Journalism Opportunity: HIV Prevention Reporting Fellowship

ICFJ, in conjunction with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announces the HIV Prevention Reporting Fellowship. This opportunity is aimed at better equipping journalists with the knowledge and skills to report on VMMC and its implementation as an HIV prevention method.
Journalists from Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are encouraged to apply for this fellowship.

Applicants are asked to submit proposed story ideas/reporting projects related to VMMC, with the understanding that the fellowship will help prepare selected applicants for reporting on the topic. ICFJ will also offer a webinar for potential applicants to ask experts their questions about VMMC and the program. The English webinar took place on September 17, 2015, and the video from the webinar appears here.

Following the webinar and the application deadline, a committee of judges will select 20 contest finalists for further mentorship on the topic. The 20 finalists will take part in an intensive 4-day story lab in Nairobi, Kenya, in February 2016. The lab will include briefings on VMMC and HIV prevention, as well as sessions on journalism skill-building, site visits and one-on-one mentoring sessions.

Upon completion of the boot camp, the fellows will have two months to complete their reporting projects, while working with ICFJ mentors throughout the process. The three best published stories will be selected to take part in a study tour in the United States in late 2016.The study tour will focus more generally on HIV prevention methods, building on the participants’ knowledge of VMMC.

Timeline:
Application webinar: September 17
Application deadline: October 19
Kenya Boot Camp participant selection: November
Story lab in Nairobi, Kenya: February 2016
Mentorship for stories: February-April 2016
Publishing deadline: April 2016
U.S. Study Tour participant selection: May 2016
U.S. study tour: Late 2016

To apply for the program, please click here.