NOTE: 2004 fellowship selections suspended pending funding renewal

Application Form
Program Agreement

Since 2000, ICFJ has sent 10 American journalists to developing countries to cover environmental issues and provide training to local journalists on environmental reporting. Fellows spend up to three months reporting and leading journalism workshops or other training programs in the developing world. Environmental reporting fellows have roamed Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Tierra del Fuego, Nicaragua, Ghana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. They have reported on wide-ranging subjects from a Ghanaian dam project to illegal logging in the Amazon. "The fellowship increased my understanding of other cultures, of geography, of journalism's role in developing nations. In contrast to my African colleagues, who said they learned a lot from me, I felt almost embarrassed over my wealth in material goods and education. I made friends and had a bloody good time." -- Julie Titone

Ford Fellow Bill Allen leads a workshop near Managua, Nicaragua.

Since 2000, ICFJ has sent 10 American journalists to developing countries to cover environmental issues and provide training to local journalists on environmental reporting. Fellows spend up to three months reporting and leading journalism workshops or other training programs in the developing world.

Environmental reporting fellows have roamed Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Tierra del Fuego, Nicaragua, Ghana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. They have reported on wide-ranging subjects from a Ghanaian dam project to illegal logging in the Amazon.

"The fellowship increased my understanding of other cultures, of geography, of journalism's role in developing nations. In contrast to my African colleagues, who said they learned a lot from me, I felt almost embarrassed over my wealth in material goods and education. I made friends and had a bloody good time." -- Julie Titone

The Ford Fellowships' focus was narrowed in 2002 toward the urban problems of developing countries' "megacities." The megacities theme coincides with the growing interest of U.S. journalists in urban sprawl. Examples of foreign projects worthy of examination in this area include the following:

• In Mexico City, Nobel laureate Mario Molina and others wrestled with how to save the city from its choking air pollution, as the city begins to build double-decker freeways over existing highways.
• In Shenzhen, China, 65 percent of school children carry unsafe levels of lead in their blood. The World Bank calls lead poisoning the No. 1 environmental disease among children in the developing world.
• In Jakarta, Indonesia, mammoth traffic jams can tie up the city streets for days at a time. Better roads, mass transit, traffic management and planning of future growth could minimize congestion.

Ford Fellow Julie Titone reported on plans to dam the Black Volta River in Bui National Park, Ghana.

Applicants propose a city destination in the Third World and hold workshops for journalists there on how to cover such issues as air and water pollution, traffic congestion, urban planning, sprawl management, solid waste and toxic waste disposal. Ford Motor Co., sponsor of the fellowships, imposes no control over what the fellows teach or report. Fellows are selected by a panel of journalists convened by ICFJ and are prepared and paid by ICFJ. Fellows have leeway to offer training on non-urban environmental issues and are also free to develop reporting projects on topics of their choice. The fellowship pays all expenses and an honorarium. ICFJ helps fellows identify and arrange to work with a local partner or partners in the host country. The fellowship is offered to North American journalists only.