Dorcas Wangira is a freelance journalist based in Kenya who covers science and health. In 2019, she won ICFJ’s Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling and the experience was a big career boost. “The award was a catalyst for my career growth,” she says. Since then she’s mentored other journalists.
Wangira explains how winning the Elliott Award helped prepare her for a job at the BBC. She also talks about the challenges she’s faced in Kenya and reflects upon the state of global health journalism. “More than ever, global audiences need experienced health journalists who understand the stakes,” she says.
This interview has been edited.
How have you been involved with ICFJ over the years?
Winning the 2019 Michael Elliott Award was a major turning point in my career as a journalist. It was the first time I began to be deliberate about covering Africa, and not just the regions I was assigned to while working as a local journalist in Kenya.
The program in New York, Washington D.C. and London gave me unique access to newsrooms, universities, government and not-for-profit organizations that challenged my worldview and craft as a journalist. I spent time at The New York Times, Vox, The Washington Post, CNN, Columbia University, the City University of New York, ProPublica, Bloomberg (New York and London), The Economist, the Solutions Journalism Network and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
I gleaned so much from this experience and the conversations I had with other journalists, professors and editors. I was able to take on more challenging assignments and have a clear mission as a health and science journalist. I am proud that I was able to mentor younger journalists and inspire them to also apply for the award.
Since 2020, I have been part of the Michael Elliott Award selection panel. This has been fulfilling, seeing the excellent crop of journalists who are crowned winners and the impact they continue to have in their countries.
What was the biggest outcome from participating in the program?
The award was a catalyst for my career growth. Applying in 2019 was my second attempt. While I had just begun working in a new role at Citizen TV, Kenya’s leading TV network, I was still restless about the direction my career was taking. I did not have a specific beat and aspiration beyond telling stories for local audiences. Winning it for a story that I had worked on as a freelance journalist was extremely rewarding for me. The study tour broadened my perspective and opened my eyes to telling stories to global audiences. It added a layer of professionalism and global outlook to my reporting. Ultimately, it prepared me for my next role as Africa health correspondent at the BBC. I believe I wouldn’t have become more confident and hungry about growth without the program.
What is something impactful you have worked on since participating in an ICFJ program that you are proud of and would want to highlight? Was your experience with ICFJ helpful in some way for this?
I am immensely proud of being a mentor for younger, early-career journalists, especially those seeking to pursue health and science beats. This year, I took part in the Science Africa Health Solutions Storytelling Grantees Refresher Workshop and shared my experiences on “ How to tell compelling health solutions narratives” with journalists from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
In 2023, I also served as a mentor for eight journalists for two months for the Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK)/ Hivos investigative journalism project. It was aimed at increasing the capacity of journalists’ understanding of public finance management issues related to the allocation and utilization of COVID funds.
The main focus was on Mombasa, Nakuru, Makueni, Elegeyo-Marakwet and Nandi counties. The project was titled “Enhancing Transparency in Public Financial Management” in response to the COVID -19 crisis in Kenya. I guided them through the story production, offered support and ensured that all the stories were published.
For the Science Africa Newsroom Solutions Journalism Training Program Dates, March 10-11 2022, I shared my experiences with journalists in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda about reporting on solutions journalism. I listened to their story projects, offered practical guidelines and listened to their ideas.
Visiting the Solutions Journalism Network during the ICFJ study program really had a significant impact on my career and understanding of solutions journalism. What I learned there and having two stories successfully taken up by their Solutions Story Tracker, gave me the confidence and experience to also empower other journalists keen on this kind of journalism.
Why is it so important right now to provide the kind of support to journalists that ICFJ does, especially in Africa and on global health?
2025 has been a defining year for global health. The shutdown of USAID as we have always known it, the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the dwindling funding for global health programs are a harbinger for the difficult times ahead. More than ever, global audiences need experienced health journalists who understand the stakes and are committed to the stories that will help them understand that, “global health is not charity, it is strategy.” Sadly, many newsrooms are also withdrawing resources for powerful, slow-burn and in-depth health journalism. Many passionate reporters with a proven track record of producing quality and impactful work in global health are out of work. And without them, many important perspectives and stories about what is working and what isn’t won’t be told.
Do you continue to use what you learned, or to utilize ICFJ resources today? If so, please explain.
Yes. IJNet opportunities is my go to for the latest opportunities. I recently applied for the 2025 Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Center for Health Communication Health Coverage Fellowship from the IJNET website and I was successful. I was the first African journalist and one of two international applicants in the fellowship’s history.
What kind of difficulties as a journalist have you faced in Kenya?
As a local journalist, the lack of financial resources and editorial for deep-dive and niche journalism was a constant challenge. I remember working on stories that required additional resources which the newsroom could not provide, especially at the height of the pandemic when pay cuts were the norm.
Most recently, I endured aggressive stalking at work, which extremely impacted my ability to function for months. In Kenya, stalking isn’t considered and defined exclusively as a criminal offence. The aggressor was charged with disturbance instead. I know other female journalists who have experienced this, and my own experience has given me a cause to fight for. I am determined to have more female journalists speak up and work with legal and feminist organisations to ultimately have stalking introduced as a charge in our penal code.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to an aspiring journalist?
I will borrow deeply from Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." You have to be true to yourself, your own values and aspirations first. Everything else will follow.
*ICFJ’s Michael Elliott Award is celebrating its ten-year anniversary. You learn more about the program here, apply here and make a donation to support the program here.