THE GENEVA HEALTH FILES SUMMER FELLOWSHIP 2022

Volunteer Opportunity in Global Health Journalism: Geneva Health Files

Geneva Health Files is an inter-disciplinary journalistic initiative that reports on power and politics at the heart of global health. This small, but growing news operation is looking for students or interested folks who can help us report on global health and promote our work in order to expand our readership and subscriber base. 

This is an opportunity to work with an influential and contemporary newsroom, and gain hands-on experience in learning how global health journalism is crafted in Geneva. It is a great opportunity to not only write about global health more critically, but to also be a part of an exciting initiative in media entrepreneurship that you can help scale. The role will be divided into two main objectives: 

• Reporting and research activities: These could include working on specific reporting projects, attending webinars, briefings, conducting research and analyses, and helping with certain aspects of production. 
  
• Widening readership: These tasks include promoting Geneva Health Files among global health experts everywhere. This will mean reaching out to institutions, working on grant proposals, and curating our work in a way that is appealing to potential funders and readers.

This requires a commitment of 5-10 hours per week and is presently an unpaid position. However, students can apply to internship grants from different sources in order to make this opportunity viable.

About our work: Geneva Health Files reports on global health governance in Geneva by looking at the field through the lens of politics, science, law, and trade. Our in-depth stories seek to go beyond the headlines and capture the important nuances at a time when global health policy-making in Geneva is changing every day. This initiative writes for its readers who are professionals in the global health field – from member state representatives to academic experts. We follow the discussions and negotiations that become headlines. 

If interested, please send a quick note (~200-500 words) on why you are interested in the position and what you hope to gain from working with Geneva Health Files. Also send us your CV with a cover letter before March 7, 2022. Write to Priti Patnaik, Founding Editor, Geneva Health Files: Patnaik.reporting@gmail.com.

This fellowship is intended to run from May 1, 2022 – September 1, 2022.

(This follows our first round of fellowship in 2021 that attracted a brilliant set of volunteers who published with us. Read their work here and here)

See below the description of the tasks.

GENEVA HEALTH FILES FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY

Depending on the interest in this opportunity, we could also consider different groups of students for these distinct work streams, although ideally people who can straddle both these tasks is preferable. 

I. Editorial tasks

• Working on specific reporting projects
• Attending a monthly editorial call to discuss priorities for coverage.  
• Curating news developments
• Listening in on press briefings and webinars (Summarising as necessary) 
• Production of occasional podcasts [If the candidate has relevant skills for this.]
• Analysing and cleaning up subscriber lists

II. Promotions tasks

• Systematic mapping and reaching out to global health organizations in Geneva
• Working on online events as necessary 
• Targeted outreach of global health academics outside of Geneva 
• Working on e-books, and posters as necessary
• Working on grant proposals 

Skills required:

• An understanding of global health and international trade
• An appreciation of the role of journalism in global health
• A good writer with a nose for news (Prior writing experience desirable)
• Web skills including content management system, social media
• A basic understanding of the newsletter economy
• Critical thinking and a sense of humor will be a plus

Outcomes:

• Getting published in Geneva Health Files
• Familiarity with the Geneva Global Health Ecosystem
• Understanding newsletter journalism
• Experience in media entrepreneurship