Deadline: August 7, 2023.

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. 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.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

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.

APPLICATION

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. 

OFFICIAL LINK