Guild member Olivia Cooper has won a bursary for a special communications project from the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ).
Olivia – founder of the agri-communications company AgriHub – is one of three international journalists to receive funding through the IFAJ’s new IFAJ-Caterpillar Development Bursary.
She will attend an International Journalism Festival to gather perspective on best practices that can help agricultural journalists bridge gaps between farm and non-farm media and audiences.
Other bursary recipients are Pulack Ghatack and Maia Mamulashvili.
Pulack, of the Bangladesh Agricultural Journalists and Activists Federation, will investigate the impact of traditional, religion-based laws on women farmers.
Maia, of the Association of Georgian Agricultural Journalists, will develop a manual of professional and ethical standards for agricultural journalists, using insight from another post-Soviet country.
IFAJ secretary-general Steve Werblow said these projects were chosen from more than two dozen proposals that demonstrated the breadth and creativity of global agricultural journalism.
He added: “The insights that these three outstanding reporters will bring home to their audiences, their guilds and our federation will yield exciting new perspectives and allow the reporters to stretch their boundaries.”
“We are grateful to Caterpillar for their generous grant that has funded this program, and look forward to the results.”
IFAJ treasurer Adrian Bell of AgroMavens, who worked with Caterpillar to develop the bursary, said the partnership had been truly exciting and a tremendous success.
The bursary had captured the imagination of IFAJ members across 50 countries, supporting professional development and raising the profile, standards and scope of agricultural journalism.
The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists represents almost 5,000 journalists and communicators in 50 countries.
It is a platform for professional development, networking and support of freedom of the press.
