Alumni News

Afrah Nasser, Yemen (living in Sweden) 2018, continues to report on events in her native country.  See her articles at http://afrahnasser.blogspot.com/

Abdi Latif Dahir, 2018 Kenya, continues to report for Quartz across the East and Horn of Africa. His latest stories were the crash of Ethiopian Airlines, the uprising in Sudan, was part of the reporters who covered the Mauritius Leaks, and just launched a series about China’s deepening reach in Africa. He has traveled to neighboring Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Uganda, as well as Britain, Latvia and the US. He has a BA in journalism (summa cum laude) from the United States international University-Africa in Kenya and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. Read more about Abdi at http://unjournalismfellowship.org/recipients/2018-fellows/.

Amitoj Singh, India (2018), will pursue a Master’s degree in Journalism (with political concentration) at the Columbia School of Journalism during 2019-20. He has been Associate Editor and Principal Anchor of India’s NDTV (New Delhi Television), which has a large English-language viewership.  Mr. Singh has traveled to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum and covered the presidential election in Sri Lanka, among other events. He has a BA in English with honors from Delhi University and was born in Australia.

Mir Wais Jalalzai, Afghanistan 2017, is now a freelance reporter for CNN and also works with the Afghan Media Group reporting on human rights and peace efforts.  He previously worked for the Khabarial News in Kabul and was a contributor to TRT World, based in Istanbul, and the Afghanistan Times.  He has a master’s degree in public relations and is interested in Asian affairs and conflict resolution studies.

Mercy Abang, Nigeria (2017), is currently reporting and producing with Al Jazeera Media Network.  She will start studies toward an MBA in October at the Berlin School of School of Business and Innovation.   Since receiving a Hammarskjöld fellowship, she has consulted for global organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the One Campaign, among others.Mercy was a syndicated freelance journalist, reporting on issues facing vulnerable populations. She has been published in the Taz Newspaper of Germany, NewsWireNGR, Sahara Reporters, Premium Times, The Cable, Vanguard Newspaper, DailyTrust Newspaper, BellaNaija, Ynaija, Omojuwa.com, Pulseng, Naij.com and other Nigerian media. She reported on the G20 partnership with Africa summit in Berlin. She has a degree in journalism, studied digital storytelling, advertising and public relations. In 2012, she was cited in the Nigerian African Woman magazine as one of 10 Nigerian women to watch.

Ray Mwareya, Zimbabwe  (2017) has credited his experience at the U.N. to an expansion of  his reporting to include the UN Africa Renewal Magazine and has selection as Africa editor for the World Ethical Forum.  Ray is news editor for Women Taboos Radio Africa.  He is also a correspondent for Rural Reporters Africa and a contributor to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Equal Times Magazine and the Financial Times.  He was the first journalist to receive the UN Global Migration Fair Reporting Award in 2015.  A year later, he received a silver medal from the UN Correspondents Association and the Reporters Without Borders Refugee Scholarship. 

Abdulfattoh Shafiev, Tajikistan (2016), continues working at the Central Asian Analytical Network, created by George Washington University, and a contributor to Global Voices Online.  His work has evolved more to editing and redesigning their web site (see https://caa-network.org/).  He has provided media consultancy services to UN agencies in Tajikistan.  In addition to frequent travel to Krygyzstan and Kazakhstan, in 2018 he led a group of young people from Tajikistan as Ambassadors of Peace in the region.  Abdulfattoh was a Fulbright scholar at George Washington University and has covered events in Europe, the Middle East as well as Central Asia. His articles for Global Voices have been translated into 12 languages.

Sofie Syarief, Indonesia (2016), continues working for Kompas TV Indonesia.  However, following the Dag fellowship she was promoted to executive producer in addition to anchoring a daily prime time political talk show.  She has been a speaker at many international journalism forums, including co-writing a book for Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Foundation) of Germany on the issues of online activism. She holds a master’s degree in New Political Communications from Royal Holloway College, University of London, under the prestigious Chevening Scholarship of the UK Government.

Fabiola Ortiz, Brazil (2015), completed a master’s degree from Erasmus Mundus Journalism Program in Conflict Reporting (Denmark/UK)  in 2018 and has embarked on attaining a PhD.  She is now based in Dortmund, Germany and joined MEDAS21: Global Media Assistance where she is researching media sector development in peace building contexts.  Her case study will focus on radio stations in the Central Africa Republic.    

Fabiola has traveled extensively as a journalist through Europe, Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, Israel and Palestine. She spent a month in the DRC on a reporting project which was selected by the Right Livelihood Award Foundation for their Journalism Grand Scheme 2017.  In July 2017, she traveled to Morocco to receive a journalism prize given by the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN) based on her reports re undocumented Sub-Saharan migrants.  

Gulsin Harman, Turkey (2013), has been awarded a 2020 Nieman Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University and will study how new challenges to journalism impact democracy, with a focus on the link between disinformation and distrust of media in society.

Javier Borelli, Argentina (2012), received a 2019 fellowship from the Reuters Foundation Institute for the Study of Journalism. a world-leading institute on global media based at the University of Oxford.

Shameer Rasooldeen, Sri Lanka (2012) is General Manager of Jones Tea [www.jonestea.com] a subsidiary of the Maharaja Group. He continues his passion for journalism and hosts a political talk show, “Face the Nation.” Rasooldeen was former Director of English News for the Maharaja Group.  He was selected by the Asia Society as part of the 2017 Class of Young Leaders Initiative. He recently received a 2019 fellowship from the Reuters Foundation Institute for the Study of Journalism. a world-leading institute on global media based at the University of Oxford.

Ms. Liu joined China Youth Daily in July 2001 after graduating from Beijing Broadcasting Institute. Apart from being a professional reporter and editor in CYD, she has also the experiences of being an Intern-correspondent in Berlin office of Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) from May to July 2006, and as an intern-editor for the news program of China Central TV (CCTV) from January to April 2001. Awards include: IJP Asia-Pacific Fellowship 2006, organized by the International Journalists’ Program of Germany; the 14th China Journalism Prize (two prizes respectively in Newspaper Unit and in News Editing Unit); her interview of Mr. Romano Prodi, the President of European Commission of EU, won Monthly Best Article Prize from CYD; her serial reports on the 2003 Conference of the Third World Academy of Science were highly evaluated by Lu yongxiang, the President of China Academy of Science, and also won the Monthly Best Article Prize from CYD.

Ms. Liu received her master’s degree in Mass Communication and International Relations from Beijing Broadcasting Institute (2001) and her bachelor degree in Foreign Affairs Management from Qingdao University (1998). In addition, she received also Certificate in Environmental Reporting from International Institute for Journalism, Berlin, Germany (2004).   She received a second master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences in 2009.

Altamash is currently working with Global Health Strategies, a public health firm with headquarters in New York. In his current role, Altamash advocates for quality health services for people in India. Prior to joining GHS, Altamash worked with CNN-IBN, an Indian news television channel for over seven years. During his association with CNN-IBN, he focused on issues related to India’s strategic interest in the Indian subcontinent and the world.

Melanie Moses, South Africa (2010), was promoted to News Editor for the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 2015.  She has received numerous awards including the 2010 CNN Africa Journalist of the Year (radio) in 2013, the Southern Africa Development Community Gender Protocol Radio News Award for her coverage of gender issues, as well as the Gauteng Vodacom Journalist (Radio) of the Year in 2013 and the National Press Club Journalist of the Year Award in 2014. In 2012 she was chosen to participate in the World Press Institute Fellowship. She made the 2012 list of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 South Africans and she was included in Media Magazine’s Top 40 under 40 list in 2013 and 2014.

She is the founding president of the Philippine Network of Environmental Journalists (PNEJ), an organization which aims to empower and enable local journalists to improve the quality, accuracy, and intensity of environmental and climate change reporting in the Philippines. Under her leadership, more than 1,000 local journalists have benefited from PNEJ through a series of media workshops, web seminars, study tours, linkages to local and international media organizations and scientists, and other activities. She implemented the SMS Reporting project in the Philippines involving local journalists and people in the community using mobile phones during and after a disaster event. Ms. Abaño is the first Filipino journalist to receive the Asia Developmental Journalist of the Year Award (2009) by the Asian Development Bank Institute in Japan, as well as the Gold Medal Award on Humanitarian and Development Affairs Reporting in 2008 organized by the United Nations Correspondents’ Association in New York City. In 2009, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) honoured her the “Ani ng Dangal” Awards for her exemplary journalistic work. She was also awarded the Asian Winner on Environmental Reporting in 2002 by the Reuters-International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She serves on the board of directors of the U.S. based Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). A media scholar of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2008 to 2014, she has covered the series of United Nations climate change negotiations. Including the historic climate negotiations in Paris in 2015. Ms Abaño is also a partner leader and a media mentor of the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network where she helped train and lead more than 8,000 journalists from across the globe on climate change and environmental reporting.

She co-authored the Klima 101: A Climate Change Guidebook for Philippine Journalists, launched in 2016 which was introduced during the 2016 General Assembly of the Philippine Agricultural Journalists (PAJ) on September 17, 2016.

Mushtaq achieved a master’s degree Masters in journalism and mass communications. He received a gold medal from the World Health Organization forbest reporting about polio victims and opposition by clerics for polio vaccination.

Patricia Caycho (2008) Peru.  Patricia has been a professor of investigative journalism at the San Ignacio de Loyola Institute in Lima, Peru.  She continues to contribute to Magazine Caretas which has been published for 70 years.  For the last four years, she has worked with her students on environmental investigative projects, such as the attempts of the concessionaire of the Port of Paracas to store toxic mineral concentrates in the bay which will be summarized in an interview podcast.

Tilak Pokharel, Nepal (2008) continued his career at the Kathmandu Post traveling throughout the country to report on stories ranging from the plight of Nepali migrant workers to the clashes between security forces and Maoist rebels. His relentless coverage of the exploitation of Nepali minor girls in an Indian circus resulted in the rescue of 42 girls. His reporting was subsequently recognized with the Outstanding Performance Award by the Post and he rose to the position of News Coordinator.

His fellowship experience at the UN was instrumental in Tilak’s joining the newly established UN Mission in Nepal in 2007 after which he worked for the Strategic Communication Section of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan during 2009-2015. In March 2016 he moved to Lebanon to work with the UN Interim Force as Public Information Officer/Deputy Spokesperson while continuing to pursue a master’s course at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston. Tilak can be reached by email at tilak.pokharel@gmail.com and on Twitter @tpokharel.

She is also author of the book “O Afeganistão depois do Talibã” (“Afghanistan After the Taliban”), published in 2011 by Civilização Brasileira/Record. She wrote an article for Foreign Policy magazine entitled “Malala’s Forgotten Sisters” in 2013. See http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/07/13/malalas-forgotten-sisters. Adriana received the Líberdo Badaró award in 2013, Grand Prize; and in 2014, for International Reporting. She was also finalist of the Esso Award in 2014. See www.adrianacaranca.com

https://twitter.com/AdrianaCarranca.

Agnes currently works for The Inter-University Council for East Africa as a Communication Officer for a World Band financed project called Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project operating in 8 African countries. She is based in Kampala, Uganda, and travels to all Project countries. Prior to her current position, Agnes was a Knowledge Management Officer at The East African Community (EAC) www.eac.int secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania.

Damakant currently works for Panos South Asia (www.panossouthasia.org) as their Nepal country representative designing and executing programs in media, environment, public health, conflict and globalization.
He received an MA in English from Calcutta University, Kolkata, India. He received several recognitions for his work at The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur Publications.

Prior to his present position Gabriel served as the Deputy Minister for Public Affairs at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Liberia.

Nadeem introduced an award named after her mother for the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity for best annual report on stories linked to the 1971 Independence War.

Maria also reports for www.radiomiami.us three times a week for a segment entitled “Cabos Sueltos.” She received a degree as a certified English translator from Salvador University of Buenos Aires has worked as expert translator and interpreter with the Judicial Power of the Nation.

Maria can be reached at mariajosefina@plataformacero.com.ar