Ethiopia Media Innovation Accelerator Program Sponsored by the U.S. Embassy, Addis Ababa
Project Lead: Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Media Innovation Collaboratory/TrollBusters
APPLY NOW (English/Amharic): https://forms.gle/mfJvPPvMumLe9fEo9
APPLICATION DEADLINE: THURSDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023
PARTICIPANTS NOTIFIED: THURSDAY, 19 JANUARY 2023
The Ethiopia Media Accelerator Program
 |  |  |
The Media Innovation Collaboratory of Florida, along with the U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa and partner media and professional organizations in the U.S. and Ethiopia, will provide up to 25 Ethiopian media workers, journalists, technologists and communicators with a three-month media innovation and entrepreneurship accelerator program, designed to strengthen, design and build news and information strategies, social ventures and media enterprises across sub-regions of Ethiopia.
Participants will design and develop a strategy for enhancing the news and information ecosystems in their selected geographies. We are seeking a diverse cohort with skills in media creation, collaboration, and an interest in building sustainable networks for news and information.
Through a combination of face-to-face and virtual coaching and training over six months, African communicators and media workers will receive training in assessing and diagnosing local communication strategies, interacting with resource experts and connecting with colleagues in African countries, each other and with entrepreneurs and experts in the United States. Through the three-day boot camp and 11-week virtual sessions, participants are mentored through the design and launch of local solutions to solve pressing economic, public health and safety issues in their communities.
The goals of the hybrid training program are to design, initiate and develop media projects that amplify diverse voices in new media in Ethiopia and to build regional capacity for mutual support and aid. Our objectives:
- Build local networks for sustainability, mutual self-aid, and digital resilience.
- Create localized solutions for communication needs of residents and the region.
- Develop deeper reporting and localized stories of critical issues such as climate change, economic sustainability, and global health crises.
- Build regional skills and capacity for news and information.
We expect to bring together print, broadcast, and new media journalists, technologists, bloggers, educators, hackers, funders, community activists, designers, social entrepreneurs, and others who care about telling stories in diverse communities. We’ll gather from across Ethiopia to conceive, design and pitch ideas for the next news and information enterprises. Thirty innovators will develop innovation strategies that build on their professional skills, learn human-centered design strategies, engage in hands-on experience with low-bandwidth technologies, conduct community outreach and learn engagement and hosting skills, and build their capacity through mentoring, networking, and using strategic civic leadership for social change. The hybrid face-to-face boot camp and virtual format helps us build the distributed network of mutual aid and support that remains after the project conclusion.
Our program partners include Addis Insights, the. International Association of Women in Radio and Television; the Ethiopian Women’s Media Association and other Ethiopian-based media organizations.
Join our 2023 cohort.
Bootcamp Dates: February 9, 10, 11, 12, 2023 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Virtual Program: February 26, 2023-May 15, 2023 (Online 3-hours Weekly)
We are accepting your applications to participate in the 2023 program, scheduled to run from February 2023 until May 2023, with physical meetings face-to-face in Addis Ababa in February 2023 and weekly virtual meetings online.
APPLY NOW (English/Amharic): https://forms.gle/mfJvPPvMumLe9fEo9
APPLICATION DEADLINE: THURSDAY, 6 JANUARY 2023
PARTICIPANTS NOTIFIED: THURSDAY, 19 JANUARY 2023
For more information, contact:
Dr. Michelle Ferrier
report@troll-busters.com
Telephone +1 (740) 300-1595
TrollBusters 