Call for Applications: Media Challenge Fellowship Programme (Uganda)

The fellowship is intended to provide time and resources to the top applicants to engage in high intense practical meant to turn them into a multifaceted one-man-woman-army journalist.

The Media Challenge Fellowship Program is an aggressive multimedia journalism training program awarded to the best journalism students from the Inter-University Media Challenge, a practical reporting competition in 14 universities in Uganda.

The fellowship program is part of the Media Challenge Initiative’s strategic vision of building the next generation of journalists who are not only multi-skilled but also critical participants as change agents in changing their communities and the negative African narrative.

They aim to combat high rates of youth unemployment while empowering young journalists to improve the quality and impact of the media, seeking to enhance democratic processes through encouraging critical and investigative reports that hold government and institutions accountable.

Pillars

The fellowship program is based on four pillars:

• The concept of building a “one woman/man – army journalist”: a journalist with multifaceted skills and knowledge;
• Solutions journalism: reporting on solutions shown to be effective at addressing societal problems;
• Development journalism and journalism for social change: reporting on specific topics and in such a way that advances positive and equitable development within society;
• Leadership in journalism: nurturing fellows not only as skilled journalists but also as leaders in their communities and field of choice.

MCI Fellowship Structure

• 25 days of practical multimedia journalism training including foundations and Multimedia Skills, Participatory youth radio training, Beats reporting, career guidance, media entrepreneurship, data journalism and digital Skills.
• The Media Mentorship Program; Within the Media Mentorship Program, each fellow is connected to a professional mentor in the media industry for ongoing guidance on a yearlong program.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Media Challenge Fellowship Program is open to the following categories of applicants;
  • Applicants must be journalism and media students.
  • Participants in the IMC and expo competitions have an added advantage.

For more information, visit Media Challenge Initiative.