2016 YaLa Academy’s Aileen Getty School of Citizen Journalism for Middle Eastern & African Youth.

Application Deadline: February 15, 2016.

The YaLa Academy’s Aileen Getty School of Citizen Journalism brings together leading journalists and new media experts to train Middle Eastern and African youth in basic journalism techniques, photo- and video-journalism and 21st Century activism.

Building upon an initiative launched in 2014 in partnership with the U.S. Institute of Peace, this online program is a unique combination of new media training and peacebuilding experience. In regions where media is too often a tool for nationalism, division and fear, YaLa citizen journalists are being empowered to express themselves and tell a very different kind of story.

Requirements

• The YaLa Academy’s Aileen Getty School of Citizen Journalism invites you to undergo a 4-month online training program (starting in March 2016), including weekly online classes and seminars to help you become “citizen journalists.”
• The program will be held in English and participants must come from, or live in, the Middle East or Africa.
• Students will be required to take part in bi-monthly live chat sessions and to be part of a private Facebook working group. Committing to the program means that participants will be active on their working Facebook group, submit 4 mandatory assignments and regularly check their emails.
• Participants (aged 17 to 36) will be asked to write blogs, run interviews, and take photos and videos.

The curriculum will be comprised of online lessons from experts in the fields of journalism, social media, and cyber activism, providing both theoretical and practical approaches to the field.

Structures:

The School recruits journalism and new media experts to train and engage young leaders (aged 17-36) from across the Middle East and Africa in the following topics:

The internet allows the voices of civil societies to be heard globally; a power once reserved for only the largest media and news corporations. We must make the best of this opportunity and use it to build bridges for a better, more peaceful future.

• The program will train participants to become citizen journalists experienced in writing blogs, taking photos, making videos, using new media tools and engaging in dialogue and peacebuilding. The content created during the program will focus on issues important to the young generation of the Middle East and Africa, such as gender, identity, politics, social justice and culture, and will be featured on the YaLa Press platform: http://yalapress.wordpress.com.

• A series of video lectures by journalism and new media experts in the four topics;
• Biweekly live online discussions among students and School staff on our interactive online learning platforms;
• Periodic online Q&A sessions between students and lecturers;
• Collaborative assignments in writing, photography and video shared, edited and discussed together by students and Staff in private Facebook working groups
• Opportunities for excelling students to win prizes and participate in further study;
• Local workshops on citizen journalism topics in the five country Chapters (Morocco,Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Israel);
• Publication/promotion of the best blogs, videos and photos on YaLa Press and YaLa’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, as well as other media outlets such as Huffington Post

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the  YaLa Academy’s Aileen Getty School of Citizen Journalism