African Data Journalism Fund launches Contest for gender equality stories
African Data Journalism Fund Launches New Contest for Stories
on Gender Equality and The Challenges Women Face in Accessing Health Care and
Services
Journalists in six African countries -- South Africa,
Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria -- can win a fully paid study tour
to major United States newsrooms as part of a new impactAFRICA reporting contest.
impactAFRICA is seeking stories that shed light on the
challenges women and girls face in accessing health care and health services,
and solutions to improve the quality of life for them and their families.
Gender inequality is not just an abstract issue. It directly
impacts the health and lives of women and girls across the continent, as well
as societies and communities. According to UNWomen,
8 in 10 of all new HIV patients are women. Girls across Africa still suffer
from a lack of proper sanitation at schools, contributing to a higher
dropout rate than amongst boys. A lack of family planning contributes
to preventable deaths of women and to keeping a family in poverty.
“African women are often the backbone of their communities
and economies, but many of the health challenges they face -- and the resulting
impacts on society -- remain underreported. Poor media coverage translates into
poor public understanding of the issues,” explains impactAFRICA programme manager Haji Mohamed Dawjee.
“We are therefore looking for stories that help demystify complex issues and
give both citizens and policy makers actionable information for better
decision-making.”
An independent international jury will choose winners in
three categories: best community impact; best audience engagement; and best use
of data. The winners will spend 10 days visiting newsrooms in three cities in
the United States and learning from some of the world’s top digital media
outlets.
Journalists who have published, broadcast or produced
impactful stories on any platform and in any medium in at least one of the
target countries during the period from November 15, 2016 to March 15, 2017.
The best submissions will showcase solutions and offer evidence that the
reportage has had a positive impact on policies or services.
impactAFRICA is the continent’s largest fund for data-driven
investigative storytelling, offering $500,000 in cash grants and technology
support, along with editorial mentorship, across a series of funding rounds for
pioneering journalism that uses data or digital tools to tackle development
issues such as public healthcare, water, sanitation, the effects of air and
water pollution on African communities, climate change and its effects on
farming communities and food baskets, and other development issues related to
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
“All impactAFRICA winners help shine a light on blind spots
in our societies, using digital and data journalism to help expose
under-reported issues in ways that give people information they can use to make
better informed decisions,” says Code for Africa director, Justin Arenstein. “Our aim is to
support journalism that engages and empowers people.”
Code for Africa, in partnership with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ),
underwrites impactAFRICA as part of a range of journalism initiatives designed
to help African media prepare for a more digital future. Arenstein founded both
Code for Africa and impactAFRICA as part of an ICFJ Knight Journalism Fellowship.
The Challenges of Women in Africa contest is the second
topic-specific impactAFRICA competition. The first
contest, which closed on the July 15, focused on water and sanitation
issues. impactAFRICA also offers project grants for investigative data
projects, with winners covering issues ranging from illegal fishing and
maternal health challenges, to collusion in the funeral industry in Africa. The
next call for investigative grant proposals will be in 2017.
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