Bertha Challenge Fellowship Program 2023

Successful applicants receive a non-residential paid fellowship and a project budget to work independently and together to:

• Investigate the causes of and solutions to the annual Bertha Challenge question.
• Amplify their findings to a wider targeted audience.
• Connect with diverse stakeholders for information, support and sustainable impact.

At Bertha, they know that many activists and investigative journalists are already doing ground-breaking work to investigate social justice issues, to amplify their work and to connect with audiences. The Bertha Challenge aims to support this by providing time to work exclusively on projects, the spaces in which to connect with a diverse global cohort of Bertha Fellows, and the resources to develop tangible products speaking directly to the Challenge question.

Challenge Details

The fourth Bertha Challenge will begin in January 2023 with a focus on food, specifically supporting Bertha Fellows to answer the following question:

How is the relationship between politics and corporate control of our food systems contributing to environmental devastation and hunger and how can food production center people and nutrition rather than profit?

Benefits

• Income for each Bertha Fellow for one year, not exceeding USD $64,900 and commensurate with the applicant’s current or equivalent salary at the host organization – ideally a media outlet for an investigative journalist and an NGO, community organization or social movement for an activist.
• A Project Fund of up to USD $10,000 for each Bertha Fellow to produce their final projects that respond to the question posed by the Bertha Challenge, and that is directed towards a specific audience. This could be a series of articles, videos, podcasts, games or drama productions, for example. Joint activist and journalist applicants will have the option to pool their project funding to produce projects on a larger scale.
• Access to a Connect Fund of up to USD $5,000 specifically designed to encourage collaboration between Fellows.
• Regular online discussions with topics on a range of issues from current debates around food to methods of investigation, methods of communicating findings through news media, storytelling, popular education and more.
• Peer and mentor support in the form of regular virtual check-ins with Bertha staff and a cohort of Bertha Fellows.
• Network development through the global cohort of Bertha Fellows and exposure to relevant partners within and beyond the Bertha network, including our legal partners in the Bertha Justice Network.
• A global convening of Bertha Fellows at the start of the Bertha Challenge, and invitations to join alumni convening after the end of the Fellowship year.

Eligibility

• Open to activists and investigative journalists;
• Applicants may come from and work in any country, but to ensure that this cohort of Bertha Fellows is able to be fully participatory, they require all applicants to be proficient in spoken and written English and able to deliver their final work in English.

Deliverables

This is a full-time Fellowship. Bertha Fellows will spend their time working in their home countries and be required to:

• Attend an in-person global convening that will take place towards the beginning of the Challenge.
• Develop and deliver a project that responds to the Bertha Challenge question.
• Participate in two virtual meetings per month, and occasionally facilitate these meetings.
• Develop local and global network relationships.

How to Apply

All applicants must submit:

• A completed online application form
• A brief resume/CV in English of no more than three pages
• A list of 2-4 referees including name, relationship to applicant and contact details
• A signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from your prospective host organization – including commensurate salary and any benefits provided.
• Examples of previous work.

For more information, visit Bertha Challenge.