By Cece Siago | siagocece@gmail.com
The Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA), in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN), is calling on newsrooms in English speaking Africa to apply for a new initiative aimed at strengthening climate solutions reporting.
The call can be found at the link below:
https://meshascience.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/MESHA_Call-for-Applications-Africa-Climate-Beacons-Newsroom-Initiative.pdf
Solutions Journalism Network is an independent, non-profit organization that advocates an approach of solutions journalism, an evidence-based mode of reporting on the responses to social problems. Currently it is leading a global shift in journalism focused on advancing rigorous reporting about how people are trying to solve problems and what we can learn from their successes and failures.
The Climate Beacons Newsroom Initiative will support six independent newsrooms through a seven-month program running from August 2026 to March 2027.
”We are excited to partner with MESHA to launch the Climate Beacon Newsrooms initiative for sub-Saharan Africa. This region is experiencing escalating climate impacts and we believe newsrooms will play a key role in broadening climate solution journalism, highlighting not just disasters and crises but also adaptive responses taken by impacted communities,” said SJN’s Caroline Karobia, Africa Initiative Manager.
The initiative seeks to improve climate reporting by supporting journalists to move beyond highlighting problems to producing evidence-based stories on climate solutions.
So what is solutions journalism? It is a rigorous, evidence-based reporting on responses to social problems. SoJo, as it is popularly referred to in the media cycles, refers to reporting on something that is happening now, and the effects it is producing.
Participating newsrooms will receive training in solutions journalism, climate reporting, audience engagement and impact tracking. They will also benefit from regular coaching by climate journalism experts and opportunities to collaborate with journalists across the region.
Selected newsrooms will be expected to publish at least eight in-depth climate solutions stories and submit reports on audience engagement and project impact.
Applicants must be established independent media organizations with a demonstrated interest in climate reporting and the capacity to manage grant funding. Newsrooms and journalists can range across different mediums such as radio, print, digital, TV or Sub stack.
Speaking after the announcement, MESHA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Aghan Daniel said, “This is a testimony that the work we have been doing on training and empowering journalists to report on climate change is being recognised by well established organisations such as our partner, Solutions Journalism Network.”
According to Ms Nduta Waweru, the vice chairperson of MESHA, newsrooms will complement the association’s 20 year push to translate complex science into relatable human-centered stories for the common man and holding policymakers accountable.
“With this initiative, the editorial leadership will speak to MESHA’s current mission of promoting an informed and empowered population aware of emerging issues in these core sectors,” she added.
On his part, Bozo Jenje, MESHA Chairman, the Solutions Journalism Network and MESHA collaboration aims will continue to support the network’s approach to transform how science journalism is understood and carried out in Africa by empowering journalists and bridging the gap between researchers, policymakers, and local communities.
To MESHA, this is a great milestone as it is the first association in Africa to support climate journalism which has already created an alumni of 30 climate change journalists from eastern and southern Africa and will now add newsrooms to the number.
Newsrooms applying for The Climate Beacons Newsroom Initiative are required to send a one to two pages editorial concept, four possible climate story ideas, team profiles and a budget of up to US$8,000. The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2026.
©MESHA Features 2026
