Fellowship

What is the fellowship program?

The Noor Fellowship (‘Noor’ or ‘نور’, meaning ‘light’) is a four-month online program that provides guidance to selected journalists, researchers, advocates, and human rights reporters working in the Afghanistan information space. The program aims to strengthen fellows’ skills in open-source intelligence, verification, and fact-checking, as well as building their networks along the way. Overall, the fellowship provides an opportunity to contribute to and strengthen information, both on, and in, Afghanistan.

At the end of the program, fellows will complete an investigation incorporating open-source tools as the cornerstone element of their project. Investigations undertaken by fellows will ideally be in areas where there are gaps of knowledge (i.e. topics regarding women and girls, the LGBT community, other minorities or identified understudied areas) and the work will seek to help fill those gaps.

Purpose of the program

To strengthen the open-source skills of journalists, researchers, advocates, or human rights reporters and increase their contribution to the Afghan media and NGO community — with the overall purpose of supporting the information landscape in Afghanistan.

What is included in the fellowship program?

• A stipend determined by the scope of the proposal — a note on this is listed below — we anticipate supporting around 5 fellows under the Noor Fellowship
• Expert training on Open Source (OSINT) investigation techniques
• Ongoing guidance throughout the fellowship period
• Supporting fellows to identify opportunities build their network and help them attend events and/or meetings where relevant
• Subscriptions to relevant services
• Flights/travel costs where relevant

Selection criteria

Candidates will demonstrate the following in their application to be considered for the fellowship program:

Expertise

• Candidates must be journalists, researchers, advocates, or human rights reporters with a keen and evident interest in Afghanistan
• They will demonstrate existing and significant skills in investigative reporting (not necessarily open-source skills although this would be useful)

Interest

• They will be engaged and communicative with Afghan Witness (show initial interest in learning these techniques and partaking in the program)

Quality of, and capacity for, the proposal

• They’ll have capacity to deliver on their proposals
• They’ll indicate potential of sustainability — this will further their career and contribute to their long term goals
• They will demonstrate integrity
• Candidates will demonstrate how they’ll use the knowledge gained from the fellowship to strengthen the information landscape in Afghanistan