Kenya Scholarship Opportunities: BHEARD Program

Under the Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) Program

 The application deadline is 15 October 2015.
 
Under its Feed the Future initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched the Borlaug Higher Education for Agricultural Research and Development (BHEARD) Program.  Implemented by Michigan State University (MSU), the BHEARD program honors the legacy of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Norman Borlaug. The program will support long-term training of agricultural and food security researchers and policy advisors at the master’s and doctoral levels. This is a major new effort to increase the number of agricultural scientists and policy advisors and strengthen scientific institutions in developing countries.

Kenya has been selected as one of nine countries for the fourth cohort of BHEARD Fellows. The scholarships will support study in the United States or other selected countries, beginning in August 2016. Training programs will cover up to two years of courses for master’s students and up to three years of courses for doctoral students. Course work will be undertaken at a U.S. or regional university, and the student’s research project will be conducted in Kenya.

 Eligibility is limited to current staff members from the following institutions who wish to study in these subject areas:

• Tegemeo Institute: Advanced survey data analysis, agribusiness, seed technology
• Egerton University: Issues related to climate change; agribusiness
• Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO): Instrument science; post-harvest management; productivity enhancement/varietal breeding/crop physiology; seed technology
• University of Nairobi: Biotechnology; soil and crop management; issues related to climate change; sanitary/phytosanitary/food safety

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://bheard.anr.msu.edu/applying_to_bheard/kenya_scholarship_opportunities

GroundTruth’s climate change fellowship

INTERESTED IN BEING AN EDITOR ON THE CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT?

 The deadline to submit an application to be an editor is October 15, 2015.

The GroundTruth Project is building a robust and diverse editorial team of reporting fellows and editors to lead a multimedia reporting project over the next three years that will track the impact of global warming.

GroundTruth is also seeking experienced editors to lead the project. Editors must have at least three years experience reporting and editing, preferably with a focus on the environment.

To apply as an editor, please send an updated resume and cover letter to info@thegroundtruthproject.org with the subject line “Climate Fellowship Editor Application.”

You may address the cover letter to:

Charles M. Sennott
Executive Director
The GroundTruth Project
c/o WGBH
10 Guest Street
Boston, MA 02135

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://thegroundtruthproject.org/2015/08/12/apply-now-the-groundtruth-2015-climate-change-reporting-fellowship/

UNDP: Climate Change Storytelling Contest

Write your best climate change story and get an opportunity to join and cover COP21

The deadline to submit an entry is October 11th 2015
 
While climate change is a global phenomenon, it is hitting the world’s poorest regions - and most marginalized communities - the hardest. These changing conditions are impacting human health, economic activity, and are threatening basic human rights including access to water and food security. Climate change is already affecting local communities in low and middle income countries but stories on the negative impacts as well as on the solutions that governments, communities and individuals are implementing often get lost in the global climate change debate.

UNDP story telling contest on climate change aims to contribute to raising public awareness on the negative impacts of climate change on people and communities as well as on the opportunities and solutions seen in actions by individuals and governments in vulnerable developing countries.

The contest provides young journalists in developing countries a unique opportunity to contribute to the global debate on climate change in the run-up to COP21, while building their capacity, and providing recognition for excellence. Authors of the top two stories will be funded to attend and cover COP21.

Target Group
We target journalists 35 years of age and under from developing countries vulnerable to the impact of climate change who:

• Are already engaged in public writing through an official media outlet
• Have a strong interest in reporting on climate change as a contribution ¬– locally and internationally – towards greater public awareness on this critical global topic
• Are eager to seize an opportunity to build their journalistic capacity and contribute to COP21

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.europe.undp.org/content/geneva/en/home/partnerships_initiatives/climate-stories.html

Scaling Competition: The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity

The Scaling Competition

Open from 20 July 2015 to 30 September 2015

The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity aims to improve the lives of 1,000,000 people living in poverty by enabling businesses to begin or expand financial services in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.

If you are an organization with a proven innovative financial product, service or delivery platform which is capable of increasing financial access for people living in poverty in Africa, then you can apply for support in the Scaling Competition today.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.frp.org/competitions/scaling-competition

CODESRIA: Strengthening Phd Programmes in African Universities

Deadline: 21st august, 2015
 
Call for Applications: 2015 Session
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the call for applications from research laboratories and doctoral schools in African universities for the first phase of its initiative to support research in the social sciences and humanities.

The support initiative is geared towards alleviating the problems faced by many African universities with respect to research funding, quality and relevance of training in the context of globalization, liberalization and internationalization of higher education. Population pressure on higher education institutions has become a constant concern for African governments and tertiary education needs will continue to increase due to the growing youth population on the continent.

Selected research laboratories and doctoral schools will receive a grant of 10,000 dollars from CODESRIA, which is expected to be used for:

• the purchase of books and journals for the benefit of the entire academic community;
• a scientific seminar exposing PhD students to relevant literature, current debates, and theoretical approaches in relation to a given topic;
• a methodology seminar, and
• a scientific writing workshop

All Applications should be sent electronically to the following address: appui.doctoral@codesria.sn.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.codesria.org/spip.php?article2377&lang=en