The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), in partnership with Breakthrough ACTION and the Public Information, Risk Communications and Social Mobilisation (PiRCSM) pillar of NaCOVERC, is announcing the NaCOVERC Journalism Fellowship and calling for interested journalists to apply to cover activities carried out by NaCOVERC, and where possible, DiCOVERC, as part of the national COVID-19 response in Sierra Leone.
Four journalists will be selected, and each will be required to cover at least four key news-worthy activities carried out by NaCOVERC (and DiCOVERC) as part of the national COVID-19 response within a period of one month each, and a total period of four months.
The selected journalists will serve as liaisons with media houses and other health journalists on COVID-19 related coverage and must be willing to travel to all locations within the country to provide coverage of COVID-19 and related public health activities.
This opportunity is expected to begin in August 2021.
The following are the required criteria for selection:
1. Must be a journalist registered with the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ)
2. Must have at least two years experience in journalism
3. Must show evidence of past work/coverage of public health-related reporting, preferably COVID-19
4. Must be flexible and willing to potentially travel to the provinces, often at short notices
5. Must be able to provide professional public health stories for use in print or electronic media.
6. Interested journalists should send their applications with the subject ‘NaCOVERC Journalism Fellowship’ to slaj.salone@gmail.com not later than Monday 19th July 2021.
Breakthrough ACTION is a five-year cooperative agreement from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to lead USAID’s social and behavior change programming around the world. Breakthrough ACTION is a partnership led by Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and works with the Government of Sierra Leone and implementing partners to increase the risk communication capacity of Sierra Leone institutions to effectively address high-risk behaviors associated with priority zoonotic diseases and other emerging threats.
