Development policy for journalists – Call for applications open for 2023 Development Academy

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise an induction course into development policy and development cooperation for journalists (Development Academy) in January 2023. A field visit to Kenya is included in the course. In addition, one or two journalists will have the opportunity to visit Somalia. The call for application is open from 11 to 30 November 2022.

The objective of the Development Academy for journalists is to deepen the participants’ knowledge of global development matters and to inform them of Finland’s development policy and development cooperation as a whole. After a COVID-19-induced break, the induction course will be organised again in January 2023. 

The programme of the Development Academy consists of two short seminar days in Helsinki and a field visit to Kenya lasting about one week. In addition, one or two journalists will have the opportunity to visit Somalia during the field visit week. The focus of the field visit will be on the current situation in Kenya and Somalia in terms of development, security and trade. The participants will have an opportunity to learn about how Finland is supporting local efforts, for example, to improve the position of women and to increase youth employment. In Somalia, the participants will learn about Finland’s support to improve education and reproductive health and about Finland’s role in increasing stability in Somalia.

In the preliminary schedule, the seminar days fall on 11 January and 20 January and the field visit lasts from 20 to 28 January. The course schedule and programme will be confirmed in December.

The Ministry will select from 6 to 8 journalists from different media houses to participate in the course. Applicants who are interested in visiting Somalia should give their reasons for their interest separately. Those visiting Somalia must have some prior experience of working in crisis areas. The selection will be made by the Department for Communications of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and applicants will be informed of the decision by mid-December. 

Those selected to the course must be able to attend the whole programme. The working languages will be Finnish and English.

You can apply for the course by filling in the application (Link to another website.) electronically by 16.00 on 30 November.You can answer the questions in Finnish, Swedish or English. The course will be held mainly in Finnish. However, a good command of English is necessary during the field visit. 

Application instructions for the Development Academy (pdf)

Inquiries: Milma Kettunen, Communications Officer, tel. +358 50 406 5533, firstname.lastname@formin.fi