible structure of the program will provide the fellow with opportunities to pursue academic research and hone her reporting skills. Past fellows have taken advantage of opportunities to publish work under their byline through various media outlets.

To date, 10 journalists representing nine countries, have served as Neuffer Fellows since 2004. During the fellowship and beyond, they have explored a wide range of under-reported issues including gender-based violence, indigenous rights and religious intolerance.

Applications for the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship will be accepted April 1 through May 1, 2015. One outstanding woman journalist will be selected in June 2015.

APPLY HERE

Tech4Governance Ghana Competition Announcement

On May 30th 2015, Penplusbytes and Making All Voices Count will host a pitching competition #Tech4Governance in Accra, Ghana, at the New Media Hub. Up to 10 innovators will be selected to pitch, and winners will get support to develop their ideas with the hopes of securing an Innovation Grant of up to £40,000.
The competition seeks innovative ideas that aim at improving service delivery or electoral processes in Ghana – read on.

Submissions
●    Applications open 21 April and close on 17 May 23:59 GMT;
●    Finalists announced on 22 May 2015
●    Pitching session held on 30 May 2015

Eligibility
Any entity from Ghana is welcome to apply: companies, government actors, non-profits, for-profits, education establishments, NGOs or individuals.

Themes
The themes for which you can submit your idea are listed below. Ideas should seek to address two or more of the guiding points under each theme:

1. Within the theme ‘Improved Service Delivery’ ideas that:

• Use technology to increase accountability and responsiveness of District, Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies;
• Use technology to strengthen feedback mechanisms from duty bearers at the local and district level;
• Strengthen and promote use and adoption of ICT tools in government ministries, departments and agencies;
• Promote citizen engagement and government accountability through open data and information sharing;
• Make effective use of technology to ‘make all voices count’ through active engagement of women and/or marginalized groups or communities.

1. Within the theme ‘Electoral Processes’ ideas that:

• Use technology and innovation for voter registration, voter identification and voter verification processes;
• Use technology for election monitoring at district and national level;
• Use technology to allow citizens to vet the electoral process including gaps in voter registration;
• Use technology to allow media organizations effectively monitor and cover electoral processes at national and district level;
• Make effective use of technology to ‘make all voices count’ through active engagement of women and/or marginalized groups or communities.

Further details can be accessed through http://submit.makingallvoicescount.org/

Ready to enter?

Submit an idea.

APPLY NOW: WHOI Ocean Science Journalism Fellowship

WHOI Ocean Science Journalism Fellowships were established in 2000, and the next program will be held from September 13-18, 2015. The OSJ program is designed to introduce science journalists to the interdisciplinary and wide-ranging fields of oceanography and ocean engineering.

Through seminars, laboratory visits, and brief field expeditions, Ocean Science Journalism Fellows gain access to new research findings and to fundamental background information in engineering, marine biology, geology and geophysics, marine chemistry and geochemistry, and physical oceanography. Topics range from harmful algal blooms to deep-sea hydrothermal vents; from seafloor earthquakes to ice-sheet dynamics; from the ocean’s role in climate change to the human impact on fisheries and coastline change; from ocean instruments and observatories to underwater robots.

Our program is a one-week, residential experience open to professional writers, producers, and editors working for print, broadcast, radio, and Internet media. The ideal candidate will have at least two years of writing, producing, or editing experience for a general-interest audience. Freelancers, book authors, and writers from nontraditional media may also be considered, but should be able to show a substantial portfolio of work.

All fellows receive a travel allowance, as well as room and board for one week. International journalists are welcome to apply. Please include English translations of your work samples.

Application Information

We will begin accepting applications on February 10, 2015. All applications and supporting materials must arrive by mail no later than May 1, 2015. Please note that you still need to mail hard copies of writing samples after you complete the online application form.

Mail applications to:
Erin Koenig
Ocean Science Journalism Fellowship
Mail Stop #16
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Forms & materials:
Online Application Form
Application Form (pdf)
Required Materials (pdf)
Contact:
Media Relations Office
Phone: (508) 289-3340
Email: media@whoi.edu

APPLY NOW: Earth Journalism Grants Fund

The Earth Journalism Grants Fund is available to support the creation, growth, and capacity of journalism organizations focused on reporting the human dimensions of climate change.

Those most vulnerable to climate impacts —often women, youth, and indigenous communities -- typically have the least influence on how respond to climate risks.  Despite bearing the least responsibility for the conditions accelerating climate change, vulnerable and under-represented populations are often the people with the most at stake.

This grant opportunity represents a challenge to journalists throughout the world to facilitate a responsive information ecosystem that more accurately and holistically reflects environmental challenges facing people across the planet.

WHAT TYPES OF PROJECTS DOES THIS GRANT OPPORTUNITY SUPPORT?

The Earth Journalism Grants Fund is focused on capacity and network building with flexible spending guidelines that enable local networks to invest in strategic opportunities, build the capacities of their members, and respond to communities’ needs.

Projects funded by this grant should have a strong thematic focus on climate change. Particular attention should be given to how climate change affects vulnerable and marginalized communities.  

While content production is an important aspect of any project, applications without some form of network- or capacity-building component will not be considered.  But if special opportunities arise, we are open to supporting fellowships and travel grants that support specific story ideas or coverage of key events, so long as these projects facilitate the creation of networks and/or are part of a training process.

Examples of previous grantee project:

·         Pakistan -- Pakistan's National Council of Environmental Journalists (NCEJ) focused their project on strengthening their network via the recruitment of new membership through training. NCEJ held 10 training workshops (classroom and field training) on the most crucial environmental issues – particularly those pertaining to water threats – facing Pakistan.  This series of trainings resulted in over 70 published stories and initiated a redesign of the NCEJ's official website, transforming it into an information hub for environmental journalists and a repository for stories produced as the result of the trainings.

·         In Tunisia, the Tunisian Environmental Reporting Network (TERN) was created through multiple activities, including training workshops, sponsoring members of the network to report from international environmental conferences, and working partnerships with fellow environmental journalists in other countries on the Mediterranean. To house the stories written by network members, this project set up an environmental news section of NAWAAT, an independent collective blog that aggregates media from a variety of sources to provide a forum for citizen journalists

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR THIS GRANT?

The Earth Journalism Grants fund is designed to support the establishment of environmental journalism networks in countries where they don't exist, and build their capacity where they do. Applicants should note their affiliations with existing media organizations or provide detailed plans about how this project would facilitate the creation of a new organization. 

As Internews is strictly a media development organization, please avoid any applications rooted in advocacy or political campaigning.

WHERE CAN THIS FUNDING BE USED?

We are predominantly focused on the developing world, where the need is often the greatest, but the pool of available resources is limited. However, we are open to proposals from anywhere, and in this case we would be interested in projects that focus reporting on the climate impacts on women, youth and indigenous peoples in countries that will play a leading role in international climate negotiations.

HOW MUCH FUNDING IS AVAILABLE FOR THE GRANTS?

This grant fund contains $50,000 USD and ideally will be allocated to 5 projects. While the average for each grant is approximately $10,000 USD, we can provide funding over the average for projects that demonstrates a critical need.  

The deadline for applications is May 15, 2015.

·         Grantees are expected to give their full cooperation in monitoring and evaluating the results of the projects, and are encouraged to submit their own monitoring and evaluation plan along with their application. The final monitoring and evaluation plan will be agreed upon by EJN and each individual grantee.

·         Applications should include a budget using this form

·         The projects are generally expected to take place this year, and we are particularly looking to see a lot of activity carried out prior to the COP21 Climate Summit held in early December, 2015. Final reports for accepted projects must be filed no later than Feb 10, 2016

·         Projects that can offer or raise co-financing to complement EJN’s support will be favorably viewed.

New EJN Members should register for an account before Applying.

Click here to Apply

New Media Hub holds one – day Social Media for Results Training

The International Institute of ICT Journalism, Penplusbytes, has put together a one-day course to train participants in leveraging Social Media tools for better communication; branding and marketing, and boosting the online presence of businesses, organisations and individuals at the ultra-modern New Media Hub in Osu, Ako-Adjei, on Wednesday, 29^th April, 2015.

The course, which is crafted to provide an exceptional opportunity for organisations and individuals alike to acquire international standard training in effective social media management, is also expected to benefit participants with enhanced understanding and experience of social media in a whole new way to boost their respective brands.

Contrary to the subtle notion that appears to box social media into just another passing marketing interest, and therefore, an unprofitable one, channels such as Facebook and Twitter have proven to be effective tools for reaching out to customers and the public; demonstrating a huge potential for social media marketing to increase traffic to their websites and therefore increased sales.

“At Penplusbytes, we appreciate and understand new media tools, their application as well as emerging trends and social media is one of such key areas registering enormous gains from increased brand recognition and loyalty to providing an opportunity to convert potential customers,” said Dorcas Okyere, Training coordinator at Penplusbytes.

Fitted to meet the need of trainees from a cross-section of sectors - government, ministries, departments and agencies; private business and organisations, parliament, judiciary service, communications personnel, non-profits(NGOs), academia, international organisations, security sector and individuals - the course will deliver on imparting strategies for successful social media campaigns, developing and integrating social media into wider marketing and promotion frameworks and learning advanced techniques for social media measurement, analytics, content and engagement.

ABOUT
Penplusbytes is a leading organization in Africa, established in 2001 and working in 3 areas: the use of technology to drive governance and accountability, new media and innovations as well as oil, gas and mining.

APPLY NOW: Earth Journalism Grants Fund

The Earth Journalism Grants Fund is available to support the creation, growth, and capacity of journalism organizations focused on reporting the human dimensions of climate change.

Those most vulnerable to climate impacts —often women, youth, and indigenous communities -- typically have the least influence on how respond to climate risks.  Despite bearing the least responsibility for the conditions accelerating climate change, vulnerable and under-represented populations are often the people with the most at stake.

This grant opportunity represents a challenge to journalists throughout the world to facilitate a responsive information ecosystem that more accurately and holistically reflects environmental challenges facing people across the planet.

WHAT TYPES OF PROJECTS DOES THIS GRANT OPPORTUNITY SUPPORT?

The Earth Journalism Grants Fund is focused on capacity and network building with flexible spending guidelines that enable local networks to invest in strategic opportunities, build the capacities of their members, and respond to communities’ needs.

Projects funded by this grant should have a strong thematic focus on climate change. Particular attention should be given to how climate change affects vulnerable and marginalized communities.  

While content production is an important aspect of any project, applications without some form of network- or capacity-building component will not be considered.  But if special opportunities arise, we are open to supporting fellowships and travel grants that support specific story ideas or coverage of key events, so long as these projects facilitate the creation of networks and/or are part of a training process.

Examples of previous grantee project:

·         Pakistan -- Pakistan's National Council of Environmental Journalists (NCEJ) focused their project on strengthening their network via the recruitment of new membership through training. NCEJ held 10 training workshops (classroom and field training) on the most crucial environmental issues – particularly those pertaining to water threats – facing Pakistan.  This series of trainings resulted in over 70 published stories and initiated a redesign of the NCEJ's official website, transforming it into an information hub for environmental journalists and a repository for stories produced as the result of the trainings.

·         In Tunisia, the Tunisian Environmental Reporting Network (TERN) was created through multiple activities, including training workshops, sponsoring members of the network to report from international environmental conferences, and working partnerships with fellow environmental journalists in other countries on the Mediterranean. To house the stories written by network members, this project set up an environmental news section of NAWAAT, an independent collective blog that aggregates media from a variety of sources to provide a forum for citizen journalists

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR THIS GRANT?

The Earth Journalism Grants fund is designed to support the establishment of environmental journalism networks in countries where they don't exist, and build their capacity where they do. Applicants should note their affiliations with existing media organizations or provide detailed plans about how this project would facilitate the creation of a new organization. 

As Internews is strictly a media development organization, please avoid any applications rooted in advocacy or political campaigning.

WHERE CAN THIS FUNDING BE USED?

We are predominantly focused on the developing world, where the need is often the greatest, but the pool of available resources is limited. However, we are open to proposals from anywhere, and in this case we would be interested in projects that focus reporting on the climate impacts on women, youth and indigenous peoples in countries that will play a leading role in international climate negotiations.

HOW MUCH FUNDING IS AVAILABLE FOR THE GRANTS?

This grant fund contains $50,000 USD and ideally will be allocated to 5 projects. While the average for each grant is approximately $10,000 USD, we can provide funding over the average for projects that demonstrates a critical need.  

The deadline for applications is May 15, 2015.

·         Grantees are expected to give their full cooperation in monitoring and evaluating the results of the projects, and are encouraged to submit their own monitoring and evaluation plan along with their application. The final monitoring and evaluation plan will be agreed upon by EJN and each individual grantee.

·         Applications should include a budget using this form

·         The projects are generally expected to take place this year, and we are particularly looking to see a lot of activity carried out prior to the COP21 Climate Summit held in early December, 2015. Final reports for accepted projects must be filed no later than Feb 10, 2016

·         Projects that can offer or raise co-financing to complement EJN’s support will be favorably viewed.

New EJN Members should register for an account before Applying.

Click here to Apply