A CROSS-BORDER group of geojournalists with a mission to uncover critical stories on water issues InfoNile and MiCT/The Niles invite journalists in the Nile Basin countries to submit proposals for investigative multimedia journalism stories.
The stories should be relevant to and be impacted by the Nile Basin Initiative’s (NBI) Strategic Water Resources Analysis, and linked with basin-wide datasets and projected trends.
The Nile Basin countries are Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Stories that can be covered by integrating data and information from the analysis include farmers working to improve irrigation efficiency, desalination projects, increasing the use of rain-fed agriculture, utilising the Nile for navigation/trade purposes, regional economic optimization on the ground, preserving environmental flows for ecosystems, among others.
Journalists in the Nile Basin countries are eligible for an investigative story grant.
Interested journalists must submit a proposal outlining a story idea and include a budget of not more than US$800.
Individual journalists can apply, but collaborations between journalists from different media houses are encouraged.
The organiser says, “One of the main issues to be addressed in the Nile Basin, and the source of most disagreements between countries over their shared water resources, is the imbalance between water demand and availability in the medium to long term”.
A growing water shortage is expected in the Nile Basin as populations and irrigated areas continue to increase.
The deadline for the submission of application is April 15, 2022. Interested persons can apply here.
Blessing Otoibhi is a Multimedia Journalist and Anchor host for the News in 60 seconds at The International Center For Investigative Reporting. You can shoot her a mail via Botoibhi@icirnigeria.org or connect on Twitter @B_otoibhi