Hopewell Rugoho-Chin'onoHopewell Rugoho-Chin'ono


Zimbabwe

 

Occupational Information


Job Title: Television Journalist, Foreign Correspondent, and Documentary Film Maker

Professional History


Hopewell is an award-winning television journalist, foreign correspondent, and documentary film maker. He is a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University – one of only three Zimbabwean journalists to have been awarded this prestigious Fellowship in journalism. He trained as a journalist at the Zimbabwean Institute of Mass Communications before attaining his first post-graduate Master of Arts degree in International Journalism from City University's Journalism school in London. After graduating from City University, he worked with the BBC World Service as a freelance radio producer. In 2003, he returned to Zimbabwe to work for the BBC as a freelance correspondent. He was awarded the British government’s Chevening scholarship in 2006 to read Film at Brunel University, where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in Documentary Practice in 2007. That same year, he made a multi-award-winning documentary film called Pain in My Heart. In 2008, he went on to win the 2008 CNN African Journalist of the Year award as well as the Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa. After making Pain in My Heart he set up Television International in Zimbabwe, a production house that produced news for ITN and South Africa's etv. He has also worked with CNN International as a field producer on special assignments. In 2009, he was the winner of the US Aid Communication award in Zimbabwe for his HIV and AIDS reporting. In 2010 he was nominated for a Rory Peck television award for his documentary film, A Violent Response. That documentary was also nominated for a 2010 BANFF World Television Award in Canada. He was a television producer for UK's ITV News, which is part of the Independent Television News Group, and the Zimbabwe Foreign Correspondent for The New York Times. He also worked as South Africa's eNCA foreign correspondent and producer in Zimbabwe from February 2008 to April 2014. He subsequently decided to focus on documentary filmmaking. His 2018 documentary, State of Mind, focused on living with mental illness in Zimbabwe, was well received by viewers and critics alike. It was selected for the Festival International du Film Pan-Africain de Cannes in France and nominated in the Best Documentary category at the Heart of England Film Festival. It was also nominated for an award and screening at the African Film Festival in Dallas

Qualifications


Nieman Fellowship in Journalism from Harvard University
Master of Arts degree in Documentary Film Practice from Brunel University on a Chevening Scholarship in the UK
Master of Arts degree in International Journalism from City University, London, UK
Post-grad Diploma in Mass Communications from the Zimbabwe Institute in Mass Communications, majoring in print journalism.

Program


2008 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow


Additional Search Tags: Journalist, Documentary Film Maker, Radio Producer,  Communications, television producer, foreign correspondent, political prisoner, Nieman Fellow,
 

About AFLI

 

AFLIICONCROPPED

 

The African Leadership Institute (AFLI) focuses on building the capacity and capability of visionary and strategic leadership across the continent. Developing exceptional leaders representing all spheres of society, the Institute’s flagship programme is the prestigious Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellowship. Offering a multifaceted learning experience and run in partnership with Oxford University, it is awarded annually to 20-25 carefully chosen candidates, nominated from across Africa. Alumni of the African Leadership Institute form a dynamic network of Fellows passionately committed to the continent’s transformation, bridging the divide between nations and ensuring that Africa is set centre-stage in global affairs.