Amy Fallon

I am a widely-published and versatile freelance journalist and communications specialist currently in London who has worked around the world for a plethora of leading media outlets and organisations. Please scroll down to see my work. I have reported from Australia, the UK, Africa, Asia, and Canada. I have covered a broad range of topics but I am most interested in social justice, human rights and international development. I have worked for international news wire agencies, newspapers, consumer magazines, trade journals, and more. I have worked as a staff reporter in Australia, from the newsrooms of most of the UK national papers, for magazines and trade journals, done consulting for NGOs, and more. I am completing a human rights masters and a communications degree. I am available for story commissions, media advising, copywriting and content writing.

Equal Times • 20th August 2019

What's behind the rise in defensive design?

People in central London sit on one of a number of ‘Camden Benches’ dotted around the city. It is what artist Stuart Semple calls a “textbook example” of “hostile design”. When US$20,000 worth of studs were installed on the surface of a fountain in a downtown Toronto park in 2017, the upset felt by some locals was tempered by a general acceptance that the measure – designed to prevent damage caused by skateboarders – was necessary. The studs weren’t overtly antagonistic – at least not compared

South China Morning Post • 13th July 2019

See Singapore differently on a guided 10k run

Singapore running tours: how to see the Lion City’s attractions and stay fit, if you can stand the humidity

Mobilisation Lab • 9th July 2019

#KeepItOn campaign’s ‘shutdown stories’ offer a lesson in listening, adapting and participation

When the #KeepItOn campaign team received a photo of a dirt track from a citizen affected by an internet shutdown, they were puzzled. “We were saying ‘why (did) this person send us this photo? It doesn’t make any sense’,” says Melody Patry, advocacy director at Access Now, the digital rights nonprofit that has convened the campaign with 141 organizations from 59 countries. It eventually emerged that the sender had no internet where they were, forcing them to trek on foot and then get the bus t

Mobilisation Lab • 21st May 2019

When people power meets litigation: A history-making success story in Sierra Leone

It was a people-powered case that led to a landmark decision. In November 2018, a court ruled that SIVA Group, a billion dollar conglomerate headquartered in Singapore, must return 41,500 hectares (103,000 acres) to villagers in the Port Loko district in Sierra Leone’s north and pay a fine of US $250,000. SIVA had vowed when it leased the land in 2011 to create 8,000 jobs for the community and put local children in school. However, it failed to pay residents rent for three years, the country’s

delicious.com.au • 14th February 2019

What it's really like inside a Hare Krishna camp (words and pics)

There's more to this Northern NSW farm than meets the eye. Here's what really goes on at a Hare Krishna retreat, tells Amy Fallon. “I might move here,” a woman I’ve just met in the communal bathroom says to me. “I’m sick of the real world. I’ve been doing it for 40 years. It’s not going anywhere.” Gazing out at the “unreal” world, if you like, the lush green hills in a tiny part of Northern NSW that belong to New Govardhana, a thriving Hare Krishna community boasting scrumptious vegetarian foo

Devex • 26th November 2018

In Nairobi, a landmark push for a global blue economy

TORONTO — Some 4,000 people are set to gather in Nairobi this week for the first global conference to focus solely on the sustainable blue economy. Hosted by Kenya, with Canada and Japan as co-hosts, the event will be the first to focus on how to channel global water resources in sustainable ways to enhance development. Described as a “bold initiative” by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference is expected to draw participants from some 180 countries, as well a

The Independent UK • 14th November 2018

How a running tour of a township in Cape Town showed me another side of South Africa

“The only stories that you hear about our hood are negative, but we have so many positive stories,” says our guide Vincent Ntunja, as we begin our 10km run on a Saturday morning just outside Mzoli’s, a restaurant famous across South Africa for its barbecued meat. The Gugulethu township may not be the first place that springs to mind when you think of doing a running tour of South Africa. And Ntunja himself prefers shooting hoops to pounding the pavements, if it comes down to it. But five years

The Sydney Morning Herald • 8th September 2018

Is living overseas all it’s cracked up to be?

The glossy image of the expat lifestyle includes live-in help, massages and constant parties. Sounds like a tough life! But is this the reality?

Trail Running magazine UK • 29th August 2018

Tackling the Source of the Nile Trail Run

Picking myself out of the mud on the banks of the Nile for the third time, I realised there's a reason why trail running has a "trail" in it.

Pacific Standard • 20th July 2018

Can a Web App Help Reduce Nigerian Food Waste?

Oscar Ekponimo has created a program that notifies retailers in real-time when their food items are approaching expiry and lets them initiate discounts on them. Oscar Ekponimo, the Nigerian inventor of a Web app improving food accessibility and affordability for poverty-stricken people, had his "epiphany" when he was strolling the aisles of a supermarket in 2014 and unearthed a can of tuna that was about to expire. "I pulled [the can] off the shelf and I said to the shopkeeper, 'Hey look, expi

Devex • 20th July 2018

In South Africa, ATM pharmacies help fill a massive shortfall

ALEXANDRA, South Africa — When Thapelo — name changed to protect his identity — went to government clinics to collect medicine for chronic blood pressure, the lines were so long that he was often forced to take the day off work. And at times, he’d even leave without his medication. “The line is very long and then they say, ‘you may come tomorrow,’” said the 58-year-old, “it affected my health.” South Africa needs about 12,000 pharmacists to fulfill the international standard of 50 pharmacists

Malnutrition Deeply • 28th June 2018

Nigeria Turns to Technology to Reduce Food Waste and Fight Hunger

Oscar Ekponimo, the Nigerian inventor of a web app improving food accessibility and affordability for poverty-stricken people, had his “epiphany” when he was strolling the aisles of a supermarket in 2014 and unearthed a can of tuna that was about to expire. “I pulled [the can] off the shelf and I said to the shopkeeper, ‘Hey look, expiring in a matter of a week,’” the 31-year-old software engineer explained. They were “throwing away food that was still consumable because it had reached its expi

Equal Times • 27th April 2018

Can innovative design help improve low-cost housing in Cape Town?

This photo from February 2017 shows one of the first Empower Shack structures in the township of Khayelitsha, Cape Town. This year, the low-cost housing project was nominated for the prestigious 2018 RIBA International Prize. In the lounge room of her two-storey home made from corrugated iron, timber and hollow-core blocks, Magau Mhlupheki is washing clothes using a big plastic bucket. It’s a new experience, even though her water usage is limited by the restrictions put in place to prevent the

Roads & Kingdoms • 13th April 2018

Come To Do Your Laundry, Stay for the Dim Sum

Some come to have their washing done. Some come for the dim sum. Some come for both. Sitting below Cape Town’s Table Mountain, I Love My Laundry (the “love” is a red heart), offers washing and drying services, food, and drinks. They claim to be South Africa’s “first destination laundry”.

Thomson Reuters Foundation • 29th March 2018

South Africa pushes to combat HIV among girls #blessed by sugar daddies

More than 10 percent of young women in South Africa are HIV positive JOHANNESBURG, March 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Before 20-year-old Lebogang Motsumi even had sex with her first "blesser" - or sugar daddy - a successful, married, company boss more than twice her age, he handed her a wad of cash. He was soon making regular deposits into her bank account, paying her rent and taking her out in exchange for sex, which the young single mother readily accepted as she had a three-month-old b

News Deeply/Women's Advancement • 21st March 2018

In Uganda, Unmarried Women Must Fight to Keep Their Homes

Kampala, UGANDA – After almost two decades living with a man nearly twice her age, who first got her pregnant when she was 15, Jane Zamukunda finally had one small comfort: a nice home that she felt was hers. Her partner and father of her three children had bought a piece of land in the Nansana suburb of Kampala, where they built a house together. It was comfortable by most standards, with furniture and a TV. But most important to Zamukunda, now 28, was the fact that she had a key to the house:

Sun-Herald Australia • 17th March 2018

White South African farmers dig in against deadly persecution

Heading out onto his 325-hectare property in a lush part of South Africa where the serenity of the pine trees and rolling hills belies some of the trouble that has occurred, Robin (name changed) was doing what has become “an absolute necessity”.

Quartz Africa • 15th March 2018

Australia's offer to fast track visas for "persecuted" white farmers is slammed by South Africa

A potential offer by Australia to give white South African farmers “humanitarian” visas has sparked backlash from the South African government. Australia’s home affairs, immigration and border protection minister Peter Dutton said he had asked his department to “look at ways in which we can provide some assistance”, following claims in the country’s Rupert Murdoch-owned newspapers that “white South African farmers are murdered every week.” Fact-checking website Africa Check was quick to point o

News Deeply Malnutrition Deeply • 27th February 2018

In Uganda, Finding Out Just How ‘Miraculous’ Sweet Potatoes Can Be

LUWERO, Uganda – At Joweria Sekiyanja’s house in tiny Mayilikiti village in central Uganda, a group of about 15 women are marveling at an assortment of goodies the mother has made to sell at local markets. There are twisted treats Sekiyanja calls “mummies,” doughnuts, cakes, packaged porridge and soft-drink bottles containing a bright orange liquid. The common ingredient in all of them is orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP). The biofortified crop is enriched with beta-Carotene, which gives the p

The Sydney Morning Herald • 16th February 2018

The Aussie student who makes soccer jerseys for the world's toughest market

Kampala, Uganda: When Robert Wurube, a South Sudanese soccer player, represents millions of people from his war-torn country sporting his national jersey, there’s some Australian labour of love that’s gone into his uniform’s design. The green shirt donned by the midfielder boasts a bright, complex diagonal sash with cultural symbols traditionally worn by local chiefs to symbolise their power. It was created by the AMS Clothing company, founded by Melbourne university student Luke Westcott. AMS

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