openDemocracy is Hiring: Africa Investigations Editor

Deadline: 2 October at 11:59 pm (UK time)

openDemocracy’s groundbreaking Tracking the Backlash project investigates organised opposition to women’s and LGBT rights across the world. Over the last year we have: revealed several hundred million dollars of “dark money” from US Christian Right groups supporting anti-rights campaigns globally – including attacks on sex education in Africa; exposed coordinated anti-abortion projects targeting vulnerable pregnant women with misinformation and using them “like guinea pigs” for untested and unregulated treatments; documented the global scale of World Health Organization guidelines not being followed during the pandemic, putting women’s lives and health at risk.

Our investigations were cited more than 400 times in 2020, across the global media – including by the BBC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, AllAfrica, The Mail & Guardian and Daily Maverick (South Africa), the Daily Monitor (Uganda) and Premium Times (Nigeria). Aid donors promised action and launched their own inquiries in response to our investigation that revealed anti-LGBT ‘conversion therapy’ at health facilities run by groups they fund. YouTube closed an account that was pushing a prominent Nigerian televangelists’ anti-LGBT messages, in response to another of our investigations. We collaborate across borders and backgrounds and, since 2018, we have supported more than ten young women and LGBTIQ people with fellowships to develop their skills. Our work has been nominated for many awards, including the British Journalism Awards. 

We are now looking for an experienced and ambitious Africa Editor to lead our feminist investigative journalism across Africa (including Francophone West Africa) while working closely with our growing global team.