2021 WIN Africa Accelerator for women Journalists from sub-Saharan Africa

Application Deadline:31 January 2021.

WIN Leadership Accelerator is an intensive, nine-month-long career and leadership programme for journalists and editors working in Africa, the Arab Region and Southeast Asia. The programme accepts 100-150 applicants, annually. Women media professionals from the following countries are eligible to apply: Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe (WIN Africa), Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine (WIN Arab Region), Myanmar and Vietnam (Southeast Asia).

Approach

Through a combination of coaching, training, mentoring and networking, we enable journalists and editors who take part in the programme to acquire new skills and build their capacity to lead and transform.

Requirements

The WIN Leadership Accelerator is targeted at mid to senior level editors and journalists in WIN’s intervention markets. Participants must have two to three years of experience managing people or processes and be working in the media sector – print or digital newspapers, radio and, in some cases, broadcast.

WIN recognise that gender is not binary. All media professionals who are women identifying, as well as non-binary people, are welcome to apply to the Accelerator.

Opportunities

Successful applicants to the WIN Leadership Accelerator programme benefit from the following:

One-on-one coaching to create a three-to-five year career roadmap

Develop your career management plan and learn how to implement it. Coach and mentee meet individually on five occasions with follow-up sessions. Our coaches use global best practices, customised specifically for the WIN Accelerator.

Certified Media Management training​

Regional and global experts drawn from the WIN and WAN-IFRA extended community deliver training on: newsroom management, financial management, operationalising digital strategy and the business of news. Delivered in person and via -learning platforms.

Gender Balance in Content training

Get exposed to tools and tactics to help you and your organisation achieve more balanced and representative content.

Managing Sexual Harassment training

Tools and procedures to protect yourself and members of your team from sexual harassment in the newsroom and in the field.

Leadership Hubs

National or regional in-person and virtual gatherings that will help to develop personal and career management strategies and build professional networks.

*COVID-19 Precautions: Given the ongoing risks from COVID-19, the WIN Leadership Accelerator is currently offered entirely and exclusively online through virtual meetings, webinars and training. This approach will continue until it’s safe to resume in-person events, based on local and regional conditions.

Countries covered by the WIN Africa programme are: Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. If your country is not part of WIN Africa, you can apply for e-learning courses, and our WIN MMT scholarship via the “Online” tab. 

The Women in News Media Management Foundation e-learning Course was developed in partnership with Fraycollege . Successful applicants to the Women in News programme may access the course free of charge. Currently the course is offered in English. 

Deadline for application submission for WIN Africa is 31 January 2021.

Course description:

This course provides an introduction to media management, and is intended for those who have limited experience in management; however, it will benefit even experienced managers by reminding them of the basics. 

There are 5 modules in total:

1. Leadership and management

The purpose of this module is to enable participants to gain insight into the role of leadership within a work context, and thus providing them with the skills and knowledge to add value to one’s job. The expected outcomes include; explaining the concept of leadership, differentiating between leadership and management, analysing and comparing leadership theories, applying the different roles and qualities of leadership in a work context. 

2. Change management

This module explores strategies in keeping abreast of trends without compromising your business focus. The expected outcome from this module include; analysing own unit in terms of opportunities for innovation, demonstrating understanding of the techniques that promote creativity, developing a plan for creating an environment conducive to innovation, leading a team through a creative thinking process.

3. Finance for non-financial managers

Provides essential tools for the ability to assess the company’s financial practices. The expected outcomes include; A general understanding of methods and techniques for interpreting financial information, basic understanding of accounting and financial practices within the organisation, a basic understanding of methods and techniques for reading financial data from reports, the financial objectives of a business, the roles and responsibilities in financial planning.

4. Marketing and Advertising

Marketing and advertising form an integral component of any business, find out why and how to use this to your advantage. The expected outcomes include; monitoring the marketing environment and determining variables for marketing activities, distinguishing the role of marketing research and marketing information systems in investigating and understanding the operations of the marketplace, distinguishing characteristics of major markets, identifying influences on consumer behaviour in relation to marketing activities. 

5. Human resources including newsroom processes.

This module covers imperative skills for second level managers such as heads of department, section heads or divisional heads, and may have more than one team reporting to them. The expected outcomes include; demonstrating knowledge of the principles and processes of team building in workplace activities, getting agreement from team members on objectives, timeframes, rules and guidelines for participation, leading the team to complete workplace activities.

Is the Course Certified?

Fraycollege is accredited under the South African Media and ICT sector education training authority (MICT-Seta) for the delivery of the National Certificate Journalism. Currently, the Media Management Foundation course is in the process of further development in order to have it accredited as a recognised skills programme. This course is benchmarked as a post-secondary school qualification (NQF level 5) under the South African National Qualification Framework (NQF). 

How does it work?

Learners are granted six weeks to complete the e-learning short course. The course content uses a combination of text, videos and questions. 

Learners must complete each of the modules, and complete a project to earn a WIN certificate. 

Each module includes a quiz, based on the content covered in the module and assesses the learner, based on prescribed assessment criteria required by the relevant sector education training authority (Seta).

Registration

Learners must complete the registration form at the beginning of the course and submit the following:

– Certified copies of their identity documents or passports

– Certified copies of their qualifications

Completing the course

In order to earn their certificates, learners are required to:

1. Watch the course introduction video and read through the welcome note;

2. Watch all videos (average clip length 15 minutes) and not skip through any of the content as they will be tested at the end of the module;

3. Score at least 80% on quizzes at the end of each module to be able to progress to the next modules;

4. Complete and pass each module to proceed to the next

5. Complete one module per week for the duration of the course to encourage learners to complete at least one module per week. Learners who fall behind on their weekly deadlines will be granted an opportunity to catch up

Please note that NO extensions beyond the course duration will be granted.

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the 2021 WIN Africa Accelerator