InfoNile and MiCT/The Niles invite journalists in the Nile Basin countries; Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC to submit proposals for investigative multimedia journalism stories relevant to and/or impacted by the Nile Basin Initiative’s (NBI) Strategic Water Resources Analysis and linking them with basin-wide datasets and projected trends.
Background and Context
One of the main issues to be addressed in the Nile Basin, and the source of most disagreements between countries over their shared water resources, is the imbalance between water demand and availability in the medium to long term.
A growing water shortage is expected in the Nile Basin as populations and irrigated areas continue to increase.
In order to address these challenges, the Nile Basin Initiative and its partners are currently in the final stages of conducting the Strategic Water Resources Analysis (SWRA), consisting of the following components:
- Estimation of water demand and availability of basin water resources
- Development proceeds as per national plans.
- Formulation of scenarios for addressing the expected future imbalances;
- In depth specialized “building block” studies to elaborate on aspects of demand projections and options for water saving and system optimization; delivered via a validated model, analysis and scenarios.
Examples of stories that can be covered integrating data and information from the Analysis include Farmers working to improve irrigation efficiency, Desalination projects, Increasing the use of rain-fed agriculture, Utilizing the Nile for navigation/trade purposes, Regional economic optimization on the ground, Preserving environmental flows for ecosystems, among others.
Documents to support your story pitch:
- Current and projected water demand in the Nile Basin: Phase 1 synthesis report
- Irrigation Baseline Data & Description
- Mapping Land Suitability for Irrigation in the Nile Basin
- Irrigation Development Projection for the Nile Basin Countries – Scenario-Based Methodology
- Economic Value of Water for Irrigation in the Nile Basin
- Scenarios for Water Saving in Irrigated Agriculture
- Coarse Environmental Flow Assessment for Selected Reaches in the Nile Basin
- Management of environmental flows in the Nile river basin: Practices and experiences
- Evaluation of scope for water saving options through reuse of water and desalination in the Nile Basin
- Projection of Municipal and Industrial Water demands for the Nile Basin
Stories will be produced for InfoNile (audience and style), with selected stories adapted for cross-publication on The Niles, after publishing on the journalists’ media houses.
How to apply
You can apply as an individual, but collaborations (between journalists at different media houses in the same country, and/or between journalists from two or more different countries) are encouraged. If you are applying in a collaboration, please submit only one email application with documents from all team members attached.
To apply submit the following to info@infonile.org not later than 15th April 2022:
-A one-page proposal outlining your story idea. Proposals should be clearly structured, stating briefly at the outset what the story idea is, followed by how and where the story will be researched, what it aims to reveal or contribute, where you will publish (specific media organization/s), and the intended impact of the story. The proposal should also include a plan for incorporating data. Please note how you will use multimedia (video, photos, audio, and graphics along with text). You should also include a budget of not more than 800 USD.
-A resumé/CV;
-Two samples of published/broadcast work. Links to the published stories are preferred.
-Letter of support from your editor/s, stating that your media house/s will publish / telecast/broadcast your story and the subsequent final project that will feature all stories published as part of this project such as our recently completed Pandemic Poachers or Solar Energy stories.
Your story pitch should also contain a plan to integrate data analysis and visualization of data from the provided reports and other data sources.
The output should be an in-depth multimedia story incorporating text, video, photography, audio, and data visualization/mapping. It can also be published on radio, TV, and print publications.
These publications are produced by InfoNile and Media in Cooperation and Transition (MiCT) in collaboration with the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) and with support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, commissioned by the European Union and Federal German Government.
