Deadline: December 31, 2021
Applications are open for the Rest and Refuge Fellowship Program 2022. For 2022, they are inviting two journalists from countries with restricted press freedom to Berlin. The Rest and Refuge Fellowship program is a joint project of Reporters Without Borders Germany and taz Panter Foundation.
Participants can, if they wish, withdraw completely from public life and use the time in Berlin to work on their own projects. However, organisers also provide opportunities for further education, professional networking and resilience building. For example, all fellows are given the opportunity to take a language course and get to know German media outlets. However, the primary goal is for the fellows to enjoy a sabbatical period and thus return to their home country strengthened. The fellowship is limited to a period of six months.
Fellowship
- They reimburse travel expenses, provide an apartment in Berlin and travel health insurance, and pay a monthly stipend of €1,000.
Eligibility
- Applicants must have several years of work experience as a journalist
- Note: Although they consider the work of human rights activists to be very valuable, they cannot invite human rights activists who are not full-time journalists, as they do not fall under the Reporters Without Borders’ mandate.
- Personal threat due to journalistic work or difficult working conditions caused by external factors.
- Good knowledge of the English or German language at a conversational level
- A passport that is valid for at least another twelve months from the date of the application (or that can be independently extended/reapplied for)
- A state of health that allows for longer trips and a six-month stay in the host country, as well as sufficient independence to master everyday challenges.
- Willingness and possibility to return to the country of origin after the period of stay.
Selection Criteria
The selection is made according to the following criteria:
- Security situation and working conditions. Be specific in describing your situation so they can get an idea of what personal threats you are facing.
- Professional experience. Journalists with several years of work experience will be scored higher.
- Suitability for the program.
- Applicant’s vision of how they would like to use their time in Berlin.
- A country of origin for which the organizations can obtain German visas.
- Quality of the motivation letter. (Both form and content are evaluated.)
- Diversity of the selection. The program supports a diverse group of fellowship holders. This includes the following factors: Country of origin, gender, thematic focus, journalistic medium, as well as various factors contributing to discrimination or marginalization.
Application
Your application must include the following documents:
- The completed and signed application form
- A scan of your current passport
- Your curriculum vitae in tabular form (CV)
- A motivation letter (1-2 pages) in which you explain why you need a sabbatical. Elaborate on what specific factors endanger or complicate your working situation. Also write about how you plan to use your time off in Berlin.
Send the completed application form and the other requested documents as individual PDFs to: [email protected]. If you prefer to use a secure way of transmission and you have a protonmail account, you can send it to [email protected]. They also offer to receive the application via the messenger service Signal: +49 151 2688 4845.
For more information, visit Rest and Refuge Fellowship.
