OLUWAFISAYO OKARE (NIGERIA)
Oluwafisayo Okare is a Journalism student from Nigeria also at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. She holds a first-class degree in Mass Communication, from Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos and worked as a Financial Journalist at Stears Business, writing a data-driven analysis on the Nigerian economy. She also uncovered stories of young people oppressed during Nigeria’s 2019 elections and worked on a creative non-fiction book-project for Yiaga Africa and the UKAID about legislators under 30 years old, who overcame threats to win elections. She volunteered with WatchingTheVote as a Data Clerk, She started as an editorial intern with The Native, Lagos, where she grew into a journalist and sub-editor. WATCH THE VIDEO.
SARAH PETER (SAINT LUCIA)
Sarah Peter is a journalist from Saint Lucia. The former United Nations Journalist Fellow and foreign Correspondent for Reuters has an intense passion for human rights and climate change reporting. She is a graduate of Columbia University and Cardiff University in Wales and will be taking a break from journalism to pursue her master’s in political science at the University at Albany. Sarah has done foreign reporting all over the world including in Paris, Switzerland, London and New York but most of her reporting has been based in the Caribbean, where she is the brainchild of a human rights TV documentary series, OFF Limits and the Global Forum, an initiative aimed at bridging international gaps. Sarah’s work in journalism has also been recognized by the Inter American Press Association and the U-S Department of State. But her greatest achievement is creating initiatives to impact social change and policy. WATCH THE VIDEO.
VICTOR RAISON (FRANCE)
Victor Raison is a French journalist and photographer born in Switzerland. He is currently a graduate student of Columbia University Journalism School. He has a Master’s Degree in literature from La Sorbonne University and a Master’s degree in photojournalism from the London College of Communication. He started working as a photographer for Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes, New Caledonia’s local newspaper. He then settled in Colombia as a freelance photographer and journalist where he works on a long-term ongoing project documenting Colombia’s main harbor, Buenaventura, a city controlled by gangs fighting over the control of the drug trafficking routes. He also focuses on migration issues with neighboring Venezuela and the last active guerrilla the ELN - Ejercicio de Liberacion Nacional. WATCH THE VIDEO.
OHENEBA AMA NTI OSEI (GHANA)
Oheneba Ama Nti Osei is a Ghanaian-born French journalist and a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She was previously the research and production editor for pan-African news organization The Africa Report where she managed magazine production and mainly covered the technology and telecom sectors. She also helped launch a podcast series focused on women leaders, profiling high-achieving business executives, politicians and thinkers in Africa and in the diaspora. She is currently completing an MBA at Columbia Business School, where she serves on the board of the African Business Club. WATCH THE VIDEO.
Mariel Lozada (VENEZUELA)
Mariel Lozada is a Venezuelan journalist with five years of experience in health, gender, and migration issues both in Venezuela and Chile. She is currently getting her Masters. in Social Journalism at the City University of New York and is working as a freelance reporter and promoting journalism in Latin America through the Global Investigative Journalism Network. Her work has been published by La Tercera, Salud con Lupa, Efecto Cocuyo, among other publishers in the region. She has done fellowships with the Fundación Gabo and Columbia University, through the Diego Portales University. WATCH THE VIDEO.
In Jeong Kim
(South Korea)
Injeong Kim has worked as an investigative journalist and filmmaker with the public broadcasting station Gwangju MBC in South Korea for the past decade. She is dedicated to reporting about social movements and has co-directed two documentaries about the Gwangju Uprising and the Candlelight Movement. She un-earthed “the Platt Memo” in 2017, a historically significant memorandum and surviving audio recordings about the White House response to the Gwangju Uprising. Her work has received awards from Amnesty International South Korea and the Korean Broadcasters Association. She is also interested in the arts and print journalism; she is an editorial board member of the photography magazine, VOSTOK, as well as a contributor to magazines like The Nation. She is currently in the Documentary track at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. WATCH THE VIDEO.
OBEY MARTIN MANAYITI (Zimbabwe)
Obey Martin Manayiti comes from Zimbabwe. He has been a journalist for the past eight years and is currently enrolled at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism where he is pursuing a Master of Arts degree in Business and Economics journalism. Obey says he’s interested “in following dark money especially from resource-rich countries and says “when resources are put in the hands of few people, it perpetuates corruption, inequality, economic stagnation, and conflicts”. Obey worked for Alpha Media Holdings in Zimbabwe, one of the largest media organizations there. He has won numerous national awards for his reporting and in 2019, was selected as a 2020 fellow by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. WATCH THE VIDEO.
2019 SCHOLARSHIP AWARDEES
On November 4th, 2019 at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute in New York City, the AFC-USA presented five exceptional foreign journalists, who were distinguished among several competitive applicants, as recipients of the AFC Annual Scholarships Awards. From left to right: Petar Georgiev, Natalia Kniazhevich, Kimon de Greef, Larry Madowo, Priyanka Vora (Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, 11.04.2019)
Larry Madowo is on career break from his job as the BBC Africa Business Editor to be a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University in New York where he is earning an M.A. in Business and Economics Journalism. He has reported from nearly 40 countries around the world and previously worked in Nairobi, Johannesburg and London. He was a Contributing Columnist for the Washington Post’s Global Opinions page and has also been featured on CNN International, BBC World Service, France 24, Al Jazeera English and others. He was named among the 100 Most Influential Africans in 2018 by NewAfrican magazine. Larry has nearly 4 million followers on social media. Watch the video.
Natalia Kniazhevich is a master’s student at NYU, studying business and economic reporting. Before moving to New York, she was a producer and anchor at RBC TV, the largest independent business TV channel in Russia. She covered global economics and politics and hosted the live program “Financial Markets.” She has interviewed top Russian and foreign executives and government officials, including Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, Jon Huntsman, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, and Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy, Khalid A. Al-Falih. She has a keen interest in finance, focusing on the oil and gas industry. Watch the video.
Kimon de Greef is a freelance journalist from South Africa, where he has written for publications including the New York Times, Guardian and Atlantic. A biologist by training, he has reported widely on illicit trades, including a book on abalone poaching that was published last year. He has also written about immigration, drug markets and conservation conflict, as well as breaking news for the Times. He recently moved to the United States for a journalism masters at NYU. Watch the video.
Priyanka Vora is a multilingual journalist from Mumbai, where she worked for Scroll.in, Midday, and the Hindustan Times. Her health reporting in rural areas of India and Africa has won awards from the International Center for Journalists and the Mumbai Press Club. She was a Media Fellow at Vermont Law School. Vora is interested in the interaction of new technology and social values, and after New York University she plans to develop digital strategies to help news publications conduct reader focusses journalism. She is currently interning with the Financial Times. Watch the video.
Peter Georgiev has worked in broadcast, print and online media. Journalism has taken him to over 20 countries sparking a lifelong passion for travel and adventure. As a correspondent for the Bulgarian National Television, Georgiev has been reporting on local and international politics, education and technology. He also hosted the weekly newsmagazine program #Europe covering the European Union. Currently, he conducts data analysis for newsrooms around the United States as a research assistant at Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) in Columbia, MO. Meanwhile, he is completing a masters degree in data and investigative journalism at the University of Missouri. Watch the video.
