Development policy for journalists — Call for applications open for 2024 Development Academy

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will organise an induction course into development policy and development cooperation for journalists in January–February 2024, with a special focus on the links between trade and development. A field visit to Zambia is included in the course. The call for applications is open from 10 to 24 November 2023.

The objective of the Development Academy for journalists is to deepen the participants’ knowledge of global development matters and to give them a holistic picture of Finland’s development policy and development cooperation. The theme of the Development Academy 2024 is sustainable trade and development — in particular, the economic and social developments in the development cooperation partner countries and withdrawal from external assistance.

The programme consists of two seminar days in Helsinki and a field visit to Zambia lasting about one week. The visit will focus on topical development issues in Zambia and on the country’s and the region’s economic prospects. Zambia has attracted interest from investors and geopolitical players due to its critical minerals and mining industry. A visit to the mining area in the North-Western Province of Zambia is planned as part of the trip.    

The preliminary seminar days are 15 January and 2 February. The visit is scheduled for 3 to 10/11 February 2024. The course schedule and programme will be confirmed in December.  

The Ministry will select 6 to 8 journalists from different media houses to participate in the course. The selection will be made by the Department for Communications of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the applicants will be informed of the decision by mid-December. 

Those selected to the course must be able to attend the whole programme and have good knowledge of Finnish and English.  

You can apply for the course by filling in the application form(Link to another website.) electronically by 16.00 on 24 November 2023. If you wish, you can answer the questions in Swedish or English.

Application instructions for the Development Academy: A link to the instructions

Inquiries: Milma Kettunen, Communications Officer, tel. +358 50 406 5533, firstname.lastname@gov.fi