Cross-border collaborative journalism project

Call for applicants

Project Migration Nepal

Young journalists from Finland, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, and Czech Republic are called to apply to a cross-border collaborative journalism project focusing on migration from Nepal to Europe. The call is aimed at young employed journalists who are interested in migration issues and motivated to work in an international team. The project involves young journalists from Nepal, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

The journalistic content to be produced during the project will be planned in a joint kick-off workshop in Warsaw 4-5/1/2022. The working teams will also be formed in Warsaw.

The Finnish Foundation for Media and Development Vikes coordinates the project and supports the work of the teams. The Warsaw kick-off meeting will be organized in cooperation with the Center for Citizenship Education (CCE). From Nepal, the project involves Vikes’ long-term partner, the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIJ).

A prerequisite for participation is that the employer accepts the participation of each journalist and allows the usage of working hours for the project. A flat fee/compensation of 1200 EUR per journalist is paid to the media for this.

The project is part of the EU-funded I am European project, and all participation costs for the selected participants are covered by the project.

Who can apply: Employed young journalists
Application period: 1/11-30/11/2021
Number of participants: 12

Selection criteria:

  • The call is targeted at young journalists. The age limit is 35 years; if you are 35 years or younger, you are eligible to apply.
  • All applicants need to be employed, either part-time or full-time, by a registered media outlet or equivalent publishing organization (e.g., university radios and community newspapers can come into question as well), and the employer needs to support applicants’ participation.
  • Motivation and ability to commit on active participation throughout the project, including the kick off meeting in Warsaw in January 2022.
  • Ability to work as a member of an international team using English as the main working language.
  • Previous experience of handling and/or training on migration, sustainable development, and media diversity are considered as an asset.

Participants will be selected by the 15th of December 2021.[nectar_btn size=”large” open_new_tab=”true” button_style=”regular” button_color_2=”Accent-Color” icon_family=”none” text=”Apply” url=”https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekuxNIuDznppWdEldIquUbu8_14hZz-M4JkFhGVKGoOFgrMg/viewform?usp=pp_url”]

Why Nepal?

According to the latest population census in 2011, 7.3 percent of Nepalese citizens lived abroad (IOM, 2019). The majority of migrants head to neighboring areas, especially India. However, there are a significant number of Nepalis, almost 59,000, living in the EU countries in 2011. Interestingly, Nepalis are spread to most European countries.

Most of Nepal’s migration is work-related and those working abroad have a significant value for country’s national economy. Many Nepalis are also seeking to enter Europe as asylum seekers, despite the high rejection rate. Nepal is also involved in international and regional human trafficking. An estimated 35,000 Nepalese were trafficked in 2018 (UNODC).

Project timeframe

  1. Open application process 1/11-30/11/2021.
  2. Selection of participants by 15/12/2021
  3. Kick-off and planning workshop in Warsaw 4-5/1/2022 which is compulsory to all selected participants.
    • Introduction and training
    • Facilitated brainstorming of story ideas, selecting ideas to be developed further, and dividing teams according to participants interests, making the preliminary production plan for each team
  4. Production – Teams work on their stories independently.
    • Vikes organizes regular coordination calls where the progress is discussed with the teams and any concerns can be addressed.
    • Tentative length of production period is 3 months until end of March 2022.
  5. Publishing – Productions are published in each contracted media.
    • Stories/programmes should be published between April and August 2022.
    • Media’s receive the compensation after the stories or programmes are published.
  6. Project Migration Nepal – landing page puts the bigger picture together. Vikes takes the lead to develop a landing page hosted by Vikes’ main website where all published stories are put/linked together after they have been published in the participating medias.
    • Potentially doing translations of some stories in English
    • Landing page to be launched at latest in August 2022

[nectar_btn size=”large” open_new_tab=”true” button_style=”regular” button_color_2=”Accent-Color” icon_family=”none” text=”Apply” url=”https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekuxNIuDznppWdEldIquUbu8_14hZz-M4JkFhGVKGoOFgrMg/viewform?usp=pp_url”]More information:

Kirsi Koivuporras-Masuka
Project Officer
[email protected]
+35850309370The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Finnish Foundation for Media and Development and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.