Reporting on Climate Change and Environmental Justice in the MENA Region – A Training Series
The training programme, organized by AMWAJ and the Heinrich-Boell-Stiftung Middle East, provides a participatory immersion about climate change and environmental justice topics in the MENA region. It is designed for aspiring journalists from Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt. It offers an introductory overview of this topic and explores various forms of journalism and practical considerations for climate reporting, including risks, safety measures, and strategies for their mitigation.
The training will combine lectures, group work, and interactive discussions to understand the main concepts, approaches, and notions related to reporting on climate change and environmental justice in the MENA region. It will also offer a space for synergies, networking, and sharing experiences between actors, in view of facilitating collaboration.
At the end of the training, participants will have acquired the knowledge, skills, and ethical considerations needed to grasp the key aspects of climate change and environmental justice. They will be equipped to approach these topics from a new perspective, addressing opportunities and challenges, and will be empowered to enhance and diversify comprehensive, multimedia reporting on environmental issues and climate change in conflict-affected regions such as the MENA region.
The training is open for applications until Monday, 3 March 2025. The application form can be found below on this page. This training is organized in partnership with Heinrich-Boell-Stiftung Middle East. Participation for selected journalists is free of charge.
Eligibility criteria:
The training is open to early career journalists in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt. Applicants should either be fresh graduates seeking a career in environmental journalism or have one to two years of experience in journalism.
Programme:
The training will be a series of online training sessions, with two half-day sessions every two weeks spanning over two months, for a group of 20 selected journalists.
Session 1 and 2 (March/April 2025)
Objective: The aim of this module is for students to gain an understanding of the diverse impacts of climate change in the MENA region, key concepts in environmental governance and environmental (in)justice, and the opportunities and challenges of environmental journalism both globally and within the MENA context. The module will also address the risks of misinformation and emphasize the importance of media literacy in environmental journalism.
Session 3 and 4 (April/May 2025)
Objective: The aim of this module is for students to gain in-depth knowledge of various journalistic approaches for reporting on the environment and environmental justice, including constructive journalism and investigative journalism. Students will also learn the essential skills for finding and selecting sources for stories, as well as explore different reporting techniques and formats, such as storytelling and multimedia reporting, along with their respective uses and advantages. Additionally, the module will provide insights into engaging with audiences and how to align reporting techniques with strategies for advocacy and raising awareness.
Session 5: (May 2025)
Objective: The aim of this module is for students to gain knowledge of risk and safety assessments in journalistic work within conflict-affected regions, along with mitigation strategies. This includes understanding issues such as censorship, physical danger, reprisals, threats, and the ethical dilemmas journalists may face in these environments.
Session 6: (May 2025)
This piece can be an article, a video, a multimedia piece, or a photo series. The process of the development and production of this piece is accompanied by mentoring sessions by the trainers. The finished pieces will be published on the AMWAJ website in English and Arabic. The pieces will also be pitched to AMWAJ’s media partners.
In the first session of Module 4 (full day), examples for the different topics covered in the first two modules are presented, and each student prepares a pitch to be presented in the plenum, with constructive feedback given by the plenum. In the upcoming weeks, two complementary monitoring sessions are scheduled, where the progress of the stories are monitored, and additional feedback is given.
Practical details
This is an online training series. The sessions will be held in English. Content can be submitted in Arabic or English.
Application Process
Applicants can apply through the following application form.
Deadline for applications: Monday, 3 March 2025 at 23:59 EET
Applicants should share examples of pieces published (URLs) and attach a CV and a cover letter that will:
- Express their interest in participating in the training module.
- Explain how they will apply training takeaways in their work.
