Call for Applications: Critical Minerals for the Energy Transition Reporting Workshop

In a world transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy technologies, critical minerals play a crucial and yet contradictory role. They are central to universal access to clean energy and the global energy transition. On the other hand, their production is often polluting, environmentally damaging and inequitable.

Critical minerals have also become a new frontier for economic policy across the Global South. Governments in countries ranging from Zimbabwe to Chile and DR Congo to Indonesia are striving to overturn the prevalent extractivist model of raw material exports and capture more value from critical minerals production. New approaches such as export bans and resource and industrial policy are emerging.

While there are many actors involved in critical minerals in Africa, Chinese companies are emerging as particularly prominent players in mining, processing and investing in the industry. Perspectives on Chinese companies’ involvement in the critical minerals sector in Africa range from source of opportunity to geopolitical threat.

Funding Information

• The awarded reporting grant is of US$ 550. Any travel expenses involved in reporting must be included in the budget of the grant award;
• Grants are generally between $300 and $1,500.

Criteria

• A proposal pitch for an original story on critical minerals in an African country, you will pursue if awarded the grant. The proposal document is not to exceed 3 pages, and needs to provide background, context and relevance of the report, a methodology outlining how reporting will be conducted (including any fieldwork), and the primary and secondary sources of the reporting plan.
• Proposals should include the following:
  • Brief outline of the story idea; what will be investigated, how and where
  • A budget of expected costs (in Rands for South African journalists or US dollars for journalists from other countries)
  • Journalist’s resumé/CV and samples of published/broadcast work
  • Indication of where the article will be published
  • Applicant’s assessment of the risks of the project
• Reporting grant terms:
  • 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
  • Grant recipients will be paid 80% of the grant total at the outset, and the remaining 20% when (and if) the feature is published on a news media platform/publication (blog publication will not be sufficient)
  • Successful grant recipients will be required to sign an agreement which outlines the terms of the reporting project and agreed budget
  • The reporting project should be completed and published within three months of the receipt of the grant funding unless otherwise agreed
  • It is the responsibility of journalists to ensure that the work is published and that acknowledgment is provided to the Wits Africa-China Reporting Project as provider of the grant
  • Successful applicants will be expected to supply a copy of their passport and stamped banking details
  • On completion of the reporting project grant recipients will be required to supply electronic copies of all material produced as a result of the grant
  • Wits Journalism will accept no responsibility for the work produced or the conduct of the grantee, but retains the right to use any material published as a result of a grant for publicity and promotional purposes although it will at all times provide due accreditation to the journalist
  • The Wits Africa-China Reporting Project reserves the right to review and edit copy before it goes to print.

For more information, visit Call for Applications.