BBC Media Action is seeking Arabic-speaking mentors to support media practitioners as part of an online journalism training programme.
- Number of mentors: 8
- Number of training rounds: 4 rounds across 8 months
- Number of trainees per mentor: up to 11 trainees in each round of training
- Mentorship duration: 8 months
Location: Online – home based.
Contract duration: August 2017 – April 2018
To apply:
Please send the following by email fawzi.barghouthi@bbc.co.uk, using Mentoring Application, [First Name], [Last Name] in the subject line:
- A cover letter of maximum 1 page specifying which of the areas outlined in section II you are able to mentor, and how your experience meets the ‘profile of mentors’.
- Your CV. If a company or collective of trainers, please include the CV of the proposed trainer(s). Max 2 pages per CV.
- A financial proposal including daily rate. As mentioned, it is expected that the work will be carried out over several evenings a week between August ’17 and March ’18. The work allows a high level of flexibility so please include your availability including which time zone you would be working in.
- If you have any question, please send your email to Fawzi Barghouthi, fawzi.barghouthi@bbc.co.uk using ‘enquiry on mentoring proposal’ in a subject line.
Main Duties:
BBC Media Action is currently implementing a capacity strengthening project across the 6 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates) which aims to empower journalists, citizen journalists, online publishers and other media practitioners with the technical and editorial capacity to produce accurate, balanced, impartial and credible reports that are based on multiple sources and present diverse viewpoints, and build their skills in facilitating common ground narratives and dialogue between different interest groups, with a particular focus on amplifying female voices. The project will aim to do this by conducting a series of online training courses, mentoring and publishing initiatives for a total of 100 trainees. The trainees will enrol in the online modules, engage with a mentor and in online discussions with other trainees, produce and publish material online.
- BBC Media Action is seeking mentors experienced in media to train in one or a combination of the following areas:
- Journalism: online journalism & basic journalism skills, including newswriting, digital safety, journalism ethics and advanced journalism skills (in-depth journalism, data journalism, conducting interviews);
- Social Media and User Generated Content;
- Mobile Journalism: editorial (digital storytelling for audio/ video) and technical (e.g. editing, using mobile cameras, mics etc);
- Skills in moderating a discussion/ online debate and online community management skills
The online mentors will support the trainees throughout the whole training round (approximately 2 months) from the enrolment phase towards conception and production of the final output.
The assignment is expected to be 4 to 5 working days every month over a period of eight months, distributed over several evenings (Gulf time) every week. The mentors will receive training of trainers in order to be able to:
- Cooperate with the Community Manager in the delivery of the training programme
- Provide support for a group of online trainees via the training platform, social media pages (closed Facebook groups), group Skype chatrooms and video sessions;
- Moderate trainee debate and discussions on these platforms;
- Guide, collect and assess trainee assignments;
- Support the research and evaluation activities by collecting and assessing samples of material produced by trainees (articles, audio, video)
- Follow the progress of trainees and report monthly on training progress;
- Respond to trainee questions for each module they are responsible for;
- Provide input into the design of some of the modules as and when necessary.
Mentors applying for this call will:
- Have at least five years’ experience in media or journalism;
- Have extensive experience in one or more of the areas under Section II above;
- Be fluent in Arabic and able to have and moderate online conversation in Arabic. Have an understanding of the GCC context and be able to communicate in Arabic with trainees from GCC countries. Gulf experience and working knowledge of Khaliji Arabic a distinct advantage;
- Be able to dedicate three evenings every week, approximately 2-3 hours long each, for mentoring – depending on where you are located, taking time difference with the Gulf (between +3 and +4 GMT) into account. Some weekend work might be required
- Be able to attend two to three training of trainers sessions to be held in London and/or Beirut;
- Have previous training experience - while it is not a pre-requisite, it is highly desirable;
- Have a thorough understanding of journalism ethics. Familiarity with BBC Editorial Values is an advantage.
