By Christine Ochogo I christawine@yahoo.com
Africa’s leading science media network, The Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) has unveiled nine Media Fellows from eastern and southern Africa for its climate change media fellowship.
This is the second time that the association has picked journalists, through a very competitive and rigorous selection process for the year-long climate change media fellowship under its Action Research to Enhance Effective Coverage of Climate Change Issues in Africa (ARECCCA) project with support from IDRC Eastern and Southern Africa office based in Nairobi.
During the year-long engagement, MESHA will provide story grants to the participants two times in a year to pursue their stories. Fellows will be required to identify and pitch for two key projects to work on throughout the year in phases.
Applicants were required to share past copies of their climate stories which had to conform to MESHA’s own requirements on reporting climate change from a gender lens.
According to Aghan Daniel, the association’s Chief Executive Officer, the media fellows have demonstrated experience covering climate change and other environmental topics; an understanding of issues related to gender equality and social inclusion. They have further demonstrated deep understanding of the nexus between climate change and vulnerable groups such as women, youth and persons with disabilities.
While making her remarks at the fellows kick off science media café held on September 10 virtually, Angela Baiya, Communications and Knowledge Lead at IDRC Eastern and Southern Africa Office, Nairobi noted that the Centre is very pleased with MESHA’s work in implementing year one of the research project. She congratulated the nine media fellows and added that IDRC looked forward to reading their stories as well as hear about their experiences in the field.
“We look forward to yet another year of resounding success and wish the Fellows a great time with MESHA,” she added.
The current cohort has Asha Bekidusa and Ruth Keah from Kenya; Anthony Lacomec from Uganda; Calvin Manika and Fairness Moyana from Zimbabwe; Irene Shone and Baboki Kayawe from Botswana; Ndama Nakashole from Namibia; and Janvier Barhahiga from Democratic Republic of Congo.
The announcement for the call was made in January and the deadline for receiving applications was February 21, 2026. A total of 70 applications were received. It took the external assessors nearly three months to verify the competence of the selected journalists.
Each of the Fellows will spend prolonged periods of time with sources and communities during their field tours in an attempt to gain trust and tell authentic solutions based climate change stories as part of the action research. At hand will be a researcher, a gender expert and a supporting editor to work with each of the Media Fellows.
