The German-Latin American Fellowship of IJP offers young journalists the unique opportunity to spend two months in a Spanish, Portuguese or German speaking media since 1997. At least, five young talented German and six Latin-American journalists get the chance to discover the diversity of their host countries. The Germans might not only choose from the new and old Global Players Brazil, Argentina or Mexico. The countries of Central America as well as Venezuela have many fascinating stories in the area of economics, politics and culture to offer.
The programme invites journalists from all countries of South and Central America, who want to work for two months in a German mostly Berlin based media. The idea behind the programme was to increase the interest in a continent that had back then almost disappeared from German news coverage.
The IJP wanted to counter this development by sensitizing Germany’s future opinion makers to German-Latin American relations. During their two months working visits, the fellows learn to judge better the economic and political driving forces of the continent. Furthermore, they receive a firsthand impression of the culture, lifestyle and the journalism in their host country. Although the recent past with its political and economic development has shown that Latin-America should no longer be neglected by international attention, the IJP believes, that the programme is necessary to support and stabilize this new interest.
The same applies for fellows from Latin-America: Local press often concentrates on news and reports from the US and China. Europe is hardly ever of interest and if, the majority of the stories come from London or Paris rather than Berlin. Therefore, the programme in return offers a new perspective and many exciting experiences as well for the Latin-American fellows in Germany. Besides, the work for their host media, the IJP expects that fellows act as correspondents for their home media or other organizations.
Fellows of the German-Latin American programme of IJP receive a total payment of 3,300 Euro. The sum is expected to cover travel and accommodation costs as well as most of the food expenses. A certain amount of own funds is presumed. Payment for the work at the host media is not scheduled. The sum is split in two rates. At the beginning of the programme, fellows receive the full amount less 500 Euros. This remaining amount is only paid, if the fellow hands in two things: A report of at least three pages where he or she writes about his or her experiences in Germany as well as copies of all articles published in Germany and their home media. This applies for German as well as Latin-American scholars.
Additionally to the scholarship, the German State Department organizes a one-week-journey within Germany for the Latin-American fellows, which has proven to be one of the highlights of the programme in past years. Usually, the group is taken to the Eastern Counties of Germany and one other region of interest.
All journalists from Germany and Latin American Countries between the age of 25 and 35 who regularly work for a German or Latin American media organization can apply. Germans should speak sound Spanish and/or Portuguese so they are able to communicate well with their Latin American colleagues and interview counterparts. The same applies for Latin-American applicants and their German skills. There is the chance of an exception for Latin-American fellows who do not speak German if they can compensate with fluency in English and an outstanding application. Since, the space for non-German speakers in German media is limited, the competition is harder. The better your language skills, the higher are the chances of being selected.
The selection committee of IJP will choose the country and the host media for all fellows. The IJP will always try to accommodate the preferences of the fellows and might also assist with finding accommodation, but we cannot promise to fulfill everybody’s wishes. It is possible to extent the bursary to a three months working visit, but without additional funding from the IJP.
For further information, visit the link.
