The U.S. Embassy, Yerevan, of the U.S. Department of State, announces an open competition for organizations to submit a statement of interest (SOI) to implement an “Investigative Journalism Training Program” project in Armenia. The initiative will advance the Embassy’s goal of bolstering the ability of independent media in Armenia to effectively inform the public, counter misinformation, and advance shared democratic values by building a pipeline of professionally trained journalists capable of producing quality journalism. The training program will be based on U.S. journalism education best practices and state of the art multimedia production techniques.

The submission of the SOI is the first step in a two-step process. Applicants must first submit a concise (1-3 pages) SOI designed to clearly communicate the project idea and objectives. This is not a full proposal. The purpose of the SOI process is to allow applicants to submit project ideas for evaluation prior to requiring the development of a full proposal application. Upon a merit review of eligible SOIs, selected applicants will be invited to expand on their project idea(s) by submitting a full proposal application. Full proposals will go through a second merit review before final funding decision(s) are made.

Background

In recent years, the Armenian media landscape has witnessed an increase in the level of disinformation. Nevertheless, due to the growing number of methods of disinformation and misinformation, and limited support for the enhancement of traditional journalism education for Armenian aspiring and working journalists, there is a growing gap of disparity between journalism education and current needs of the media market. The need for this training initiative is also supported by the findings of a recent, comprehensive needs assessment of journalism education in Armenia, conducted by the Embassy among a wide range of stakeholders in media field.  As revealed by the needs assessment, there is an urgent need to improve university-level journalism education in Armenia, particularly in investigative journalism, and the latest multimedia production techniques. Hence, the Embassy seeks to fund proposals for establishing an innovative training space that will provide tailor-made, academic curriculum with a strong focus on investigative journalism and the latest audio/visual techniques for media production, as well as will be equipped with necessary state-of-the-art equipment and software resources for hands on learning. The proposal to create the training program will fill a major gap in providing much needed supplemental training for undergraduate journalism students and aspiring journalists. In the long run, it will enhance the overall media environment and, specifically, bolster journalists' capacity in investigative journalism, combating disinformation, equipping citizens with accurate information, which will ultimately uphold the crucial role of media in overseeing democratic institutions, as well as reinforce mission of the media in holding those institutions accountable. The organization should identify U.S. best practices in journalism education as a foundation on which the curriculum for the investigative journalism training program should be based.

Priority Region: Armenia

Project Goals and Objectives:

The goal of this project is to strengthen the Armenian media landscape and address the existing gaps in journalism education and capacities through building a pipeline of professional journalists capable of producing quality investigative and fact-based journalism content.

The project seeks to fulfill following objectives:

·        Objective 1: Strengthen the core reporting knowledge, skills and abilities of aspiring Armenian journalists to produce quality, fact-based journalism content․

·        Objective 2: Specifically train aspiring journalists in investigative journalism skills to include data driven reporting, credible sourcing, interviewing skills, and media ethics.

·        Objective 3: Train aspiring journalists in the latest audio/visual techniques to produce high quality and engaging multimedia content with public impact.

·        Objective 4: Include the production of an investigative journalism story or multimedia content as a capstone project for each graduate of training program.

·        Objective 5: Support the professional development and career prospects of the program participants through internship placements with local media outlets.

·        Objective 6: Support the professional development of program graduates with fellowships to pursue investigative journalism projects, as well as other networking and continuous learning opportunities.

Expected Results

It is expected that the project will enhance the overall media environment and, specifically, bolster journalists' capacity in combating disinformation, equipping citizens with accurate information, which will ultimately uphold the crucial role of media in overseeing democratic institutions. By providing much-needed supplemental education for undergraduate journalism students with a focus on investigative journalism, it will constitute an integral component in the pipeline of journalists trained in professional and ethical standards of journalism in Armenia.

Main Activities

The main activities of the two-year project will be establishment of the training program, design of the necessary curriculum, enrollment of students, and delivering two iterations of the one-year training programs for a minimum of 50 aspiring journalists (minimum 25 participants each year). The recipient is required to utilize U.S. expertise and best practices in journalism education when designing the program curriculum. While the SOI should communicate the project idea and objectives, the applicants selected for the second stage of the application process will be required to submit proposals that will incorporate the following components into their activities, clearly indicating which activities will advance the stated objectives: 

·        Establishment of a training program where Armenian aspiring journalists and journalism students will be trained with a strong focus on investigative journalism.

·        Development of a curriculum for the training program. Courses may include, but not be limited to, the following fields: Investigative Journalism, Data Journalism, Photo Storytelling, Video Storytelling, Video Shooting and Editing, Design, Visualization and Animation, Intro to Journalism and Creative Writing, English for Journalists, Fact-Checking, Ethics and Media Law, and Tech in Journalism.

·        Ensuring the admission and a year-long training program for 25-30 students per year, for two academic years (minimum of 50 students total).

·        Inclusion of the production of investigative journalism piece as a capstone project for each graduate of school/training center.

·        Ensuring the attendance of at least one U.S. expert for a master class for the training program students/graduates during two-year project.

·        Placement of at least 20 students of the training program in  internships at local media outlets.

·        Provision of graduates/alumni with follow-up fellowships for production of pieces of public interest journalism and in-depth investigative stories.

The full proposal should include a clear methodology of achieving the mentioned objectives and the clearly outlined timeline and schedule of activities, allowing time for school/training center establishment, curriculum development, program design, and enrollment of students for two academic years.

Participants and Audiences:

Primary beneficiaries for this project will be Armenian aspiring journalists (journalism students, early-career journalists). Secondary beneficiaries of the project will be the Investigative Journalism Training Program alumni.