OPPORTUNITIES

Call for reporting grant applications

InfoNile invites freelancers and staff journalists in the Eastern Nile to submit proposals for in-depth investigative multimedia journalism and data visualization grants meant to support production of stories and visuals.

Proposals should focus on the production of one or more underreported biodiversity and conservation issues in the Nile basin. The output should be a multimedia story incorporating text, video, photography, audio and data visualization/mapping. This grant is exclusively aimed at journalists in any medium in Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia. Please note that if you receive the grant, you will get technical support with designing graphics, data visualization and mapping.

Please see our recent Swamp City story, produced in partnership with Code for Africa/africanDRONE, for an example of the type of multimedia story we seek.

InfoNile is a geojournalism platform mapping data on water issues in the Nile River basin of Africa with journalism stories to promote transboundary peace. It aggregates citizen, local and international reporting on the various dimensions of water issues in the Nile Basin, ranging from the environmental and sociocultural to the economic and political. InfoNile’s major content partner is Water Journalists Africa, a network of about 700 journalists in Africa spread across some 50 countries that report on water. We also commission in-depth special projects on water to journalists reporting in the region.

Areas of focus
• Water grabbing, pollution and/or conflicts and their effects on water resources and communities.
• Effects of climate change on water resources in the basin;
• The social and environmental costs and benefits of specific national and regional development projects such as dams, irrigation schemes, industrial zones, urbanization etc.
• Stories highlighting best policies, programmes and practices about river Nile and its conservation.

How to apply for the grant:
Please submit the following to editors@infonile.org not later than 23 February 2018:
• A one page proposal outlining your story idea. Proposals should be clearly structured, stating briefly at the outset what the story idea is, followed by how and where the story will be researched, what it aims to reveal or contribute, where you will publish (specific media organizations), and the intended impact of the story. The proposal should also include a plan for incorporating data, data visualization and interactive mapping. Please note how you will use multimedia (video, photos, audio, and graphics along with text). You should also include a budget.
• A resumé/CV;
• Two samples of published/broadcast work. Links to the published stories are also are accepted.
• Letter of support from your editor, stating that your media house/s will publish / telecast / broadcast your story.

What Expenses May Be Covered?
• InfoNile will consider stipend requests for journalists, photographers and videographers. Expenses for travel, research and/or database access, and translation may also be covered.
• We are looking for stories that are extensive in content and depth, original, under-reported and critical.
• We expect budgets to not exceed $1,000 per proposal.
• Stories can be published in Arabic or Amharic but the writer is expected to submit a translated article that will be published by InfoNile in English.
Deadline to apply: 23 February 2018
Applications can only be submitted via editors@infonile.org
Queries on this grant should be addressed to editors@infonile.org