The Bertha Challenge

Investigative journalists and activists can apply for this full-time, nonresidential fellowship. The Bertha Foundation is accepting candidates for the Bertha Challenge, which seeks to support collaborative investigations of one pressing social justice issue.

For the 2022 challenge, investigative journalists and activists will spend a year focusing on water by addressing the following question: “How is the relationship between politics and profit contributing to the degradation and loss of our freshwater and oceans, and what can be done to ensure equitable access and protection of these finite resources for people and planet?” The fellowship offers a stipend of up to US$62,400, project funding of up to US$10,000, a connect fund of up to US$5,000 to encourage collaboration, training, mentorship and networking opportunities. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline| July 3

Solutions Journalism Africa Fellowship 

The Solutions Journalism Network’s Africa initiative is seeking applications from individuals who want to start (or upgrade) a solutions journalism-focused project or art project that is based in or focused on Kenya and Nigeria. As a pioneer Solutions Journalism Africa Fellow, you’ll receive US$2,000 in funding to launch or expand your platform – provided it initiates or supports solutions journalism at the newsroom and community levels. For details and to apply, click here.

Deadline | July 3

Africa-China Reporting Project (ACRP)

The Africa-China Reporting Project (ACRP) at Wits Journalism in Johannesburg and Paradigm Initiative (PIN) based in Nigeria (with offices around Africa) invite all journalists based in Nigeria to submit proposals for reporting grants and workshop participation.

Successful applicants will be provided with a reporting grant, US$1,000 and will also participate in a Digital Identity Training Workshop in Abuja, Nigeria on 9-12 August 2021 to investigate issues related to digital identification, data privacy, and technology in Nigeria and West Africa. The workshop will also feature participation in PIN’s Digital Rights Academy 2021. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | July 9

Seeking Ghana-based Participants for Podcast Training 

Population Reference Bureau and Developing Radio Partners are seeking teams of journalists, community groups, or community advocates interested in producing their own podcast series. Applicants need to reside in Accra, Ghana and have stable, high-speed internet access. The selected team of up to four people from Accra will create its own podcast from start to finish while receiving coaching and guidance from expert trainers. This is a great opportunity for tech-savvy journalists, community advocates, or community radio groups who want to elevate their production and reporting skills and create programming in a new, in-depth, and exciting format that reaches new audiences. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | July 12

Constructive Journalism Fellowship

For the first time, DW Akademie is offering a fellowship in Constructive Journalism. The program combines tailored training and networking opportunities. It offers selected fellows from the Middle East and Africa a unique and exclusive opportunity to learn, connect and exchange ideas with like-minded colleagues. Fellows will be offered online training sessions, starting in September 2021,  receive up to €3,500 to support their personal constructive journalism project, be matched with a highly skilled mentor who supports them with their project and be exposed to a wider network of constructive journalists, media professionals and filmmakers.  For details and to apply, click here.

Deadline | July 14

Climate Change Media Fellowship in West Africa 

The Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), through its Natural Resources Programme (NAREP), is pleased to invite journalists, media professionals, researchers and analysts for its inaugural climate change media fellowship across west Africa. NAREP aims to strengthen the capacity of media and civil society to carry out deep and impactful reporting as well as advocacy around issues relating to natural resources, extractives and climate change.

The fellowship which will last for three months is open to journalists, policy analysts and researchers working around climate change-related issues in any of these English-speaking West African countries: Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | July 16

Global Reporting Initiative on vaccines and immunisation open

During the COVID-19 pandemic, journalists have needed to digest complex, and often unfamiliar, scientific and public health information to provide accurate and reliable reporting for their communities. They have also been tasked with combating the spread of dis- and misinformation, which the World Health Organization has identified as a priority for ensuring acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines and controlling the pandemic.

The IWMF will select a total of 30 journalists to participate in our Global Health Reporting Initiative this year. From September to December 2021, our cohort will participate in a virtual course that will increase access to global and regional experts, trusted sources and evidence-based information on vaccines and immunization. Following the course, the IWMF will also provide cohort members with competitive grants, paired with mentoring from senior reporters, in order to support clear, comprehensive and factual reporting on vaccines and immunization. This Initiative will enable journalists to provide communities with essential information through accurate and timely reporting. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | July 22

Kekere Storytellers Fund

Africa No Filter is happy to announce that our new funding cycle is open. We are looking for media organizations, initiatives, platforms and Individuals that understand the importance of nuanced and creative storytelling about Africa to shift stereotypical narratives. The Kekere Storytellers Fund pays micro-grants to content creators, wordsmiths, performance artists, visual artists and journalists to create and publish unique and compelling content that shifts prevailing stereotypical narratives about their communities or subject. This Africa No Filter’s way of ensuring that funding, which is limited and rarely accessed by up-and-coming storytellers, reaches everyone with a compelling story to tell. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | July 26

Call for proposals to investigate current violence/looting

The Henry Nxumalo Fund gives grants to individuals and organisations to do investigative journalism of relevance to contemporary South Africa. We enable journalists to have the time and resources to do reporting that might not otherwise be done, and to encourage reporting on under-covered areas of South African society. Grants are available for journalists seeking pre-publication support for investigative reporting of public interest. The grants are administered by the Henry Nxumalo Trust in partnership with Wits Journalism in memory of the pioneering investigative reporter Henry Nxumalo. For details and to apply, click here.

Deadline | July 30

South Africa Media Innovation Program 

The South Africa Media Innovation Program (SAMIP) has announced a call for independent media organizations from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to apply to join our cohort.To diversify, strengthen and support innovation among independent media initiatives in Southern African countries, through a mix of project funding, technical support, and capacity building over a three-year period. The program has provided a mix of financing (grants/equity) and capacity building to a total of 24 independent media companies, non-profits and start-ups. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | July 31

Right to Information online course

This course for information officers and staff and members of oversight bodies is designed to empower public officials to contribute to the promotion of Right to Information in Africa. It is aimed at African public officials who are tasked with implementing RTI laws.

There is also a Right to Information course available for civil society and journalists alike. It is designed to empower members of civil society and journalists to determine the applicable laws in their countries and be able to make successful requests for information from government and other public bodies. The course is an introduction to the right of individuals to access information held by public authorities (the government) or the right to information. It is aimed at African civil society and journalists, or those who are seeking information from the government. Each course provides useful and comprehensive comparative resources that can be adapted to different national contexts.

The courses consist of five modules with the possibility of online webinars with various experts. Modules can be done at the participant’s own pace over a two week period. The cost of the course will be covered by fesmedia Africa and participants will receive a certificate upon successful completion.

For more information on the course as well as a starting date e-mail lis@fesmedia.org

African Fact-Checking Awards

Journalists and journalism students across the continent can enter the awards. To qualify, entries must have first been published or broadcast on any date from 23 August 2020 to 31 July 2021. They should expose a claim on an important topic that originated in or is relevant to Africa as either misleading or wrong. The winner of the working journalist category will get a prize of US$3,000, while the runner-up will be awarded $1,500. The winner of the student journalist category will get a prize of $2,000, and the runner-up $1,000. For details and to apply, click here.

Deadline | August 1

Fellowships to Attend the 12th Global Investigative Journalism Conference

The 2021 Global Investigative Journalism Conference is this November 1-5, and for the first time, we’re doing it all online. The conference is a seminal international event in investigative journalism, featuring practical panels and workshops on the latest investigative techniques, data analysis, online research, cross-border collaboration, and more by the best journalists in the field. Admission is just $100 USD — for five days of programs — but if you can’t afford that, GIJN is offering fellowships to journalists in developing and transitioning countries. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | August 17

Operational Support Grants

Africa No Filter offers Operational Support Grants to not-for-profit organisations aligned to our mission. Applicants must be based in Africa and the Diaspora (work must benefit African creatives, artists or storytellers).Funds can be used to cover operational costs to keep the organisation going whilst it conducts its work. Operational Support Grants are open to creative hubs, narrative change organisations, media houses, festivals, galleries, digital platforms etc., that support individual storytellers. This can be through program delivery, job creation, residences, networking opportunities, training and capacity building creatives, artists, journalists etc. For details and to apply, click here.

Deadline | August 27

Deadline | August 27

Convening Grants

Africa No Filter is happy to announce that our new funding cycle is open. We are looking for media organizations, initiatives, platforms and Individuals that understand the importance of nuanced and creative storytelling about Africa to shift stereotypical narratives. Our Convening Grants support the facilitation of exchanges, conversations, dialogues and debates about narratives of Africa and how these narratives are built and sustained. At Africa No Filter, we strongly believe in supporting the narrative-change community and amplifying the voices of stakeholders on the continent and in the African diaspora on issues that shape perceptions about Africa. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | August 27

The Aga Khan University, Media Innovation Centre, together with its partners DW Akademie and Media Challenge Initiative (MCI) is looking for the brightest media minds from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to join our 2021-2022 Innovators-in-Residence program, a 12-month incubation and accelerator program that provides mentorship, training and coaching to media innovators in East Africa. The Aga Khan University, Media Innovation Centre is offering a grant of up to $20,000 to accelerate or incubate nine media start-ups from rural and urban areas in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. For details and to apply, click here. 

Deadline | August 31

Rainforest Journalism Fund

The Pulitzer Center invites journalists working on projects related to tropical rainforests to submit a proposal to the Rainforest Journalism Fund. The Pulitzer Center will pay for costs associated with reporting projects on tropical rainforests, with an emphasis on issues that have gone unreported or under-reported in the local media. For details and to apply, click here.

Deadline | Rolling

Rapid Response Fund

The Rapid Response Fund aims to facilitate the digital emergency response community to resolve threats in a timely and comprehensive manner for individuals, communities, and organisations whose free expression has recently been repressed. To resolve digital emergencies, OTF offers both direct financial support as well as technical services from trusted partners to high-risk people and organisations, such as bloggers, cyber activists, journalists, and human rights defenders. For details and to apply, click here.

Deadline | Rolling

Howard G. Buffett Fund For Women Journalists

The Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, the first funding initiative of its kind, enables the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) to dramatically expand its support of women journalists. Promoting the work and advancing the role of women in the news media across the globe is critical to transparency and a diversity of voices. For details and to apply, click here.

Deadline | Rolling