Africa No Filter (ANF), a donor collaborative working to shift stereotypical and harmful narratives within and about Africa, is launching the Storify Africa Fellowship, and is seeking four female journalists from across the continent to be a part of the inaugural cohort of fellows.

Storify Africa is a narrative change and storytelling initiative housed within ANF. We partner with organisations who want to communicate and amplify the issues they care about on the continent through stories that center the voices and perspectives of those they serve.

The Storify Africa Fellowship trains, supports and builds the capacity of young and emerging African storytellers to tell those stories. In doing so, Fellows help organisations shift entrenched stereotypes, and highlight their impact in a way that avoids reinforcing damaging narratives about Africa.

Each cohort of Fellows is assigned to a specific organisation and topic area, and will receive training in best practice feature writing techniques and tools to dig deep into the relevant issues. As Fellows, you will have full editorial independence in producing multimedia stories, including written, video, and photographic entries. You will also receive regular editorial support and guidance in developing, editing and fact checking stories.

Stories produced by the Fellows will be published and disseminated through our story agency, bird, and our media network, with full bylines. As Fellows, you will also join a large and growing network of narrative-shifting journalists and artists across the continent.

Fellows will receive a monthly stipend of USD $500 for the duration of the Fellowship

THE COHORT

The inaugural cohort of Fellows will support a global philanthropic organisation in sharing stories related to their work in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in Africa. We are calling this campaign, “Let’s Talk About Sex: Changing the Narrative on SRHR.”

We are seeking four female journalists based in East Africa, West Africa (including one Francophone country), and Southern Africa to conceptualise and craft compelling and nuanced multimedia feature stories around the subject of SRHR. You will develop the story concepts in collaboration with your cohort team, and bring them to life through your own robust research, in-depth interviews, detailed fact-finding, and other relevant avenues.

Fellows must be able to commit to a minimum of three months, for at least 20 hours per week, beginning in February 2022. Each Fellow must be prepared to produce one story per month, for a total of three stories each. You will also be required to attend monthly cohort team meetings, training sessions, and regular individual check-ins with the Storify Africa Project Lead.

Stories are expected to be written and produced in English. Final drafts will be also translated into French.

REQUIREMENTS

Fellows should bring the following skills and experience:

• At least five years of experience in journalism, writing, or editing content. Experience writing feature stories is a plus, as is photography and basic video production
• Proficiency in English – both writing and speaking
• Access to reliable computer, internet, smart phone (or camera or recorder)
• Creative thinker, curious, interested in and thoughtful about shifting the negative perceptions of Africa by Africans
• Able to commit to at least three months, for a minimum of 20 hours per week

TO APPLY:

• Submit a CV and covering letter explaining why you are interested in this fellowship, the experience you bring, and what you hope to get out of it
• 2-3 writing samples. You may also include any photography or video production projects

Please submit applications by 11 February 2022 to: yuniya@africanofilter.org.