#TrainingOpportunities: CiFAR Investigative Journalism Program 2021 for journalists from West Africa (Fully Funded)
Application Deadline: May 20th 2021
CiFAR is a civil society organisation committed to fighting the flow of corrupt wealth by political leaders across borders and to secure the return of any stolen money to the victims of grand corruption. To do this we work closely with both civil society organisations and investigative journalists across the world to investigate, expose, and secure the return of dark money.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) supports the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. GIZ provides financial support for this programme through Sector Programme on Anti-Corruption and Integrity and Global Program Combating illicit financial flows.
These flows of money affect both the Global South and the Global North. Illicitly acquired wealth is funnelled into Europe and North America, amongst other financial centres, by corrupt officials keen to hide their wealth outside of their home countries and beyond the reach of domestic law enforcement.
This money often originates from countries of the Global South, especially where political power is in the hands of the few and opposition is limited and is transferred through offshore havens to reach its destination. African countries alone lose up to $50 billion a year due to illicit financial flows, greatly exceeding the funds these countries receive in official development assistance. West African countries account for almost 40% of these flows, with Nigeria alone having lost an estimated US$217 billion between 1970 and 2008.
Investigative Journalism plays an increasingly important role in exposing these schemes and pushing governments and prosecutors to act upon cases, both in asset originating and destination countries. CiFAR is committed to strengthening financial investigative journalism and collaborating with journalists across the globe to do exactly this.
Requirements
- An early to mid-career journalist (3-10 years experience)
- Excited to move into or expand your experience in financial investigative work
- National or resident of Ghana, Liberia, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger; EU, the UK or Switzerland
- Committed to work on exposing grand corruption and illicit financial flows from your country, flows of corrupt wealth into your country and on the processes for recovering stolen wealth
- Interested in working as part of a cross-border team with others like you
- Able to commit to a 5 days online workshop, individual online sessions throughout the following months, as well as a 3 days work camp in West Africa in Fall 2021.
- Commitment to dedicate time and energy on a story with your peers after the training phase and to bring a joint story to publication by February 2022.
- You speak and understand English and/or French to a working level
Benefits
- Five days of intensive online training programme with expert trainers throughout summer 2021 covering:
- Financial crime and cross-border corruption
- Anti-corruption and asset recovery legal and policy frameworks
- Reading financial documents
- Asset recovery
- Investigative journalism 101
- Specificities of investigating financial crime by public figures
- Story-telling techniques
- Online databases and digital tools
- Safety and security in investigations
2. Further short Individual training sessions on related topics
3. Participation in a three-day investigative journalism camp in West Africa in Fall 2021 (pending developments of the Coronavirus pandemic)
4. Remote Mentoring by CiFAR, CENOZO and international and local senior journalists to develop your story with your peers
5. Limited grants to conduct and publish your cross-border story with peer trainees and mentors
6. Support to conduct further investigations in the future and to attend international investigative journalism events relevant to your career development.
Accepted participants will have their costs covered for the entire programme. We will cover:
- All training costs
- Participation in regional workshops in West Africa: return flight, visa fees, accommodation costs, local travel and meal allowance and COVID-19-related costs (pending confirmation of events due to ongoing Coronavirus pandemic)
- Limited grants for team story development
- Limited grants to attend relevant investigative journalism events
For More Information: https://cifar.eu/investigate-westafrica/
