Thomson Reuters Foundation COVID-19 Reporting Grants in Saharan Africa

Thomson Reuters Foundation COVID-19 Reporting Grants in Saharan Africa

Thomson Reuters Foundation’s COVID-19 Crisis Reporting Hub creates a space for journalists across several countries to gather virtually for training, knowledge sharing, expert sessions and network building, ensuring that they and their newsrooms remain on top of the story of the year.

The outbreak of the novel Coronavirus sweeping the globe is threatening millions of lives, pressuring health care systems and disrupting economies.

Equally relentless is the proliferation of misinformation and a lack of understanding about the potential consequences and impacts of COVID-19, leading to widespread confusion, fear and complicating efforts by governments and organisations to find solutions to the crisis.

The need for factual, reliable and trusted news and information to confront this dearth and ‘infodemic’ has never been greater.

However, journalists from different professional backgrounds are locked in an emergency news cycle, struggling to navigate the complexity of this fast-changing story in order to succeed in their mission to inform the public.

Conducted remotely over 12 weeks for journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, the hub will feature the latest platforms and interactive online tools to connect participants in engaging real-time video seminars with world-class trainers and experts.

Journalists will acquire relevant knowledge, trade tips and insights about their different contexts, master new digital skills, and access influential policymakers and officials for exclusive information and story ideas to help them cover the impact of Covid-19 in their respective countries at a deeper, better-informed level.

The cohort will meet twice a week for a live 90-minute virtual session with trainers and/or expert speakers to ask questions, share ideas, learn new skills and practice them. All live sessions will be recorded and supplemented with extra material.

Post-session discussions and feedback on an exclusive hub forum will extend the learning process.

Note: In addition to the two 90-minute weekly live sessions, participants should allow for a further 2-3 hours per week of independent research, activities and group interaction on the forum.

The programme will include: