Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Doles Out $2 Million To ICFJ

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has supported the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) with the sum of $2 million, and the ICFJ has announced an innovative three-year program, the African Development Journalism Fellowships, to improve news coverage of critical development issues such as agriculture, microfinance, sanitation and employment in sub-Saharan Africa.
This journalism fellowship program is funded by a $2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The program addresses the need for increased information about rural regions, which are affected by policy decisions made in capital cities.
Many news organizations in sub-Saharan Africa lack the resources and training to adequately cover rural issues that can determine whether their countries' poorest citizens begin to prosper or remain trapped in poverty.
ICFJ said it will place media development professionals from its Knight International Journalism Fellowships program into key African countries to help influential media increase coverage of development issues, especially beyond the capitals.
The program will create networks of professional and citizen journalists in rural areas, using mobile technology to connect them to media in large cities.
According to ICFJ, “the program builds on the success of ICFJ's Knight Health Journalism Fellowships, also funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Health Fellows work in Africa for a year to improve coverage of complicated health and research issues”.
In this new initiative, media organizations will work with fellows to mentor reporters as they work on in-depth development stories in rural areas.
The fellows will also develop a corps of African journalists with the skills to train colleagues to cover poverty and development issues.
In addition, fellows will help establish development reporting training programs at local journalism associations that will continue long after the program is over.
"Our Knight Health Fellows are mentoring African journalists to produce hard-hitting stories that are forcing governments to invest more in health care," said ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan, adding: "We believe these new fellows, using the latest mobile technology, will have similar impact in reducing poverty."
Alberto Ibargüen, President and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced the new grant at the ICFJ Awards Dinner last week Wednesday.
Since 1994, the Knight Foundation has supported ICFJ's flagship program, the Knight International Journalism Fellowships.
This program makes tangible changes that improve the quality and free flow of news around the world in the public interest.
The program sends international media professionals for at least a year to countries where there are opportunities to promote reliable, insightful journalism that holds officials accountable.