This week’s highlights
- JHR Launches New 4-year Project with UNDEF in Tunisia, Iraq, Lebanon and Morocco
- JHR Executive Director Rachel Pulfer, Dr. Samantha Nutt of War Child Canada and Boris Martin of Engineers Without Borders on the importance of global giving through this pandemic
- IRP Trainer Kyle Napier featured in the Edmonton Journal
- Training Tanzanian journalists on the impact of Covid-19 on women and girls’ rights
- Apply Now! The Gordon N. Fisher/JHR Journalism Fellowship at Massey College 2021/2022
- Work with JHR ! Four new head office positions available
- TVO Call for Submissions
- Apply Now ! Media Girlfriends Scholarships for High School Students in Canada
JHR Launches New 4-year Project with UNDEF in Tunisia, Iraq, Lebanon and Morocco
With support from the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF), Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) is launching an initiative in collaboration with local partners Sala Association in Morocco, The National Union of Journalists in Iraq, Awan Media in Lebanon and Ulysse F.M and Radio 6 in Tunisia to help foster an environment with greater accountability and governance, through journalism.
“Media is the first and most public check on the abuse of power.” said Rachel Pulfer, Executive Director, Journalists for Human Rights. “Public officials who make decisions based on facts and truth lead to better governance outcomes, stronger transparency and clearer accountability. And the sobering reality is that without a free media, societies lose the capacity for free thought. With that gone, all our other freedoms go too.” Read more about the https://jhr.ca/undef-arab
Why it’s crucial to give globally through this pandemic
Photo Credit: JHR
Earlier this week, JHR Executive Director Rachel Pulfer joined Dr. Samantha Nutt, President and Founder of War Child Canada and War Child USA and Boris Martin, Ph.D., CEO of Engineers Without Borders Canada at a special session on the importance of philanthropy and global giving through this pandemic.
Hosted by Elke Rubach of Rubach Wealth Management, the three non-profit leaders laid out a case for why global philanthropy matters now more than ever. They shared inspiring stories of some of the great work their organizations have done, and most importantly, discussed the many ways in which we all can make a positive impact.
What kind of impact is possible when working with small to mid-size Canadian development organizations? Said Pulfer: “In 2020, JHR helped produce a story in Mali that pointed out how the hearing impaired in the country were left out of the coronavirus response, because of the lack of sign language interpretation on state television.” In response, she explained, the state broadcaster ordered sign language support for all news and PSAs related to Covid-19. The original investment of CAD$500 helped ensure the hearing impaired in the country – approximately 309,000 people – knew how to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
Said Rubach: “It is important to be clear and comfortable with your philanthropy. A well-planned strategy can increase the reach and impact of each dollar you give. We want to enable the conversation and dispel the myth that one needs to give millions to be able to make a difference.”
To view the full discussion, please click here.
JHR’s IRP Trainer Kyle Napier on the North’s Digital Divide
Photo Credit: Edmonton Journal
March 16 marked the virtual National Day of Action for Affordable Internet. However, many households in rural communities across the Northwest Territories (NWT) could not participate. ‘Internet access is an equity issue for the largely Indigenous rural communities in northern Canada.’
On National Day of Action for Affordable Internet, IRP trainer Kyle Napier co-authored this Edmonton Journal op-ed on the need for accessible Internet in the North.
Read the article here.
Journalists in Tanzania training on the impact of Covid-19 on women and girls’ rights
JHR’s Regional Coordinator for East and South Africa, Siyabulela Mandela, supporting the training in Tanzania. Photo Credit: JHR
‘As Journalists for Human Rights we are encouraged by the continued enthusiasm and interest from the local journalists to join the JHR MMFC project in Tanzania. We concluded our work in the main land and JHR’s team is now in Zanzibar to continue its work with a team of Media Trainers to bring capacity building and training of local journalists in and around Zanzibar to effectively communicate public health measures while debunking disinformation and misinformation about COVID-19’, says Siyabulela Mandela.
In Tanzania the JHR project contributes to international public health efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19 and its impact on human rights, in particular women and girls’ rights. Our programming in Tanzania focuses on these thematic areas: Human Rights Journalism, Gender-Sensitive Reporting, COVID-19 and Human Rights, COVID-19 & Misinformation.
Apply Now! The Gordon N. Fisher/JHR Journalism Fellowship at Massey College 2021/2022
2019/2020 Fellow Nancy Emefa Dzradosi
The Gordon N. Fisher/JHR Journalism Fellowship at Massey College in the University of Toronto is an annual opportunity for a journalist from the following regions to participate in the William Southam Journalism Fellowship Program: Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, with preference given to candidates from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, South Sudan, DR Congo, Syria, Jordan and Indigenous candidates from JHR’s Indigenous Reporters Program. Funded by the Alva Foundation in memory of the former president and chief executive officer of the Canadian newspaper and communications company, Southam Inc., the grant allows the Fellowship to be held annually at Massey College and the University of Toronto under the auspices of Journalists for Human Rights.
2019/2020 recipient, Nancy Emefa Dzradosi, is a Ghanaian journalist who specializes in field reporting, anchoring and production. Her works focus on Human rights and Environment. Nancy currently leads Joy FM and Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s Clean Ghana Campaign. In 2018 and 2019, her stories on abandoned lepers and a mentally pregnant woman reignited national conversation on social exclusion. Nancy has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and linguistics from the University of Ghana. She lives in Accra, Ghana.
Click here to apply no later than March 31, 2021.
We’re Hiring!
JHR is hiring a range of positions, all contract positions starting ASAP. Click below for details on each position:
JHR-TVO Covid Initiative Call for Pitches
JHR and TVO.org have partnered on an initiative to support emerging Indigenous journalists in Northern Ontario.
Northern Ontario First Nations are dealing with unique challenges and creating unique solutions to the COVID-19 crisis. Through this initiative we aim to give a platform to some of those stories.
In their piece, How First Nations are using radio in the fight against COVID-19, Crystal Hardy Zongwe Binesikwe – a two-spirit Anishnawbe storyteller, nurse practitioner, and PhD candidate from Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishnabek, in northern Ontario – delves into the role local radio is playing in communicating vital public health information to community members in isolated First Nations.
Anishinaabe-kwe journalist Jolene Banning, whose work focuses on arts and culture as well as Anishinaabe resilience, explores the ways Indigenous people in Northwestern Ontario are using the arts to help weather the pandemic, in her story, ‘I paint for healing’: Indigenous art in the time of COVID-19.
Applications to this initiative are open now and will be assessed on a first-come first-served basis. Early applications are strongly encouraged.
We are looking for original reporting and feature stories relating to COVID-19 in Northern Ontario First Nations. Selected stories will be published on the TVO.org website and on other TVO-branded platforms. Successful applicants will be supported through a JHR-facilitated pitch process and TVO mentorship.
Indigenous people (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) residing in Northern Ontario are eligible. Previous journalism experience is not required.
To apply, please fill out this form: https://bit.ly/JHRcovidstories
Application deadline: March 29, 2021
For further information, please email us at [email protected]
Apply Now to the Media Girlfriends Fellowships
Media Girlfriends is a podcast company, network & student scholarship. Media Girlfriends support women & non-binary journalists. They work to promote more perspectives in Canadian media, particularly those by Black, Indigenous and other people of colour. Media Girlfriends started as a podcast by Nana aba Duncan, currently a William Southam Journalism Fellow (see above) and formerly JHR’s country director in Ghana !
Journalism students: Apply for a new $10,000 CAD Media Girlfriends scholarship for Black high school students pursuing journalism at a post-secondary institution in Canada, and/or one of two $10,000 CAD Media Girlfriends scholarships for women/trans/non-binary students pursuing journalism, communications, media or tech. Deadline is April 30, 2021. More information, including how to apply, is at https://www.mediagirlfriends.
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Land Acknowledgement
We wish to acknowledge the land on which the Journalists for Human Rights’ head office operates and recognize the longstanding relationships Indigenous nations have with these territories. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. Tkaronto (Toronto) is in the Dish with One Spoon Territory and is home to Indigenous peoples from many nations across Turtle Island who continue to care for this land today.
To read more on JHR’s land acknowledgement, click here.