Young Rotaract leader driving change in the Pacific
President of the Kiribati Rotaract Youth Club, Miriam Moriati, is advocating for gender parity and climate stability in the Pacific.
Amy Fallon
Journalist, Media &
Communications
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Recently, while in a cemetery, I came across a Goethe quote on a grave:
“Plunge boldly into the thick of life and seize it where you will. It is always interesting.”
It reminded me of my approach to my work as a journalist, media and communications specialist. Curiosity drives what I do, and is why I've been successful.
I find and write stories about underreported issues and I am approached to promote organisations. I love getting media coverage and visibility for people. As a freelancer, I've had a page one story about Uganda in the Saturday Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. I found it myself. Not easy, but I was bold. I found sources and asked difficult questions.
I was asked to speak on the BBC to speak about another story that I wrote for development site Devex. Another with the Index magazine was republished with The Bookseller. I'm frequently invited to speak on podcasts about other stories.
After beginning my career with the Australian national news agency, I reported from the newsrooms of most of the UK national papers in London, and from Africa and Asia as a foreign correspondent. I became passionate about human rights in Uganda - so devoted five years to obtaining a master's degree in this area. Not easy and a huge commitment, but it was important for me to do this in order to understand some things more.
I write about travel, culture and lifestyle, too. (I took up running again in Uganda and I then did the Toronto Marathon and a half-marathon in Johannesburg).
I've lived in and worked from five continents. I've worked for most major media outlets in Australia. I’ve reported from Canada and worked for publications in the US. (I'm lucky to have a mother from Toronto. My grandfather was Scottish, so I'm lucky to have also had the opportunity to live and work in the UK because of this).
Other outlets I've worked for include The Guardian, The Age, The Saturday Paper, Crikey, SBS, ABC, National Geographic, the i paper, NPR, AFP, TRF and many more. You can see these below and some reporting highlights here.
Many of the stories that I've written and my other social content has gone viral.
As a media consultant, I landed a TV interview for a small charity with France 24 - and more for others. You can see this work here.
My work has also led to organisations receiving awards, funding and other opportunities.
Getting back to Goethe, I am invested in every person I work with. My interest in life, human nature and politics is why I became a journalist.
I build rapport easily with all sorts of people. Some of my favorite client reviews proclaim that I was the rare journalist to understand their work, to get the key quotes and to dig deeper to see the story in print. That I’m funny – in a good way.
I rate kindness and empathy. I volunteer. One of my best experiences has been helping rough sleepers in London's Docklands during Christmas. I also started delivering how to land media coverage workshops and webinars which have been a great success. I realised that I could help people by arming them with the skills and knowledge that I have accumulated over the past two decades.
My expertise in building social networks means that I've accumulated nearly 13k followers on X.
Please get in touch on amy@amyfallon.com or via +44 (0) 7494188269 or +61 (0) 451 072 181 (WhatsApp).
Published work
Australia is turning up the heat on environmental activists - Index on Censorship
Extinction Rebellion protesters lock themselves to barricades in Melbourne, Australia in 2021 to raise public awareness on the issue of climate change inaction. Photo by Jay Kogler / Alamy Live NewsPetrina Harley likens direct action to giving birth.
“My body knew it had a job to do, so I got on and focused on my inner strength,” the 53-year-old mother of two told Index via phone from Perth. “I find it really empowering.”
Harley is a climate activist of eight years facing trial in June for repea...
“My body knew it had a job to do, so I got on and focused on my inner strength,” the 53-year-old mother of two told Index via phone from Perth. “I find it really empowering.”
Harley is a climate activist of eight years facing trial in June for repea...
'Hymn karaoke': Veterans organisation and War Memorial told to modernise Dawn Services or face 'irrelevance'
The RSL and the Australian War Memorial (AWM) have been warned they’re out of step on the Canberra Anzac Day Dawn Service that has been likened to church, after a complaint that the service amounted to discrimination against the growing number of irreligious people in Australia.
Si Gladman, executive director of freethought organisation Rationalist Society of Australia wrote to the ACT Human Rights Commission (HRC) last year, asserting that the Christian-dominated ceremony “risks alienating...
Si Gladman, executive director of freethought organisation Rationalist Society of Australia wrote to the ACT Human Rights Commission (HRC) last year, asserting that the Christian-dominated ceremony “risks alienating...
Does the consultancy model need an overhaul? These agencies think so
Does the consultancy model need an
overhaul? These agencies think so
Several women-led organizations are trying to reshape the development consultancy world to address issues such as unpaid assignments, inequitable payment, and consultant burnout.
As a consultant with an extensive period of work spanning 25 years in the development space, communications specialist Deborah Walter is used to looking for the next contract while working on the current one. But in the past few years, she has noticed one big trend related to the job search.
“There seems to be a lack of understanding and under-valuing of consultants’
time, energy, and creative intellectual property,” South Africa-based Walter,
who co-runs social change agency Community Media for Development
Productions on the side, told Devex.
In the past, she’s been asked to develop a hypothetical communications strategy
framework along with press releases, social media posts, and talking points for
interviews plus proposed campaign brand ideas and initial mock-ups and videos
for potential work with several organizations, which, as a busy wife and mother,
Walter brands “unreasonable.”
As the founder and managing director of recently rebranded social change agency Comotion, one of several women-led organizations now trying to reshape the development consultancy world so that others aren’t just talking the talk but are also walking it, Rachel Firth agrees.
“I think we've all likely had experiences of going for job interviews, having to
basically write strategies as part of the interview process, then not getting the
job, and you're wondering ‘Well how many of those ideas are they going to take
from that and now use?’” she told Devex.
“That's your intellectual property — and you should be paid for it.”
Comotion, a global network of activists, strategists, campaigners, and creatives
spanning all regions and fields of work, formerly known as Global Office
Consulting and WomenInDev, was set up by London-based Firth in 2015 in
response to a traditional consultancy model that she said was broken. Firth’s
previous experience includes roles with the International Confederation of
Midwives, The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and Worldwide Helpers.
The agency — which offers a range of services from strategy development to
proposal writing to training and curricula development and has worked for the
Global Fund for Women, the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action, and
Mama Cash among others — has committed to paying all of their
consultants for any test that they ask them to undertake for any potential work.
overhaul? These agencies think so
Several women-led organizations are trying to reshape the development consultancy world to address issues such as unpaid assignments, inequitable payment, and consultant burnout.
As a consultant with an extensive period of work spanning 25 years in the development space, communications specialist Deborah Walter is used to looking for the next contract while working on the current one. But in the past few years, she has noticed one big trend related to the job search.
“There seems to be a lack of understanding and under-valuing of consultants’
time, energy, and creative intellectual property,” South Africa-based Walter,
who co-runs social change agency Community Media for Development
Productions on the side, told Devex.
In the past, she’s been asked to develop a hypothetical communications strategy
framework along with press releases, social media posts, and talking points for
interviews plus proposed campaign brand ideas and initial mock-ups and videos
for potential work with several organizations, which, as a busy wife and mother,
Walter brands “unreasonable.”
As the founder and managing director of recently rebranded social change agency Comotion, one of several women-led organizations now trying to reshape the development consultancy world so that others aren’t just talking the talk but are also walking it, Rachel Firth agrees.
“I think we've all likely had experiences of going for job interviews, having to
basically write strategies as part of the interview process, then not getting the
job, and you're wondering ‘Well how many of those ideas are they going to take
from that and now use?’” she told Devex.
“That's your intellectual property — and you should be paid for it.”
Comotion, a global network of activists, strategists, campaigners, and creatives
spanning all regions and fields of work, formerly known as Global Office
Consulting and WomenInDev, was set up by London-based Firth in 2015 in
response to a traditional consultancy model that she said was broken. Firth’s
previous experience includes roles with the International Confederation of
Midwives, The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and Worldwide Helpers.
The agency — which offers a range of services from strategy development to
proposal writing to training and curricula development and has worked for the
Global Fund for Women, the Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action, and
Mama Cash among others — has committed to paying all of their
consultants for any test that they ask them to undertake for any potential work.
Soccer and science: Can global health learn from FIFA's benefit sharing?
When the Paris Peace Forum nonprofit began working on pandemic preparedness to support the global health community's efforts in the COVID-19 response, they discovered a “profound and entirely understandable sense of injustice” expressed by the scientists in Botswana and South Africa who identified the omicron variant. “They had discovered and provided the world with the knowledge and data to combat these pathogens, yet they were the last to access medical products deriving from their discovery,”...
'Two is better than one': Why some NGOs are choosing co-leadership
When NGO GNP+, the Global Network of People Living with HIV, embarked on its 2021 search for not one but two bosses for what one of its co-leaders now calls an “arranged marriage,” their board chair was doubtful.
“When role-share was first suggested as an alternative model of leadership I had questions — will this be efficient, what about egos, will it cause confusion with external representation?” said Jacquelyne Alesi, the chair of the GNP+ board, on the organization’s site. “However, having looked at the idea in more detail I now see co-leadership through a new lens of mutual accountability, flexibility, and support — all central to a feminist leadership model.”
“When role-share was first suggested as an alternative model of leadership I had questions — will this be efficient, what about egos, will it cause confusion with external representation?” said Jacquelyne Alesi, the chair of the GNP+ board, on the organization’s site. “However, having looked at the idea in more detail I now see co-leadership through a new lens of mutual accountability, flexibility, and support — all central to a feminist leadership model.”
Ranking destinations is ridiculous and needs to stop, stat
Having been named the ‘world’s most liveable’ city too many times to count, Vancouver already had an impressively stocked trophy cabinet when it was crowned the globe’s ‘most friendly city’ in 2019. Cut to 2022 and another poll rolls around, this time ranking Ryan Reynolds’ hometown in the worst places for expats to live. Apparently the city was now full of not-so-friendly locals.
While planning a trip to Vancouver last year, a place I’d dreamed of visiting, I pored over all these views/ranking...
While planning a trip to Vancouver last year, a place I’d dreamed of visiting, I pored over all these views/ranking...
An agency for those denied agency
In 2012 and 2013, during a massive explosion of online Sikh education, one man had a vision. The late Bhai Jagrai Singh was an Oxford graduate and former British Army officer who gave up a successful finance career to found the Sikh Press Association in London one year later. Today SikhPA provides multi-platform content including editorial copy, news, images, infographics, video content, listing information and data to journalists and newsrooms all around the world.
A news agency for a faith that isn’t bigger than one per cent of the population of any country such as the UK, Canada or Australia, where there are the largest numbers of Sikhs outside India, and run by a team of just two is a big deal. The news agency has provided
coverage of the 2020 and 2021 farmer’s protest against three laws passed by the Indian Parliament, and the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in October 2023.
Deepa Singh, also known as Kaldip Singh Lehal is the founder of the group Sikh Youth UK who was arrested at Gatwick airport while returning to the UK and subjected to a humiliating detainment and “interrogation…like a terrorist”, he claims, under the
government’s counterterror law in December. He’s also given Sikh PA interviews. “If it weren’t for the Sikh Press Association, a lot of Sikh voices,
especially ours wouldn't be heard,” says Deepa.
But “censorship and targeted interference remain barriers” to the agency’s work, say Everything 13 (E13), the charity that Bhai Jagrai
Singh started to launch projects like Sikh PA. Its press officers have received threatening phone calls after covering certain issues, while online death threats are a frequent occurrence says Jasveer Singh. Originally from the UK, he’s now based in British Columbia (BC), Canada, which has a large Sikh population, working for the agency from there. “There have also been character attacks which involve tarnishing the reputation of staff, legal threats and even efforts to have the association labelled an extremist organisation,” says Jasveer.
He says that while some of those behind these may be “Indian nationalist bots” and some may not be real people, “if they’re willing to threaten someone like me, then the people that are active who are bringing thousands together to be part of this movement…they want them killed”. A former staff member was also prevented from entering India because of his journalism, says Jasveer.
Because the West “became apathetic to Indian interference, overlooking it for trade deals,” borders do not keep the community safe, he explains. As support for Khalistan and criticism of India has increased and India has stepped up its efforts to silence activists, enclaves in the diaspora where violent criminal Indian nationalist gangs work have appeared, he claims.
“But Sikh faith is entwined with tales of courage and sacrifice,” says Jasveer adding that carrying out the work of Bhai Jagrai Singh, who died in 2017 age just 39, is a “task of honour”. “We are the voice for the voiceless, a megaphone for the unheard of our community,” says
Jasveer. “That must continue regardless.”
A news agency for a faith that isn’t bigger than one per cent of the population of any country such as the UK, Canada or Australia, where there are the largest numbers of Sikhs outside India, and run by a team of just two is a big deal. The news agency has provided
coverage of the 2020 and 2021 farmer’s protest against three laws passed by the Indian Parliament, and the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in October 2023.
Deepa Singh, also known as Kaldip Singh Lehal is the founder of the group Sikh Youth UK who was arrested at Gatwick airport while returning to the UK and subjected to a humiliating detainment and “interrogation…like a terrorist”, he claims, under the
government’s counterterror law in December. He’s also given Sikh PA interviews. “If it weren’t for the Sikh Press Association, a lot of Sikh voices,
especially ours wouldn't be heard,” says Deepa.
But “censorship and targeted interference remain barriers” to the agency’s work, say Everything 13 (E13), the charity that Bhai Jagrai
Singh started to launch projects like Sikh PA. Its press officers have received threatening phone calls after covering certain issues, while online death threats are a frequent occurrence says Jasveer Singh. Originally from the UK, he’s now based in British Columbia (BC), Canada, which has a large Sikh population, working for the agency from there. “There have also been character attacks which involve tarnishing the reputation of staff, legal threats and even efforts to have the association labelled an extremist organisation,” says Jasveer.
He says that while some of those behind these may be “Indian nationalist bots” and some may not be real people, “if they’re willing to threaten someone like me, then the people that are active who are bringing thousands together to be part of this movement…they want them killed”. A former staff member was also prevented from entering India because of his journalism, says Jasveer.
Because the West “became apathetic to Indian interference, overlooking it for trade deals,” borders do not keep the community safe, he explains. As support for Khalistan and criticism of India has increased and India has stepped up its efforts to silence activists, enclaves in the diaspora where violent criminal Indian nationalist gangs work have appeared, he claims.
“But Sikh faith is entwined with tales of courage and sacrifice,” says Jasveer adding that carrying out the work of Bhai Jagrai Singh, who died in 2017 age just 39, is a “task of honour”. “We are the voice for the voiceless, a megaphone for the unheard of our community,” says
Jasveer. “That must continue regardless.”
Censorship focus: Canada (also published in the Index on Censorship magazine)
When Canadian non-binary and queer author Ronnie Riley discovered they’d been “shadow banned” last November they were horrified. But it was a matter of sooner rather than later.
“I felt absolutely horrible, but I knew it was a possibility,” said the Toronto-based writer, who spent several years trying to get their debut novel aimed at middle graders, Jude Saves the World, published. In the book, 12-year-old protagonist Jude Winters is non-binary and has ADHD. “I’ve experienced my share of trans
“I felt absolutely horrible, but I knew it was a possibility,” said the Toronto-based writer, who spent several years trying to get their debut novel aimed at middle graders, Jude Saves the World, published. In the book, 12-year-old protagonist Jude Winters is non-binary and has ADHD. “I’ve experienced my share of trans
Uganda tweaked its anti-gay law just to get donor cash, activists say
As a court in Uganda refused to strike down one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws enacted nearly a year ago, activists fear the law there and the “lackluster” response to it from donors will spur on other countries considering similar harsh legislation.
The Constitutional Court of Uganda on Wednesday rejected the nullification of The Anti-Homosexuality Act in its entirety, scrapping just two sections and two subsections and declaring the rest of the law constitutional. The ruling, which had
The Constitutional Court of Uganda on Wednesday rejected the nullification of The Anti-Homosexuality Act in its entirety, scrapping just two sections and two subsections and declaring the rest of the law constitutional. The ruling, which had
Rotary Down Under April 2024 preview
Story Excerpts from April issue
‘Humour is powerful’: Cartoons take on Uganda’s repressive government
Huge potholes and rundown hospitals are actually getting fixed, thanks to a cartoonist’s online satire aimed at the government.
Ugandan cartoonist Jim Spire Ssentongo didn’t know what he was starting last April when he sent out a tweet encouraging people to post photos of the ubiquitous potholes across the country’s capital.
“A friend of mine is organising a mega KAMPALA POTHOLE PHOTO EXHIBITION” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on April 15 last year. “Share here photos o
Ugandan cartoonist Jim Spire Ssentongo didn’t know what he was starting last April when he sent out a tweet encouraging people to post photos of the ubiquitous potholes across the country’s capital.
“A friend of mine is organising a mega KAMPALA POTHOLE PHOTO EXHIBITION” he wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on April 15 last year. “Share here photos o
Calls renew for Australia's corporate religious institutions to pay 'fair share' of tax
There are renewed calls for religious charities to face “a day of financial reckoning” and “pay their fair share of tax”, as the government prepares to table a report in Parliament on Australian philanthropy.
The “once-in-a-generation” review, announced just over a year ago as part of the government’s election vow to double philanthropic giving by 2030, and to boost donations to charities, is being undertaken by the Productivity Commission (PC).
Last month, former Jehovah’s Witness whistleblow
The “once-in-a-generation” review, announced just over a year ago as part of the government’s election vow to double philanthropic giving by 2030, and to boost donations to charities, is being undertaken by the Productivity Commission (PC).
Last month, former Jehovah’s Witness whistleblow
Julian Assange’s appeal outcome has ramifications for the future of journalism
A loss for Julian Assange in his final appeal against extradition to the United States this week would be the end of the road for him within the British legal system and, his supporters argue, a death sentence.
The WikiLeaks co-founder has been incarcerated in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison since April 11, 2019, when he was dragged out of the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where he’d sought asylum. The man who now faces an 18-count indictment over his alleged role in one of the largest l
The WikiLeaks co-founder has been incarcerated in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison since April 11, 2019, when he was dragged out of the Embassy of Ecuador in London, where he’d sought asylum. The man who now faces an 18-count indictment over his alleged role in one of the largest l
New Global Water Safety and Drowning Prevention Rotary Club making a Splash
Book bannings the canary in the coal mine — and Australia could be next
Vancouver’s Eastside is generally viewed as a liberal place, but today librarians there have a new battle on their hands.
“They are now spending their time looking for hate speech, which in Canada is an illegal thing,” Jen Ferguson, a Michif/Métis author with ancestral ties to the Red River, told a recent Vancouver Writers Fest session.
She recounted a conversation with a librarian in that part of the city: “She told me that her library has to flip through all the pages of young adult books wh
“They are now spending their time looking for hate speech, which in Canada is an illegal thing,” Jen Ferguson, a Michif/Métis author with ancestral ties to the Red River, told a recent Vancouver Writers Fest session.
She recounted a conversation with a librarian in that part of the city: “She told me that her library has to flip through all the pages of young adult books wh
‘They can kill us’: Fear and Sikh resilience in Canada city amid India spat
Six months after Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s assassination, his community members face threats but say they’re not defeated.
Surrey, British Columbia – On a Saturday afternoon in a Sikh temple in Surrey, Canada, boys and men with determined faces wield swords and sticks at each other in an ancient martial art called gatka.
“We are a rebellious community,” Gurkeerat Singh, a farmer, electrician, photographer and spokesperson for the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Temple, tells me. Surrey is about a 45-min
Surrey, British Columbia – On a Saturday afternoon in a Sikh temple in Surrey, Canada, boys and men with determined faces wield swords and sticks at each other in an ancient martial art called gatka.
“We are a rebellious community,” Gurkeerat Singh, a farmer, electrician, photographer and spokesperson for the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Temple, tells me. Surrey is about a 45-min
If You Think Traveling to Visit Orphanages Is Helpful, It’s Time to Reconsider
The #endorphanagetourism campaign targeting tourists traveling from the U.K. comes as U.S. organizations also warn them about the dangers that children’s institutions pose to young ones, backed up by decades of research.
For nearly 10 years in the 1980s, from the age of four until she was a teenager, Rukhiya Budden called an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, home. Her mother was alive but had mental health issues and was unable to support her, so Budden stayed in the privately funded home. Every wee
For nearly 10 years in the 1980s, from the age of four until she was a teenager, Rukhiya Budden called an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya, home. Her mother was alive but had mental health issues and was unable to support her, so Budden stayed in the privately funded home. Every wee
'I Had To Do It': Unpaid Tests vs. Freelance Journalists
When widely-published freelance journalist Valentina Valentini was sent a job ad from a friend for a Newsweek freelance entertainment role, she “wasn’t shocked” to find out that it later demanded she do an unpaid test.
After applying for the role, she was told over the phone that she’d have to do a free assessment to score the job. “I was disappointed,” the London-based freelancer of 14 years, whose work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, and The LA Times to name a few, told Jour
After applying for the role, she was told over the phone that she’d have to do a free assessment to score the job. “I was disappointed,” the London-based freelancer of 14 years, whose work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, and The LA Times to name a few, told Jour
Young Rotarian on a mission to reduce suicide in Uganda
Zambia deletes 'sexual' from SRHR in blow to LGBTQ+ and rights groups
A move by Zambia to take the word “sexual” out of “sexual and reproductive health and rights” as part of an LGBTQ+ crackdown has raised the eyebrows of activists and donors, with some warning that this could lead to an “entrenchment of patriarchal norms” and particularly impact HIV service provision.
The attempt was recently outlined in a letter dated Sept. 21 by professor Christopher Simoonga, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, and sent to all provincial health directors in the sou
The attempt was recently outlined in a letter dated Sept. 21 by professor Christopher Simoonga, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, and sent to all provincial health directors in the sou
The schools educating the next generation of Uganda's humanists
When Peter Kisirinya laid down the first handmade brick of a high school classroom in 2005, surrounded by his community in Kateera, Uganda, he didn't have any inkling of how ground-breaking it was. "I had no sense that I was starting the first of thing anything in the world," said the founder and managing director or the Isaac Newton Humanist High School, believed to be the first and longest-running institution of its kind in Africa.
Ugandan activists want donors to review programs after anti-gay law
Activists want donors to move from condemnation to action but some funders are concerned that halting their programs would deprive the most vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ+ people, of vital assistance.
Paying it Forward via the National Youth Science Forum
One year ago, Tasmanian senior secondary student Aisha Bassett had little knowledge of what Rotary did. Now, she is one of the organisation's inspiring young advocates.
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