Pacific reporters are being given the opportunity to strengthen their climate change reporting through a two-day masterclass held in April, followed by the opportunity to provide media coverage of the inaugural Pacific Resilience Meeting (PRM) in Suva, Fiji in early May.
Expressions of Interest to attend the Climate Reporting Masterclass are now open for Pacific island media from in Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
The masterclass will encourage quality climate change journalism in the Pacific. It is being delivered by the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS) in partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Pacific Climate Partnership Support Unit.
“PACMAS is a long-standing partner of SPREP and we look forward to working with them to support Pacific journalists to navigate this critical area of journalism in our region,” said Mr Vipul Khosla, PACMAS Program Director.
The Climate Reporting Masterclass, held on 29 - 30 April, will help enhance understanding of climate change and disaster risk reduction by Pacific media as well as strengthen relationships and networks between Pacific media and climate change practitioners across the region. The training will be followed by the formation of a Pacific media unit to provide media coverage on the PRM on 1 to 3 May, 2019.
Training will be facilitated by SPREP with PACMAS and the Australia Broadcasting Corporation with the second phase of the activity enhancing partnerships with national media across the 10 Pacific islands. To be eligible for this opportunity, the media organisation nominating reporters must commit to publishing or broadcasting news stories from the PRM in their Pacific island.
“We’re really excited by this partnership. SPREP has worked closely with PACMAS and Australian Aid on Pacific media initiatives in the past bringing good results,” said Ms Tagaloa-Cooper Halo the Director of Climate Change Resilience of SPREP.
“Climate change is the single greatest threat to our Pacific livelihoods, security and people. We must do everything we can across all areas to build our resilience. Sharing news and information through our Pacific media to help people understand and make informed decisions is just one of the multitude of ways we can make a difference.”
The closing deadline for all applications is Close of Business, Samoa time on Monday, 8 April, 2019.
To access the EOI please visit: https://www.sprep.org/attachments/Text-for-Expressions-of-Interest-ClimateReportingMasterclass_final2.pdf
To access the application form: https://www.sprep.org/attachments/ApplicationForm1_Word.docx