Recipients of 2017 Dag Hammarskjöld Journalism Fellowships
Mercy Abang, 32, of Nigeria is 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 has reported on the G20 partnership with Africa summit in Berlin. In Nigeria she has covered communities under siege of the terrorist group Boko Haram, maternal health, poverty, displaced persons and biodiversity. At the United Nations, she is interested in sustainable development goals of ending poverty and hunger and improving health and education. 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. Her byline on the internet is Mercy Abang.
Mir Wais Jalalzai, 28, of Afghanistan is a war correspondent, having covered the most dangerous conflicts and devastating events in his country. He works for the Khabarial News in Kabul and is a contributor to TRT World, based in Istanbul, and the Afghanistan Times. He also reports on corruption and human trafficking in both formal languages of Afghanistan (Pashto, Persian). He has master’s degree in public relations and is interested in Asian affairs and conflict resolution studies. He is currently working on a guide book for Afghan journalists on how to report from a war zone and why reporting on conflict matters. At the United Nations, he looks forward to meetings on Afghanistan and how they are covered by the international media. He has traveled to Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. His byline on the internet is Mir Wais Jalazai.
Ray Mwareya, 34, of Zimbabwe is the news editor for Women Taboos Radio Africa, covering southern Africa. He is a correspondent for Rural Reporters Africa, based in Nigeria, and a contributor to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Equal Times Magazine and the Financial Times. He was the first journalist to receive the U.N. Global Migration Fair Reporting Award in 2015. A year later, he received a silver medal from the U.N. Correspondents Association for his “sensitive compelling writing” and the Reporters Without Borders Refuge Scholarship. He has covered digital surveillance, labor trafficking and fish poisoning from Germany to Uganda to Mozambique to Malawi. He is interested on how climate change effects disrupts the rural women incomes and agriculture livelihoods in southern Africa, causing a loss of land, brutal internal migration and hunger. His byline on the internet is Ray Mwareya.
The journalists spent 10 weeks covering United Nations deliberations.