Do you want to help shape an African data journalism program that will embed technologists in newsrooms across the continent?
The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) seeks outstanding applicants to help manage its Code for Africa (CfAfrica) data journalism initiative in four ‘hub’ countries, in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. The successful applicant will be appointed as a Senior ICFJ Knight Fellow, in the role of data editor, working with four country-based ICFJ Knight Fellows, as well as teams of CfAfrica data journalists and technologists embedded into partner newsrooms and local CitizenLabs.
The successful candidate will help these teams harness data to build compelling journalistic projects, using strong mobile and interactive web components. Audience engagement will be a crucial measure of success. The goal is to catalyze the media to deliver ongoing, high-quality news that helps spark systemic change around ‘bread and butter’ issues such as health and development.
As a Senior ICFJ Knight Fellow, you will provide pan-African thought-leadership on editorial strategies for the initiative and will be responsible for supervising four ICFJ Knight Fellows who will work as our in-country leads in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania. You will also help identify in-country projects that should be replicated or scaled elsewhere on the continent, and drive media synergies and/or partnerships that can amplify the impacts of our in-country work.
You will work alongside ICFJ Senior Knight Fellow and digital strategist Justin Arenstein, who helped ICFJ pioneer CfAfrica over the past four years, and a yet to be appointed ICFJ Knight Fellow who will be responsible for driving our digital engagement strategies.
ICFJ is looking for candidates who are media industry veterans, ideally with experience in managing data journalism teams and with a track-record for building digital news projects that have enjoyed significant audience engagement. You should have a critical understanding of CfAfrica’s existing tools / approaches, and should be a passionate advocate for how these approaches can strengthen news gathering. An operations whiz, you will connect with journalists and media managers through events, regular newsroom visits, online training, and more. A teacher and communicator at heart, you will think deeply about methodology and curriculum. You will understand how to scale efforts and provide ongoing support. At the same time, you will be a champion for the needs of the media, and an advocate for creating tools that can further enable digital reporting. You will be a team player who loves working on a purpose-driven team that operates with high creativity and velocity.
Responsibilities:
- Supervise in-country Knight Fellows in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania, and ensure their projects in newsrooms consistently achieve their deliverables within set timelines
- Manage a network of media partners across ICFJ’s four focal countries in Africa, ensuring that partners avail appropriate resources and support for our projects
- Track key project analytics and metrics, measure impact and generate stories and case studies to showcase results
- Hold community events that bring together journalists to collaborate around new technologies for storytelling
- Develop on-going relationships with journalists who are using CfAfrica tools, encouraging and evolving their development over time
- Bring an entrepreneurial spirit to work everyday, conceiving of new opportunities and avenues to help the media grow
Preferred qualifications:
- At least 10 years of experience working as a senior journalist or in a leadership position within the media industry
- Experience in the Global South, especially sub-Saharan Africa
- A deep knowledge of and passion for technology and/or data journalism, and a strong track record using technology to tell stories to audiences
- Excellent leadership and management skills
- Ability to manage several concurrent projects with timely deliverables
- Ability to work effectively in a team
- Fluency in English; proficiency in other languages spoken in the target countries is a plus
- Excellent public speaking and interpersonal skills
The Senior Knight Fellow may be from any country, and will be based in Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa. The duration of the fellowship is one year, with the possibility of extension for up to two more years.
If you are interested in being a candidate, please apply here: http://bit.ly/CfAfellowship.
You can direct any questions to: Kyle Thompson at kthompson@icfj.org or +1.202.349.7610.
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About ICFJ’s Knight Fellowships:
The ICFJ Knight International Journalism Fellowships are designed to instill a culture of news innovation and experimentation worldwide. The goal is to seed new ideas and services that deepen coverage, expand news delivery and engage citizens in the editorial process. The program is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Fellows build on past successes in the Knight program, which has a strong record of achieving impact. They work in countries where there is a good opportunity to create the news media of the future. With additional support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Knight Fellows are empowering journalists in sub-Saharan Africa to use the latest digital tools to tell compelling stories on health and development issues.
About Code for Africa:
Code for Africa is the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism initiative. It seeks to instill a culture of civic innovation and digital experimentation in newsrooms and other civic watchdogs. It also incubates investigative and citizen journalism initiatives, using its networks to work with partners in the media, civil society, the private sector and governments. The goal is to seed new ideas and technologies that deepen public accountability, civic transparency and citizen engagement. It is funded by a basket of international donors, the World Bank, various regional Open Society Foundations, and a variety of smaller donors. While Code for Africa focuses its work on the continent, it regularly collaborates with like-minded initiatives across Asia, Europe and Latin America. You can join the CfAfrica community here.
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