After a rigorous selection process from a pool of 300 applicants, 20 journalists have been selected for the maiden Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Journalism Fellowship by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). The Fellows, comprising 13 males and seven females, are from 10 countries, namely, Benin, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Togo.
The DPI Journalism Fellowship seeks to enhance public access to information on DPI issues through in-depth, compelling and impactful journalistic reporting. It is being implemented in partnership with and funding support from Co-Develop, a global not-for-profit fund to achieve the catalytic possibilities of digital public infrastructure.
The Fellowship will run from September 18 to December 18, 2023. It will feature a series of trainings, both virtual and in-person. The Fellows will participate in several training sessions on DPI and DPI reporting. In the first and second weeks of November, the Fellows will be hosted in Accra, Ghana for two weeks and will undergo in-person trainings, experience-sharing sessions, and institutional and field visits.
Fellows will receive a monthly stipend of USD500 while their respective media organisations will be supported with USD700 each month to support editorial productions of DPI stories. Fellows will receive a Certificate of Honour upon completion of the Fellowship.
Fellows were recruited through a competitive selection process including interviews with applicants and their editors.
Below is the list of the 2023 DPI Journalism Fellows:
- Badarou Aziz (Benin)
- Finafa Rébéca Kindjanhounde (Benin)
- Maria de Lourdes Silva Fortes (Cape Verde)
- Suy Kahofi Jischvi (Côte d’Ivoire)
- Gore Bi Djo Frédéric (Côte d’Ivoire)
- Maclean Kwofi Sakyi Adu (Ghana)
- Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah (Ghana)
- Aminata E.Sanyang (The Gambia)
- Mahamane Sabo Bachir Manzo (Niger)
- Aminatou Seydou Harouna (Niger)
- Usman Aliyu (Nigeria)
- Sodiq Ojuroungbe (Nigeria)
- Ameh Ejekwonyilo (Nigeria)
- Adetola Bademosi-Adanikin (Nigeria)
- Ibrahima Olou Ndiaye (Senegal)
- Fana Cissé (Senegal)
- Joseph Johnson (Sierra Leone)
- Alfred Koroma (Sierra Leone)
- Gado Tchamie Clément (Togo)
- Hélène Martelot (Togo)
