The aim of the project is to improve the quality of media training, promote good governance, and build capacity among journalists so that men, women and youth are portrayed in balanced manner in the media.
Full list of projects
This project aims to adapt and implement a participatory model of CR programme production, the Community Learning Programme (CLP). In doing so, the project proponent, Rupantar, will build on its earlier work with the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA). CEMCA is the regional agency for the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), and implements COL’s mandate in eight South Asian countries.
Provide 20 female members of the Association des femmes comoriennes de la presse (AFCP) with a 1-week course on the production of news reports and on conducting media interviews so that, on completion, they will be able to perform their jobs in their respective media houses in full knowledge of the rules applicable to news processing while adhering to the ethical principles and values of the profession.
This project seeks training support for the Bhutanese media to be more sustainable. In order to achieve a more holistic result, the project includes two training components addressed to journalists: one is developing skills on reporting rural issues in order to attract wider circulation in rural area, and subsequently to attract increased government advertising revenue. The other one is reporting economic, financial and business issues. Better business reporting is expected to attract specific urban audiences and subsequently increase advertising revenue. On the other hand, the media...
The aim of the project is to contribute to training in investigative journalism and in so doing remove the main obstacles to in-depth, high-quality inquiries. The message that needs to be driven home is that there is no quick and easy way to produce good articles, and that investigations that require time and effort are always worth it in the end.
Two training sessions, each lasting 2 days, will be organised: one for print-media personnel, and one for audiovisual-media personnel. The UNESCO Manual, "Hypothesis-based investigation: the Investigative Journalist's manual" will...
The "Journalism and citizenship" project initiated by Belekan Community Radio finds its justification in the desire to contribute to the process of post-conflict management. The project will address the issues of citizenship and human rights through the use of ICT resources. Young people will be its main beneficiaries.
This project proposes innovative documentation of good practice through the use of participatory content creation / participatory audio and video production methodologies. The project will support the use of innovative new media technologies like the mobile and the internet to enable community radio stations to create and share this body of work with each other and with the national and global community
The Caribbean has a varied level of media development, with Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica being the most sophisticated and Dominica and Guyana the least. Within the territories and countries of CARICOM (the Caribbean Community), there are about 25 local terrestrial stations and 60-100 cable channels. Radio licences exceed 300 and there are more than a dozen daily print newspapers and 5 weekly publications as well as on-line dailies and weeklies, all serving a population of about 6 million. There is a mix of private and state owned broadcasters with the latter dominating in some...
Pakistan is one of the deadliest countries for local journalists. In addition to facing various dangers when reporting, they are subject to constant digital security threats. Given that most journalists in Pakistan do not know how to protect themselves against cyber criminals, this project will develop a comprehensive manual for tjese journalists detailing Pakistan's existing (and missing) security laws and cyber policies. Based on this manual, digital security training will be offered to 150 journalists in Lahore and Islamabad as well as to journalism and mass communication students at...
Many girls and women in East Africa do not have equal opportunities to exercise their legally-recognised rights and face social exclusion, “honour” killings, female genital mutilation, trafficking, restricted mobility and early marriage. Broadcasting organisations, which play a central role in shaping public perceptions of gender, can either worsen the situation (by portraying stereotypical, sensational images of women) or ameliorate it (by providing balanced coverage that empowers women, while exposing acts of gender bias); in recent years, East African media have mostly been doing the...
In order for journalism to foster sustainable development, media professionals require the right skills and equipment to develop communication strategies that serve their communities. However, capacity-building opportunities are often lacking. This project will therefore train community radio workers to implement communication strategies that promote sustainable community development and local participation. The training will draw upon UNESCO’s Media Development Indicators concerning professional capacity-building. The Model Curricula for Journalism Education: A Compendium of New Syllabi...
Community reporting has never been a priority in Lesotho. The media is based in the capital city of Maseru and rural voices are rarely heard. Rural communities only make the news in negative stories or when a government official comes to officiate a development initiative. Given the increase in social and political problems in rural Lesotho, it is becoming more and more critical for rural communities to have an alternative media platform where they can have their voices heard and can discuss their own issues and possible solutions.
Lesotho’s only community radio station,...
Radio Peace recognizes the developmental power of radio and realizes that sustainable development calls for cohesive communities that are grounded in their cultures and traditions. However, the limited success of decentralization in Ghana has left many communities in the central region without a clear process for integrated community action. Preoccupied with day-to-day subsistence, most listeners of Radio Peace are unable to fully appreciate the links between quality of life and good governance. This project aims to promote access to communication media and the right to communicate to this...
The safety of journalists is a serious problem in the Dominican Republic. This project therefore aims to train Dominican journalists to understand the legal framework in which they perform their duties, identify threats they may confront, learn risk reduction skills and develop safety initiatives, in accordance with the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists. The training program will follow UNESCO’s Model Curricula for Journalism Education - A Compendium of New Syllabi (2013). Specifically, it will adapt the Safety and Journalism course, including the section on specific threats...
Khorixas, with an estimated population of 68,735 people, is one of the lest developed parts of Namibia. This town and the neighbouring villages receive no daily newspapers and only intermittent radio coverage from one state-owned station. Khorixas therefore lacks a community platform to discuss development and social issues in a pluralistic, accessible and democratic way and is isolated from regional, national and international affairs.
There have been recurring and unmitigated resource-based conflicts over the years between the region’s diverse communities. In addition, the...
This project will use the UNESCO safety indicators to research the safety issues impacting media practice in Liberia, which faces growing local and international concern. There will be a series of Monrovia-based expert interviews and focus group discussions targeting specific professionals with links to these safety issues, organized into four regional clusters.
This project is important given the current situation in Liberia. The last ten years have been characterized by peace and democratic renewal, with a growing number of media houses and improvement in media content as...
None of Belize’s junior colleges or universities provide formal journalism training, despite a growing demand for journalists. Consequently, most of the country's journalists enter the profession with an education in a different field and may not possess the skills and competencies required to be competent journalists. The Organization for the Promotion of Youths in Journalism (OPYJ) is concerned about this situation and has been working with interest youths to help them secure scholarships to study journalism abroad. However, due to limited resources, it has only been able to secure such...
Valley FM is a community-based radio that broadcasts from Worcester, Western Cape, where radio is the most accessible and cost-effective communication medium for the mostly farm-dwelling residents. As of 2013, the station had 121,000 listeners across 28 towns in a region where community issues are marginalized in media coverage by the national broadcaster. Valley FM broadcasts in three languages - Afrikaans (80%), isiXhosa (15%) and English (5%) – and covers local concerns that may not feature in national news, such as domestic violence and teenage pregnancy. The station also has a strong...
Evidence increasingly points in the direction of growing threats to the safety of journalists in Nigeria. This is highlighted by the claim by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the trade union and professional umbrella body of thousands of practicing journalists in Nigeria, that 13 journalists were killed in the course of assignments in the year 2012, representing the highest so far since the country’s independence in 1960. This is beside other forms of attacks, threats and intimidation. However, despite this apparent evidence, an outstanding problem is that of the absence of an...