Africa Outreach Initiative: Participative Radio Shows

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Call for Partnerships
Africa Outreach Initiative: Participative Radio Shows
Closing Date: October 3, 2025

Applications for the 2025 call for partnerships have been closed.

1. Background

The Pulitzer Center is seeking partners to advance reporting and engagement in Ghana, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso, focusing on critical issues impacting these countries.

This initiative aims to raise young professionals’ awareness of key issues that are part of the Pulitzer Center’s five focus areas: Climate and Environment, Global Health, Peace and Conflict, Human Rights, and Information and Artificial Intelligence. There is a special emphasis on projects that inspire informed action and policy dialogue, engage and motivate young professionals to become active participants in the information ecosystem, and extend reach to suburban communities via urban youth-led initiatives.

The Pulitzer Center’s outreach vision integrates journalism with audience-focused strategies that extend the reach of stories beyond traditional channels. Through this Call for Partnerships, we aim to foster dialogue, inspire outreach engagement, and promote informed responses to the issues reported on.

The Call for Partnerships is necessary because the scale and diversity of the issues require collaborations with local actors who have deep knowledge of their communities and proven capacity to engage them effectively. By partnering with media outlets, think tanks, civil society organizations, youth movements, women’s groups, and grassroots movements on the ground, the Pulitzer Center ensures that outreach activities are contextually relevant, locally led, and sustainable. Partnerships will also help amplify journalism in innovative formats, bridge urban and rural audiences, and guarantee that the initiative reaches the right people with the right messages.

2. Objectives

The Call for Partnerships seeks to identify and support local media or radio outlets in Ghana, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso to implement participative radio shows that will:

• Use and amplify Pulitzer Center–supported journalism.
• Raise awareness among young professionals and the broader community on critical issues.
• Motivate youth to actively engage in the information ecosystem and take part in dialogue and solutions.
   

3. Description of activities

Partner organizations are expected to design and implement one related activity that will be based on the stories listed below in section 10.

Participative radio shows

• Organize a series of live or recorded participative radio shows inspired by Pulitzer Center–supported stories (see list below).
• Each show should encourage interactive dialogue by integrating call-ins, SMS/WhatsApp contributions, or panel discussions with young professionals and community members.
• Radio shows should focus on one or more of the program themes (for example, maternal health, food security, climate resilience), depending on the country context.
• Where feasible, shows may be rebroadcast or shared digitally to maximize reach.

4. Expected deliverables

• Implementation of at least four participative radio shows
• Documentation of activities (audio recordings, reports, participation data, media coverage)
• Final activity and financial report submitted by December 15, 2025.
   

5. Partnership amount

Successful partners will receive USD $2,500 to support activity implementation and coordination costs.

• Eligible expenses: All costs related to the activity
• Ineligible expenses: Political activities, personal expenses, salary, materials payment, or any costs related to the organization’s operations
• Payment terms:
  • 85% upon signing the partnership agreement
  • 15% after submission and approval of final deliverables
• Mode of payment: Wire transfer

6. Submission guidelines

Eligible organizations are invited to submit their proposals by completing the form.
Required supporting documents include:

• A letter of recommendation from a former or current project partner
• Proof of organizational bank account (wire transfer details)

7. Selection criteria and evaluation

• Eligibility criteria
  • Open to registered media or radio outlets in Ghana, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, and Zambia. Demonstrated experience in interactive radio production and youth or community engagement is an asset.
• Evaluation criteria
  • Relevance: How well does the proposed activity integrate Pulitzer Center-supported stories into participative radio programming and target the intended audience (youth, urban/suburban/rural outreach)?
  • Impact potential: Will the activity reach and engage a significant number of young people? Is there a clear outreach plan?
  • Creativity and innovation: Are there fresh, engaging, and participatory approaches to radio and audience engagement?
  • Feasibility: Can the proposed activities be realistically delivered within the budget and timeline (October 2025 activities, reporting by December 15, 2025)?

8. Organizational capacity

Does the organization have the experience, team, and resources to successfully deliver? Provide evidence of past work in media, youth outreach, or participative programming.

9. Timeline

10. List of stories to inspire outreach activities

Ghana

• “From Merino Blend to Microplastic Monsoon: Hidden Health Hazards in Leftover Clothing”
• “Knot Trash”
• “What Fast Fashion Costs the World”

Ethiopia 

• “Hydropower”

Burkina Faso 

• “Consumed by Terror: Insecurity, Other Factors Threaten Africa’s Ambitious Great Green Wall”

Zambia 

• “A Silent Struggle for Small Businesses Amidst Zambia’s Power Crisis”
• “Zambia’s Power Shortages Worsen As Drought Deepens” 
   

Contact information

For direct inquiries, reach out to [email protected] with the subject line “Africa Outreach — [Your organization’s name].”