MEMBER STORIES
Ghana: Trafficked and abused – how girls were sold from one trafficker to the other
By Anas Aremeyaw Anas in Takoradi, published on 12-03-2014 by New Crusading Guide
Enticed by the promise of well-paying jobs as factory-hands in the
United States of America (USA), six women aged between 29 and 38 years agreed to leave Vietnam: believing their Chinese recruiter would deliver as promised. They never landed on the shores of America as promised but rather landed thousands of miles away on the coast of Ghana’s twin city, SekondiTakoradi.
OPPORTUNITIES
ARIJ seeks Arabic-speaking executive producer [MENA] Deadline: 4/20/14
Multimedia and video journalists who speak Arabic and have at least 10 years of experience can apply for this position. Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) is hiring an executive producer to coordinate and supervise its growing efforts in video and multimedia investigative projects.
Apply: http://arij.net/en/job-vacancy-executive-producer-video-and-multimedia-arij#
Contest for health reporting and social engagement [Nigeria] Deadline: 4/11/14
Media organizations and professional journalists working for print, broadcast or online in Nigeria can apply for the contest. Citizen journalists, freelance journalists and bloggers are also eligible. The Hala Nigeria project hosts a contest to reward compelling journalism stories that use traditional and/or digital tools to engage citizens on important health topics.
Apply: http://www.halanigeria.org/
Thomson Reuters offers investigative reporting course [Ethiopia] Deadline: 4/18/14
Journalists with at least two years of experience and a good level of spoken and written English may apply to take a course in Addis Ababa. The Thomson Reuters Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa, offers a weeklong training program to help journalists develop important investigative reporting skills.
Apply: http://www.trust.org/course/?id=a05D000000KN7UvIAL
Environmental reporting contest accepting submissions [Africa] Deadline: 5/15/14
African journalists from established private or public media houses can apply. The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance presents the African Climate Change and Reporting Awards, which honor journalists whose work has enhanced access to information about climate change.
Apply: http://www.pacja.org/index.php/en/what-we-do/initiatives/media-and-environment
Competition seeks story ideas [Africa] Deadline: 4/22/14
African journalists can submit their ideas on innovative business and technology stories. The African Story Challenge is seeking
applications to fund great story ideas on business and technology. This is the third round of its pan-African journalism competition. The Story Challenge is a project by the African Media Initiative (AMI) in partnership with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ).
Apply: http://africanstorychallenge.com/
OPINION
South Africa: Investigative Journalism Deserves to Be Honoured
By Anton Harber, 4 April 2014
The quality and extent of our investigative reporting – and the fact that our media can take on the highest office in the land without fear of arrest or closure – signals the health of our democracy. While some of the other institutions of accountability are faltering or under threat, at least some of the private media continue to dig and expose. Some wonder if this work has much effect, especially at a time when the Presidency and ruling party seem impervious to scandal. It is worth remembering that in recent years investigative reporting has led to the jailing of a commissioner of police, the firing of another and the dismissal of cabinet minister Dina Pule. The arms deal remains on the agenda, and Nkandla is an election issue.
Full story: http://allafrica.com/stories/201404040751.html?viewall=1
GRANT FUNDED STORIES
Senegal: Senhuile-Senéthanol Plantation Destroys Local Communities, Environment
Published by the Oakland Institute (USA), February 2014
Senhuile-Senéthanol, an agribusiness company, has been setting up agro-industrial plantations in the Saint-Louis region of northwest Senegal since July 2010. Owned by a complex maze of companies and individuals with ties to numerous countries around the world, including Italy, United States, Brazil, and Panama, the company holds a lease for 20,000 hectares of land. From the very inception of the project, Senhuile-Senéthanol has faced stiff resistance from local populations.
LAMU: Development or fraud? Another coastal paradise to die for big oil
By Ali Noor, published by Pambazuka News, 2014-02-20, Issue 666
A new 32 berth port, to ship South Sudanese oil to China, is planned for the Lamu archipelago, a stunning green field heritage site in northern coastal Kenya, teeming with rare species, coral reefs and marine biodiversity and, of course, people. But none of this richness, or the indigenous people for whom this is home, seem to matter to the Government of Kenya and private developers.
Full story: http://fairreporters.net/2014/02/20/development-or-fraud-another-coastal-paradise-to-die-for-big-oil/
Abortion in South Africa: A legal yet uncertain reality
By Jessica Lomelin, published on 2014-02-12, by Pambazuka News, Issue 665
South Africa has been praised for progressive laws relating to women’s reproductive health. Free state-performed abortions have increased to 500,000 since 2004. But still, controversy and resistance have led to inadequate implementation of the law. In 2009, Alicia (name changed), a 34-year-old mother of three and originally from Cape Town, was visiting a friend in Mpumalanga when she realised she was pregnant. Unaware of where to go, she saw an abortion advert in the classified section of the paper and phoned the provider.
Full story: http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90524
Boom Town: Kigali’s Chinese investment
By Daniel Nzohabonimana, published on 2014-02-12 by Pambazuka News, Issue 665
Chinese investment in Africa has increased at an unprecedented level during the past two decades. Known as the ‘weapon of mass construction’, China’s footprint in Rwanda is no exception. Still recovering from the devastating 1994 genocide, the country urgently requires infrastructural investment to rebuild what was destroyed, and develop the future. The myth, however, looms larger than the reality.
Full story: http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90523
Spotlight on Zambezi’s ivory poaching
By Oxpeckers Reporters, 02.11.2014
Namibia has enjoyed a good reputation for its nature conservation, but there is evidence the illegal trade in wildlife products is taking off. The smuggling hotspot is the Zambezi border region where five Southern Africa countries intersect. Oxpeckers fellow and Chinese journalist Hongxiang Huang travelled to Zambezi to investigate.
Full story: http://oxpeckers.org/2014/02/spotlight-on-zambezis-ivory-poaching/
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Holding powerful interests to account is one of journalism’s most
important missions. It’s critical to democracy and the preservation of human rights. That’s why the University of Winnipeg and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are organizing a conference to bring journalists, academics and the public together from around the world to debate some of the important issues that investigative journalism can help illuminate. The conference will uniquely blend seminars and speeches from working journalists with papers and research presentations from academics. The conference will cover many themes, from the importance of investigative journalism in highlighting basic human rights, to investigating corruption globally, to an examination of criminal justice abuses like wrongful convictions, imprisonments and torture. http://winnipeg2014.com/
* Global Integrity scholarship for African journalist *
Global Integrity is offering a scholarship for an African journalist
(based in Africa) to attend the international investigative journalism conference “Holding Power to Account.” The scholarship will cover the flight from the reporter’s home country in Africa to the conference, hotel, and a per diem to cover meals and transportation.
To apply: https://www.globalintegrity.org/job/general/
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