The International Reporting Project (IRP) is pleased to announce a new media reporting trip to Ethiopia on June 14-27, 2014. Applications are now being accepted.
This group trip is open only to applications from new media journalists, including media professionals, bloggers, influential social media practitioners, and freelance contributors, who are citizens of the following nations: France, Germany, India, Malawi, Nigeria, Norway, Senegal, United Kingdom and United States.
As the international community strives to accelerate progress toward the impending 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development goals, a new focus has emerged on scaling available and proven interventions that could save huge numbers of newborns from early death or disease.
Ethiopia has made impressive progress on cutting mortality rates for children, meeting the Millennium Development Goal of reducing child deaths by more than 60 percent over the past 20 years.
Yet major health and development challenges remain as millions of Ethiopian babies come into the world under precarious conditions. In particular, three preventable and treatable conditions still persist: premature births, complications during childbirth and infections.
The IRP trip will focus on efforts to prevent newborn deaths, as well as provide an overview of maternal and child health, immunizations, nutrition, communicable diseases, and health care provision in Ethiopia, among other topics.
We will also examine social factors—such as women’s empowerment, governance, and marginalized communities—in this landlocked East African country.
Participants on this trip will have an opportunity to visit urban and rural sites in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, and will observe initiatives such as the program that sends more than 35,000 community health workers into more than 15,000 health stations across the country.
Fellows will also meet with key government officials, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, members of the business community, members of the local media, and others.
All candidates must fill out an application form and provide a detailed essay of at least 800 words describing the types of stories they might pursue during the Ethiopia trip.
The deadline for applications is Monday, April 21.
All fellows are required to participate in the sessions arranged for the group, and some independent reporting time will also be built into the schedule. Fellows who wish to cover other topics outside of this group fellowship are encouraged to extend their stay in Ethiopia.
Participants will be asked to post frequent stories—including blog posts, slideshows, social media posts, video and audio clips—before, during and after the trip. All of the fellows’ stories will be republished on the IRP site and co-owned by the fellow (or his/her distribution partners, depending on agreements) and the IRP.
In addition, the work produced as a result of the trip may be posted on the social media channels of the IRP’s funders. This trip is supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Read our frequently asked questions and apply for the Ethiopia trip by midnight on Monday, April 21!
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