Applications open for deforestation journalism fellowships in Africa

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

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 eleven-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.

Next steps:

Are you eligible?

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.

The Fellowships

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

• Access to up to 11 data journalism workshops (seven English and four 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.

How to apply:

Please fill in this form by 23 November, 2020

About the Partners

Code for Africa (CfA): is the continent’s largest network of digital democracy laboratories, with over 75 full-time data scientists, forensic researchers, news technologists and digital storytellers working in support of watchdog media partners in 18 African countries. CfA builds digital solutions that provide actionable information to citizens to encourage informed decisions, while also amplifying voices to strengthen civic engagement for improved public governance and evidence-driven accountability.