Reporting on locally led adaptation to climate change

This is an opportunity provided by the Global Center on Adaptation programme: Find out more 

Floods. Droughts. Severe heat stress. Water shortages. Crop loss. Forest fires. Disease.

These words occur in headlines far more frequently in recent years, as the impacts of climate change intensify. Rarely, though, do we hear the stories of the people whose lives are changed completely by these events, or of how they try to cope and adapt.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 3.5 billion people are highly vulnerable to climate impacts, as they suffer severe water shortages on a yearly basis. The rising temperatures and rainfall result in increased risk of exposure to deadly heat stress, serious flooding and the spread of diseases in people, crops, livestock and wildlife worldwide.

Join us in telling the stories of the people behind these figures.

This training opportunity will offer 12 multimedia journalists a chance to deepen their understanding of the impacts of climate change at a local level, and hone their skills to draw urgent attention to them through news reporting.

It will help participants understand why local leadership is necessary to tackle many of these impacts, and the important role the media can play by shining a light on adaptation efforts by local actors.

The dual-track programme aims to strengthen working relationships between journalists and changemakers by upskilling journalists to better report on the topic, and enhancing the communication skills of changemakers to effectively convey their message to journalists.

Journalists and CSOs will be trained separately, but networking and collaborative exercises will be organised for the whole group. 

Who Can Apply

This training opportunity is open to multimedia journalists working in local or national media organisations in developing countries, who have a strong interest in covering local stories related to locally-led adaptation to climate change. With a solutions journalism angle and an interactive approach, participants will be better equipped to cover the challenge of climate change both locally and globally.

At the end of the programme, you will be able to: 

• Deepen your understanding of the different facets and challenges of climate change impacts on vulnerable communities to produce high-impact, news, features and opinion pieces
• Identify compelling story angles about solutions from local communities responding to the impacts of climate change
• Enhance fact-checking techniques while sharpening your critical thinking skills to counter misinformation and increase your audience trust
• Interview potentially vulnerable members of the public in a sensitive manner

You will become part of a global network that will support your efforts to champion locally-led adaptation to climate change.

*The programme contents may be modified during the course of the training to best respond to the learning needs of the participants.

Eligibility

This course is designed for journalists with experience or strong interest in climate change, public policy, and/or human rights. To better accommodate different time zones, priority will be given to journalists from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya.   

• Applicants must be full-time journalists or regular contributors for media organisations with a minimum of three years’ professional experience.  
• Participant must have a high proficiency level of spoken and written English.  
• Applicants must have access to a minimum internet speed of 8 MB/second (you can check the speed of your device by logging from it on www.speedtest.net). 
• Applicants must commit to participating for the whole duration of the programme.

Course Logistics

Participants are required to attend 80% of the sessions to receive a certificate.

Training dates:

• 2-4 August 2022
  • 9-11 August 2022
  • Recommended participation: during the week commencing 15 August 2022, one-to-one mentoring sessions and / or masterclasses will be available for participants.
  •  23-25 August 2022
  • 30 August 2022-1 September 2022
• Mentoring sessions for selected participants: From the end of the training sessions until the end of October, selected participants will be invited to participate in the mentoring programme scheme, which includes a £500 grant to produce a story and one-to-one mentoring sessions with the trainers. Stories need to be published before COP27 (7-11 November) to receive the financial grant.
• Sessions’ timetable: 
  • 9am - 1:30pm, Ghana time
  • 11am - 3:30pm, Egypt time
  • 12pm - 2:30pm, Kenya time
  • 3pm - 7:30pm, Bangladesh time

Breaks of 30 minutes will take place after every two-hour training session.

Application

Please complete and submit the application form before 6pm BST on 17 July 2022 and provide three examples of your previous work (ideally, articles published on the topic of climate change), either as links or uploaded to this form.

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6881858/Reporting-on-locally-led-adaptation-to-climate-change

Please apply by 17 July 2022 at 6pm BST

If you have any difficulties applying, please contact ana.penadesvera@thomsonreuters.com  

Meet Our Experts

Darren Schuettler is a Canadian journalist and training facilitator. As a Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) consultant, Darren has facilitated journalism workshops on labour migration for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and energy transition for the European Climate Foundation, as well as TRF online learning programmes. He is currently studying climate science and policy at Royal Roads University in British Columbia. Previously, Darren worked for Reuters in Asia, Africa and North America. 

Sammy Awami is an award-winning bilingual (English and Swahili) multiplatform journalist and trainer. He has worked with a number of local and international media organisations, in both print and electronic media, handling reporting and managerial positions. Recently he has trained community radio journalists on how to listen to their audience and report on the problems and solutions needed by the Maasai community.