Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law, and Development (APWLD) has selected five journalists for our inaugural Media Fellowship Programme! Our fellowship theme this year is on climate change as we wish to strengthen a feminist analysis on this topic and climate justice, especially in mainstream and alternative media spaces.

With this fellowship, we aim to strengthen the gender analysis, and aim to start a conversation in mainstream and alternative media, setting a context for feminist, fossil fuel free futures as a driver for just and equitable transitions for climate justice. There is an urgency in communicating the possibility of having climate just future in the deadlock of negotiations where countries and private sector still work on the lines of ‘development’ agenda in the linear economic models.

The media fellows will have an opportunity to build their capacity on climate issues, meet and learn from our members and partners working on climate and ecological justice and in consultation with APWLD, develop a plan on how to produce critical analysis on women’s human rights and climate justice. They will produce news articles, features, audio-video content and digital stories with a feminist lens that highlight the linkages between gender, ecological conflicts and climate change.

The following journalists have been selected to participate in our programme:

Ma. Amalia Salamat, Philippines

Ma. Amalia Salamat is an award-winning journalist based in Quezon City, Philippines. She works for Bulatlat, a leading, progressive independent online publication. She has covered ecological conflicts – resulting in reports about communities bucking dam-building, mining, quarrying, reclamation, and militarisation that goes hand in hand with any of these economic activities.

Moushumi Basu, India

Moushumi Basu is a freelance journalist from Kolkata, India. Her work has been published in Scroll.in, Mongabay, and Down to Earth. She has reported on issues of coal mining in Jharia coalfields, the struggle of Adivasi women to protect their native land, and the health rights of tribal women. In 2015, she covered the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) 21 in Paris, France, and wrote stories on the various mitigation strategies being adopted to fight climate change.

Seulki Lee, Indonesia/South Korea

Seulki Lee is a South Korean journalist based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She has worked in Jakarta, Kathmandu, and New Delhi as a correspondent for East Asian media houses. She has covered stories on women’s struggle to cope with extreme weather changes in outlying areas of Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Nepal, Kashmir and India’s Northeast region. Her work can be found in mainstream media outlets like Tempo English in Indonesia and Hankyoreh21 in South Korea.

Sirinya Wattanasukchai, Thailand

Sirinya Wattanasukchai is a freelance journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand, with over 20 years of experience. She previously worked for The Nation, one of Thailand’s leading English-language newspapers, as a Features Editor. Sirinya has covered stories of poor women in Thailand, and the struggles they face living in urban cities like Bangkok, which include living below poverty line and unsafe public spaces.

Zebojon Kurbonova, Tajikistan

Zebojon Kurbonova is a journalist based in Khujand, Tajikistan. Her work has been published in several print media organisations in the country, including Lochin newspaper, state magazine Nokhid, and non-profit publication Gulistoni Donish. She has covered stories about the minimal direct participation of women in local politics and the sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) of Tajikistan women following the government’s decision to reduce birth rates after the collapse of the Soviet Union.