Call for applications - Pure players in French-speaking Africa

Project objectives

• To strengthen the economic, technical and editorial viability of the selected online media outlets
• To support the development of innovative and effective projects, in line with the needs of the sector
• To give the media professionals the tools and platforms they need to reinforce their legitimacy and their credibility

Steps and timetable

Over a period of 18 months, CFI will be providing a variety of regional and bilateral training initiatives:

- Skill-building sessions in online writing and surveying techniques (16-21 October – 13-18 November)

- Theoretical and practical workshops on the following core topics:

• Business models and diversification of income (4-8 December)
• The editorial, marketing and communication positioning of pure players (12-17 February 2018)
• Human resources management within pure players (23-26 April 2018)

- Training sessions:

• Data journalism and the displaying of information (4-13 June 2018)
• Shooting innovative videos and putting edited videos together (23-28 July 2018)
• Setting up and running a web radio station (10-14 September 2018)
• Innovation on social network sites (5-8 November 2018)

- Guidance and supervision, both remote and on site, will be provided throughout the project, in order to ensure that each of the beneficiary media outlets receives customised mentoring that is adapted to their needs.

- acompetition will be held to award the best editorial initiatives developed during the project.

Selection criteria

This trainingis intended solely for pure players (i.e. media companies that operate exclusively online) that have developed digital news content and are now seeking to enhance their activities and operations, both in terms of the content they produce and in terms of their business model and management.

It is reserved for undertakings based in the following eight countries: Ivory Coast, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger.

To be eligible, an undertaking must fall within one of the following categories:

• start-up company set up in the last 5 years, which has already developed digital news content and is now seeking to professionalise and structure itself as a pure player;
• online news site that is independent and well established in the sector, and is seeking to enhance its operations from an editorial, business and managerial standpoint.

They must:

• be a general (i.e. non-specialist) news website;

• be a legitimately registered entity having a legal form;

• have their head office in one of the following countries: Ivory Coast, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger;

• have a bank account held in their own name, or be able to open one very quickly;

• have an editorial team and a chief editor based in its country of origin.

Are you interested?

Please submit your application
on our call for applications platform
by 28 July 2017.