Africa-China Reporting Project Grants for African Journalists 2018

Application Deadline: 27th April 2018

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: African countries and China

About the Award: The Project is seeking to work with journalists who are able to deeply investigate a single topic of interest within the broad Africa-China framework, and additionally who are able to involve more partners who can assist the investigations, such as news agencies, investigative units, etc. One example of a recent highly successful investigative collaboration engineered by the Project was the cross-border pangolin investigation. The Project worked with Anu Nkeze Paul, an environmental journalist from Cameroon who investigated pangolin poaching on ground level in Cameroon, and with the Hong Kong media house HK01 who investigated demand dynamics and networks in Asia. The result was a ground-breaking investigation on how pangolins are poached in Africa and then trafficked via elaborate routes to Asia.
This series of grants will be supervised by Anton Harber, Caxton Professor of Journalism at Wits Journalism, who will work directly with the selected journalists.
Now in 2018 the Project intends to support more expansive Africa-China investigations by identifying competent journalists and partners to undertake investigative journalism.

Fields of Research: For these investigative reporting grants the Project thus encourages journalists to submit proposals that aim to bring to light fresh and nuanced investigations bringing in new learning about complex Africa-China relations, and ideally that involves other partners and institutions that can collaborate on and expand the investigation; the Project can potentially assist applicants to form partnerships with potential partners. The important thing is for applicants to come with fresh and new ideas for investigations and a feasible plan to carry them out. The Project also encourages multimedia reporting.
As the pangolin investigation above illustrates, there is wide scope in environmental issues for Africa-China investigative journalism and much that can still be investigated in this field. Yet within the Africa-China framework there are various issues where fresh and ground-breaking reporting can be undertaken, such as the following:

• Economy: Corporate activities, criminal networks, business links, etc.
• Social: Health, public services, etc.
• Political: Government dealings/engagements, aid and development assistance, education and sponsorships, etc.
• Environment: Following-up on the ban in ivory trade, complexities of implementation; poaching & trafficking; pollution, etc.
• And more topics such as agriculture; industrialisation; change/evolution in Africa-China ties; anti-piracy measures; Chinese private security in Africa and the arms trade

These are suggested themes, but as long as the focus is within the broad Africa-China framework the Project will consider each proposal on its own merits.

Type: Grants

Eligibility:The Project is looking for experienced investigative journalists who have new and fresh ideas and the means to deliver them.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Grants: 

• The grants are intended to provide funding for travel, accommodation and sundry daily expenses, but not car hire, purchase of equipment or professional fees, or to buy publication space
• Grants are generally as much as $3000
• Grant recipients will be paid 75% of the grant total at the outset, and the remaining 25% when (and if) the feature is published on a news media platform/publication

Duration of Grants: The reporting project should be completed and published within three months of the receipt of the grant funding unless otherwise agreed

How to Apply: Applications containing the following items should be sent to ACRPapplications@gmail.com by no later than 27 April:

• Applicant CV, and list of previous Africa-China reporting and/or previous investigative journalism reporting
• Proposal for story to be investigated, with a clear headline at the start and a brief report of WHAT will be investigated and HOW, including a detailed methodology for how the investigation will be undertaken (explaining feasibility of timeframe execution) and a planned timeline for the investigation
• An indication of which partners will be used/required and how this will expand the investigation
• A budget with specific line items totalling as much as $3,000

For any further questions please contact the Project team at
africa-china@journalism.co.za.

Visit Grants Webpage for details

Award Provider: Africa-China Reporting Project