Three Renewed Projects Underway at EJN

We're pleased to announce that three EJN projects have received renewed funding to deepen our work supporting climate and environmental journalism in the Mekong Region, East Africa, South Africa and Argentina.

Pathways to Net Zero in India, South Africa and Argentina  

For the past two years, Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN)’s Pathways to Net Zero project has been building the capacity and strengthening the skills of journalists in India and South Africa to help facilitate effective reporting on their countries’ pathways to net zero, and the challenges and solutions that shape the energy transitions that are underway.  

Launched in 2021, the project has trained and supported 39 journalists by producing six reporter resources, providing 18 story grants, and funding 21 journalists to attend workshops, who have in total produced 48 stories on a diverse range of themes.

Now, we are pleased to announce the launch of a second phase of the EJN Net Zero project, with support from the European Climate Foundation. The second phase will be implemented over the coming year, continuing work in South Africa and expanding to work with journalists in Argentina.  

Read more about this project here. 

East Africa Wildlife Journalism  

For the past four years, EJN has led its East Africa Wildlife Journalism project with support from USAID’s East Africa office and the Department of Interior, focused on boosting coverage of wildlife and conservation issues in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. Through this project, regional partners have received support from EJN, and journalists in the region have participated in story grants and workshops. EJN also worked with regional environmental experts to build the East Africa Biodiversity Knowledge Hub, which offers resource material, hosts in-person networking and exchange events, and activities to build the capacity of editors as well as journalists.  

Altogether, we trained over 100 journalists, supported the production of more than 170 stories, and provided webinars and online roundtables for an additional 500 journalists. 

In the latest phase, now underway, journalists and media houses in East Africa will be trained in collaboration with the Centre for Global Advancement to investigate wildlife crimes by following the money. Working with peers in Asia, they’ll learn how to investigate money laundering, fraud, bribery and corruption, underground money movements and the illicit payment methods that bolster transcontinental wildlife trafficking and other environmental crimes. These activities aim to improve journalists’ knowledge and skills, to equip East African media to hold governments and the judiciary system to account for failure to protect nature. 

Read more about this project here. 

Reporting on Mekong Water Governance from a Gender and Social Inclusion Lens 

More than 300 million people in six countries depend heavily on the availability of resources offered by the mighty Mekong River for their livelihood. 

With the river under pressure from these competing demands, the lives and livelihoods of women and girls—who are usually tasked with household chores that directly involve the use and management of water—are affected, yet women are overwhelmingly excluded from decisions made regarding large-scale water management policies. 

To shed light on the environmental impacts of these inequitable socio-cultural practices, Internews, with funding from Oxfam, has been training journalists in the Lower Mekong region to better highlight women’s and marginalized people’s voices in media reports on water management in the River basin. Selected journalists were awarded story grants to produce reports on Mekong water governance through a gender and social inclusive lens. 

Now in its second phase, designed to deepen the capacity of these journalists, the participants will receive advanced training through another three-day media workshop in Cambodia, and have the opportunity to meet with communities affected by widespread flooding. They will receive a second round of story grants and be mentored by a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) expert, as they seek to raise public awareness of the importance of inclusive water management in the region. 

Read more about the project here. 

Banner Image: What alternative energies can soften the blow of a coal phase-out? Around 10% of Argentina’s energy comes from nuclear power / Credit: Frédéric Paulussen via Unsplash.