Call for Applications: Sawt Media Fellowships Support Program (Jordan)

Accordingly, this program is designed to support participant efforts to benefit from professional experiences, international best practices, and comparative insights, fostering their professional development and contributing to increased specialized content as part of wider enhancement of media practices and journalism quality in Jordan, which underpin a healthy information ecosystem that is conducive to advocacy and public policy reform efforts.

For the current year, 2024, USAID Sawt aims to select two journalists and media practitioners applying to benefit from this support program. The fellowships and events, for which the applicant is requesting Sawt’s support to join or attend, should preferably take place and conclude during 2024. Provided support could include providing selected applicants with stipends, supplies, software subscription or other needs that effective participation in the identified fellowship or international event require, according to Internews Sawt policy to support individuals.

Sawt Media Fellowships Support program is dedicated to fostering excellence in Jordanian journalism, as such, this support is exclusively available to practicing journalists and media practitioners1 from Jordan, working in digital media platforms. Submissions can be made by full-time or freelance journalists and media practitioners conducting editorial or managerial roles.

Objectives

• Sawt will create a Virtuous Cycle of Civic Engagement through two objectives:
  • Good, trusted knowledge-building resource: improve community knowledge on their rights and relevant issues through access to fact-based, trusted, and reliable content from digital media, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and other civic spaces, and
  • Participation and Advocacy: increasing opportunities for citizens to participate in regular constructive civic dialogue through building CSO and citizen advocacy capacity to increase trust and government accountability. The Activity will work on building the resilience of partners to operate in a challenging political and legal environment. Furthermore, Sawt will ensure underrepresented voices are included, heard, represented fairly, and can safely access and use resources.

Priorities

• Applicants are encouraged to seek fellowships and events that are held in Arabic or English and thematically align with Sawt’s priorities, which include:
  • Civic Participation and Engagement
  • Human Rights
  • Sustainable and Community Development
  • Environment and Climate Change

Funding Information

• Selected applicants will receive full or partial support with a funding ceiling of up to $12,000, supporting them to join or attend media fellowship and international events that the applicants identify.

Eligibility Criteria 

• Applicant must:
  • Be a Jordan-based journalist or media practitioner, working with an existing digital media platform.
  • Have a minimum of 5 years of journalistic experience.
  • Have demonstrable interest and experience reporting on one of the thematic areas of priority for Sawt and provide recent relevant work samples (a minimum of 5 examples), which can be uploaded as documents or as web links.
  • Identify the event or fellowship opportunity they plan to attend or join, with proof of acceptance or engagement in an enrolment process.
  • Demonstrate that the fellowship duration does not exceed 12 months.
  • Strong command in the language of instruction of the identified fellowship or event, ensuring the applicant’s ability to fully participate in them (Arabic or English).
  • Provide a signed letter of support from an editor, producer, or supervisor who can confirm that the applicant will be allocated time to participate in all of the identified fellowships’ or events’ activities, and that reports will be published or broadcast in a media outlet.
  • Commit to producing a minimum of 7 content pieces, or their equivalent depending on the type of media organization, utilizing knowledge gained through the event or fellowship.

Evaluation Criteria 

• Sawt will evaluate applicants based on the below criteria:
  • Experience in covering civic space, human rights, sustainable development and environment topics.
  • Long-term commitment to advancing media’s role in civic engagement and participation as well as shaping public policy, demonstrated through career path and work samples.
  • The degree to which the identified event or fellowship aligns with Sawt’s thematic priorities, and how acquired knowledge and practices will be transferred to improve applicants’ media organizations performance and impact, as well as how it will improve their individual content production abilities.
  • A detailed breakdown outlining the needed funds and their purpose, such as tuition or participation fees, travel and accommodation bookings and costs, equipment needs, and any specialized training ahead of joining the fellowship or event.

For more information, visit Internews.