Apply now for grant to tackle Nigerian land and property issues with data-driven reporting

Photo Credits: Friends of the Earth International

Code for Nigeria is partnering with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to help journalists use data to tackle growth and development issues related to property rights.

Land grabs, property disputes, hidden land deals, flawed and opaque land registries - all pose a threat to the growth and development of Nigeria, one of Africa’s leading economies.

The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a grant-giving non-profit organisation that supports independent global journalism, is seeking applications from Nigerian journalists who want to participate in a collaborative reporting project to investigate land and property rights in their home country. The reporting will be published in Nigerian and international news outlets.

The call for this special grant opportunity is now open. Journalists are encouraged to submit their application on why they should be selected for the reporting project. The deadline is March 15, 2016.

Eligibility: This special grant opportunity is open to all Nigerian journalists, writers, photographers, radio producers, filmmakers or staff journalists as well as freelancers and media professionals who are seeking to report from their home country.

Selection: The grant recipient will be selected by the Pulitzer Center in consultation with our African-based partner organisations: Sahara Reporters, Africa Check, Code for Nigeria, and BudgIT.

The grant recipient will be paired with mentors from the Pulitzer Center’s partner journalism organisations who will help the grantee more fully develop the investigative story on land issues.

Selection will be based on the following criteria:

• The story must take an investigative angle and focus on an under-reported aspect of land and property issues in Nigeria
• The proposal must include a data collection/data journalism approach. For example, data mining government documents, digitising documents related to “off the books” land deals, creating datasets that reveal trends in land deals or tenure insecurity, or using data collected during reporting to create easy and simple to understand infographics
• The proposal needs to include a timeline and distribution plan for the story in the Nigerian media
• The strength of the proposed topic and the strength of the applicant’s work as demonstrated in their work samples
• We are looking for projects that explore systemic issues related to land and property rights, and that provide an overarching thesis, rather than individual spot-reports from the field

How to apply for the Property Rights Reporting Grant

Applications must include the following:

• A description of the proposed project, including distribution plan, in no more than 250 words
• A preliminary budget estimate, including a basic breakdown of costs. Travel grants cover hard costs associated with the reporting; please do not include stipends for the applicants. Fixer/translator/driver fees are acceptable
• Three samples of published work, either print or broadcast
• Three professional references. These can be either contact information, or letters of recommendation. The latter is encouraged when letters from interested producers or editors are available
• A copy of your curriculum vitae

Applications may also include a more detailed description of the proposed project but this will be considered as optional supplement only. The most important part of the submission is the 250-word summary.

• Submit your application here.

Originally published at pulitzercenter.org on February 5, 2016.