The International Organization for Migration (IOM), through its Regional Office for West and Central Africa, is launching a call for contributions for its "Reporting Migration" initiative.

The Reporting Migration initiative promotes journalism on migration in West and Central Africa in order to support fair and accurate media coverage on the subject.

For its first edition, the initiative invites authors based in West and Central African countries (full list below) to submit content (including written articles, photostories and videos) on the link between COVID-19 and migration in West and Central Africa.

Submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis and evaluated based on their quality, originality, and relevance. The selected submissions will be published on the IOM platforms and the top five will receive a stipend of an amount equivalent to 100 Euros.  

Terms and Conditions

  • Only authors from and based in the following countries are eligible: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal.
  • Authors are invited to submit articles of up to 1,000 words using this form
  • For picture and video submissions, the authors must submit a link to a selection of photo-journalistic project accompanied by a description.
  • Authors should focus on the link between the COVID-19 pandemic and one of the following aspects of migration in West and Central Africa:
    • COVID-19, migration and health
    • COVID-19, migration and development / socio-economic impact of the pandemic
    • COVID-19, migration and security
    • COVID-19, migration, environment and climate change
    • COVID-19, return migrants and reintegration of migrants
    • COVID-19, migration, mental health and psychosocial support
  • IOM only accepts original productions. No content that has been previously published or submitted will be accepted.
  • Content can be submitted in French, English or Portuguese.
  • The content will be published and disseminated on the various IOM digital platforms with credit to the author.

For more information or queries, send an email to iomrodakarmedia@iom.int.

The Reporting Migration Initiative is funded by the Aware Migrants project and the EU-IOM Joint Initiative for Migrant Protection and Reintegration.