Underreported Stories in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Eligibility Criteria: Grants are open to reporters, photographers, radio/audio journalists, television/video journalists, and documentary filmmakers. We are committed to supporting journalists from diverse backgrounds and of all nationalities. This opportunity is open to newsrooms, newsroom staff, and freelance journalists.
• Type of funding: Programmatic
• Target countries: Sub-Saharan Africa
• Application language: English

The Pulitzer Center is seeking proposals to advance wide-reaching and relevant journalism on issues impacting communities in sub-Saharan Africa, including but not limited to water and sanitation, land degradation and coastal erosion, education, maternal health, and climate resilience.

They place special emphasis on projects that inform behavior and policies that improve the lives of the communities reported on, and they encourage local journalists to apply.

Grant Overview

• With support from the Pulitzer Center, the journalist grantees have reported on the effects of fast fashion on Lesotho; coastal erosion’s impact on fishing communities in Ghana; gold laundering in Uganda; and the coming global famines caused by the confluence of COVID-19, climate change, and conflict in Ukraine. Their work has been published across a diverse range of news outlets, including international outlets like Science magazine and Al Jazeera, as well as leading African outlets like The Continent and Premium Times.
• They support projects across all media platforms and encourage ambitious proposals that combine print, photography, audio, and/or video for one or more news outlets. The most successful projects are those in which news outlets match the commitment by adding interactive or multimedia elements to enhance and showcase their original reporting.
• They encourage the applicants to think creatively about how they distribute their reporting so they may reach the communities that can most benefit from it.
• They value data-based, investigative, and accountability journalism projects that tackle systemic issues and hold powerful local figures to account.
• You decide what underreported stories your community needs to engage with, and they support that reporting and champion it. This includes creating educational materials and events to expand the reach of your stories and the conversations about them.

See here to learn more and apply.

Access the Fundraising Guide for expert advice on how to improve your fundraising applications and to identify prospective donors.