Fellowship Program

The Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship Program is the flagship program of JNBF. The foundation has been co-implementing this program in partnership with Rappler since 2021.

Named after the late investigative journalist Aries Rufo, the annual fellowship program aims to strengthen community journalism through hybrid (a combination of onsite and online sessions) as well as on-the-job mentoring support. For the duration of the program, fellows receive a stipend that enables them to pursue stories on issues affecting their communities. 

So far, the program has successfully completed 5 fellowship cycles which supported and trained 38 practicing journalists and campus journalists. The program’s alumni include a diverse mix, with fellows coming from 15 of the 18 regions in the Philippines.

In the 2025 fellowship cycle, 8 campus journalists successfully completed the 4-month program, with participants producing a total of 75 stories that challenged complacency around long-standing local issues, highlighted underreported topics, and called for accountability and action within their communities.  

To support our fellowship program, email : partnerships[at]journalism.ph