Meet the winners of the 2024 African Union Media Fellowship Award.
Five journalists were selected for the Africa Union Media Fellowship Award for their impactful storytelling around nutrition. Learn about them here.
About the Award
About the African Union Media Fellowship Award
The African Union (AU) Media Fellowship is a prestigious program designed to empower African media professionals, journalists and content creators to promote development-focused stories using emerging technologies.
As part of this initiative, the African Union Commission has announced the winners of the inaugural Africa Nutrition Media Fellowship Award for 2024‒2025. The awardees — Nila Yasmin Faisal (East Africa), Jacquline Segahungu (Central Africa), Adesewa Olofinko (West Africa), Melissa Babil (Southern Africa) and Mouttasem Albarodi (North Africa) — were selected from the AU Media Fellowship Programme for their outstanding journalism in promoting good nutrition. These five winners, chosen from a pool of 35 fellows representing the five regions of the African Union, will each receive USD $3,000 to support their work during the fellowship. Additionally, they will benefit from mentorship by nutrition experts, access to valuable resources and a platform to publish their stories through media partnerships.
Supported by Nutrition International, the Africa Nutrition Media Fellowship seeks to enhance the capacity of media professionals for impactful storytelling, particularly in the area of adolescent nutrition. This initiative aligns with the AU’s Agenda 2063 and strengthens Nutrition International’s efforts by fostering widespread awareness and advocacy for nutrition across the continent. By empowering journalists to create compelling, informative content, the Fellowship contributes to improving nutrition outcomes, driving sustainable development and inspiring positive change throughout Africa.
Adesewa Olofinko, based in Nigeria, is a seasoned content creator with over eight years of experience in media.
Specializing in journalism and storytelling with a tech-savvy approach, she runs the podcast “Candid Talks with Adesewa” and has experience as a radio-TV presenter and producer, covering diverse topics like politics, technology, family and business. Olofinko founded Blackladywriter.com in 2019, where she employs digital media to spotlight social inequality and clarify notions of feminism within the African diaspora.
Her roles have included being a Producer and Line Producer at EbonyLife Creative Academy, Lagos, and she has contributed to audience growth at Wellsradio. Her efforts have earned her awards, including the Audience Choice Award for “A Psalm for Abigail” and Young Blogger of the Year 2021. Olofinko is certified by RNTC Media Training Centre, Netherlands, specialising in media campaigns for social change and digital strategies to counter disinformation and hate speech.
As a fellow at RNTC and Partners West Africa Nigeria, she remains an influential voice, promoting change and understanding through her diverse media approaches.
With over 20 years in the field, Jacqueline Segahungu is a highly experienced journalist. Her multifaceted expertise covers marketing, broadcasting partnerships, and radio project coordination.
As CEO and Production Manager at Green Media and Communication Agency based in Burundi, Segahungu has overseen pivotal projects and directed numerous field documentary film productions, highlighting pressing issues such as Lake Tanganyika floods and reproductive health.
Her commitment is further highlighted in her endeavours to orchestrate fundraising media campaigns for child cancer and design key messages for food security and nutrition improvement campaigns among vulnerable populations.
Beyond her executive responsibilities, she has enriched the journalistic community by conducting workshops, training university classes and mentoring professionals on documentary projects, scriptwriting and sound material editing.
Her notable contributions are recognized through the David Burke Distinguished Journalism Award, a testament to her outstanding impact on international broadcasting.
Eastern Region
Nila Yasmin Faisal, Uganda
Nila Yasmin Faisal
Nila Yasmin is an award-winning Ugandan media entrepreneur, journalist and documentary producer and former radio news anchor. She has worked on high-profile projects for global brands such as CNN and Euronews.
As a freelance producer, Yasmin has pitched, researched and produced over 90 documentary stories for CNN in Uganda, Mauritius, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, showcasing the continent’s innovations, entrepreneurship, culture and sports.
She is the founder of ZUBA Network, a Pan-African digital media platform dedicated to amplifying the voices and initiatives of women across Africa. In 2024, Yasmin produced the documentary series “Women Beyond Borders”, which explores the role and readiness of women entrepreneurs in driving intra-African trade and advancing the goals of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
Yasmin has covered major global events, including COP27, the Africa Climate Summit, and the Annual Africa MSMEs Forum, among others. Her work has earned her prestigious recognition, including the 2019 APO Group African Women in Media Award and a nomination for the 2021 Digital Equality Award.
Yasmin is passionate about women’s social economic development, holding the belief that Africa’s growth lies in the empowerment of its vast human resource reserve — women — and that media is one of the most powerful tools that can be employed to achieve this.
Melissa Babil, a content creator from Mozambique, believes film and TV can transform lives, especially those of young Africans.
She is passionate about photography, videography, entrepreneurship, video editing, graphic design, social media management and content creation. She has completed courses in Communication and Multimedia but ultimately wants to pursue a career as a film director and writer or director of photography.
Her expertise in visual storytelling has been meticulously cultivated through an intensive training course by the New York Film Academy. She has enhanced her skills through an entrepreneurship program sponsored by UNESCO, a creative enterprise program sponsored by the British Council, a creative program sponsored by the Embassy of Germany and other programs to sharpen her skills and arise in the media and content creation industry.
She was chosen to represent Mozambique at the Academy for Young Creatives in Lusaka in a one-year Film and Television Production training program.
Mouttasem Albarodi is a passionate science writer based in Egypt and deeply committed to issues related to health and climate. He writes about the crucial and timely subject of climate health resilience, delving into the complex interplay between climate change and its many effects on public health.
Albarodi holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a diploma in bioinformatics and molecular biology. Throughout his career, he has contributed to many acclaimed publications, covering technology, industry news, science and health policy, focusing on the Middle East and Africa. His contributions often extend beyond writing, as he is involved in editorial work, translations and maintaining scientific terminology standards.
Albarodi has written for well-known publications such as Fast Company Middle East and SciDev.Net, where he explores the intersections of technology, development, and public health. He has also held significant roles as a managing editor at Scientific Arab.
Albarodi’s writing style is unique, as he is skilled at communicating intricate scientific concepts through creative formats like memes and comics, making the information more accessible and engaging to the public.
He is a member of the World Federation of Science Journalists and has been recognised with the 2021 EurekAlert! Fellowships for International Science Reporters.
