Wikipedia map [1] of Francophone Africa, used under CC BY-SA 3.0 licence [2].
Are you a writer and editor with a deep understanding of and curiosity about all facets of Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa? Are you excited about shaping ideas into stories, social media posts, and other editorial outputs in collaboration with a diverse community?
If you answered “yes” to the questions above, you might consider applying for the position of Regional Editor for Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Regional Editor will be responsible both for editing stories written by Global Voices’ volunteer contributors and for writing stories about the region. Global Voices stories focus on topics such as internet culture, freedom of speech online, technology and digital rights, human rights, diversity and representation, and language diversity.
The Regional Editor will also work with a diverse community of contributors who write stories, share ideas for stories, and set the editorial agenda for the region by proposing ideas, sharing knowledge, and providing leads.
The Editor's work will include:
- Leading and developing the team responsible for reporting on the countries of Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa :
- Writing, fact-checking and editing stories highlighting the most compelling and important issues from online sources in the region
- Keeping on top of developing stories, buzz and trends across social media and citizen media the region
- Developing a database of reliable and vetted online sources across their region
- Facilitating virtual editorial meetings to collect and develop ideas and leads about happenings in the region
- Attending meetings and participating in discussions with colleagues from the Global Voices newsroom and other sections
- Working closely with media partners to select and repackage stories adapting for a global audience, and promote and republish Global Voices stories on partner sites.
- Staying engaged with the Global Voices newsroom and the larger community to participate in cross-regional projects
- Work in accordance with Global Voices community and editorial guidelines, mission and culture
Successful candidates for the position will:
- Have strong fluency, writing, and communication skills in French
- Have strong fluency, writing, and communication skills in English
- Have proven news-sourcing and news-writing ability
- Be able to write sensitively and knowledgeably about local issues for a global audience
- Have a sound grasp of issues relating to countries in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, and sound editorial judgment on regional issues
- Have a thorough understanding of citizen media, mainstream media, local press and social media dynamics in the region, including knowledge of credible social media and citizen voices in the region
- Understand digital rights, freedom of speech, and activism-related issues and dynamics in the region
- Be comfortable working with others in a loosely structured, wholly virtual work environment
- Have high computer literacy.
- Have reliable access to a broadband internet connection.
- Be able to devote 10-15 hours per week to Global Voices work
- Be able to demonstrate a strong commitment to Global Voices’ mission and values [3]
Preference will be given to candidates with knowledge of languages spoken in Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa, besides French and English.
Global Voices is a global, virtual organization. The engine of the Global Voices newsroom is a team of part-time editors [4] who work with volunteer contributors and translators around the world to highlight stories and perspectives that are underrepresented in international mainstream media.
There is no geographic requirement associated with these positions. Global Voices has no office or physical headquarters. Candidates must be comfortable setting their own schedules and working in a wholly virtual environment.
We strongly welcome candidates currently contributing to the Global Voices project to apply.
The position is part-time and will be treated as a freelance contract.
To apply:
Submit a résumé and a cover letter in English that highlights your work and explains why you would be a good fit for the position to jobs@globalvoices.org, with the subject line: Regional Editor for Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa: your name. Please attach your cover letter as a .doc or .pdf file in addition to including it in the body of your e-mail.
The application deadline is 11:59pm EST (GMT -4) on December 4, 2022.