ICFJ Early Childhood Development Reporting Fellowship 2017/2018 (Fully Funded)

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), in partnership with the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and Fundação Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal, is recruiting for 8 Early Childhood Development Reporting Fellows. The goal of the fellowships is to improve news coverage of child health and form a global network of reporters covering this critically-important issue.

Requirements:

• The Fellowship is open to journalists covering issues of child health and development for news outlets based in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.
• An ideal candidate will have previous experience covering early childhood development issues, but journalists who currently cover health or nutrition-related topics and are interested in increasing their coverage of children’s issues are welcome to apply.
• Successful applicants must be employed by a news outlet or have a commitment to publish/broadcast from a news outlet to participate.
• Applicants must be proficient in English.
• Stories submitted may be written in your native language; however, reporting project proposals must be submitted in English.

The Fellowship

• This is the second of three groups of fellows that will be recruited over the next two years. The fellowship term for this second cohort will run from October 2017 – October 2018.
• During the year-long program, the fellows will receive virtual training, mentoring and financial support to produce regular stories on nutrition and early-childhood development, relevant to their home countries.
• The program will begin with a virtual orientation (webinar) after which each fellow will be assigned a mentor who will work with them as they produce stories on early childhood development issues. ICFJ will conduct regular webinars during the year of the fellowship.
• The program also includes two reporting trips. ICFJ will send all fellows to a country that is implementing a successful and innovative approach to supporting childhood development. The fellows will meet with early childhood development experts in the field and will produce stories with the help of their mentors.
• ICFJ and its partners are currently working on selecting the dates and destinations for both trips. ICFJ will cover all of the fellowship expenses.

Benefits:

• ICFJ covers all of the travel expenses, including visas, flights, hotels and local transportation.