Indian fellowship program concludes in Bonn

The Indian fellows proudly presented their certificates at the end of their stay

The multimedia site “grow.green.india” is the productive result of the Meeting and Exchange Project for Indian Journalists, which has just wrapped up in Bonn. For seven weeks, six journalists from across India enjoyed intense training in multimedia journalism and had ample opportunity to produce their own reports for the site.

The young journalists from New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Srinagar covered an enormous amount of ground during their fellowship in Germany, which was financed by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.

“We had put together a ‘wish list’ of what we hoped to accomplish with this project,” said project managers Patrick Benning and Sabina Casagrande, “and the fellows were able to accomplish even more.” The program schedule covered the nuts and bolts of multimedia – including writing for online, and how to use audio, video and photos or visualize data in this medium.

The journalists also had the chance to find out more about new developments in multimedia, for example web documentaries. An excursion trip to Berlin gave them insight into the structures of German political life.

The group with project managers Patrick Benning and Sabina Casagrande

The fellows themselves brainstormed and set their focus for their site “grow.green.india” – before heading out into the field for reporting. In fact, two participants were in an actual vegetable field for their story on organic farming.

The site covered a wide range of topics around the issue of sustainability: whether it was a closer look at Germany’s anti-nuclear movement, having young children explain their concept of climate friendly behavior to you or getting behind the wheel of an electric car in Berlin.

“We were thrilled to see the depth with which the fellows researched their stories,” the project managers said. “They really got to the bottom of issues and discovered aspects from their Indian perspective which escape us since we live here.”

For the fellows, the time spent in Germany gave them new perspectives on their professional work. “I can say that at the end of this, I have a greater level of confidence that I can dabble with different media in order to tell my stories better,” said one participant. “It was a great opportunity.”

The Indian fellows got a taste of German political life at the federal press conference in Berlin

Another fellow added that it was beneficial to try out different media. “It took me out of my comfort zone and put me in challenging situations, which was great.”

The six journalists have now returned to their desks back home in India – and have let the Asia team know that they are already working to implement some of the new skills they learned in Bonn.