The course will be supported by two tutors, supervising approximately 25 participants each. They will engage with each participant for half an hour every fortnight, via Skype or through a live online chat facility. The tutors will have a background in training, with a focus on training journalists. They will be knowledgeable about international development issues, including those relating to minorities, indigenous peoples and migration. From our extensive experience of online training, we know that the tutors are critical towards ensuring that participants actively engage with each other, follow and complete the course.

We will hold five rounds of the course between 2018 and 2020, applicants not successful for the 1st round (Oct 2018) will be able to apply for future rounds; each round will last eight weeks. During this time, participants will be expected to devote three hours every week towards reading, doing their own research, completing the quizzes and tests, and doing the assignments. Every fortnight, they will have a half-hour conversation (or live chat) with their tutor. We estimate therefore that successful participants will need to devote a total of between 18 and 25 hours to the course. We have deliberately kept the course relatively short in order to make it realistic, especially for professional journalists. We will endeavor to be flexible, allowing participants to go at their own pace – with prior agreement of the tutor. Some professional journalists may, for example, prefer to complete the course in 3-4 days, between assignments, and we will seek to accommodate that. If journalists have to interrupt their participation due to work obligations, we will strive to keep places open in subsequent rounds so that they may resume their participation. And for those who receive developing country reporting assignments during the course, we will seek to adapt contents so that they can draw on their own experiences.

Introduction:

• The importance of positive narratives and developing counter-narratives to the many negative ones prevalent in media concerning development assistance programmes, migration and minorities;
• Why covering minority and indigenous issues will make for more interesting reporting;
• Concepts such as minorities and indigenous peoples;
• Introduction to minority and indigenous peoples’ rights; gender equality aspects
• Introduction to intersectional discrimination – issues concerning marginalised groups within minority and indigenous communities;
• Introduction to the main themes covered by the programme – marginalisation of minorities and indigenous peoples; structural discrimination and poverty; poverty as a driver of migration; development assistance and poverty alleviation as means to tackle the EU’s migration crisis.

Introduction to international development:

• Main conceptual frameworks of international development, e.g. human rights-based approaches;
• Key actors in international development;
• The Sustainable Development Goals, including implementation mechanisms;
• Target country approaches to international development;
• Minorities and conflict, discrimination as a driver of conflict, impacts for development outcomes;
• Migration and international development;űVulnerabilities and development, including issues concerning gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, health status and disabilities; and
• Issues concerning intersectional discrimination.

Critical issues affecting minorities and indigenous peoples, e.g.:

• Access to basic services and resources;
• Meaningful participation;
• Natural resource extraction and land rights;
• Climate change;
• Large-scale infrastructure projects; urbanisation.

Introduction to issues concerning migration:

• Introduction to principal concepts, including: migration within and across borders, internal displacement, refugees (fleeing persecution and/or armed conflict);
• Key drivers of migration and refugee flows, including poverty, discrimination, persecution, armed conflict and climate change;
• Situations in principal countries of origin;
• Identifying minority and indigenous issues concerning migrants and refugees;
• Primary pathways towards Europe, including experiences en route;
• Situations upon arrival in frontline locations along the EU’s external borders;
• Government and EU policies towards migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees;
• Reporting ethically on migration; and current trends relating to migration to Europe.

Media, minorities and indigenous peoples:

• Media law concerning discriminatory reporting;
• Importance of obtaining diverse voices; diverse sources, how to find and evaluate them;
• Basic principles of reporting on diversity – dealing with prejudice and discrimination, avoiding stereotypes, culturally sensitive use of language;
• Issue identification;
• Building contacts in minority and indigenous communities;
• Investigative journalism; journalistic ethics.

Minority-sensitive development journalism in practice:

• Identifying stories;
• EU-specific timelines for useful ‘hooks’ to use when publishing media pieces – e.g. European Development Days;
• Pitching stories to editors;
• Developing contacts;
• Culturally sensitive interviewing and photography; and
• Reporting on vulnerable migrants and refugees.

The course will be designed to be highly engaging, with embedded photo-stories, audio recordings and video clips. Special webinars will be delivered by senior media professionals, especially those with extensive development journalism experience. Participants will be tested regularly on the knowledge they have acquired through interactive exercises such as quizzes, self-assessments and assignments supervised by the tutors. Assignments will offer trainees possibilities to apply their learning: to research and write about their own countries’ development and refugee policies, to interview development officials and (where possible) minority and indigenous community representatives. An example could be to interview and write a profile of a minority person’s experiences – using the individual to showcase development issues facing his/her community.

Minority Rights Group Europe and partners will use their widespread contacts with community groups around the world to facilitate these exercises. The final assignment will be to produce a draft story (a newspaper, online article, radio or television script) to be shared for feedback from the tutor and other participants.

A good balance of gender, target country representation and experience (including balance between journalists, students and influencers) will be sought. Applicants from minority, migrant or refugee backgrounds will also be encouraged. We will ensure that other factors (e.g. ethnicity, age, disabilities) do not prevent people from applying or participating.

The representatives of all the partner organizations will take part in the process of recruitment.