Indigenous voices fellowship

Indigenous voices are critical to building a more just and sustainable world. But they are too often excluded or pigeonholed outside mainstream conversations on environmental governance and climate policy.

Dialogue Earth is aiming to help address this by running a fellowship programme for Indigenous journalists, writers and storytellers from November 2024 to December 2025.

The fellowship intends to highlight and amplify issues of concern to Indigenous peoples across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, from the diverse perspectives of Indigenous journalists and writers themselves.

Each fellow will enter regional and global conversations on the environment, and receive support from our editors to publish two pieces of work on Dialogue Earth and beyond.

They will be invited to attend next year’s COP30 climate conference in Brazil, in person, where they will participate in a special event. COP30 will be a critical moment for policymakers and other stakeholders engaged in climate action to meet and try to solve the climate crisis and other environmental issues.

Of interest? Read below to learn more about the programme and how you can apply.

How it works

The Indigenous Voices fellowship will support a cohort of eight Indigenous journalists, writers or storytellers from South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America to pitch and develop stories. Proposals can be for written articles or multimedia content. Here are some potential themes and topics, but we welcome stories on other environmental and climate issues too.

Indigenous stewardship of global forests

• Traditional land-management practices
• Indigenous-led fire management
• The impact of extractive industries and commodity supply chains on forests
• Reducing deforestation through finance, traceability, and regulations

Indigenous knowledge in conservation and nature-based solutions, beyond forest protection

• Traditional ecological knowledge, biodiversity and climate science
• Food systems, seeds and sovereignty
• Citizen science approaches to data collection
• Indigenous communities’ role in ecosystem restoration

Policy approaches and Indigenous environmental movements

• Indigenous voices on intellectual property rights, access to benefits, and co-management agreements
• Indigenous access to climate finance
• Water protectors, protest, and environmental movements
• Protecting the rights of environmental defenders

Successful applicants will receive support from our editors to develop their story from idea to publication. As needed, we will facilitate targeted translation and amplification of published stories via social media, republications by other media outlets, and other forms of audience engagement.

Fellows’ work will be published in multiple languages on the Dialogue Earth website. It will also be disseminated on influential media outlets through syndication agreements in Latin America, China, Africa, South and Southeast Asia.

We will also selectively pursue translations into Indigenous languages, as relevant to specific articles. This may be pursued in partnership with Indigenous media houses or civil society organisations.

As well as editorial and dissemination support, fellows will be invited to attend a number of online discussions, including a meet and greet among the fellows and public-facing discussions on fellows’ stories and/or relevant themes and topics.

Fellows’ articles and stories will be used as the basis for discussion at an event in Belem, Brazil, during the UN-led COP30 climate talks in late 2025, where global climate policymakers, civil society leaders and experts will convene.

What is COP30? Held since 1995, the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN climate change convention is the most important annual climate gathering. Crucial decisions on implementing the Paris Agreement are made there. As well as climate diplomats, civil society representatives, businesspeople, academics and journalists also converge at COP, where they participate in numerous side events. The 30th COP will be held in Brazil in November 2025. Key issues are likely to include: countries’ new climate action plans; global climate finance targets; interlinkages between climate, forests and biodiversity; and climate justice, which is likely to be pushed by the Brazilian presidency.

Fellows will be invited to the climate talks, to speak at the special Dialogue Earth event, report on the climate talks, and use the opportunity to speak directly to policymakers, civil society leaders, experts and others. Dialogue Earth will play a support and facilitation role to ensure that every fellow is able to make the most of the opportunity.

The final section of this article has full details about the fellowship.

Eligibility

The fellowship seeks to support Indigenous writers, journalists, and storytellers from South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Applicants must commit to attending COP30 in Brazil and to delivering two articles – one investigative/on-the-ground/multimedia, and one desk-based – in the timeline outlined below.

How to apply

Please send an email to [email protected] with the subject line ‘Indigenous Voices Fellowship’ by 18:00 BST on 13 October 2024. The email must contain:

• A description in 200 words or so of why you would like to join the fellowship, including some details about your relationship to Indigeneity. How does Indigeneity inform your life, work, and perspective on climate and environment?
• An outline of no more than 300 words of a specific story you would like to write on Dialogue Earth. This pitch can be for an investigative, on-the-ground or multimedia article, with budget of up to USD 1,750.
• Some examples of previous reporting, writing or other storytelling work or experiences.

Applications can be submitted in any of Dialogue Earth’s publishing languages (see below). Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Full programme details

• Fellows will engage with our regional and head office editorial teams who will offer support to their development as journalists, writers and storytellers.

• Fellows will be required to work with our team to deliver two articles: one investigative/multimedia/on-the-ground, for which fellows will receive a budget of up to USD 1,750, and one desk based, for which fellows will be paid USD 500, according to the timeline above.

• All participants will be invited to attend an event by Dialogue Earth at the COP30 climate conference, held in Brazil in November/December 2025. Fellows will be required to register as media to gain access to COP30. Dialogue Earth will offer support throughout the application process. All travel and accommodation costs will be provided by Dialogue Earth, and fellows will be provided with a per diem for expenses while at the conference.

• Applications can be submitted in Bengali, English, Hindi, Nepali, Portuguese, Spanish or Urdu.

• Applicants should review the timeline provided above and consider the publishing schedule in their article briefs. Please let us know if you see any logistical impediment in delivering to the timeline above.

• Throughout the fellowship, some working understanding of English will be beneficial, but is not mandatory. We will do our utmost to accommodate fellows’ needs.

• Fellows may be required to engage in safety and risk assessments ahead of reporting activity.

• All stories will be published on Dialogue Earth under a creative commons licence.

• All applications we receive are reviewed and discussed by team members from the relevant regions as well as from our head office. Shortlisted candidates will be reviewed by an external advisory committee.