Dakar Chosen as Continental Newsroom Laboratory
By selecting Dakar for the twelfth edition of the Ghislaine Dupont & Claude Verlon Scholarship, Radio France Internationale signals more than a geographic preference; it affirms the Senegalese capital’s emergence as a diplomatic hinge between West and Central Africa. The new France Médias Monde Hub Afrique, inaugurated last year with the blessing of regional governments, provides the logistical backbone for two intensive weeks of workshops scheduled from 15 to 30 October 2025. According to RFI executives, Dakar offers a “secure yet vibrant urban classroom” (RFI, 2024) that mirrors the multilingual, multi-layered realities young francophone reporters will cover.
- Dakar Chosen as Continental Newsroom Laboratory
- Cultivating a New Generation of Francophone Reporters
- Congolese Aspirants Benefit From Institutional Encouragement
- Jury, Calendar and the Paris Finish Line
- Security and Independence: Diplomatic Undercurrents
- Strategic Value for Regional Multilateralism
- Application Logistics and Anticipated Impact
- A Forward-Looking Tribute
Cultivating a New Generation of Francophone Reporters
The programme retains its founding ethos: honouring the memory of journalists Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, killed in 2013 in Mali, by fostering excellence in field reporting. Candidates—five journalists and five radio technicians—must demonstrate at least two years of professional experience and be under thirty-five. Submission requirements encompass a curriculum vitae, a motivation letter and, crucially, an audio piece demonstrating editorial or technical prowess. RFI’s partnership with INA and the Sciences Po School of Journalism ensures the curriculum blends editorial ethics, cybersecurity for reporters and the latest immersive-audio techniques now shaping international broadcasting.
Congolese Aspirants Benefit From Institutional Encouragement
For applicants from the Republic of Congo, the 2025 call arrives as domestic higher-education policies increasingly encourage outward-looking professional exchanges. Officials within Brazzaville’s Ministry of Communication underline the scholarship’s “capacity to project Congolese soft power through journalistic professionalism”—a standpoint aligned with President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s broader foreign-policy narrative that privileges engagement over isolation. Last year’s Congolese laureate, Victoire Andrène Ombi, credits the bursary with “opening editorial doors that once seemed Paris-only”. Her trajectory has become an emblem for peers in Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville who perceive the media sector as both a civic duty and a sustainable career.
Jury, Calendar and the Paris Finish Line
Applications close at midnight on 24 August 2025, a deadline timed to allow careful vetting by a jury drawn from France Médias Monde, INA, Sciences Po and a Senegalese media delegate. Selected finalists will refine investigative pitches and studio techniques during the Dakar workshops, culminating in a final live-broadcast simulation before the jury’s deliberations on 30 October. The two winners will then proceed to a fully-funded four-week residency in Paris early in 2026. Alongside them, the Association of Friends of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon will award equipment grants to two additional participants, aiming to fortify newsrooms across the continent with tangible resources.
Security and Independence: Diplomatic Undercurrents
The United Nations designated 2 November as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists—a date chosen for the Dakar award ceremony. By dovetailing with that calendar, RFI tactfully underscores the link between professional capacity building and the global fight against violence targeting the press. UNESCO’s 2023 Observatory notes that francophone Africa recorded a modest decline in attacks on journalists, an evolution attributed partly to heightened training and cross-border solidarity (UNESCO, 2023). The scholarship therefore functions as a quiet diplomatic instrument, advancing norms of accountability without the confrontational rhetoric that sometimes accompanies press-freedom debates.
Strategic Value for Regional Multilateralism
Beyond individual careers, the initiative contributes to a broader ecosystem in which Congo-Brazzaville’s leadership positions itself as a constructive actor. By facilitating visa clearances and promoting successful alumni upon their return, Brazzaville cultivates journalists capable of responsibly narrating the Republic’s economic diversification agenda and its environmental diplomacy along the Congo Basin. Observers at the Economic Community of Central African States suggest that such soft-power investments help “stitch together an intraregional information market” where local voices carry continental resonance.
Application Logistics and Anticipated Impact
Prospective applicants must send digital dossiers to bourserfi2025@rfi.fr. Shortlisted candidates will be notified electronically in early September, leaving ample time for travel formalities. Previous cohorts report that the scholarship’s alumni network—now numbering more than one hundred professionals—provides enduring mentorship and facilitates cross-border collaborations on stories ranging from climate adaptation in Brazzaville’s flood-prone suburbs to fintech innovation in Dakar. As regional media economist Marie-Claire Mfoa observes, “the value of the Dupont-Verlon label now rivals traditional postgraduate journalism degrees in employability”. Such testimony reinforces the programme’s standing as a keystone of francophone media development.
A Forward-Looking Tribute
When the two 2025 laureates step onto the Dakar stage on 2 November, they will inherit more than a trophy; they will carry forward a living tribute that links safety in the field to the credibility of institutions. In doing so, they echo a sentiment increasingly embraced in Congolese official circles: robust journalism, far from undermining governance, equips societies with the informed citizenry necessary for sustainable growth. Against that backdrop, the scholarship stands as an understated yet potent bridge between African dynamism and francophone media excellence.
