Good morning from Nairobi!

The IWMF is hitting the ground running in 2016 – on the docket for January? Two back to back HEFAT trainings followed by double header of reporting trips to Rwanda, the DRC, and Uganda. The opportunities our programming offers have dramatically expanded – check out our new Latin America program, Adelante – we are ready to take on the year in a big way.

We’re starting the year back in Kenya with a seriously impressive group of grantees and fellows. Over the next few weeks, you’ll see updates from the trainings and reporting trips from four different countries. Our first group of trainees have already arrived in Kenya and jumped into the first ever Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists sponsored security training with TYR Solutions. Next week our newest class of Great Lakes fellows descends on Nairobi for their training before heading out into the field for two weeks of independent reporting.

And as if that wasn’t enough we just opened a number of applications. Interested in reporting from South Sudan or Tanzania? Have a great project that needs funding?
Check out the online apps here: https://www.iwmf.org/call-for-applications-south-sudan-and-tanzania-trips-fund-for-women-journalists/ .

Last year, we launched the Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists – the only funding initiative of its kind open solely to women journalists. We received over 1,300 applications in only 2 rounds of funding and were completely blown away at the caliber of the projects all of you applied with. We noticed something else too in reading your applications… the critical importance of affordable and accessible security training. In the two funding rounds held in 2015, the number of applicants requesting support to undertake reporting projects in challenging or hostile environments astounded us. Many of you had never been able to pursue the opportunity or find funding to participate in any security or first aid training . We all recognize that this type of training is vital for reporters to equip themselves with the skills they need to manage their own safety in the field. So in response we did something a little different for the last round of funding in 2015– the fund sponsored a HEFAT training and travel stipends. Working with TYR Solutions to provide the training, 17 women journalists from all over the world won a space in the course and grants to attend.

From over 200 applications, an incredible, diverse group was chosen – collectively they have reported from the frontlines of some of the the world’s most volatile and pressing crises. The stories they have shared during the training have amazed us – the world is lucky to have their work.

Annie Valentine, IWMF Senior Program Officer