Reporting on illicit finance in Africa

• Eligibility:
  – Journalists with at least two years of professional experience and who are fluent in English.
  – Journalists based anywhere in Africa who are motivated to understand how their country could be losing money via illicit means.
  – It is an advantage if you are familiar with investigative journalism, reporting on finances and/or dealing with numbers more generally, but if you have a strong motivation to learn about and understand these issues then they will consider your application.
  – Early career journalists are invited to apply.
  – You must be able to spend significant time working on illicit finance stories.
  – Both freelancers and staff journalists may apply. Journalists working for a news organisation will need consent from their editor to take part. Freelancers should provide evidence that one or more media organisations will be willing to take their work.
  – Journalists working in any medium or multiple media are welcome to apply (print, online, radio or television).
  – Journalists should be based in Africa and working for one or more African media organisations.
  – Applicants must have access to a minimum internet speed of 1 MB/second.
• Funding amount: Max. $1,000 plus $700 for mentoring scheme
• Type of funding: Programmatic
• Target countries: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo (Brazzaville), DRC and Ivory Coast
• Application language: English

Thomson Reuters Foundation is looking for journalists based anywhere in Africa who are motivated to understand how their country could be losing money via illicit means.

This is opportunity is provided by the Wealth of Nations – Illicit finance (NORAD) program. Wealth of Nations is a long-term engagement, and journalists who take part must commit to all elements of the scheme, signing an agreement to this effect. These elements include:

– Intensive training on reporting illicit finance taking place online between 25 October – Friday, 12 November 2021
– The production of stories on illicit financial flows
– A mentoring support scheme that will help produce these stories, between 23 November – 13 December 2021
– The program offers small grants to cover internet/data costs. The data grant and a certificate of completion will be awarded at the conclusion of the program to all participants who have attended at least 90% of the teaching sessions.

If you should be selected for the mentoring scheme, the maximum story grant we can provide is USD 700. Please note that grants awarded vary depending on the anticipated resources required to complete the story. Any proposed costs without a detailed explanation will not be considered.

For more information please see here.