Although Nepal is known as the home to Earth’s tallest peak, Mt. Everest, and for its abundance of trekking and climbing options, little about health and development in the country garners headlines. In the past decade, Nepal emerged from a difficult civil war and has worked to address its many challenges in these areas.
The trip will focus on health and development in Nepal, particularly in light of the upcoming
end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the potential adoption of Sustainable Development Goals.
In particular, we will examine nutrition and food security, education, access to roads and electricity, sanitation and water, poverty, sustainability, technology, equality and women’s rights, and the impact of infectious diseases. Participants in the trip will meet with key government leaders, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, members of the business community, religious and media leaders and others.
All candidates must complete an application form and provide a detailed essay of at least 800 words describing the types of stories they might pursue during the group trip.
This trip is open to innovative journalists, bloggers, influential social media practitioners, and other media professionals. Preference will be given to citizens or residents of Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States.
The IRP will purchase the fellows’ roundtrip air tickets to Nepal and will pay for visas, hotel costs, local transportation and several meals. Fellows who wish to extend their stay after the fellowship will have the option to arrange that at their own expense.
Participants will be expected to post frequent stories – such as articles, blog posts, infographics, interactive stories, slideshows, social media posts, video and audio clips – before, during and after the trip.
All fellows on the Nepal trip are required to participate in the sessions arranged for the group program. Please keep in mind that this is a group reporting program; much of the value comes both from meetings that the IRP arranges and the interactions the fellows have with each other. Some independent reporting time will be included in the schedule. However, if you prefer to have more flexibility in your reporting schedule, we strongly encourage you to apply for our individual reporting fellowships.
The reporting trips are intended for professional journalists who have worked for years as professionals and who have a record of outstanding achievement in reporting for influential media outlets. These fellowships are not intended for students or for recent graduates without much professional experience.
All of the stories will be republished on the IRP site and co-owned by the fellow (or her/his distribution partners, depending on arrangements) and the IRP. In addition, the work produced as a result of the trip may be posted, with permission of the fellow, on the social media channels of the IRP funders. This trip is supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.