Call for Application: Digital Public Infrastructure Journalism Fellowship

Governments in Africa are increasingly investing in digitilisation to transform their economies and facilitate public service delivery. In line with this, many countries have developed national plans and strategies to guide the deployment and governance of digital public infrastructure (DPI) and digital public goods (DPGs) and services.

Despite the growing adoption of DPI and DPGs and services, public awareness and engagement have remained low.

As part of efforts to improve public awareness, the MFWA with funding support from and in partnership with Co-Develop, is commencing a regional journalism fellowship programme for journalists in West Africa.

This initiative is intended to build and grow a pool of West African journalists who would have the relevant knowledge and skills to produce quality and impactful reports on DPI/DPGs. Ultimately, the work of these journalists would increase public access to information on DPI/DPGs, and public awareness and enable public engagements in DPI/DPGs policy formulation and implementation across West Africa.

The selected journalists for this programme will go through a three-month (September to November 2023) fellowship involving training workshops, mentorship and story production. After the three-month fellowship, the beneficiary journalists will continue to engage in network activities and story production on DPI/DPG issues.

Details of Fellowship

The Fellowship will be both virtual and in-person. For the first six weeks and the last four weeks, Fellows will be engaged virtually by mentors and trainers. During the 7^th and 8^th weeks of the Fellowship, fellows will convene in Accra, Ghana for further in-person and peer-to-peer experience-sharing sessions.

By the end of the Fellowship, each fellow is expected to have produced at least two significant stories on DPI/DPGs. Fellows will be required to publish their stories in their respective news media organisations. Fellows will also receive a certificate of participation.

Who Can Apply

The opportunity is open to journalists from the following countries: Benin, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Togo.

An applicant must have worked as a journalist for at least 3 years.

An applicant must:

• Be proficient in reading, writing, and speaking any of the following three languages – English or French or Portuguese
• Be available to fully participate in the fellowship
• Commit to three months of the fellowship and three months of post-fellowship DPI/DPGs activities including story production
• Be available to travel and spend two weeks in Ghana
• Be a full-time practising journalist and must be working with a credible media organisation in any of the target countries

Benefits

• Training and mentorship opportunities
• Monthly stipend of $500 to Fellows and $700 to fellows’ media organisations to support story production, publication and programming
• Fellows will also be eligible for DPI/DPGs Reporting Grants
• Accommodation, Feeding and Health Insurance cover during the in-person convening in Ghana

Selection Process and Criteria

The selection process is a merit-based open competition. After the deadline, all eligible applications will be reviewed. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed after which final selection will be done.  Females are encouraged to apply.

Criteria for Selection

• The ability to work cooperatively in diverse groups and to respect the opinions of others
• Strong social and communication skills
• An energetic, positive attitude to work; and
• Basic knowledge, interest or professional experience in ICTs and digitalisation issues

Application and Deadline:

Interested applicants must fill out the fellowship application form.  The form requires an applicant to submit a statement of interest stating why they want to participate in the fellowship (maximum of 350 words), a CV including two referees, a statement of support from applicant’s media organisation and a copy of any national identification. The deadline for the application is August 7, 2023.

 Note: Only shortlisted applicants will be notified by email.

For further clarification, kindly contact the MFWA at info@mfwa.org or Abigail Larbi at abigail[@]mfwa.org and Vivian Affoah at vivian[@]mfwa.org.