Deadline: March 15, 2024
Program Details
Mongabay Africa is launching its French-speaking scholarship program for environmental journalism on the African continent. A course that allows aspiring journalists residing in key biodiversity locations to produce reports on crucial environmental issues. The objective: to contribute to the career development of our fellows, by allowing them to gain training, experience and credibility. Ultimately, Mongabay hopes that participants will join its growing global network, becoming regular contributors.
In addition to its English- and Spanish-speaking fellowship programs, Mongabay Africa’s French-speaking fellowship program for environmental journalism supports up to 12 fellows per year. Each cohort will consist of six fellows from various countries.
Under the supervision of editors-in-chief, fellows will gain valuable experience in our international news organization. There they will develop their skills in environmental reporting and create a portfolio of original publications, intended to help them in their career development.
Eligibility
- Applicants must aspire to pursue a career as an environmental journalist
- Applicants must be able to work remotely with a good internet connection and webcam, and commit to a total of 10 hours of work per week.
- For this first cohort, candidates must reside in one of the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger or Togo.
- No level of education is required to apply. This scholarship program is not linked to any university.
- All application documents must be submitted in the appropriate language (French for the French-speaking program).
- All documents must comply with the guidelines below or risk disqualification.
Required Qualifications
- Understanding of the basics of reporting and interest in writing news articles
- Interest in nature conservation issues
- Aspire to a career as an environmental journalist
- Proven information and writing skills
- Ability to meet scholarship program planning requirements
- Any affinity towards multimedia content will be carefully considered
Benefits
Each scholar receives $500 USD per month during the 3 months of the program, for a total of $1,500 USD. He will work closely with the editor-in-chief of scholarship programs as well as other journalists in the editorial office to produce a total of three reports.
Each scholarship holder commits to working 10 hours per week to produce an average of one report per month. His productions are intended to be published on the Mongabay website.
Work is done remotely – Mongabay does not have an office and cannot provide work visas.
How to apply
On the application form, you will be asked to fill in your contact details, answer a few questions about your interests and upload the following documents:
- A CV (1-2 pages maximum)
- A cover letter (1 page maximum) to introduce yourself and answer these questions:
- What are your career goals? How are they linked to environmental journalism?
- Why should Mongabay select you for this program?
- An example of a text (published or not) written in a journalistic style, linked to an environmental theme.
