CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: Online Environmental Journalism Training Workshop & African Investigative Journalism Conference

Application Deadline:20 August 2020

The Africa-China Reporting Project (ACRP) at Wits Journalism in Johannesburg and partner China Dialogue invite all African and Chinese journalists interested and/or experienced in environmental journalism to apply for an Online Environmental Journalism Training Workshop to take place on 28 September 2020 that will involve practical skills training and engagement with other African and Chinese journalists.

Selected applicants will also receive a full pass to Wits Journalism’s African Investigative Journalism Conference 2020, this year a virtual series of online events spread over the month of October; African journalists will be provided with resources to support online attendance of both the Workshop and the Conference.

Environmental focus areas

The African continent is in a unique dilemma where its young population could contribute positively to the labour force, however it faces the challenge of meeting development targets as well as addressing real environment and climate impacts.

China’s government, companies and financiers are some of the largest investors in the continent, and play a critical role in supporting Africa. However, there is still a lack of quality reporting on Africa-China issues. With this Workshop the ACRP and China Dialogue aim to provide training and resources to support high quality journalism on Africa-China relations, particularly focused on African climate and environmental issues ranging from impacts of investments, innovations and infrastructure developments on farming and livelihoods, to the development of energy systems, nature conservation, and good governance, among others.

The online Workshop and AIJC Conference this year will serve as precursors for reporting grants, on-the-ground investigations and a full training workshop in 2021, the global situation permitting.

How to apply

Emails with the subject line APPLICATION: ENVIRONMENTAL WORKSHOP 2020 must be sent to [email protected] by no later than 20 August 2020, and should include the following (only documents in MS Word or PDF formats will be accepted):

• Applicant CV, including a list of previous Africa-China or environment-related reporting, if possible (attached to email)
• A short description in 100-150 words (in email body or attached as document) of a specific Africa-China environment-related story that the applicant is interested to investigate or that the applicant has already done some investigations on and is interested to investigate further. Relevant issues could include but are not limited to:
  • Climate impacts such as drought, flooding, changing temperatures and seasons
  • The future of African energy systems
  • Fossil fuels, mineral and other natural resources extraction
  • Nature conservation
  • Infrastructure development
  • Pollution

To participate, applicants must have a good command of English.

For any queries please contact the ACRP team at [email protected].

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the Online Environmental Journalism Training Workshop & African Investigative Journalism Conference