Environmental Defenders—ED has announced a new environmental and human rights grants reporting initiative for Congolese and Ugandan journalists to empower reporters with the skills to uncover environmental injustices and amplify the voices of frontline environmental and human rights defenders in their respective communities.

The organization will award grants to 20 journalists—10 in Uganda and another 10 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The organization will award $500 to a qualifying journalist.

The awarded journalists will use the grant funds to investigate and publish or broadcast in-depth news stories reporting on the environmental and human rights challenges.

This initiative represents a critical milestone among the organization’s ongoing efforts to support civic space, environmental accountability, and the right to information, particularly in biodiversity-rich areas under threat from industrial development, extractive industries, and shrinking civic space and press freedom.

 

A History of Advocacy and Protection

Environmental Defenders has established itself as a pillar of environmental protection and social justice across the Albertine region and Congo Basin. Founded with the mission of protecting biodiversity and defending the rights of Indigenous Peoples and forest-dependent communities, the organization has worked tirelessly in some of the most environmentally sensitive and politically challenging landscapes in Africa.

From the Murchison-Semliki in Uganda to the Virunga, Ituri, and Epulu-Aru landscapes in eastern DRC, Environmental Defenders supports grassroots conservation efforts, legal empowerment, environmental education, and community-led restoration initiatives.

Environmental Defenders not only safeguards threatened ecosystems but also provides legal, technical, and security support to those who stand to protect environmental and human rights.
This includes women environmental human rights defenders (WEHRDs), indigenous leaders, and journalists who face surveillance, intimidation, and violence as a result of their advocacy.

 

Why journalism matters

“At a time when forests are disappearing, land rights are being violated, and environmental human rights defenders are being silenced, journalism is one of the few remaining tools of resistance and truth-telling,” said Warom Samuel Jaryekong’a, the Communication Director of Environmental Defenders.

“Our journalism grant program is not just about stories—it’s about justice, accountability, and the power of the public to demand change.” He added.

Environmental journalists play a pivotal role in exposing illegal logging, land grabs, water contamination, biodiversity loss, and abuses linked to oil, mining, and agro-industrial projects.
However, in Uganda and DRC, especially in rural areas where many violations occur, journalists often lack sufficient resources, skills, and protection to investigate these issues safely and effectively.

This journalism grant program directly addresses that gap.

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Uganda: A landscape of opportunity and risk

Globally, people recognize Uganda’s Albertine region as a significant area for ecological reasons.

Nwoya, Nebbi, Zombo, Pakwach, Buliisa, Hoima, Kikuube, Kagadi, Masindi, and Ntoroko are some of the districts hosting important ecological features, including the Ramsar Site in Murchison Falls National Park.

The discovery of commercial oil reserves beneath Lake Albert and efforts to develop oil production enabling infrastructure, including the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil projects, have started degrading the landscape.

Communities that once relied on fishing, farming, and forest-based livelihoods now face displacement, pollution, and land tenure insecurity. The expansion of commercial agriculture and the development of private conservancies have further complicated land use, creating new power dynamics and marginalizing traditional landowners.

Environmental Defenders has been working with communities in these areas to map customary land, support reforestation, monitor biodiversity, and provide platforms for civic engagement. Through its community radio network, Terra FM, the organization has broadcast human rights and environmental programs to millions of listeners, often in local languages.

Despite this work, much of what happens in Uganda’s oil zones and mineral-rich DRC remains hidden from national and international scrutiny. Environmental Defenders’ journalism grants aim to bring these stories to light.

The Uganda component of the grant program invites pitches from journalists focusing on the impacts of oil and gas projects, land grabs, displacement, forest degradation, biodiversity loss, and the rights of fishermen, women, and indigenous communities. The grants will support both print, electronic, radio, and online media.

 

DR Congo: Forests under siege

Across the border in eastern DRC, the situation is equally time-sensitive. The Ituri-Epulu-Aru landscape is one of the most intact and biologically rich forest regions in the entire Congo Basin. It is home to forest elephants, okapis, chimpanzees, and the Indigenous Mbuti and Efe peoples—among the last true hunter-gatherer communities on Earth.

These forests, however, are now threatened by a deadly mix of illegal gold mining, logging, poaching, land grabs, armed conflict, and state neglect. Mining operations, often backed by powerful interests, are contaminating water sources, disrupting traditional livelihoods, and accelerating deforestation. Poaching networks, sometimes linked to militia groups, are decimating endangered species and terrorizing rangers. Meanwhile, indigenous land defenders face harassment, imprisonment, and even assassination.

Environmental Defenders has long worked in eastern DRC to support community forests, provide legal aid, train rangers and paralegals, and document rights violations. It has partnered with the DRC Ministry of Environment, the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN), civil society organizations, cultural institutions, and other local actors to protect fragile ecosystems and empower marginalized voices

The journalism grant program in the DRC is designed to support journalists investigating these very issues. Stories may focus on illegal mining, environmental crimes, human rights violations in conservation areas, threats to forest communities, or the exploitation of natural resources by criminal syndicates. Applications are open to journalists working in French or English, and formats may include written reports, radio features, video documentaries, and multimedia pieces.

 

Grant Details and Application Process

Applications are open to journalists working in the following media (online, print, television, radio) and other media practitioners with experience covering conservation and human rights issues.

We strongly encourage early-career and experienced journalists who have a proven track record of reporting on conservation and human rights issues. Applications from freelance reporters and staff from all categories of media organizations, both international, national, local, and community-based, are eligible. We also welcome applications from women, rural and forest-dependent or Indigenous and young-career journalists.

Applicants must demonstrate prior experience in environmental or human rights reporting and submit a story, employee media house or publication/broadcast outlet, and editorial supervisor’s recommendation letter.
Each grantee will receive editorial mentorship, logistical support, and, where needed, guidance on physical and digital security.

We plan to distribute grants in July, aiming to publish all stories by October 16th, 2025, at the latest. Applicants can strictly consider this deadline when submitting their application.

We encourage applicants to provide a detailed budget with a breakdown for the amount requested using any templates, preferably Microsoft Word, PDF, or Microsoft Excel. The budget should be reasonable and justifiable for the costs necessary for reporting, such as travel and lodging. Applicants already receiving funding from other donors for the story should also state the percentage of the amount requested from Environmental Defenders in their application budget.

Published news articles or broadcasts must disclose Environmental Defenders support by including a tagline that ‘’ This article was produced with support from Environmental Defenders Community Media program.’’
Grant recipients are free to publish or broadcast their stories first in their own media with copies to Environmental Defenders.

Applicants are required to avoid using AI tools as avenues for writing grant proposals. Environmental defenders will have the right to disqualify applications that have been found to have engaged in the use of AI-generated content and submit them as their own work.

We will award grants in a competitive judging process. Our panel of judges will include Environmental Defenders staff and external experts in environmental journalism. They will interview shortlisted applicants to seek further information on the proposed reporting project and proposed budget. They will then meet again after the interviews to make a final selection of the grant’s recipients.

Applications are due by midnight on June 10, 2025. Send proposals for Uganda to warom@watetezi.org , and send a copy to team@watetezi.org . The same applies for DRC applicants. You can submit stories in either French or English.

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A Commitment to Truth and Justice

This initiative by Environmental Defenders underscores the growing recognition that journalism and environmental protection are deeply intertwined. As the climate crisis intensifies, forests shrink, and extractive projects push deeper into remote regions, the need for factual, fearless reporting has never been greater.

“We believe that journalism is a form of environmental defense,” said Lonyo Sarah, the program officer at Environmental Defenders. “By supporting these storytellers, we are helping communities speak out, assert their rights, and resist destruction. We hope this program will serve as a model for how media, civil society, and conservation efforts can come together to protect our planet.”

Environmental Defenders continues to welcome partnerships with media organizations, funders, and conservation groups who wish to support this and future initiatives. To learn more about the organization’s work and mission, visit www.watetezi.org.

In a time of crisis, stories can inspire action. Environmental Defenders is making sure that those stories are told—clearly, courageously, and from the front lines of change.