CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING OF JOURNALISTS IN LAND DEGRADATION AND DESERTIFICATION IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA

Project Background 

Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) is an African institution committed to deepening of democracy, protecting human rights and enhancing good governance in the southern region of Africa. As one of its programmes under Economic Justice, OSISA has partnered with UNDP, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Equator Initiative and Environment and Development in Africa (ENDA) to implement a project on improving sustainable land management (SLM) and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) policy and practice interaction in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) through civil society capacity building. One of the building blocks in achieving the project’s outcomes is increasing technical capacity of CSOs to support the SLM initiatives and knowledge based advocacy. This perspective of the project gives the impetus for linkage with the media for channelling knowledge generated to the wider audience and spaces for advocacy in the SSA region. OSISA is subsequently partnering with UNCCD Secretariat, UNDP, ENDA, Equator Initiative, OSIEA and OSIWA to mount a media training workshop. Other collaborating institutions in this event include UNEP, NEPAD and Green World Radio.

Rationale

Traditionally, media plays the role of educating; setting agenda and interpreting information to the public. Mass media can therefore shape public opinion and put pressure on politicians even in areas such as SLM.  It is, therefore important as an entry point to train selected journalists from the SSA region on the risks and opportunities of land degradation. In particular, the training workshop will deliver on critical elements of sustainable development; SLM; challenges and successes in combating desertification in SSA and the role of CSOs and media in combating desertification.

 

Objectives

The training is designed to enhance the capacity of journalists from SSA on effective media reporting in SLM. The specific objectives of the training are:

i)   Enhance skills for investigative journalism in SLM

ii)  Create   a pool of international   expert   journalists, writing regularly about land degradation, desertification and drought.

iii)     Increase media coverage about the challenges of land degradation, desertification and drought as well as the benefits of sustainable land management;

 

Eligibility criteria

This workshop targets 24 journalists (a hybrid of environment and other sectors) from a variety of media (print, online, radio and TV) from across SSA (Central, Eastern, Southern and Western regions).

 

The applicant MUST meet the following criteria:

 

i)                    Applicant must have been a practising journalist for at least three years;

ii)                   A motivation letter from the applicant with ideas for reports and also indicating the  country where the applicant is practicing journalism;

iii)                 Applicant submit one draft article (radio, or TV reports) about land degradation and/or SLM;

iv)                 Proof of being an affiliated or freelance journalist;

v)                  Commitment in writing from the editor of host media institution to publish an article from the applicant after attending the training.

 

Timing

This is a three day intensive training that runs from 14^th to 16^th June, 2014. As part of the training, the trained journalists will be expected to cover Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management on the 17^th July 2014. Both activities shall be held in Nairobi, Kenya.